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700 and confused?

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mehulsharma
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Schools: Kellogg MMM '19 (S)
GMAT 1: 700 Q50 V34
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700 and confused? [#permalink] New post   24 Aug 2016, 09:02
Hi all,

This is my first gmatclub post, I've been regularly going through topics, understanding problems, but actively posting.

So I gave my GMAT today and got a 700 (Q50 V33). About a month ago, this score would have thrilled me, but today somehow I am not too happy. To put things bluntly, I got fever midway during verbal, and it was all downhill from there. Till about the 20th question the exam was going brilliantly, and suddenly my head started splitting, and I could barely focus on the exam. I have taken about 10 CAT mock exams, the results are mentioned below:

Gmat Exam 1 (Aug 14, 2016) : 720 (Q49 V40)
Gmat Exam 2 (Aug 15, 2016) : 710 (Q49 V37)
Gmat Exam 5 (Aug 18, 2016) : 710 (Q50 V37)
Gmat Exam 6 (Aug 19, 2016) : 760 (Q49 V45)
Gmat Exam 3 (Aug 20, 2016) : 720 (Q49 V39)
Gmat Exam 4 (Aug 21, 2015( : 750 (Q50 V41)

I gave one MGMAT and Kaplan Gmat, and got a 720 in each of them.

Now as you can see, my score did range a lot, but I was hoping hit the 730-ish mark (well, to be honest, I was hoping to get a 760 again) and all was going brilliantly well, until about the 20th question of verbal. After that, I could barely read anything, and had a fever when I got out.

A little bit about my background, I am a design major (I know, not a lot of designers want to apply for an MBA :P ) from a top design college in India with a CGPA of 8.5 (I think that is about a 3.36 is you convert 10 point scale directly to a 4 point scale.) I was the literary president of my college and I have a year of work ex as a start up of my own in marketing and events, and till the point college starts it will be 2 years of work ex and did some volunteer work here and there.

Also, a cousin who graduated from Columbia told me that Ivy league schools consider entire process of retaking a gmat negatively, that is to say that I got a 740 in my first attempt I would be preferred over someone who 650 initially, and retook the exam and got a 740, is that true? As I couldn't really find anything about this anywhere. The very same cousin told me that a design major is not preferred in MBA schools, and if they found someone with a similar profile and work ex who majored in economics, they would prefer the person who majored in economics; however, my take on this is that I can add to diversity, and so I really wanted to know if I would add to the diversity of the school or is it slightly pointless of me to apply for an MBA.

Considering my profile, what do you think I should do? As I can't figure out if I should attempt the GMAT exam again or just try to make my application stronger? As I know I would definitely get a better score if I apply again, but is it worth it?

Hope to have some guidance,

Mehul
PS: I apologize for overloading everyone with questions, but I feel pretty hopeless, and don't really know what to do.
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abhie008
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Re: 700 and confused? [#permalink] New post   24 Aug 2016, 10:29
I think your cousin is playing with your head..
Admission council look at the either the highest score or the last attempt, depends from school to school. If a school accepts this score then any score above 700 is above 90 percentile which is good enough and equally treated unless you are the border line case.
Lets face it ... with 700 its anyways below average for ivy, your other part of the application have to be really kickass awesome..
on the other hand, if you retake the exam you have a better gmat on your profile to challenge the average score and get through the first stage of all those colleges which doesn't think like your cousin mentioned.
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egmat
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700 and confused? [#permalink] New post   24 Aug 2016, 10:59
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Mehul - I am not sure where your cousin got this impression that a retake on the test is considered a negative on your application. At the AIGAC summit in June, admission officers from top schools confirmed the following points about retakes:

1. Most schools are fine with up to 3 attempts. In fact, they perceive it as a positive character trait if you improve considerably (since you demonstrate a willingness to improve)
2. Some schools even asked candidates to notify improved GMAT Score even after applying to school
3. Also some schools mentioned that for wait listed candidates – improved GMAT score can be a plus

Lastly, some schools admitted that for competitive applicant pools (read Indian IT male), high GMAT score is used as a filter.

Schools that attended this summit - Tuck, HAAS, MIT Sloan, Harvard, Babson, Boston University, Yale, IESE, Stern, INSEAD, UCLA Anderson, London Business School, Rotman, Darden, Tepper, Wharton, Stanford, HKS, etc. This summit was hosted by MIT Sloan and HBS.

I hope this addresses your concern.

Regards,

Rajat Sadana
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EMPOWERgmatRichC
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700 and confused? [#permalink] New post   24 Aug 2016, 11:40
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Hi mehulsharma,

First off, a 700/Q50 is an outstanding score (it's right around the 90th percentile overall), so you should apply to any Business Schools that interest you. As such, a retest might not be necessary. You're ultimately asking Admissions questions though, so you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile (as opposed to just relying on your cousin's questionable advice). There's a Forum full of them here:

ask-admission-consultants-124/

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HanoiGMATtutor
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Re: 700 and confused? [#permalink] New post   24 Aug 2016, 16:25
egmat wrote:
Mehul - I am not sure where your cousin got this impression that a retake on the test is considered a negative on your application. At the AIGAC summit in June, admission officers from top schools confirmed the following points about retakes:

1. Most schools are fine with up to 3 attempts. In fact, they perceive it as a positive character trait if you improve considerably (since you demonstrate a willingness to improve)
2. Some schools even asked candidates to notify improved GMAT Score even after applying to school
3. Also some schools mentioned that for wait listed candidates – improved GMAT score can be a plus

Lastly, some schools admitted that for competitive applicant pools (read Indian IT male), high GMAT score is used as a filter.

Schools that attended this summit - Tuck, HAAS, MIT Sloan, Harvard, Babson, Boston University, Yale, IESE, Stern, INSEAD, UCLA Anderson, London Business School, Rotman, Darden, Tepper, Wharton, Stanford, HKS, etc. This summit was hosted by MIT Sloan and HBS.

I hope this addresses your concern.

Regards,

Rajat Sadana


Thank you for this information. Could you elaborate on the use of the GMAT score as a filter? If an applicant's score is below the threshold, what exactly happens to the application?

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Re: 700 and confused? [#permalink] New post   24 Aug 2016, 21:30
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Most likely, it does not get looked at. Note, this is only at certain schools and not all top schools. Also, its been long known that par scores for students from different regions are different. Take a look at the article below:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/on-b-school ... 1415236311

Even though this article talks about Americans, based on the inputs that I have received both from our students and from certain admission officers from B-schools, I have concluded that par scores for competitive pools are approx. 20 points higher.

-Rajat
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HanoiGMATtutor
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Re: 700 and confused? [#permalink] New post   25 Aug 2016, 02:01
egmat wrote:
Most likely, it does not get looked at. Note, this is only at certain schools and not all top schools. Also, its been long known that par scores for students from different regions are different. Take a look at the article below:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/on-b-school ... 1415236311

Even though this article talks about Americans, based on the inputs that I have received both from our students and from certain admission officers from B-schools, I have concluded that par scores for competitive pools are approx. 20 points higher.

-Rajat


I actually read that WSJ a while ago. I've been trying to figure out what business schools do with applications with subpar GMAT scores. Obviously even top schools such as HBS and Wharton accept students with GMAT scores below 650, so I tend to think that business schools have a way of not dismissing applications based solely on the GMAT result.

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Re: 700 and confused? [#permalink] New post   25 Aug 2016, 17:10
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Hi mehulsharma,,

First off, a 700 (with a Q50) is a great GMAT score! Certainly that score should be enough to get your foot in the door at many business schools, but because you scored higher on your practice exams, you may consider a retake without worrying too much about further extensive study.

It sounds, judging by your experience on test day, as if nerves/fatigue played a role in your lower verbal score. If you do retake, do you plan to do so in the next 16 days? Also, in what round are you applying to business schools, and when are your deadlines?

I also would not worry about how business schools view a retake. I know plenty of students who have taken the GMAT as many as 3 times and are currently attending schools such as HBS, Stanford, and Wharton. We don’t know what kind of evidence your cousin has for saying that schools look unfavorably on retaking, but it isn’t something we have seen, in general.

If you do feel that nerves played a role in your GMAT, please look at a detailed article I wrote that provides valuable test day tips and strategies that should help calm your nerves on test day.

Try this article too: Get Excited About Taking Your GMAT.

If you need any further advice, feel free to reach out.
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gmatclubot
Re: 700 and confused? [#permalink]
25 Aug 2016, 17:10

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