When should I send GMAT score to schools?

Question

Hi all,

I am planning on applying for this upcoming Round 1. I took the GMAT back in October and have gotten a score that I deem satisfactory for the schools that I want to apply to.

I am wondering if there is any advantage to sending my score right now to my schools. If not, should I just wait until application time?

Thank you in advance!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi MyNameIsJoe1

When you 'send' your Official Score Report to a School, you're not actually having a physical copy sent - you're granting each School access to your Report online. Schools won't spend time looking at your Report until you've actually applied (meaning only after you have sent in your full Application). Thus, there's no inherent advantage or disadvantage to granting Schools that access now.

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

MyNameIsJoe1 · Answer

Rich, thanks for the reply.

A follow-up question: do schools generally care about--or even see--number of attempts? If the end product is good, does it matter if it took 4 tries to get there? Thanks.

AjiteshArun · Answer

Schools will  not  see any attempts cancelled by the test taker.

Four attempts is a little on the high side, but it is almost impossible to predict whether or how your target schools will use that information (if they ask for it). You could try asking them directly.

I don't expect the number of attempts to have a major impact on the admissions process though. With the score cancellation policy in place, a school can't really verify this kind of information. Finally, given that it is not something that you can change, I'd advise you not to worry too much about how many times you've taken the GMAT, if you've taken it multiple times.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi MyNameIsJoe1

In general, Business Schools don't care how many times you take the GMAT, but if you submit multiple, similar Scores without showing improvement, then that could impact your applications. In addition, individual Programs might have their own 'metrics' for how they evaluate Official Scores - for example, your best overall Score might be used, or a more recent Score (if your best Score is several years old) or the best 'combination' of your Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores, etc. Thankfully, Admissions Departments will gladly answer your admissions questions, so you can contact them directly to ask.

There are a couple of ways around this issue. When you take the GMAT, you could choose not to send your Score to any Schools (and pay a fee later on to do so) or you can simply cancel a Score that you're not happy with (so that no-one will ever see it).

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

MyNameIsJoe1 · Answer

Thank you both. So here's what happened:

Score 1 - Cancelled after taking
Score 2 - Kept
Score 3 - Cancelled after taking
Score 4 - Kept

So schools will see only score 2 and score 4, then, as my two attempts?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi MyNameIsJoe1

If - on the day you took the Official GMAT and accepted the Score - you selected a particular School to receive that Score, then that School is granted access to that Official Report. Thus, if you chose the same School on both of those attempts, then that School will see both Scores.

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

MyNameIsJoe1 · Answer

Thanks, Rich. I never sent any scores to any schools with my GMAT. I am waiting to do that. So I can essentially send which scores I want?

#1 - cancelled
#2 - 720
#3 - cancelled
#4 - 750

AjiteshArun · Answer

Firstly, congrats on the 750! As for the score reporting process:

The GMAC does not make cancelled scores available to the prrograms chosen during a GMAT that was cancelled either on test day or during the cancellation window (72 hours). Moreover, the GMAC never sends any scores obtained in the future without authorization. For example, let's say you chose programs A, B, and C on your first attempt and chose C, D, and E on your second (C was chosen both times).

If neither attempt was cancelled :
1. C, D, and E will see  both  scores.
2. A and B will see only the  first  score.

If the first attempt was cancelled :
1. C, D, and E will see only the  second  score.
2. A and B will not see  either  score.

If the second attempt was cancelled :
1. A, B, and C will see only the  first  score.
2. D and E will not see  either  score.

In your case: any program that can see your 750 will also see your 720 for as long as it (the 720) is valid (5 years from the day you took the exam). However, if at any point in the process your target programs ask you to disclose the number of times you took the GMAT, you should (don't try to "hide" anything).

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

I agree that it does not matter when you send your scores.

If you have any further questions, feel free to reach out.

Good luck with your applications.

gmat1393 · Answer

Congratulations  MyNameIsJoe1  on the 750! Its a phenomenal score
All the best for your applications!

ccooley · Answer

Congrats on the 750! That's fantastic.

It doesn't matter when you send your scores, as long as you send them prior to your school's deadline.

Schools will never see any of your canceled scores, and they'll never be able to tell that you took the test on that day. Any school you send your scores to now will see exactly two scores: your 720 and your 750.

It's completely normal to have two official GMAT scores (i.e. to take the test twice.) (Here's a lot more detail about that:  https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/retake-the-gmat/ ) Since you canceled two of your scores, as far as schools can tell, you've only taken the test twice. Particularly since your score improved from the first test to the second, that's not a problem at all.

sanzee313 · Answer

Hi , 
I had initially planned to take it in September. But I realized that it won't be possible until December end. 
Would you suggest if I were to apply this year at all , will there be scope, as round 2 for most college closes by January and then it takes around a month to get the score after the test and Apply in universities.

Thank you

Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi sanzee313,

Most Business Schools don't actually 'require' access to your Official Score Report on the first day after the application deadline ends. Since Admissions Committees often take weeks (or even months) to decide who to invite to School, as long as you have your application in before the deadline and you've taken the GMAT before the deadline, you will probably be fine. In some cases, Schools will even accept a 'late' GMAT Score (after the deadline has passed) as long as the rest of your application is in on time. If you think that you might face such an issue with your applications, then you should contact each School directly and ask for the Schools policy on such issues.

Before I can offer you any additional advice for your studies, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) On what dates did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

sanzee313 · Answer

Hi , 
 I really appreciate you clearly answered my question, so I had been studying a bit of English from GMAT club 700 level for all 3 sections , I won't say my accuracy is very high for them , but for the easier level questions i feel it's high. 
Coming to quants, I had don't the concepts and questions from the Kaplan book , but it's not enough ,
I find the 600 level questions here hard and time consuming.
I have not given any mocks cats yet and I have my exam on December mid , to aim for round 2 .

Can you please tell me what approach I should use.

Regards,
Sanzee

Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi sanzee313,

Many Test Takers become too fixated on the 'implied level' of the questions that they're working on - instead of what really matters: defining WHY they're getting questions wrong and becoming more efficient at approaching the overall Exam. It's also worth noting that just because a 3rd party describes a question as "700 level" does not necessarily make it so.

To score at a high level on the GMAT, you have to have a variety of skills (more than just content knowledge) and the only way to properly assess whether you have those skills or not is to take FULL-LENGTH CATs under realistic conditions AND at regular intervals. That initial Diagnostic CAT Test will help to define some the 'weak spots' that you might need to work on - including pacing, endurance, focus, note-taking, stress, ability to 'let go' of a question, etc. Right now, we have no measure of your skill level in those areas and it's better to know about them earlier on (so that you can spend more time 'fixing' them) than discovering them too late in the process.

Thus, it would be a good idea for you to take a FULL-LENGTH practice CAT Test; you can take 2 for free at www.mba.com (and they come with some additional practice materials). That score will give us a good sense of your current strengths and weaknesses and will help provide a basis for comparison as you continue to study. A FULL CAT takes about 3.5 hours to complete, so make sure that you've set aside enough time to take it in one sitting. Once you have those scores, you should report back here and we can come up with a study plan. You can also feel free to contact me directly if you prefer.

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi sanzee313,

Regarding your timeline, I think that it would be helpful to get a baseline score. Thus, in short order, would you be able to take a full-length MBA.com practice exam and report back with your score breakdown? Once you do, I can provide some further advice.

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When should I send GMAT score to schools?

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