Retake Advice - Do I stand a shot at a full scholarship with a 720?

Question

Hey guys,

I wanted to get your opinion on whether I should retake the GMAT. I was fortunate to get a 720 on my first attempt ( Q47, V42, IR8, AWA 5.5). From an admissions-only perspective, I am very happy with my score. However, I have secret hopes for a full tuition/substantial scholarship at UVA Darden or UMichigan Ross, both of which give quite a few scholarships. I think I could get at least a 740 on my second attempt, and, with some luck, even a 750-760.

Do you think my current score would hinder my chances to get a substantial scholarship at those schools? Conversely, do you think that a 740-750 would improve my chances dramatically? Below is a short description of my background:

GMAT:  720 Q47, V42, IR 8, AWA 5.5 
 College GPA:  3.97/4 at a mid-range university in the US
 Work experience:  4 years - 2 years in Real Estate Investments (Investment Analyst), 2 years in CPG Finance
 Demographics : Caucasian male from CEE (have lived in the US for the past 7 years)

I would greatly appreciate your input on this.

bb · Answer

It is a bit presumptuous as you are assuming you can get into those highly competitive programs. However, I don't know the rest of your capabilities so perhaps you will easily get in.

Top 10 is hard work getting in, let alone getting a scholarship. Scholarships to top 10/top 20 are usually not given based on the GMAT score (though the complete package is taken into consideration) and if a school feels you would not attend otherwise and would like you to - the reason they give scholarships is not because you are so great but because they want to build a strong class (being a little pragmatic perhaps).

If you have time (I would not take more than a month),and no other major issues in the application, my suggestion would be to retake to fix your quant score a bit - get it to 49 at least; don't think you need to go to 50 though. When a quant-oriented person takes the GMAT and gets a 67th percentile - that does not look too good in terms of effort invested. Hopefully you could bump up to 740+ to impress the adcom a bit more, but it is all should be taken into consideration as a full package. If you have other bigger fish to fry, you may use your time there more effectively towards your application success.

coan2016 · Answer

Hi BB,

Thank you for your advice. I think I will try to take the GMAT again and see if can improve my quant score slightly.

Just to clarify - I know that even getting accepted to these programs will be a challenge . All I meant to imply was that 720 score would not necessarily hinder me from an admission standpoint, since it's above the median scores for these schools. I was also not sure how heavily schools weigh GMAT scores vs. other factors in their selection of scholarship recipients.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi coan2016,

First off, a 720/Q47 is an outstanding score (it's above the 90th percentile overall), so you should certainly apply to any Schools that interest you. You're ultimately asking Admissions questions though, so you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile. There's a Forum full of them here:

ask-admission-consultants-124/

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

coan2016 · Answer

Rich,

Thank you very much for pointing me in the right direction. I will post the question in the admissions section as well. More importantly, thank you for your help in getting this score. I used your EmpowerGmat videos to brush up on my math skills. They were extremely helpful!

KarishmaB · Answer

To get a scholarship from one of these highly competitive programs, there should be something outstanding in your profile. Schools offer scholarships to those applicants who they know will get multiple admits and hence the schools try to tip the scales in their own favour. A 720 vs 740 wouldn't make much difference in admission consideration, let alone scholarship consideration (an 800 would certainly have a wow factor though it will provide no guarantee of admission). I suggest you to get a free profile evaluation from our experts: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#-school/ They will be able to guide you better once they have the details of your profile.

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