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JPrice789
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Schools: Johnson '14 (A) Yale '14 (D) Carroll (A$) Babson (M$)
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Conditional Acceptance 29 Feb 2012, 12:06
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I just received an acceptance call from my top choice school (woohoo!), BUT on the condition that I retake the GMAT by April 1. I've known all along that my quant score (39, 640 total) was the weakest part of my profile, and I'm happy that the school is giving me a chance. However, I'm concerned because I haven't studied in 4 and a half months and the timeline is so short. I've already been admitted into 3 schools, with scholarship, 2 of which have deposit deadlines coming up in the next couple of days. I'm definitely going to go for it, but was wondering if anyone has had experience with these types of acceptances?

Thanks!
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GMATLA
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Conditional Acceptance 29 Feb 2012, 12:14
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I say you put down the deposit on your favorite out of the two schools you've been accepted to, and decline the other. Then I would make the tough decision. This decision would be, would I go to my top choice with no scholarship over the one I just accepted. If the answer is yes, then I would retake the GMAT by April 1 and KILL IT. Do your absolute best studying that you've ever done, and absolutely destroy the Quant section. Then if you end up killing it, you'll go to your top school and forget about the lesser one, and the deposit you put down. Although the money hurts now, and MBA is expensive, and you will look back at this deposit 10-20-30 years down the line and laugh and say, everything worked out.

If you don't kill the GMAT, and don't get into your top school, then you will have a scholarship and an admit to fall back on! What a rough life :)

Congrats!
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fcvald01
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Conditional Acceptance 29 Feb 2012, 12:49
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JPrice, would you mind sharing some more of your profile? I feel like I may be in the same boat and was wondering why a school would go through the trouble of offering a conditional acceptance like that.
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GMATLA
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Conditional Acceptance 29 Feb 2012, 12:53
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My best guess for a conditional acceptance like that is to:

1. Increase admission statistics: higher GMATs look better
2. They want to make sure this person's quant aptitude is high enough: Bschool is extremely quant heavy, and a Q39 and potentially no other real quant background will not help with this fear. So a retake could solve this

Some more of your stats would def be interesting though to see if this is the case!
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fcvald01
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Conditional Acceptance 29 Feb 2012, 13:23
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I should have phrased my question better. I understand that the school would want a higher GMAT score for stats and higher quant score to be sure the candidate could do the work. However, if someone gets a 39Q, 640 (not saying its a bad score, just low for top schools), why would the school just not ding the person in favor of those higher numbers? More specifically, if his top school has a 700 average, then why try to make that person try to shoot for a higher number in such a short time?

The OP also has acceptances from other schools w/ scholarships as well. All of their listed schools have high GMAT averages. I was just wondering what their x factor was in their application. Also, what if they only score a point higher or not higher at all? Do they give any sort of cut off?
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Consulting2Finance
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Conditional Acceptance 29 Feb 2012, 13:58
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fcvald01
I should have phrased my question better. I understand that the school would want a higher GMAT score for stats and higher quant score to be sure the candidate could do the work. However, if someone gets a 39Q, 640 (not saying its a bad score, just low for top schools), why would the school just not ding the person in favor of those higher numbers? More specifically, if his top school has a 700 average, then why try to make that person try to shoot for a higher number in such a short time?

The OP also has acceptances from other schools w/ scholarships as well. All of their listed schools have high GMAT averages. I was just wondering what their x factor was in their application. Also, what if they only score a point higher or not higher at all? Do they give any sort of cut off?
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Just a guess? That there is enough in the application for the school to believe that this person has a lot of potential, but maybe not enough for them to justify taking a lower score. They don't want to flat out ding the student since everything besides the GMAT indicates they can succeed at the school, but to flat our accept them without first testing if they can improve the quant score may be too much risk for the AdCom too. Plus, perhaps there is no one else that applied with a higher GMAT score that fills this applicant's unique profile, including work experiences and goals. Otherwise, as you said, they would just move to the person with the "acceptable" GMAT.
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mbamilitary
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Conditional Acceptance 29 Feb 2012, 18:07
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Did the school tell you what score you NEED in order to make the cut? If not, I would assume that they've decided that you're worth an admit even with a 640 GMAT. They just want you to try and improve it if you can, for the sake of their ranking numbers. Like somebody mentioned above, if the GMAT score really mattered that much, why would the school go through the hassle of conditionally accepting you? It means they seriously believe you are worth a spot in their class, but would just like to see some effort on your part to boost their numbers.

If I were you, I'd study hard, but wouldn't worry too much that they'd withdraw their offer as long as they feel like you've genuinely put in the effort. Good luck!