Request for Profile Evaluation (670 GMAT)

[michaeld487]

Dear Admissions Consultant,

I wanted to gauge my prospects for admission to a top 10 MBA program with below average GMAT scores (670, 40Q 42V) and (660, 41Q, 40V). I hold a GPA around 3.5 and graduated magna cum laude with distinction from a top 50 UG in a liberal arts major.

I held a job at an investment firm in a client facing role (with excellent references) for two years following college. I left that role and I currently hold a job at a small company (under 50 employees). I took the new job (I would prefer not to disclose the company name) because I saw an opportunity to change the organization and bring it back to high profitability (20+ year old company suffering a decline in market share).At this company, I was given a management role after creating a company turnaround business plan for the CEO. I helped change the company business model and helped increase its profits by over 5 five fold in one year with better prospects in the upcoming years. I will have EXCELLENT recommendations from the current CEO. I have more of a entrepreneurship spirt that I would like to convey in my application (and explain why I left a job at a "more or less" prestigious financial institution for a small company).

In terms of extra curricular activities--- I actually have extensive community service experience (offering free after school tutoring through community outreach programs in New York), was nominated for Volunteer Big Brother of the Year (5 year relationship), and was head of an investment club that managed a portion of our university endowment. Generally, fairly solid leadership experience.

I have a lower GMAT score (670) with a high verbal and low quant. I would like to accurately assess my prospects at the following schools. I just would like to get an idea if I am out of mind to even consider such schools. I do NOT want to take my GMATs again. I took the test twice, with extensive study in between and no large results. Additionally, my job is VERY demanding and I feel that it would take away too much time from focusing on other parts of my application.

Northwestern
NYU
Columbia
Cornell
Yale
London Business School

Do let me know your honest thoughts.

Thanks a lot.

Also: I am a 25 year old South Asian mixed race male (if that is relevant) and I received a 6.0 AWA both times I took the GMAT

[mbamission]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for writing in. It seems that you have a firm grip on your story and you want to convey that clearly in your essays to get people to look past the GMAT score. I understand you don't want to take it again, and a 670 is at the lowest point of the 80% range at Kellogg and just outside the range at Columbia and Yale. NYU, LBS and Cornell are all in range, GMAT-wise at least. Your extracurriculars and career progress do sound very promising and should make for compelling essays. I'd suggest picking one of those three where your GMAT is out of range and target it as a "far reach." Then perhaps two of the three schools from that next list, and diversify your chances with one more school where your GMAT would be less of an issue.

Best of luck,

Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

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[michaeld487]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for writing in. It seems that you have a firm grip on your story and you want to convey that clearly in your essays to get people to look past the GMAT score. I understand you don't want to take it again, and a 670 is at the lowest point of the 80% range at Kellogg and just outside the range at Columbia and Yale. NYU, LBS and Cornell are all in range, GMAT-wise at least. Your extracurriculars and career progress do sound very promising and should make for compelling essays. I'd suggest picking one of those three where your GMAT is out of range and target it as a "far reach." Then perhaps two of the three schools from that next list, and diversify your chances with one more school where your GMAT would be less of an issue.

Best of luck,

Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

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Thanks for your quick response and solid advice. Here is what I am thinking.


Far Reach
Yale
Columbia
Dartmouth

Reach
NYU
Cornell
Northwestern
London Business School
University of Chicago
Darden





Do you have any other recommendations, based on my information provided, for other top tier schools that I may be competitive for? My main concern was with a low quant. Also, do you think that applying early decision to Columbia may enhance my prospects for admission? I apologize if I am asking too many individualized questions, but I value MBA mission's advice.

Thank you for your feedback. I greatly appreciate it!

[mbamission]

Hi again,

Thanks for the further details, happy to help.

I would probably switch Yale and Northwestern on that list, and bump Chicago up to far-reach as well (I think your overall and Quant score will be a particular weakness there).

If you are committed to attending Columbia if accepted then you may want to go the ED route -- the school will say it doesn't improve your chances but getting your best application in the earliest round is only a good thing. I think NYU and Cornell are good target schools for your profile and interests.

In regards to low quant score, you can encourage your recommenders to speak to your quant skills that you use in your daily job and point to any quant college courses where you succeeded with a high grade.

Good luck!
Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

[michaeld487]

Dear Admissions consultant,

Thanks for your advice earlier. Against some better advice, I retook the GMAT and scored a 680 (10 points higher). Here is the thing tho, my quant score improved to 46 and verbal score went down to 38. Now this is odd, because my verbal score was always in the 40-44 range. On all my other official real gmat exams, my quant was 40-41, and verbal was 40 42.

Now, do you think schools will look at the highest quant and highest verbal when evaluating my candidacy (particularly Tuck, NYU, Yale, Chicago and Sloan)? Because my highest combination is 46Q 42V. If only I got those scores on my one sitting!

Particularly interested in Tuck Early Action or Columbia Early Decision.

Please do let me know what you think when you have a moment.

I appreciate your help.

[mbamission]

Hi again,

Typically MBA programs only look at your best score from one sitting. I believe that score is the most recent one, as it is the highest overall score, and the highest Quant you have to show, which we already identified as an area of weakness for you. Even though your Verbal went down it's still above 80% mark, which is an important benchmark to clear.

Best of luck,

Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

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