GMATnewb wrote:
Is it OK to take the GMAT during college or closely following college if you don't plan to use it for 3-4 years? Or do business schools want people to take the GMAT as close to the application date as possible?
GMATnewb,
Interesting question. Schools will accept scores up to 5 years after you take them, and I don't believe they would be more skeptical of a score that was 4 years old versus one that was 1 year old, especially if everything else about your profile (GPA, nature of work) tells them that you are intellectually prepared for B-school. It seems to be true that one's ability to ace standardized test scores erodes the older you get (brain cells dying etc.). So if you believe that you are best able to ace the GMAT by taking it now--while your young brain is still amped up from the exercise it got in college--then go for it.
Good luck,