i have good gmat, but not a great one.. should i retake it?

Question

I have 740 (Q51/V40)... its 97%.. I am worried that this won't be good enough.. i have a 3.49 ugpa.. which makes me worry...
should i take the test again?
....

i am wondering whether i should take it again to get a better score?

dokiyoki · Answer

740 is competitive enough. I wouldnt retake if i were you unless absolutely sure that i can do better.

gregc1213 · Answer

I'm not quite sure where 740 with a 90/90 percentile split is just a ho-hum score. On its own, it is enough to get you in just about any school you want. Is 780 better - sure but your score isn't going to set you back at all. Your time is better spent on other areas of your application than retaking it for only incremental benefits.

kissthegmat · Answer

I believe 740 is a great score and this score can land you in any school you wish! Just give your time on applications and don't retake!

Dawgie · Answer

You DEFINITELY need to retake. Are you serious? You need atleast 760+ (99th percentile) to be considered for a PHd program. Bad score, retake!

MBAUncle · Answer

I agree, terrible score. :roll:

Jeanette · Answer

I don't know that much about PhD programs, but I think PhD programs value really really high GMAT scores mostly because they're concerned about making sure their students are REALLY good at quant and at least passable with the written word. Therefore, I expect your 99% quant and 89% verbal to be perfectly within the wheelhouse. No sense in retaking. You risk lowering your quant even if you did perform slightly better on the verbal.

minime2 · Answer

Yes. I think you should retake or not apply at all. (You can probably try schools beyond the top 50 if you really have to go to business school this year)

Also you can work on an alternative transcript (taking quantitative courses in community college) and show that you will be able to handle the course work in b-school.

Don't lose hope. There are number of ways to overcome low GMAT/GPA.

fish0412 · Answer

Dawgie wrote:
anxiousphd wrote:
I have 740 (Q51/V40)... its 97%.. I am worried that this won't be good enough.. i have a 3.49 ugpa.. which makes me worry...
should i take the test again?
....

i am wondering whether i should take it again to get a better score?

You DEFINITELY need to retake. Are you serious? You need atleast 760+ (99th percentile) to be considered for a PHd program. Bad score, retake!

I agree, terrible score.

Yes. I think you should retake or not apply at all. (You can probably try schools beyond the top 50 if you really have to go to business school this year)

Also you can work on an alternative transcript (taking quantitative courses in community college) and show that you will be able to handle the course work in b-school.

Don't lose hope. There are number of ways to overcome low GMAT/GPA.

I had to do a doubletake on these comments because I thought you guys were kidding. 740 with a Q51 split is definitely sufficient to get into most programs. I've spoken to program coordinators at various schools who have indicated that there's not much difference once you get up to the 720+ range, etc. They say that at that level, a huge jump in score is most likely only equivalent to one or two additional correct questions. I would definitely suggest applying. Is your GPA around 3.49 as a result of a few classes or a consistent B+/A- average? If it's the former, you should be able to indicate the reasons in your SoP.

anxiousphd · Answer

thanks for the input, guys. I have decided not to take it. I also have a GRE school on the side, because I was considering PhD in econ before (V740/Q800).. and fish... unfortunately my case of low gpa is actually the latter.. college has not been good to me academically,,, but i have 3.77 in ggpa.. so i hope that will be sufficient...

and...minime... unfortunately i m an expat living in south korea,,, so there isn't ways for me to go to a community college..

i guess i just might have to write my sop extra good

and...minime... unfortunately i m an expat living in south korea,,, so there isn't ways for me to go to a community college..

i guess i just might have to write my sop extra good

fish0412 · Answer

Definitely apply to your top choices (and some others too). You never know what ad-coms are going to look for. By the way, your GRE score is really good too.

As for your GPA, having an approx 3.8 grad GPA should dispel any concerns about your academic record.

shaselai · Answer

yeah a "good" gmat is not gonna cut it in this world. you gotta get a "great" gmat

supereco87 · Answer

740 is definitely more than enough!!

adalfu · Answer

i plan to keep retaking until i get a 790 or 800.

i'm still not satisfied w/ my 770.

shaselai · Answer

yeah i hear indians get autodinged with below 740 . so 770 is probably "safe"

cabro57 · Answer

I'll try real hard not to take the bait; some of these replies are beyond useless.

The fact is, we don't know what the rest of your profile is, what schools you're looking at, where you got your 3.49/4 and 3.77/4 from. We don't even know what field you're applying for. Without that info it's impossible to conclude either (a) you have no chance of getting an offer, (b) you'll still get an offer for sure, or (c) anything in between.

If you don't stand out already with your profile, you're not going to stand out with a 740 GMAT at a very top schools (top 10-20). If you do stand out already, some of those schools  may  reject you on the basis of that score combined with your ugpa and ggpa (to a much lesser extent I guess). However, they may not. Beyond that, at other schools 740 is likely a bit better than average (though I don't what field you're in) and will definitely offset your undergrad GPA concerns, and if you have good recs and a good SOP you'll get an offer. I'm not talking about North Dakota State here. Stanford may be an even longer shot than before you took the GMAT but there are plenty of other reputable places you should be shooting for if you want a career in academia.

In short, if you want to teach and do research in a b-school and it doesn't have to be Wharton or Chicago, I don't think you should retake. If you work well on the rest of your application package, you'll still get offers at good schools, provided you don't only apply to MIT and Stanford.

u0422811 · Answer

Yeah I am not sure what some of the others are thinking. That score is more than sufficient. Plus you alluded to the fact that you have taken your GREs, hopefully you have a strong GRE score as well and that should be more than sufficient to get you in to your target schools.

i have good gmat, but not a great one.. should i retake it?

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