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possible_phd
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amoon
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possible_phd
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amoon
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I'm convinced more and more that strong letters of rec, especially from those well-connected in academia are at least one of the best things you can have as an applicant! I'm sure you'll get interviews/acceptances from a lot of places then.. good luck!
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possible_phd
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Oh, I absolutely agree with that. LORs and SOP are absolutely crucial once you pass the initial screen. I just wish I knew what the other two professors said about me! :P
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UnknownPhD
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possible_phd
Oh, I absolutely agree with that. LORs and SOP are absolutely crucial once you pass the initial screen. I just wish I knew what the other two professors said about me! :P

I myself am looking for an admission in 2009 PhD application. I agree on your point. LORs and SOP are the critical parts of the application once you CAN pass the initial screen which I guess is mostly dependent upon your GMAT and GPA. I graduated from top 10 MBA and had a good length of job experience (not quite in research though) and am currently attending school for my second Masters' degree. I succeeded in securing one from my current school and another one from the MBA school. Well...I hope those two work well for me nad DO hope that I pass the initial screen (my GMAT is close to yours but have relatively weak GPA :cry: )
Do we have any idea on how they do the initial screen?
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possible_phd
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It varies from school to school, and for the most part, all we can do is guess. That being said, I have seen some posts on these boards about people specifically asking secretaries or professors how they do the screening. Some of them say it's 700 GMAT, some say they won't look at lower than 760 quant on GRE, some say a certain TOEFL score, etc. Just depends, and they usually don't explicitly say.
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amoon
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I agree.. it can vary by school and it can also vary depending on what field you want to go into. For instance, quant would be more important in the more math-based fields like Finance/Accounting I'm assuming.

I think that as long as you can "make up" for a poorer GPA and explain perhaps why your GPA may be lower, then you still have a good shot :)
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