{"id":28724,"date":"2015-05-19T07:05:10","date_gmt":"2015-05-19T14:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/2015\/05\/the-12-steps-on-how-to-apply-to-business-school-series-step-4-your-academic-record-gmat-gpa-and-gre\/"},"modified":"2015-05-19T07:05:10","modified_gmt":"2015-05-19T14:05:10","slug":"the-12-steps-on-how-to-apply-to-business-school-series-step-4-your-academic-record-gmat-gpa-and-gre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/the-12-steps-on-how-to-apply-to-business-school-series-step-4-your-academic-record-gmat-gpa-and-gre\/","title":{"rendered":"The 12 Steps on How to Apply to Business School Series \u2013 Step 4: Your Academic Record \u2013 GMAT, GPA, and GRE"},"content":{"rendered":"

An MBA emphasizes studying business and often the \u201cM\u201d in MBA, which stands for \u201cMaster\u2019s\u201d, is overlooked. Any self-respecting business school will want to ensure that you have the academic aptitude to handle a graduate degree. You\u2019ll need to be skillful in math, critical reasoning\/logic, and language. Therefore your academic results are important components of your application. These are defined by your grade point average (GPA<\/strong>) in college or university, (or equivalent). In addition, for most top MBA programs<\/strong>, you must take the standardized test \u2012 the GMAT<\/strong> or GRE<\/strong> \u2012 before applying to business school.<\/p>\n

Since they\u2019re easily comparable data points that can be measured against other applicants, they\u2019ve become a subject of near obsessive importance for many MBA candidates. Both results need to be placed in context, as they\u2019re just one piece each of a broader application.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re worried you have a \u2018below average\u2019 GPA<\/strong>, this can be mitigated by other achievements or a strong GMAT<\/strong> or GRE<\/strong> score. To further compensate, you could even take a class to demonstrate your quantitative ability. Additional coursework shows determination, and can help admissions officers decide whether you\u2019re able to undertake the academic rigor in the classroom. And if there was a reason why your grades suffered at some point during your studies, for example, a time consuming part-time job or a health concern, provide a brief and straightforward explanation, not an excuse, preferably with an illustration of your academic potential when you were able to focus on your studies.<\/p>\n

Most schools will tell you that your GMAT or GRE scores are NOT the most pivotal part of your application. As former directors of admissions from top schools around the world, we\u2019ve seen candidates with 800 GMAT scores denied, because the candidate had little else to offer. Most schools will publish the range of scores achieved by the middle 80% of their admitted students, giving you an idea of what has proved to be competitive. Though you can achieve a good overall score if you do much better in either the verbal or quantitative parts of the test, schools will see the breakdown of scores and might be apprehensive about the weaker section.<\/p>\n

You certainly don\u2019t want an admissions officer to trip on a low test score while reading your profile. But ultimately you\u2019ll not be admitted or denied because you exceeded the magic number for your school. There\u2019s much more to the application process than that. However, don\u2019t make poor excuses for having a weak GMAT or GRE. Whereas your undergraduate studies are in the past, you can still influence your performance on these standardized tests with committed study. Admissions officers roll their eyes when they read \u201cmy GMAT does not reflect my true academic potential\u201d or \u201cI could have done better on the GMAT, but was on an incredibly intense project and didn\u2019t have much time to prepare\u201d. These are among the most overused phrases in applications. Remember you\u2019re up against candidates who are so hungry to be admitted they will rise at 4 o\u2019clock every morning to prepare for their test (and that\u2019s before they volunteer at a local shelter and then head off for another 14-hour day to work on their spectacularly successful start-up!)<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re wondering whether your GMAT or GRE is good enough, perhaps the rule of thumb is this: if you\u2019ve any reason to be concerned, retake the test. By that we don\u2019t mean turning a 730 in to a 740, but rather finding the 30, 40, or even 60 points that bring you within the competitive 80% range that we described. The last thing you want is a feeling of doubt thinking \u201cI could have, should have, would have\u201d.<\/p>\n

As the next step of this series, we\u2019ll discuss the importance of your resume and the application data form.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An MBA emphasizes studying business and often the \u201cM\u201d in MBA, which stands for \u201cMaster\u2019s\u201d, is overlooked. Any self-respecting business school will want to ensure that you have the academic…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1831,775,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-fortuna-admissions","category-admission-consultants","category-blog","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28724\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}