Disastrous GMAT score split or good enough to get what I want?
Took GMAT:
Quant: 40 scaled score, 58th percentile Verbal: 42 scales score, 95th percentile Total: 680, 86th percentile
I majored in Economics and English undergrad. Got a job at a regional bank as an analyst, been working there for two years. I want to go to a local MBA program with a good regional reputation (obv not talking Ivies or anything like that.) But I do want to concentrate in finance. Is this score disastrous and definitely deserving of a retake or should I be ok? For the B-school as a whole, I did better than their mean score and towards to top of the 80th percentile.
I guess I'm worried about my score being good, but the Quant score putting up a big enough red flag for them not to admit me, considering I want to take finance courses.
what did you have the most problems with on the quant section?
Time management, mostly. I felt like things were going alright, but I think I spent way too much time on the early questions and literally had 5 or 6 questions to go at the one minute mark. I made my best guess on 2, had 30 seconds to do the last 4. Just guessed, finished with 0:02 (they penalize you additionally if you don't finish, right?)
Also, I cannot find breakdowns of this school's verbal vs. quantitative scores anywhere. Is there a site that lists those? Is it bad form to contact the school and ask?
Thanks.
680 with a bad split is fine for all but 15-20 schools. You could get into a very good regional program without a problem.
Thank you - even when I tell them I want to concentrate in finance, this 58th percentile will be ok do you think?
Regional banking exp is pretty good. You would even have a shot at a school like UNC or Georgetown.
680 is a good enough score for most schools outside of the top 10. Just make sure you have good essays, a good resume, and can interview well if your desired school requires that. Since you already work as an analyst I don't see the 40 in quant throwing up any red flags, if you have been doing it for two years you are likely smart enough for MBA level finance courses.
Thanks a lot to all who replied!
^ This is the credited response.
I know you probably don't want to hear this, but I think you should take it again just for insurance. You have already put in a ton of time. If you studied for 2-3 days straight improving your speed on the quant questions you could easily top 700 with anything close to that verbal score. The GMAT penalizes you a lot if you don't finish...that is why time management and speed is such a crucial skill to develop, especially on the quant side.
While you will likely be fine with that score at the schools you are targeting, why not just suffer through a few more days, improve your quant score and then the rest of your application becomes much easier. Admissions can be a total crap-shoot. If you can meaningfully improve your application (I would argue putting up a 730+ on the GMAT would do that) with just a few days of hard work, when you will likely be spending weeks or months working on the essays, I think that trade-off makes sense...
I jumped 80 points from my first to my 2nd exam, so I might be a little biased, but you can become a machine at the higher level math questions through pure repetition.
Either way, good luck! Patrick
I know...I'm kind of torn, because the more I think about it if I had given up on a few questions earlier on I probably could have gotten a much better score by not having to (do so much as) guess on the last 6. Hell, answering just half of them right probably would have given me around a 65, right? Only thing is...$250. Gah...I'm going to sleep on it for now, and see what I think later.
I have to agree with Patrick. I know $250 and 3 days worth of studying and a few hours taking a test is nothing to sneeze at, but what happens if you spend all that time writing essays, interviewing, etc and get dinged because someone along the way didn't like the way your score was split (not that they will tell you that)? What do you do then, study all over, hope to get a higher score and reapply?
You will likely improve your score because you have a better understanding of the format and how the test will flow.
I say take it again while the majority of the knowledge has been recently covered by your reviews, etc.
Regards
Also, I'd greatly appreciate it if someone could explain how exactly the Analytical Writing Assessment works. I got a 5.0, which I guess is graded on a scale of 0-6, suggesting that it's good, but my percentile is just 56%. Is that normal?
Apply to LBS or Oxford. Both have avg GMAT scores at 670. It is beyond me why schools continue to throw out qualified and intelligent applicants because their GMATs are a little lower.
Re: your AWA
The percentages do make it sound scary (5.5 is in the 70's) but I was told anything above a 4 is basically the same. Though personally after seeing the 4 example in the OG I would say anything above a 5 is fine. Either way, don't worry about the AWA.
680 is a good overall score for most schools; I don't think you'll have any problem getting into regional mba programs. The econ major in UG and current finance job should alleviate any concerns the admissions people have about your quantitative abilities.
I've always heard the essay section on the GMAT is really pass/fail - it only matters if you get a 3 or lower.
Retake is approaching this weekend. Question: is it worth it to wait until AFTER I take the test, then have the score sent to my school? I am fairly confident I'll do better, but in case I do worse I don't want them to see it. I know it costs something like $30 to do this (assuming I understand the website correctly.)
Thanks to everyone for the advice, and for any help on this question.
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