‘I got a 720, should I retake my GMAT?’My 2 cents on this topic is that it depends... for some schools a 720 is enough and for others if you are from this pool it will help you if you can boost even 10-20 points more to get out of the clutter. The fact of the matter is that there are MANY Indian candidates in most top MBA applicant pools. A school can only take so many- of anyone from any group- and thus will take the strongest of any given pool. So obviously having the 750, the 3 yrs as a McKinsey consultant and the top GPA from IIT is the gold standard. Now not many people are perfect in everything- but the more "over" the bar you are- on work experience, grades, school and testing you are... the more you bubble up into the set of people getting admitted. Can you get into H/S/W on a 700 from this pool?
YES- you can. Are lots of people with a 700 going to get in? No! So if you do have the lower GMAT, something else needs to be really great. Maybe it is your work experience? Your connections to global multinationals and your 5 promotions in 5 years! Or maybe it is your first class from IIT or maybe it is you co-founded a company that did really well. It could be any or all of those things- and if you have enough of them... you can break through the clutter even on a 680 GMAT.... at some programs. But with many candidates from this pool, it helps to be on solid ground for the GMAT. And then once you have the GMAT score- you still have to tell a compelling story of why this school and why it will help you with your post MBA goals. For candidates from India- do your research on the firms that hire foreign nationals. Don't say you want to work in marketing for CPG because not many US firms hire a lot of Indians to do this. Better to look to tech firms and do some tech marketing as there are several companies sponsoring MBAs for that. So pick something where you have a shot, and be compelling and specific in your reasons why this school and why this fits into your post MBA goals. If you have a 780 GMAT and you don't have a good WHY, you can still end up in the deny pile. So it is NOT all GMAT and yet the GMAT does matter.
I hope that helps a bit! I have read thousands of applications from candidates from India and have a good sense of what helps and what is clutter in terms of the profile. And our Stratus team has lots of great success with candidates from India and lots of experience. If you want to find out how we can help you build a stronger profile, please reach out to us for a free consult at this link: https://stratusadmissionscounseling.com ... b-visitor/Such posts are all too common across these forums and if you look closely, a good majority of these are from Indian candidates.
This short post goes out particularly to all the Indian Applicants out there. While I hope this is useful to others as well, I intend to discuss this key issue which is very peculiar with Indian candidates.
Indians are obsessed with numbers. No wonder that as per GMAC statistics it is estimated that Indian candidates are more than twice as likely to retake the GMAT compared to their American counterparts! The blame has to go to the Indian education system which is too numbers centric, and convinces us that it alone makes or breaks everything for us. Please understand, your GMAT score is important. However, it is only one part of your overall application. A school evaluates your overall candidacy and your GMAT is just a part of it. And there is usually no cut-off!
You should consider your application as a bucket with different weights in it. One of these weights is your GMAT. The other weights are your work profile & achievements, quality of your essays, extra-curriculars, interview performance etc. You have to ensure the highest overall weight. Just working on your GMAT to improve from, say, 720 to 740 will not add much of an additional weight. That weight will have to come from other factors – your application, essays, recommendations.
Quality of your application can add a lot of additional weight and that requires your attention. Indian candidates are not natural at writing great applications. And that again is attributed to the fact that usually Indian candidates have little experience of such an exercise during their academic/professional years. However, rather than spending more time on this, they tend to rush through this part. This, in a lot of cases, seriously undermines the quality of the application and proves suicidal.
In summary, here is what you need to do. Target a range when you prepare for your GMAT and if you have come close to that, keep it and move on to the next challenge – your application. Yes, you could have done better but retaking is probably not worth it. Take your applications seriously and do a great job at it – that will serve you better.
Please feel free to write your comments / questions / disagreements if any. I will be happy to engage.
Note: Next article will be around adding personality in your application (again a weak point for Indian Candidates in particular!). Please subscribe to stay posted. Anshul Gupta
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17 Jun 2013, 05:17
