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mymba99
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On June 14th,2008, (6 months ago) I took the GMAT for the first time and got 700 (Q49,V35) AWA 6.0
Instead of re-taking the test with in a month or two, I waited 6 months (to deal with some family issues) only to get 670 (Q49,V32) Waiting for AWA.

Please help me understand what kind of message am I passing to schools by going from 700 to 670? I am planning to apply in 2009. For now,I am very much leaning away from taking the test for the 3rd time. I am completely exhausted. But I am very confident that I can break 730 mark.
My profile:
Country of citizenship - Indian
Country of Residence - USA
Sex -male
Age - 28
Experience - 4 years in IT
Undergrad in India - GPA 3.0
Masters in Computer Engg in US - GPA 3.2 (Not in top 10, 20)
Extracurricular:
1: One Start up - Consulting company (infant stage) based in northeast with 3 clients.
(This is in very infant state , and I hesitate to mention this as one of my strengths for now. Probably, In another year I can improve this company)
2: Very much interested in math, worked as math tutor in India for 3 years during my under grad (1999 - 2002);
3: Games: Ping pong runner up in university games in undergrad;
4: Music: Can play harmonica - performed few solo shows (again in undergrad);
5: Interested in php open source web development, currently maintaining two websites.This really helped me in my start-up company.

Work Experience:
4 years of full time work experience in Health Care industry in USA. (Non-managerial position)
(German based company - one of the world leaders in health care industry.).
Worked in two different departments in the same company.
First two years in the department of Clinical Information Services.
Next two years in the department of Information Technology - SAP
(Production Planning & Materials Management )

Extra curricular negatives - no awards, did not raise any money, little community service.

Since my GPAs are terrible I thought I should get 730+ in GMAT. But to my surprise, I was staring at 670 on Saturday. Does this mean I am begging the adcoms NOT to let me in?

What should I do in the coming 9 months to improve my chances of getting into Elite / Ultra Elite schools? I am interested Consulting / General Management in schools in New England, NY,NH. Which schools do you recommend? Finally , do you recommend 3rd attempt at GMAT.

Many Thanks in advance for your time & Happy New Year!
saravalli.
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saravalli
On June 14th,2008, (6 months ago) I took the GMAT for the first time and got 700 (Q49,V35) AWA 6.0
Instead of re-taking the test with in a month or two, I waited 6 months (to deal with some family issues) only to get 670 (Q49,V32) Waiting for AWA.

Please help me understand what kind of message am I passing to schools by going from 700 to 670? I am planning to apply in 2009. For now,I am very much leaning away from taking the test for the 3rd time. I am completely exhausted. But I am very confident that I can break 730 mark.
My profile:
Country of citizenship - Indian
Country of Residence - USA
Sex -male
Age - 28
Experience - 4 years in IT
Undergrad in India - GPA 3.0
Masters in Computer Engg in US - GPA 3.2 (Not in top 10, 20)
Extracurricular:
1: One Start up - Consulting company (infant stage) based in northeast with 3 clients.
(This is in very infant state , and I hesitate to mention this as one of my strengths for now. Probably, In another year I can improve this company)
2: Very much interested in math, worked as math tutor in India for 3 years during my under grad (1999 - 2002);
3: Games: Ping pong runner up in university games in undergrad;
4: Music: Can play harmonica - performed few solo shows (again in undergrad);
5: Interested in php open source web development, currently maintaining two websites.This really helped me in my start-up company.

Work Experience:
4 years of full time work experience in Health Care industry in USA. (Non-managerial position)
(German based company - one of the world leaders in health care industry.).
Worked in two different departments in the same company.
First two years in the department of Clinical Information Services.
Next two years in the department of Information Technology - SAP
(Production Planning & Materials Management )

Extra curricular negatives - no awards, did not raise any money, little community service.

Since my GPAs are terrible I thought I should get 730+ in GMAT. But to my surprise, I was staring at 670 on Saturday. Does this mean I am begging the adcoms NOT to let me in?

What should I do in the coming 9 months to improve my chances of getting into Elite / Ultra Elite schools? I am interested Consulting / General Management in schools in New England, NY,NH. Which schools do you recommend? Finally , do you recommend 3rd attempt at GMAT.

Many Thanks in advance for your time & Happy New Year!
saravalli.
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Saravalli,

Happy New year to you too. My apologies for the tardy reply, but it's been busy.

You're not going to like this, but I think you should retake the GMATsince you are confident you can break 730, are coming from an intensely competitive subgroup, and have below average GPAs for both undergrad and grad. Alternatively, apply to schools with lower average GMATs. You're not begging them to reject you, but you are making it easy for them to do so.

Other steps to take during the next several months:
* Assume a leadership role either on the job or off.
* Clarify your career goal and typical career path.
* Narrow your choice of schools and include a safety school or two on the list.

BTW, my ebook, [url]=https://www.accepted.com/ecommerce/teleseminar.aspx#mbaBest Practices for MBA Admissions[/url], discussed in much greater detail what you should do in the 6-9 months prior to applying.

Best,
Linda
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syd999
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I am no expert but I would definitely suggest taking the GMAT again considering you have plenty of time. Since verbal seems to be your achilles heel, I would suggest the following:

1) Buy the Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction book (I assume this is a weakness as it is teh case for most). Read very inch of this book, it helped me immensely.

2) The book comes with 6 practice tests; do them all during different phases of your study process.

3) Repeat the two CAT tests that you have access to when signing up for the test multiple times, it really helps.

I was able to use this approach to improve my miserable verbal score to 42(95 percentile) in the actual test in less than two weeks of preparation.
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Try to beef up your ECs along with retaking GMAT.For the start-up thing,try to focus on the management aspect instead of technical skills which most desis do.

You can improve ur ECs by taking part in any organisations such as Vibha.
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I am no expert but a couple of things that come to my mind are:

a) If you do plan to retake the gmat try and take it within the next month while its still fresh in your mind. (each attempt for me was nearly as good as taking it for the first time). Else I think a 700 coupled with a strong application (essays, EC distinguishing yourself from the general applicant pool) would work.

b) Since you are in the US you could try and build an alternate transcript to balance your gpa.

Hope that helps.