necromonger wrote:
Like others have mentioned, people with better scores are more likely to report it than those who don't. The mean score in GMAT is 526, and 700 is 93%, so approximately for every reported 700+ score, you have 9 unreported lower scores.
GMAT is certainly becoming important, no matter what the adcoms say. I won't get into the analysis why because it's all been discussed elsewhere in this forum.
If you have a specific link to that discussion, please share.
I'd agree though, the premise of "the GMAT is only one part of the application" seems increasingly unlikely to me. I support this view through a handful of supporting items. First, anecdotal - the unanimous response from current or ex graduates when told of my MBA score is clear "Oh your fine", "You'll get in", "Yea, no problem". While this is meerly anecdotal - I can't help at be suprised at the level of cohesiveness in these responses. I've never had a single graduate say "Yea, but whats your GPA?" or "Yea but how are your extracurriculars?" The perception, at least among graduates of the elite and ultra elite, is that the GMAT will make a world of difference. I'm inclined to believe this, though I think the students overweight it. That being said, when speaking with a student reader for the admissions committee at an ultra elite, the very first question of her mouth was "Whats your GMAT?". Interesting for sure.
Second, its in the schools best interest not to discourage applicants. The more they get, the lower the accept, the more competitive they appear. It's really kind of a farce. I mean, if I told you that I had 10 job offers and turned them all down, you'd think I'm nuts. If I told you I had 10 job offers to clean out toilets with my tongue, you'd think I was spot on. It's a game and it benefits the school.