First I want to say Howdy and say Thanks – I’ve been a long time lurker. The information that you all provide has been invaluable to those of us venturing into the world of MBA programs, admissions, tests, and every other facet imaginable (the suit discussions and the dating/relationship discussions have been particularly insightful/hilarious). My dilemma is at the bottom – before that is a long-winded story about how I came upon said dilemma. If you make it through the loooong read you deserve to take the afternoon off – but if your boss wont let you do that, at least you have my sincere thanks…personally I’d rather have the afternoon off, but that’s neither here nor there…on with the story!
I graduated from a no-name undergrad in the Northeast with a B.S. in Business Administration and a 3.5 GPA. I was employed right out of college doing financial work for a state government in the Northeast. I’ll have 3 years WE upon matriculation with many more years of work experience involved in a family start-up experiencing all levels of ownership/leadership/processes. I have extensive ECs, have a ton of work-related training, and have had lots of leadership roles throughout my ECs and my undergrad.
I took the GMAT right out of college – my first time taking the GMAT was entirely to see how it was. I had studied for maybe a week and no matter what I read, until I got in there and saw the beast first-hand, I was unsure of what I was getting into. Needless to say and as was expected, my score was horrendous. I then took it again a couple months later and studied as much as a recent college grad…with new-found responsibilities, time commitments, bills, lack of time, and more money than I had ever had…could. My GMAT math was bad – I’m not bad at math (my undergraduate classes showcase this fact); I just cannot grasp how to do well on the GMAT’s math section under timed constraints. I was always the student who no matter how good I was at the math put in front of me, I still took the whole class period to finish – be it the way my brain works, the way I ‘ease’ into problems, or whatever else – it hinders my abilities on the GMAT’s math section. With a good verbal and a poor math score, I pulled a dismal 540.
I had reserved myself to not having a high GMAT score due to my poor math sections and started looking into schools that fit that score accordingly. I applied to a few places that I would go to but would not REALLY want to go to and set my “I hope to go here!” sights on Northeastern University. It’s in the Northeast that I’ve always called home, and seemed to provide me the best opportunities for what I had to offer. I focused on work and working on applications and as time passed, I handed them in for the Fall 2010 matriculation.
Weeks passed and I wound up with a phone call from Northeastern’s admissions saying that my package was stellar but my they wished my GMAT score was higher. Not wanting to ruin my chances, I said I would take it again in a month’s time and started praying for good fortune.
Along with the praying, I enrolled in an online GMAT prep course put forth by Knewton (if anyone is wondering about Knewton’s online classes or would like a forum post about my experiences with Knewton I’d be more than happy to do so) and was thrilled by what they offered. At the end of the class I started taking more practice exams and lo-and-behold…I was scoring 540-560. My math, which was really good when conducted on a practice GMAT under untimed conditions, still suffered tremendously in a timed situation. Defeated but not wanting to waste my 250 bucks, I took the test. A score of 640 later (and many double takes at the screen/print-out to ensure that what I was handed was indeed my score and did indeed include MY name…) I found myself in my current dilemma.
If you’ve read this far I greatly appreciate it and commend you on your ability to drive forward in the face of “man…will he just get on with the problem already!?”
Partnered with my score of 640, I was invited to an interview at Northeastern and promptly accepted. Good news right? Right. But perhaps there’s more to the story…you see, as I said at the very tippy-top of the mass of text above, I shot for Northeastern because it was the right school for me for what I had to offer. I retook the GMAT with little hope of doing much better than my previous score – at best I figured I might get near 600. Now that I have a score that is significantly better than my previous score, I’ve started contemplating saying ‘no’ to Northeastern and searching out a school that offers way better opportunities as well as appeases my palate better than Northeastern. Needless to say, I politely turned down all of the other schools that had offered me acceptance, leaving my options as ‘wait and aim higher’ or ‘Northeastern University’.
So I’ve found myself looking at Wake Forrest, Notre Dame, and UNC-Chapel Hill (my ‘reach’ school). Is this a wise decision by me? Should I forgo the acceptance that I currently have and take my new-found score and aim higher?
What would you all do?
I thank you again for reading through this novel – thanks for the community as a whole, the advice you may or may not give me in this thread, and the good times I’ve had reading and hope to be having by posting in the future.
-Biggs
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15 Apr 2010, 08:32
