700+ Dings

Question

I've been looking at the admit and ding lists lately, and although it is combination of factors that the adcom looks at, how much does multiple attempts at the GMAT for a 700+ score discount a candidate. I only ask because I saw what appeared to be similar candidates with regard to GMAT and GPA, where one was a clear admit and another dinged. (kellogg and wharton i believe)

For instance, a candidate who scores 660 on his or her first attempt and then a 740 on their second attempt. Compare this 740 to the 740 of someone who took 4-5 attempts to reach this score. 

Do you guys think that multiple attempts are to you disadvantage?

londonluddite · Answer

Yes I would think that someone taking it 5 times would be at a disadvantage to someone taking it once or twice, but to look at it in a different light I think a 740 after 5 attempts is probably going to trump a 660 at the first.

justincase49 · Answer

Yeah I can't argue with that. I was referring to two people with 740's though. 1 person on his second try, the other on his fourth or 5th try.

pelihu · Answer

Most schools will probably not care if you take it 2 or 3 times. I think it's also important to keep in mind that 700+ scores get dinged all the time. I would say that someone with stats generally in-line with school averages will probably be admitted at rates equal to the school's overall admit rate.

So, let's take someone with a 3.3 GPA & 710 GMAT, along with average work experience an extracurriculars and reasonably good essay and interview execution. If this person were to apply to 5 top 15 schools, he would probably be admitted at 1 or 2 of them. That means this person would likely be rejected from 3-4 of them.

So, people with 700+ are rejected all the time. That's why few people apply to just one school. Most apply to a range. This doesn't mean that the GMAT is not important; quite the contrary the fact that 700+ scores are regularly rejected makes it all the more important to do well on the exam. If the above candidate had a 660 instead of 710, he could reasonably expect admission to 1 in 10 maybe, rather than 1-2 out of 5.

justincase49 · Answer

AHh i see what you're saying. So if the admittance rate at Kellogg for instance is 25%, then someone with an average application (average for that candidate pool) would have a 1 in 4 chance of getting in. An average GMAT score for this type of school would be like 710-730. So those with score within this range can expect that type of acceptance rate.

Is my logic right?

kwam · Answer

Your logic is right if all candidates had the "same profile", or if GMAT was the most important criteria the adcoms took into account. I mean only looking into GMAT is not valuable. A candidate with 780, but poor GPA and work experience would be dinged, while a 660 with great GPA and remarkable work ex could be accepted. Off course there are schools that weight GMAT more than others, but in general they look at several points of your "whole life". Sometimes you have evtg "perfect": high Gmat, GPA, great work ex, excepcional essays but you simply do not have the school's profile, and this can be used "against you"...

I am not an expert, my opinion is based in what I've read and heard from some Info Sessions I went. Does anybody have another opinion?

justincase49 · Answer

what do you mean you don't have the schools profile?

kwam · Answer

I meant: imagine if you are trying Kellogg that is a school known by its team work attitude, however, you're more a competitive guy, who does more things by yourself and even like to compete with your colleagues for seats in the classes, if Adcom at Kellogg fills that you're not a "team work kind of person" they may put another person there.

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