Applying for Fall 2007 - Tuck, Hass,Ross...Need Advice

Question

Hi all,

First, thanks for all help being provided to ppl like me on the forum.

I Need your Advice on whether i need to retake the GMAT.
I took my GMAT yesterday and scored 700( Q-49(92 %) and V-35(72 %)).
My average scores in GMATprep and Powerprep were around 750. I screwed badly on real test only due to lack of presence of mind.

I am applying to following schools for fall-2007 all in R2.

1) Tuck
2) Haas
3) Ross
4) Duke
5) Harvard
6) Either Stanford or Wharton.

Interested in strategic consulting in technology and entrepreneurship after
MBA and very keen on applying for fall 2007.

My profile:

B.Tech (CGPA - 6.69/10 and MS in CS (CGPA 7.4/10)from IIIT,Hyd.
Work exp of 3 in prod development in Motorola. Excellent performance all 3 years
Applied for 3 patents in Mobile space with Motorola Technology grp.Patents under persual.
Promoted idea-stage biz plans at TIE-ISB CONNECT.
Extra-curricular - OK
NTSE scholarship holder
Onsite to chicago for 4 months.

The options i have now is to either retake the exam hoping 750+ or go ahead applying with the current score.

What do you advice on this ?

1) Would 750+ make significant difference on the admission compared to 700.
When i spoke to the stanford adcom member at the Stanford meet in Hyd,
he said more or less they are same, it is the quality of essays that is
important.

2) Would my application to above schools with 700 score be competitive
enough ? or Should i consider applying to less ranked schools ?

3) Would quality of essays be impacted if i retake since hardly 2 months left for R2
deadlines ? I dindn't start on any essays yet.

Kindly let me know ur valuable inputs. They wud definitely resolve many of things going currently in my mind.

Thanks n Regards
Nag

pelihu · Answer

You didn't say so explicitly, and I'm not exactly positive what "Hyd" means, but I am going to assume you are Indian. If that is the case, your GMAT is about 30 points below the average at each of the schools for your demographic, with the possible exceptions of Duke and Michigan. Also, I don't really know what those grades mean so I will assume they are top notch.

Since you say that your extracurriculars are OK and your work experience doesn't appear to contain substantial leadership, I'd say that Harvard and Stanford are extreme longshot. Wharton, Tuck and Haas are probably stretches given your profile and (presumed) demographic. Michigan & Duke seem to be your best chances, but even Duke raised its median GMAT to 710 this year. So if you are in a tough demographic, you will be fighting an uphill battle at those places as well.

If you can score a 750 on the GMAT, it will not likely make any difference at Harvard and Stanford, but it probably would make a difference at some of the other schools.

Incidentally, most R2 deadlines are in the first 2 weeks of January so you have about 3 months left.

helg · Answer

pelihu, can you pls develop this subject of 'demographic' a little. I am a Russian - is that good, bad or neutral for my chances to get into an ultra elite b-school?

pelihu · Answer

Hi,

Actually this has been widely discussed elsewhere, but I'll give a quick and generalized summary.

Currently, the most over-represented group of applicants are Indians. Especially those with engineering and IT backgrounds. It is particularly tough because this group tends to have a lot of high scorers as well.

The next toughest situation is probably Indians that are non-IT, and IT/engineers that are not Indian.

After that, there are substantial representations for Chinese and certain other Asian countries - again especially those with IT and engineering backgrounds.

I have heard that substantial numbers of Russians (as compared to traditional amounts) have been applying lately as well, although I have not actually read any admissions blogs that specifically say that it is harder than average for Russians to gain admission. This contrasts with the Indian/IT group, which every single admissions forum & blog mentions in every other entry it seems.

I have also read (unsubstantiated) a statistic that at the top schools, the average GMAT for the Indian/IT/engineering pool is about 30 points higher than the overall average. So at a place like Stanford, where the average is about 720 with a huge local Indian population, the average GMAT for this demographic is at least 750 I'm sure. I note the local Indian population not just because there will be a lot of local applicants, but also because people naturally are more comfortable applying to schools where they are well represented in the local area.

On the other hand, there is plenty of good evidence to suggest that the average GMAT for many of the under-represented minorities is 80-120 points lower than the average GMAT at top schools.

Also, it's important to note that most business schools are absolutely dying for female applicants.

I know, someone is going to come and say that GMAT is not the only thing, and schools consider other factors, and there are no quota systems. Yes, of course they consider lots of other factors and I agree that they do not set hard quotas. But if a school has 400 (or whatever seats) and wants a diverse student body, then maybe 30-40 seats for example, will go to Indians. And if there are 500 such applicants all with IT/Engineering backgrounds and 150 of which scored 760 or better, it's easy to see why the average scores are so high for admitted students in this demographic.

Just take a look around forums and blogs like GMATclub. Just pure guesswork off the top of my head, I'd say that 60-70% of the posters here are Indian, and a large proportion have IT/engineering backgrounds. I would be shocked to find any top business school with a 15% representation from any minority (favored or not). I think their representation here at GMATclub also shows that they are very serious about GMATprep, and are working extremely hard to get high scores. I have said it elsewhere; it's a tough nut to crack and I really feel for those competing in this group.

Thank god I'm an English major with a law degree (non-Indian).

helg · Answer

Thanks! Yeah, I also heard that it's much easier for a woman to get into a b-school than for a man. I should motivate my wife, I guess :wink:

pelihu · Answer

I agree, put her to work :lol:

helg · Answer

Well at the moment she's got a more important task - she's preparing to become a mother :wink:

But afterwards... :-D

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