Profile Review Please

Question

Thanks

Accepted.com · Answer

terp06,

You have a good, solid profile but this is your bull's eye: "Leadership: I have a great amount of responsibility at my work. It's an entrepeneurial company and I work directly with the CEO/CFO. I am responsible for sizing up and making decisions regarding all of our M&A candidates." With a 700+ GMAT score, this will make you competitive at many of the schools you mentioned. I don't think HBS is realistic (profile is not quite distinctive enough), but one or more of the following schools--Wharton, Chicago, Columbia, Haas, Kellogg, Tuck, and MIT--should come through for you. You will want to give them really strong, well-worked-on applications; they are not money in the bank. You can be more optimistic about Yale, Michigan, UCLA, and Duke IMO.

Hope this helps.

agold · Answer

Paul,

Thank you very much for your input. It definitely has me energized to do well on the GMAT. I will keep you posted after I take the GMAT over the summer.

Cheers

Accepted.com · Answer

You're welcome.

agold · Answer

Hi Paul,

I have taken the GMAT and I received a 710 (92%) with a Q44 (70%) and V42 (95%).

My current school list stands as follows:

Round 1:
1. HBS
2. Wharton
3. Chicago
4. UCLA
5. Haas
6. Tuck

Round 2:
7. Columbia RD

Considering my weak quant score, and my lack of "pedigree" (very little brand recognition as far as companies and school go), would you recommend that I take a few of these schools off my list? Also, I received C's in Calculus in UG (albeit Calculus for Scientists and Engineers, and taken during freshman year), and I received A's in almost all of my Economics courses, Accounting, Finance, Statistics, etc. I think my Quant ability is proven for the purposes of business school, but it is certainly not at the level of an Engineer.

Quant and GMAT score percentiles seem to be rapidly falling in general - Do you believe that Adcoms will start discounting scores like 690-710, and competitive applicants will require 720/730+ this year?

Accepted.com · Answer

terp06,

I think you should take HBS off the list and perhaps CBS. You can retake the calculus class easily enough so don't let that hold you back. As for recent GMAT trends, I still think the 80th percentile in both quant and verbal is the key threshold. I do agree, however, that since GMAT scores are rising, there is some greater benefit now in acing the GMAT: that is, getting a 720 or 730 versus a 710 won't help you much, but the truly high score, say, 750 or more, may carry more weight than in the past (since more people will have the 700-730s).

Hope this helps.

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