Aringo.com client with 580 at HBS – bull?

yes, me too...
but my father was never the president of the united states, and i'm pretty sure i will never be a female

You're "sure" George Bush got in to HBS with less than a 580? Considering he graduated from HBS in 1975 and HBS did not start requiring the GMAT until sometime in the 1990s, I would say your assumption is weak. Maybe Bush didn't take the GMAT at all.

well, that explains everything!

well, he doesn't need to be super smart if he wants to be the president. it's not like he's trying to get into Harvard

I really don't think that doing well on the GMAT necessarily has something to do with being smart (and getting a low score doesn't mean you're stupid!). Doing well on the GMAT has a lot to do with many hours of preparing and practicing. That's it.

What an awful thing to say to somebody!

I say apply to your dream school but at the same time be realistic and apply to schools where you feel you have a chance and that you would be happy to attend.

No, that's OK heard it many times already...
So, I understand you recommend Tuck? Why?

Well, I disagree. MBA education is a winner-take-all world, just like technology or art, or as Nassim Taleb would put it - it is the domain of Extremistan. So the fundamental thing that is wrong with lower ranked schools is that they are ranked lower.

That is why there is Wharton, Stanford and Harvard, and three thousand + "lower ranked" schools in the fat tail of the distribution.

Go for the top 3 no matter what. The upside is almost invariably tremendous, and the downside is virtually zero. With lower ranked schools the downside can be tremendous, and the upside - questionable.

Well my main reason for applying to Tuck, Yale, and HBS is that they are all within driving distance of Boston which is where my GF lives. Beyond that, They are all great schools so the academics will be good, they all offer great employment opportunities post MB, and the students from each school are incredibly enthusiastic about them.

What differentiated Tuck for me was the following:

- You hear a lot about the community at Tuck but I can't comment on that because I am not yet there. What I can say is that in every interaction I had with Tuck I was made to feel welcome. The adcom always had time to answer my questions, as did current students and alumni. On my visit day the students that I had had correspondence with went out of their way to spend time with me and introduced me to everyone we passed in the corridors, who were in turn gracious and welcoming. You just don't get the same feelings from other schools.

- I'm an outdoors enthusiast, Tuck's location is beautiful and there are many clubs and orgs that take advantage of it. I feel like I can live in cities for the rest of my life.

- There is a big focus on ethical profitability which I am interested in.

- I prefer a small class size. I want one on one time with professors who know who I am.

I think that I was most excited about attending Tuck and this came through in my app, which is ultimately why I got in.

And Just so this post isn't completely off topic.



What a load of old bollocks.

Sure if by lower ranked you mean "lower than rank 100" then you may have a point. But to suggest that, for example, Booth, Kellogg, Tuck, Ross, Darden and twenty other don't have tremendous upsides and that they're not worth the money is rubbish. And even schools lower down the list than that are fine as long as you know what your getting and the ROI is right for you, Krannert (#38 on the P&Q rankings) costs less that 50% of the top ten and yet the median base salary is $85,000.

The attitude in the post above speaks volumes!

Although birds of a feather flock together, I just hope this is not representative of Tuck's community. Or maybe this attitude is something that is reflected in the school's rankings.

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

Are you trying to make a joke here? Please tell me you are.

As to my attitude, well I hope my posts do speak volumes.

I can't stand pointless, misguided, elitism. The idea that h/s/w are the only schools that are worth anything is something we hear all the time, always from someone who is at those schools, and it is always wrong. I don't disagree that h/s/w/are the best, of course they are, but the idea that schools below some magical rank have questionable upsides is obviously rubbish. Even the people who do the rankings have started qualifying them by saying that the differences between any grouping of ten or so schools are statistically insignificant.

Also, I find any post that seems to be aimed at making people feel bad about what they have accomplished or can accomplish, quite offensive. Who are you to say that people shouldn't feel proud of whatever school they get into? Not everyone can get into h/s/w, but there are thousands of people who don't who are still very intelligent, very capable people in their own right. I don't like the idea that anyone would listen to you, only apply for h/s/w, and then not do an MBA at all when they don't get in.

I hope that when I show up to school my fellow Tuckies hold similar views. I'm aware however, that not all of them will because Tuck, like all of the good schools, tries to build a diverse class which means I know I'll run into people who disagree with me. Am I to infer from your posts that everyone from Wharton is like you?... Of course not.

OK, thanks for sharing and for introducing Tuck! sound like a great school and a nice place, i'll seriously consider it.

I am going to lock this one for 24 hrs to let it cool down....

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to say this is not "bull"... completely true. A few years ago one of our clients was admitted to HBS with 580. You can see more cases like that on the GMAT results page on our website.

Best regards and happy holidays!

Was 580 his best score??? or is it someone who got 580 once and then improved his score?

When was it? I believe the importance of the gmat score was lower a few years ago and grew gradually.

580 was his best score, the one he applied with.
I believe it was about 6 years ago.