Hi everyone, I hope you're having a great day!
I apologize if this isn't the right place for my question, but here it goes. I'm currently an undergraduate student at a Russell Group university in the UK (international student from a semi-target school) and am in the process of applying for a Master's in Finance and/or Management at top business schools.
I have, in my opinon, a decent profile:
Undergraduate Degree: Economics and Finance
Grade: High First Class (with quantitative module grades ranging from 75-92)
Internships: Summer role in Asset Management as an analyst at a semi-large bank (25bn AUM); 1-year part-time analyst position in the finance department of a major non-profit while studying; 7 months full-time in the army.
Extracurriculars: 2-year peer mentor for international students, campus ambassador for a large bank, 2 years as student representative and secretary for the board of studies, co-founder of a student investment fund, where I was in charge of fund management.
As the title suggests, I scored 615 (Q80, V81, DI81) on my FGMAT. I’m considering a retake, as my practice test scores were 615, 635, 685, 655, and 655, and I feel this score may not fully reflect my abilities. At the same time, I was surprised to find that my 615 on the FGMAT equates to about 680 on the classic GMAT, which is around the 78th percentile and close to my target of 700.
This brings me to my main question. Given that the range for a score of 615 is wide (650 to 680 classic), I’m concerned that business schools might interpret my score strictly as 615 without recognizing the corresponding percentile. Do you think schools will consider this distribution difference, or will they simply view it as a flat 615, regardless of the percentile? My concern is that, in the past, the difference between a 650 and a 680 would have been significant in applications, but now we’re all on the same score.
I'm also about to use my five free score submissions. From what I understand, if I retake the exam and achieve a higher score, schools will only consider the highest score submitted (please correct me if I’m mistaken). However, if I apply to a specific school’s Master's in Finance program and later submit an application for their Master's in Management, do I need to submit my score separately for each program, or will the score submitted for the finance program be accessible for the management program internally?
I’d appreciate any guidance you can offer. I realize this isn’t MBA-specific, but if you’ve read this far, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!