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carolynniers
Joined: 17 Jan 2022
Last visit: 15 Dec 2022
Posts: 18
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 6
Location: United States
Schools: Booth '25 Darden '25 Fuqua '25 HBS '25 Kellogg '25 Sloan '25 Stanford '25 Tuck '25 Wharton '25 Yale '25
GMAT 1: 700 Q42 V42
Schools: Booth '25 Darden '25 Fuqua '25 HBS '25 Kellogg '25 Sloan '25 Stanford '25 Tuck '25 Wharton '25 Yale '25
GMAT 1: 700 Q42 V42
Posts: 18
Kudos:
3
15 May 2022, 19:14
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi! I really appreciate you evaluating my profile!
· Demographics (nationality, gender):
White female
· Education (undergraduate institution, GPA, major - high school/entrance exams not needed):
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Business admin & public policy, 3.8 GPA.
· GMAT or GRE or EA score (include section breakdown):
At test center: 690 (Q42, V42)
· Work experience (briefly highlight amount of work experience, industries, roles, promotions, special accomplishments, international exposure):
4 years MBB direct promote to consultant
· Extracurricular activities (briefly highlight notable undergraduate and post-undergraduate ones):
Very involved in womens affinty group, recruiting, firm mentorship, advisor for UNC club
· Target schools:
Kellogg, Booth, Harvard, Wharton, Darden, Fuqua
(this is where I need help, I need a general sense of how far or close I am at getting into some of these schools)
· Other information relevant to your profile:
1. As my profile stands, I still find it difficult to grasp how much of an overreach it is for me to get into some of these programs. To me it's clear that HBS is an overreach, but I truly have no idea what program would be a "safety application" given my profile. I appreciate the honest feedback.
2. I am struggling to find inspiration to retake the GMAT. I am not happy with the 690, but realistically, I am not sure I will be able to take the time I took to study for those two attempts again. I know I can get 10-30 more points if I truly tried, but I do think that it's going to impact others aspects of my application which I think I need to start putting some time on. Based on my profile, is this something that would really swing the balance in case I scored say 20 more points?
3. If not covered answering Q1 and Q2, any suggested areas of focus?
Thank you!
· Demographics (nationality, gender):
White female
· Education (undergraduate institution, GPA, major - high school/entrance exams not needed):
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Business admin & public policy, 3.8 GPA.
· GMAT or GRE or EA score (include section breakdown):
At test center: 690 (Q42, V42)
· Work experience (briefly highlight amount of work experience, industries, roles, promotions, special accomplishments, international exposure):
4 years MBB direct promote to consultant
· Extracurricular activities (briefly highlight notable undergraduate and post-undergraduate ones):
Very involved in womens affinty group, recruiting, firm mentorship, advisor for UNC club
· Target schools:
Kellogg, Booth, Harvard, Wharton, Darden, Fuqua
(this is where I need help, I need a general sense of how far or close I am at getting into some of these schools)
· Other information relevant to your profile:
1. As my profile stands, I still find it difficult to grasp how much of an overreach it is for me to get into some of these programs. To me it's clear that HBS is an overreach, but I truly have no idea what program would be a "safety application" given my profile. I appreciate the honest feedback.
2. I am struggling to find inspiration to retake the GMAT. I am not happy with the 690, but realistically, I am not sure I will be able to take the time I took to study for those two attempts again. I know I can get 10-30 more points if I truly tried, but I do think that it's going to impact others aspects of my application which I think I need to start putting some time on. Based on my profile, is this something that would really swing the balance in case I scored say 20 more points?
3. If not covered answering Q1 and Q2, any suggested areas of focus?
Thank you!
16 May 2022, 01:43
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi carolynniers, I'll do my best here.
First off, I am rooting for you, I really am-- a direct promote to consultant from McKinsey is no small feat, and you've got an excellent GPA. However, your score is likely to be a stumbling block for you as it currently stands. It's not even the overall score, although I do think 10 or 20 points would help...but the quant of 42. If I'm not mistaken, that's somewhere around a 39th percentile. Most top 10-15 programs look for a quant of over 50th percentile at a minimum, and really higher if at all possible (ideally 60th-70th plus, so starting at around a 48). Do you think that's possible? You refer to a second test but I don't see the score here...was the quant any better?
To me you have a few options:
1) Right now, apply for a test waiver at Darden, emphasizing your strong academics and work experience. Hopefully you have some good quant classes in there? This could help you and I'd consider applying ED or EA there if you are up for it.
2) Take a GRE diagnostic. The test is a bit different but some like it better! There's a lot of common ground and sometimes, your GMAT prep is enough. Also, the quant percentiles are more forgiving. See if you prefer it. It's accepted by all your schools. A great score is mid 160s in both Quant and Verbal, but even a low 160 on each may work.
3) You can consider the EA - it's a GMAT lite, originally developed for EMBA candidates. It's only accepted at Darden and Duke on your list, though. CBS and NYU also take it, as does UT Austin. There is less pressure on EA scores, and it can work better for some candidates, though it won't work for HBS, Stanford etc.
4) You can work to improve your GMAT.
The other thing that goes without saying is that if you have any kind of challenge in your app, you really need to make sure the execution is done well (I totally get your worry on not having time to focus on the rest of the apps) to give yourself the best chance. Don't forget you can buy some time for all this by pushing to R2 if needed (on some or all schools). The only one you can't really do that for is an EA/ED school, so if you do opt for that somewhere, those apps will need to go in earlier....
Good luck! Let me know if you want to discuss any of this more in depth.
Warmly,
Julie-Anne Heafey
Senior Consultant
mbaMission
First off, I am rooting for you, I really am-- a direct promote to consultant from McKinsey is no small feat, and you've got an excellent GPA. However, your score is likely to be a stumbling block for you as it currently stands. It's not even the overall score, although I do think 10 or 20 points would help...but the quant of 42. If I'm not mistaken, that's somewhere around a 39th percentile. Most top 10-15 programs look for a quant of over 50th percentile at a minimum, and really higher if at all possible (ideally 60th-70th plus, so starting at around a 48). Do you think that's possible? You refer to a second test but I don't see the score here...was the quant any better?
To me you have a few options:
1) Right now, apply for a test waiver at Darden, emphasizing your strong academics and work experience. Hopefully you have some good quant classes in there? This could help you and I'd consider applying ED or EA there if you are up for it.
2) Take a GRE diagnostic. The test is a bit different but some like it better! There's a lot of common ground and sometimes, your GMAT prep is enough. Also, the quant percentiles are more forgiving. See if you prefer it. It's accepted by all your schools. A great score is mid 160s in both Quant and Verbal, but even a low 160 on each may work.
3) You can consider the EA - it's a GMAT lite, originally developed for EMBA candidates. It's only accepted at Darden and Duke on your list, though. CBS and NYU also take it, as does UT Austin. There is less pressure on EA scores, and it can work better for some candidates, though it won't work for HBS, Stanford etc.
4) You can work to improve your GMAT.
The other thing that goes without saying is that if you have any kind of challenge in your app, you really need to make sure the execution is done well (I totally get your worry on not having time to focus on the rest of the apps) to give yourself the best chance. Don't forget you can buy some time for all this by pushing to R2 if needed (on some or all schools). The only one you can't really do that for is an EA/ED school, so if you do opt for that somewhere, those apps will need to go in earlier....
Good luck! Let me know if you want to discuss any of this more in depth.
Warmly,
Julie-Anne Heafey
Senior Consultant
mbaMission
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