Reporting & Retaking

Question

One of the dilemmas of retaking the GMAT is the potential impact of a lower score on the adcoms. Say a test taker (let's name him Tom) is shooting for school A and scores a 700. It is a great score, but not a jaw dropper. He believes in himself and wants to retake the test. But there is always the potential risk of getting something lower, say 650. Intimidated by this Tom does not take the test.

OK, story told now the case:
The GMAT official report states that " all scores within 5 years from the last test date are sent to the institutions chosen ". What happens if Tom leaves the school choices blank the second time he takes the test so as to give himself a choice of reporting later at extra cost? If the first test was on 01/07 and he took the second on 08/07 and did not report the latter how is school A going to hear about it when Tom applies on 10/07?

One explanation that comes to my mind (maybe it is a common fact that many know but I am ignorant of) is that it is not just a score that is sent to the MBA program but they are give a certain kind of access to Tom's file.
Otherwise it would be impossible for a school to know Tom's LATEST score.Yes, they will know his previous ones -if any- but his NEXT score s/b personally his if he chose not to disclose it to anyone during his LATEST attempt.

I'd like to hear what you guys know/think about this issue.
MANYLANDER

kidderek · Answer

Sneaky sneaky, I like it!!!

This practice has been discussed here earlier. I'm not sure of the success rate, but I will lend you this theory.

Who really knows how the information is transferred between gmac and the bschool. This is what I think, which is also how the LSAC and law schools do it:

When you list a bschool to send the score report to, gmac doesn't actually send a score report to the school. (Do you really think bschools collect score reports with no applications to match it with?) GMAC makes the score reports AVAILABLE to the school.

Sometime in the fall . . .

Essays are released, you submit your application, THEN the bschool goes to gmac, matches up the numbers and gets your score report. Thus, they actually see all of your scores, or at least the ones up to that point.

manylander · Answer

I totally agree. I think in essence yours is the same deduction I reached.
It is not about reporting the score, it is about making a candidate's history available. Shady, isn't it? 

In theory if someone applies to 10 schools and wants to send the scores to the additional five after the retake, he should not pay any extra money.
The schools already can see what he did. Right? But they will not use the score since it is not OFFICIALLY reported. On the othere hand (implied) they will use it against him if it is negatively way out of the line (one probably can never make them say so!). Long story short in each way the test taker is the loser. He can not take advantage of the system by not reporting the score or can not have free lunch by reporting through not reporting...

It seems to be a mutually beneficial relationship b/w GMAT and MBA programs at the expense of the test taker, who actually IS the customer.

JingChan · Answer

It's not entirely true that this is at the expense of the test taker. If the opposite of the hypothesis was true, there would be GMAT score inflation. People willing to shell out the money could take the GMAT over and over without fear of consequence until they were lucky enough to obtain a higher score. The value of a 700+ score would diminish.

It is true that people who score lower on their second try are hurt by these procedures. However, a well-prepared candidate should have a small probability of scoring lower on the exam.

Thus, all parties benefit from more credible GMAT scores, except for those that were lucky to score above their actual aptitude on their first try.


Just my thoughts,
J

ronron · Answer

First off, no need to retake with a 700, it just does not matter...

Second, if i would be an adcom and suspect an applicant was trying to fool me it would be an instant DING, no matter the score or quality of the rest of the application

But that's just me... Go try and let us know :lol:

manylander · Answer

JingChan : What you say has a lot of merit. I agree with the watering down of GMAT's efffect wholeheartedly. I just saw an underexplained issue about the retake and wanted to see whether somebody knew something. My point was that this "reporting of scores" issue was never made as clear as it should be by GMAT. The rest is throwing in some "conspiracy theory" for brain storming. :idea:

ronron: I have a 730, and I disagree with you about the need to retake.The decision depends on the programs you target. 730 may be great at many schools, stellar at some, only allright at others. Second there is no way to fool the adcoms. Neither was it is my intent. My question was regarding the reporting procedure and was exploring if anybody had a definite answer. Two scenarios: 1) If kidderek's and my theories are true, your scores are made available to the adcom for a 5 year period, which will include the last score that pops up even a day before the admissions decision deadline. So no fooling possible. 2) If not true, (which I don't believe) then they will never know what you don't report. It is no different than reporting to school A , and not to B, and B not knowing it. Here the intent is not fooling, is just to present your best score. Allgedly they already use your best score... Anyhow, it is obvious that "THEY KNOW" what is going on even after the reported school, so plans should shift accordingly. BIG BROTHER is out there... :-D

Have a nice weekend guys!

ryguy904 · Answer

So I'm still a little unsure what the bottom line is here...


If you score 700 on attempt 1 (and report scores) and score 600 on attempt 2 (and don't report), will the school see the 600 prior to making a yes/no decision?

I've been to a couple of admissions events and if I recall correctly, they said that they basically take your GMAT at face value, and only verify your actual score once you have been accepted. If your score doesn't match, obviously you are toast, and someone from the wait list will get an offer.

manylander · Answer

ryguy

The bottomline : our common belief is that they know the score of every test you take up until the admission decision (adhering to the 5 year cap).

The adcoms will see both the 600 and the 700. I believe, contrary to what they say, competitive schools (top elite and elite) will not look at a candidate who took it once and scored 700 and another one who got 700 than a 600 the same way.

So, as some prescriptions say: Take it with caution and do not exceed the recommended dosage... :-D

ryguy904 · Answer

Hey ML,

I spoke with five schools this morning on the phone. Although they can certainly say one thing and do another, the schools (all in top 10), said they look at the self-reported (i.e., the application) to make the decision. They then verify scores prior to admission, but not before offer.

HBS asks for the # of times you take the test, but only looks at top score.
Anderson (although not top 10) looks at top score if you take one or two times, if more than this, they consider all scores.

From a personal standpoint, I'm hoping they only look at the top score, as I'm planning on taking the exam a second time with little additional study (I'm cranking away on the essays right now!) I got crushed on verbal on my first attempt, so I'm hoping I can improve to where my practice test scores were, and maintain a similar (or even slightly lower) quant score. I just hope I don't go down in score, and if I do, the schools won't know/won't care until after an offer had been rendered with my highest score....

Just my $.02

Cheers

manylander · Answer

ryguy,

Thx for sharing personal experience. I hope they do as they say, but one may only hope so. I am cranking the essays and it is very time consuming. Needless to say the rec letters and transcripts and all the rest.
I am on the same boat, I have a 730 but I believe it can be improved if I can study for another 3-4 weeks. I may take it again early Jan if I cover good distance with the essays and be done with school visits within the coming two weeks.
I guess we'll see.

Once again thx for taking the time and sharing! BTW, if all goes right for both of us, we may be classmates at Chicago! :lol:

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