Took GMAT yesterday -- retake?

[japnasethi]

Hi there,

I was just spending the last hour reading this forum so I thought I'd post my results, too. Good job on replying to these so fast by the way - such dedication!

I took my GMAT yesterday and got 720 (49Q 79%, 40V 91%, 8IR) and I'm sure my AWA is 5 or 6. I'm happy with my quant score but, on my MGMAT practice CATs, I was scoring slightly higher on verbal (42-43) and lower on quant (44-45). I'm wondering if I should retake in 31 days to improve verbal and get >720. I took the MGMAT prep course and studied 20hr/wk for ~1.5 months afterwards so I'm not sure how much more I can improve V score.

Background:
1) Indian American female
2) 3.7 undergrad GPA in Materials Science (with Dept. Honors) from Northwestern U, IL (showed improvement from B's to A's from freshman to jr/sr yr) and Cert. in Entrepreneurship; completed two theses: Materials Science & Eng. and Women's Studies (I was a class short on obtaining my minor in women's studies, lol)
3) working in Product Marketing and Management role in an established semiconductor company in California --achievements: a) team lead for all competitive analysis which requires cross-functional collaboration resulted in my being employee of the month; b) streamlined process of monitoring competitors and made it easier for colleagues to access competitive information; c) managed a product life cycle for a product upgrade from concept to design phase (will be in production next year);
4) volunteer: mentoring program to encourage young girls into STEM careers (right now we're focused on underprivileged girls and our program is growing but I want to expand to other school districts and widen the scope of our target students)
5) other activities not sure if worth mentioning: a) been learning Japanese for one year, continuing; b) avid rock climber and martial arts trainee -- hoping to reach mentor level

I'm hoping to apply to b-school in Sept 2015 for entrance in fall'16. In the meantime, I want to take on more projects at work and maybe change industries to be a faster-paced work environment. My target school is Cal (my father went to Haas) and reach school is Stanford. I want to stay close to small business and high-tech environment because I'd like to participate in developing technology and building it from a small to large scale (my current role is helping me learn fundamentals).

Right now, I'm still early in my career so GMAT is the only part of application that is complete. I'm considering retaking it (should I?) just to beat Stanford average (>730) but I'm also thinking of taking GRE now since Cal (and Stanford, actually) among other schools have some pretty interesting dual degree programs (engineering/MBA) although I'm not 100% if its right for me. Should I study more and retake GMAT or should I move on from GMAT and just try for GRE now? If so, what kind of GRE score should I shoot for in each section (I have no clue since they don't publish GRE scores for b-schools yet)?

Thanks for the advice,
Japna

[japnasethi]

Oh also forgot to mention that i am flexible about application timeline (meaning that I might apply in 2016 instead of 2015). Just depends on my career opportunities and growth trend at the point. I was worried about my GMAT score because I'm thinking that by 2016, Stanford and Cal average GMAT score might be even higher than it is now and I would be at even more of a disadvantage....

[mbamissionjenK]

Hello,

Thanks for sharing and glad you've been enjoying the board. ;) CONGRATS on the 720 GMAT, that is excellent and just about at the average of all top b-schools in the world.

Normally I wouldn't advise a re-take at a 720 at all! It's not as though a 720 is likely to keep you OUT of a top program, you know what I mean?? Generally if they really liked you and the rest of your profile was really strong, it's less likely they'd say well that 720 isn't cutting it..... and those who don't get in at that level usually have other weaknesses or other stronger applicants outshine them in more areas than just GMAT....all that said, if you really feel you can boost it a fair amount and have the time and want to go for it, it can't hurt.... schools take the highest score. So may be up to you and your drive to improve vs wanting to be done with GMAT. ;) As for GRE, have you confirmed you'd definitely need the GRE even though you have the GMAT under your belt, for the dual degrees? If so you can likely find the GRE scores for the program, or a similar grad degree at that school (say engineering program), or at least ask the admissions office for last year's profile/scores. Ideally you'd want top percentiles, just as you would for the GMAT! (To see what GRE scores correlate with what percentile there is a chart online on the testmaker's website).

You've got strong grades; some team lead experience in addition to technical/quant/analytical skills; quality volunteering experiences to draw from. I think the piece I'm still not totally clear on is the WHY... you've started to explain that, but I'd encourage you to dig deeper and work on that in the coming year-- do some research into options/paths you might take post-MBA to ensure you have a clear and compelling story there.

Let us know how else we can help, and as you may know you are welcome to sign up for a free 30 minute consultation at any point in the coming year for more advice if you'd like (http://www.mbamission.com/consult.php).

Good luck to you!

[japnasethi]

Thanks for the reply Jennifer. I found it really helpful and I felt better about myself. Honestly, I thought that my profile and my future plan didn't really seem to match up with what I thought top b-schools wanted; I was thinking I'd have to do something amazing like cure cancer or something (joke joke joke >.<) but your confidence was uplifting.

I thought about it for a while and I probably won't retake the GMAT. I could probably reach 750 within a couple weeks but I don't think there is much of a difference between 720 and 750. Right now, I'm concentrating on finishing projects at work and really ramping up my volunteer participation as the new school year starts.

Question: You asked if I was sure those dual degree programs don't take the GMAT. I was told that ONLY b-school admissions accept the GMAT and if you want to apply to dual degree programs, then you need to take GRE (I am excluding law and med dual programs here). I didn't specifically ask Cal/Stanford admissions if they WOULD accept GMAT for the graduate school. Should I? Do they make exceptions in cases like this or is GRE a hard, fast rule?

[mbamissionjenK]

Happy to help!

I honestly don't know the specific requirements of which exams for dual-degree options and some exam requirements do vary from school to school so it doesn't hurt to ask! GMAT is def for the MBA, sure, and sometimes used for Masters in Finance, Management, and other similar areas of study. Yes GRE is often used for other grad programs. But for dual degree I wasn't sure if you always need to take TWO exams as for example, many b-schools now accept the GRE instead of GMAT if desired... so there is some potential overlap there and if you already have one exam score you could ask if it is still necessary to take the other.

Good luck!!