Hi,

I have been admitted to a couple of programs (Anderson and Cornell) with a low gmat score (660). What is the role of the GMAT score after admission? For example do the companies take your gmat score into consideration during recruiting? What about scholarships for the second year (I did not receive one for the first year)? Do they depend only on your first year grades and involvement in the community / campus life or also on the gmat score?

Thanks in advance.

I'd have to agree with Highwyre237.

If your post MBA goal is to get into consulting, GMAT in all likelihood will come into play again.

From my research, I have found that most consulting companies have an unofficial cutoff of 700. In fact, Sandy Kreisberg in his latest "Handicapping your odds at a Top MBA" series mentions this - "And as also often noted, there is an semi-official minimum GMAT score filter at Bain of 720, and possibly at McK and BCG, too, so don’t think your GMAT disappears after you get in to business school. In light of that, it might be worth taking more than once to get a score in that range. This could be real important actually, although dull, and my guess is, at non-HSW schools, GMAT has added importance for MBB. A sorry fact of life. If anyone has done MBB recruiting at non-HWS schools please confirm, or hopefully, modify."

So if your post MBA goal is to get into MBB or any other consulting firm in that league and if you have enough time on hand, I think you should take the GAMT and cross the 700 barrier.

Hope this helps.

Thanks everyone. This is helpful...

I've also heard that the GMAT score is important for recruiting, not sure for which specific industry, but obviously you're not done with it when admitted to b-school. The good news is that you have time to improve!

Good luck studying for the GMAT while handling core and recruiting. Oh yeah, not to mention that the industries where GMAT matters most (banking, consulting) start recruiting earlier than others. In other words, I don't agree with the above advice.

To add, all of that chocolate fudge may be bad for you, better off having a beer IMO[/quote]

I agree on both Gmat exam timing (that's why I'm trying to figure this out now) and beer Just as an update, re: the second year donor scholarships, they usually don't look at GMAT but concentrate on first year achievements (grades and involvement). At least this is what I have been told by one of the schools. Cheers

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