Is a 640 GMAT with my background good enough for Berkeley Part Time?

Question

Hey Guys,

Any advice here would certainly be appreciated.

I took the GMAT and these were the results

Overall: 640
Quant: 37
Verbal 39
AWA:5
Integrated Reasoning: 6

UG GPA: 3.2 with double major in finance and international business (might have been a bit ambitious) from LMU.

Work experience: (I think this might be my ticket) Took over a struggling media company in spring 2009 within two weeks of graduation that in the years previous was doing millions in annual revenue but was now looking at bankruptcy within 4 months of my arrival. Was able to cut costs, negotiate debt, improve sales to the point where the company now generates around $800,000 annually in revenue and runs about a 45% profit.

I do all the sales and customer service, manage a team of 12, do all finance and accounting as well as marketing.

The question (sorry it took so long to get here) is whether this will be good enough for Berkeley Part Time?

I plan on applying for their part time entrepreneurship program.

I plan on taking the test again as I was generally scoring around 700 in my practice tests and finished the math this time with about 20 minutes of extra time which means that I went to fast and made mistakes.

Advice though on whether I would be a good candidate based on this resume alone would be very greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Alex

m3equals333 · Answer

hi, better suited forum for your question, good luck!

Admissionado · Answer

Hey Alex,
Well the short of it, is I think your work experience and what you have done with the company is certainly worthy enough to give you a decent shot at Haas PT. I mean, make a great app and go for it! What's the worst that can happen? You'll have to try next year with a better GMAT... but there's also a "best than can happen" somewhere in there.

Best,
Jon

PersonalMBACoach · Answer

If you take it again and get a 700, then it is definitely in your range and you have a good profile. Even with the 640 you do stand a chance at getting in because your experience is impressive. Is it enough to overcome the below average GMAT and GPA? It depends on the rest of your profile (extra-curriculars, your overall story and essay quality will be very important given your scores) and a bit of luck of the draw. What other programs are you considering? Good luck!

GeneralEducation · Answer

Hi Alex,

I would suggest you to give it a shot. And if you are planning to retake your GMAT in next few days before Haas deadline and you are expecting 700 or 700+ then it makes sense to retake your GMAT and apply with an improved score.

Your work profile is really impressive and submitting good quality essays will certainly improve your chances of getting admission to Haas and can offset your low GMAT Score.

I would strongly suggest you to take some professional help for evaluating/reviewing your essays. You may also gauge your chances of getting admission to top business school by trying this amazing tool  https://bit.ly/1Iu9fP4

Cheers,

CriticalSquare · Answer

I think if you apply this year and don't get in, you'll have a very tangible set of steps to take before you try again and that's a good position to be in. Your experiences are interesting and the part time MBA would make sense at a lot of different levels for you which is important. So give it a shot! You have a lot to offer and if you don't get in, work on that GMAT, get closer to the median, and give it another go!

Bhavik

Bhavik

rahul2609 · Answer

I have a similar concern. I took the gmat today for second time and got worse than first time. 600(Q:48,V:25, IR:5). First time (Nov 2011) I got 650(Q:50,V:27). I do not know what happened today. I never got less than 720 in any of the 4 GmatPrep practice exams (730,740,750,750). I believe my timing was bad on Quant and that kind of pushed me from my game on Verbal. 
My concern is I was planning to apply for part time mba to Berkeley and UCLA. But now I don't know what to do. They say universities take the maximum score but won't a drop in score on second try look bad on my application specially when first try was three years back? What should I do? I plan to give gmat one more time but i don't have enough time to take it before the deadline and I believe I need to study from ground up to master the basics before I sit for third and final time. My weak point is verbal.

Should I apply this year with these scores? If i do and don't get in how bad does re-applying look? Please let me know. I am clueless right now.

Thanks,
Rahul

GeneralEducation · Answer

Hi Rahul,

You haven't mentioned about your profile in detail. After going through your profile we can evaluate your profile in a better way and advice you if retaking GMAT is an option for your. But, definitely B-Schools consider highest GMAT Score of your's, no matter when you took it.

You can also PM your profile description if you would like to have a free profile evaluation and You may also gauge your chances of getting admission to top business school by trying this amazing tool  https://bit.ly/1Iu9fP4

Cheers,

buster52 · Answer

Hi Everyone,

I really appreciate your time and response. It has been extremely helpful and inspired me to study hard and retake the GMAT. My score was as follows

TOTAL: 710
QUANT: 45
VERBAL: 42
IR: 7
ESSAY: 5

Feel pretty good about it. Wondering though, is there any clear and strong benefits to a full time program that might make someone in my position want to look at that rather than part time? Just want to make sure I am covering all my bases. If full time would want to look at Berkeley, USC, UCLA, Columbia, Georgetown. Wondering what my odds would be for those sorts of schools.

Many many thanks!!

CriticalSquare · Answer

Way to go!!! Here's a link (below) you'll find helpful when it comes to picking between programs. At the end of the day, the FT/PT programs aren't better or worse, just different. Different goals, different profiles. So it really comes down to what you want to do.

How to Pick Between MBA Program Types

If you want to chat about which might be right for you, happy to speak with you.  Sign up here  and we'll hop on a call. Sometimes a call is so much better than a forum post!

Bhavik

Is a 640 GMAT with my background good enough for Berkeley Part Time?

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