haddy74 wrote:
Once again, we are discussing GMAT in way too much detail…lets do a hypothetical analysis….. If I am an adcom at Wharton and I have to read 50 applications in one week, here is what I would do:
First Application: Investment Banker (IB) GMAT 750 (who cares just another freakin IB, I will think about him later)
Second Application: India IT GMAT 720 (who cares just another freakin Indian IT, I will think about him later)
Third Application: Management Consultant (MC) GMAT 780 (who cares just another freakin MC, I will think about him later)
Fourth Application: Minority Guy GMAT 680 (Jesus Christ, he needs attention, minority and 680, reasonable essays, not bad at all, bring him in for an interview, immediate decision)
Fifth Application, 33 year old, GMAT 680, social sciences background, whole career in social sciences, post MBA goals also social sciences related (solid execution of essays, legitimate reason to pursue MBA, unique background, he is old but his whole career is consistently in social sciences so he is not bulshitting, who cares about his age, he need our help to address social problems, bring him/her in for an interview, immediate decision)
Sixth Application Minority: GMAT 640 (nice essays and well done application, I will think about him)
Seventh Application IB GMAT 690 (whatever DUDE, I have IB applications with a much higher GMAT score, yeah yeah yeah, you are spinning your essays really well but I know you are an IB and need an MBA for career progression…PERIOD….rest is really bulshit…. you are trashed)
Eight Application Female, GMAT 670, OK essays (we need females, don’t we, bring her IN for an interview)
Ninth Application MC, GMAT 750 (Whatever, I will think about him later)
Tenth Application Indian IT, 740 (Whatever, I will think about him later)
Ok fine..I will take a break here…out of these ten applications, the guy with 680/unique social sciences background, the minority guy with 680/reasonable essays and the female with 670 are going to get an invitation, PERIOD….no question asked about freakin GMAT as long as it is above 650..
Now comes the harder part….IB, MC and Indian IT…what to do about them…trust me, most of the IB and MC applicants will have well written essays because they are coming from an environment where they are surrounded among ultra elite MBAs….so they know what it takes to get into a top program….in such cases, adcom will put more value on GMAT/GPA to differentiate among them…..everyone knows that an IB or a MC needs an MBA for his career progression…PERIOD….there will be nothing exceptionally unique in their essays (of course there will be few exceptions but when you work 80 hr a week, there is not much time left to do some thing exceptional)….so how to decide among them…lets see what is their GMAT and GPA …. Same applies to Indian IT pool….
In essence, it is pretty obvious that in some cases GMAT/GPA are relatively important whereas in many cases, GMAT/GPA play a secondary role….in the above example, the MC guy with 780 and IB guy with 750 will also get the invitation…... rest of them are going to the trash bin….there you go…five out of ten get Wharton invitations (50%)….
Now if an Indian IT guy with a GMAT of 780 thinks that he has a better chance than another fellow Indian who has a unique background with a GMAT of 680, he is terribly wrong……..it is all about diversity and by diversity school means to attract those candidates who can add value to the class discussion….
I agree with most of what you are saying. I completely agree that minority applicants with GMAT scores within the middle 80% are golden. I disagree that a social sciences background is equivalent to an underrepresented minority. Most of the top schools have 20-25% humanities/social science backgrounds so if it is a minority, it's not much. I would say that the IB guy with 750 GMAT has a better chance of getting an interview than the social sciences guy with 680 if other things are equal. A 750 GMAT is significantly more rare than a social sciences background (2% to maybe 15%).
I agree that applicants with IB & MC backgrounds must score higher to separate themselves from the pack. There's no doubt, there are tons of applicants from these backgrounds, but people with these backgrounds also make up the bulk of almost every class. So, more apply, and more get in. Now, I agree that if you are in one of these groups and you have a lower than average GMAT score you are probably dead meat, because you are facing competition with equal experience and higher scores.
Now, regarding the Indian IT applicants, 720 would be below the average GMAT from this demographic for top schools. Moutauk estimates that the average GMAT for this demographic falls somewhere around 730-750, so a 720 would be below the average. This is the toughest group to crack, by far.
I agree that females are absolutely favored, but probably not as much as underrepresented minorities. Totally agree that for certain demographics GMAT/GPA play a secondary role. It's clear that for certain groups, any GMAT/GPA within the middle 80% will result in an interview and probably admission (underrepresented minority, female). For other groups, it's clear that a GMAT/GPA within the middle 80% is a basic requirement - and for these (MC, IB, Indian) higher is definitely better, and a low score is probably death.
close
05 Nov 2006, 18:47
