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720 (Q 49 V 38) Poor GPA, Retake?

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gparmar16
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 Q49  V38
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720 (Q 49 V 38) Poor GPA, Retake? [#permalink] New post   04 Jul 2010, 19:37
I know there are a million threads like this but I just spent the last four months studying (Last month, 12 hour days) and was anticipating a 750-760.

Besides going through the usual books(MGMAT series, OG, PowerScore, Paper Sets), I did all of the GMATClub tests and was in the 90-95% range for the last ten tests. Was scoring 50-51 on GMATPrep and I was able to lift my Verbal scores above 40 as well. Looking at my score I feel like I've underperformed. Funny because during the test I felt like everything was going just fine. Was getting tough questions and was able to work through them.

The only reason I even bother to ask is because of my poor 2.6 GPA. (Mechanical Engineering from a top Canadian School). Everything is much more competitive these days with the downturn in the economy. Even my quant percentile was a bit of a shock 83 percentile for Q49.

I feel like I can score a 50 to 51 in Quant and as a native speaker there is no reason I can't shoot above 40 in verbal. But is it worth the risk? Maybe signing up for a course?
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Re: 720 (Q 49 V 38) Poor GPA, Retake? [#permalink] New post   04 Jul 2010, 22:59
hi gparmar16, there's a thread in the GMAT Section that explains whether one should do or retake or not. Seeing how confident you're describing your GMAT experience, it does seem like that you could have probably done better. However, I really don't think that a 720 or a 750 is any different in the adcom's eyes when you're applying to the top schools in the nation. The GMAT, in my opinion, is used as a benchmark, that as long as you have the score schools are looking for, whether you achieve 800 is not in the question anymore (i.e. Stanford rejected 800s last year). I believe a 720 is already competitive for all the schools in the world, since even H/S/W has an average of around 718. I would focus more on the application at this point, rather than trying to boost your score another 30 points (let alone the danger of having it go down...)

If you're gun-ho about re-taking it, Knewton offers its course for free if you don't improve your score by 50 points. Seems to me a win-win situation for me. If you're going this route, make sure you read the terms and conditions as I don't know anything about Knewton directly.

last but not least, a Q49 is only a 83 percentile?!?! That's a bit too low for a Q49, imho...
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gparmar16
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Re: 720 (Q 49 V 38) Poor GPA, Retake? [#permalink] New post   04 Jul 2010, 23:39
Yea the 83 is right for a Q49.

I figured with a higher than average GMAT my GPA wouldn't bring me down. Knewton sounds like a great idea with that guarantee (if it applies). Anyone else agree it's not worth it? Maybe I'm falling victim to setting my goals a bit too high.
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Re: 720 (Q 49 V 38) Poor GPA, Retake? [#permalink] New post   04 Jul 2010, 23:46
one more thing I forgot to add into your thinking equation.

One thing you should consider from the adcom's point of view: why is this person re-taking his/her GMAT when it's already 720? If your score goes up, great. If not, adcoms are really going to be questioning your ability to decide what to do. Obviously, if it goes down, adcoms may think that you don't know how to better manage your time and money. In addition, the adcoms may view you simply as a person who wants to look great on paper. Of course, if it goes up to 770, these points of argument become moot. But, if it only goes up 10 or 20 points, I think the same judgment that stems from the score going lower may come back to haunt you from an adcom's point of view.

Anyway, I'll let someone chime in and see what others' take is. I forgot to say though, congratulations on your awesome score! :-D
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gparmar16
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Re: 720 (Q 49 V 38) Poor GPA, Retake? [#permalink] New post   05 Jul 2010, 00:44
Yea, I have been thinking about that deeply as well. I'm in a very high risk, low reward situation. But I guess I just want reassurance that when I do go to apply in a year or two, my application doesn't get thrown out because of grades/marks.

Thank you about the score, I worked very hard
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Re: 720 (Q 49 V 38) Poor GPA, Retake? [#permalink] New post   05 Jul 2010, 04:45
IMO you should retake the test. You have spent a huge amount of time and energy on your preparation so while it's still fresh in you memory it'd be wise to retake it. But you have to be certain that you can score higher and that you know what mistakes you made the first time around.
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Re: 720 (Q 49 V 38) Poor GPA, Retake? [#permalink] New post   05 Jul 2010, 05:57
Did you send scores to your top 5 schools when you took the exam? If you did, I would retake it but don't select to report scores yet. If you score higher, you can always send your scores at that time. If you don't, the schools will never know you took it again. Combine that with Knewton's 50-point guarantee if you choose to go that route, and you're almost in a risk-free position to see if you really could have done better! Best of luck although I also believe 720 is good enough for all schools.
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Re: 720 (Q 49 V 38) Poor GPA, Retake? [#permalink] New post   05 Jul 2010, 11:26
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that business schools don't report international GPAs to GMAC for their official figures. I've heard that this lets Ad-Coms be a little more lenient with international GPAs.

Can anyone back this up or refute this?
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adamv30
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Re: 720 (Q 49 V 38) Poor GPA, Retake? [#permalink] New post   05 Jul 2010, 12:45
Q49 is the 87th percentile
V38 is the 83rd percentile

https://www.mba.com/mba/thegmat/gmatscor ... gmeans.htm

I honestly wouldn't stress over the 720. You hit the 80%Q/80%V that the adcoms at top schools look for. There is very little marginal utility in adding those 20-30 pts to your overall score. IMO, you would be better served doing additional with the organization that you are involved with or researching your target schools.
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gparmar16
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Re: 720 (Q 49 V 38) Poor GPA, Retake? [#permalink] New post   05 Jul 2010, 18:26
Thank you so much for all the great feedback. I will walk away happy with the score (albeit disappointed I could have scored higher). I may look at all this in a year, I'm still 2 years away from applying. Like Charmed said Knewton's course would be great with the 50+ pt guarantee. Limiting my studies to 2 months max.

I will just focus on the rest of my application and write some phenomenal essays.
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Re: 720 (Q 49 V 38) Poor GPA, Retake? [#permalink]
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