Retake? 645 GMAT | Indian Male | SRCC | Finance/Impact

Question

Hi everyone - looking for advice on whether I should retake the GMAT.
 GMAT Focus:  645 (87th percentile)
Q83 (80th), V83 (83rd), DI80 (83rd)
 Profile: 
 
 Indian male 
 GPA: 7.6/10, SRCC (University of Delhi) 
 Work ex: ~2 years at an international non-profit working with UN in emerging markets 
 Promoted within 1 year 
 College PORs and leadership 
 Clear career story around finance + social impact  
 Targets:  INSEAD, HEC Paris, LBS, M7. Also open to suggestions for schools or programmes (Yale SOM, Oxford, etc.).
 Questions: 
 
 Is 645 competitive for INSEAD/HEC/LBS with my background? 
 For M7, would a retake materially improve chances? What score should I target? 
 Retake vs focus on applications - what would you recommend? 
 Any school or programme recommendations for my profile?  
Would appreciate candid feedback - thanks in advance!

Archit3110 · Answer

No harm in re taking.. target at least +20/30 points over incoming class score

messi16 · Answer

Great job on the score! My honest opinion, I would retake, just to see if you can land any few extra points. If deadlines are coming up though, probably better to focus on essays and letters of recommendations at this point than to see if you can gain 20-30 points

EducationAisle · Answer

Would agree..see if you can target a 20-30 point improvement, since you are applying to quite competitive schools, your GPA is a bit modest, and your work-ex is slightly on the lower side.

SarfrazAP · Answer

The SRCC brand will certainly help you. Whether you should retake depends on how you were performing in your mocks. If you were scoring significantly higher than a 645 in those, then yes retake. If not, then the score may not increase much unless you make some changes to your test or prep strategy.

Also keep in mind that for INSEAD and other European schools, 2 years of experience may not be enough. While you can still get in, I'd suggest applying with at least 3 (ideally 4) years of experience. And M-7 will be far more competitive than the European schools, including INSEAD and LBS. While I have had people get in with lower scores, I've also seen 745+ scores get rejects at those schools, so you'll need to focus a lot on your essays and how you are presenting your story.

You'll only be applying R1 for next year's intake now, so you have enough time to retake if you want and still be able to focus on your applications. Feel free to reach out if you have any specific questions.

Retake? 645 GMAT | Indian Male | SRCC | Finance/Impact

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