should I include my verbal score on resume

I am a PhD from a top 10 program, where Mck did not visit our campus, but did send recruiting information to our department. Well, now the only thing may hurt me will be my GRE score, which I took 7 years ago. And I am applying for the insight program next month, so no time for me to retake it. I had a math score of 760/800, and a verbal score of 450/800 (pretty low). Technically, I am asked to list my GRE score on my resume. In this case, can I only list my math score? I am afraid my verbal score might just kill my interview opportunity.

 
Best Response

That's tough. Basically, your options are these: 1. List the composite score - 1210, which isn't so hot. 2. List both splits. At least they'll know you're good at math. 3. List only the quant score, making sure it's designated as such. They'll assume the verbal is bad and that you're not great at following directions (dicey). 4. Retake the GRE or the GMAT. People have studied for both in a few weeks and been successful. This is the option I would pursue. There's nothing to lose, except a few hundred bucks. MBB recruiting is tough. Give yourself a shot.

Things you can't do: 1. Ignore it and hope it goes away. 2. List "GRE - 760" without being very explicit that it's only a quant score. This could be considered a material omission, which could disqualify you at any time in the process.

 

thanks. but my verbal is pretty bad (they assume my verbal is bad). I don't think I will do it better without any review in the last 7 years. sigh...very tough

fight for MBB
 

I would leave it off your resume, but include it on the online application since it will ask directly.

Also, even though they're not visiting your school, do not underestimate the power of networking. Reach out to alumni who work at the office you want to apply to. Having 1-2 people vouch for you will have much more weight on their decision to interview you than even a perfect GRE score.

 

Thanks. I did network pretty hard in the nearby offices as well as the offices I am going to apply. But I would not hope those guys will happen to screen my resume or give me a refer. The only thing I can do is to mention their names on my cover letter. And I don't know how much that is going to help

fight for MBB
 

should have studied harder. someone else did, and they'll get the gig

tbh, your math score isn't good, either. I just googled and a 760 quant GRE = 80-85% percentile. On resumes, generally if you're not 99th percentile or close to it, leave the test score off. Certainly if you're below 90th percentile it's not worth including.

you're applying to McKinsey, not university of phoenix

 

I would advise simply leaving the GRE scores off the resume. As someone pointed out, the quant. score isn't too great. For example, at my school, even highly non-quantitative (think cell biology, english) PhD students had scores very close to 800.

I would definitely not advise re-taking the GRE!!! I went through the same PhD recruiting process (successfully) not too long ago, although 2/3 MBBs recruit at my school. Honestly, I had to pull out my CV just to see if the GRE scores were on it -- they weren't :-).

I'll echo the comment about networking -- it really can make a huge difference, if done appropriately. Also, work hard on making your resume brief and relevant to the job.

At least at my school, McK interviews a lot of PhDs. It was hilarious how many people were invited to the first-round written test. And a very high percentage passed on to the second round. But ultimately very few got offers.

Good luck!!

 

Thank you! The information you provided was very helpful. Last Nov., I contacted a BCG consultant in Houston office. (I am on the east coast, but planning to apply BCG Houston.) Well, he was not a PhD, but an MBA. So he asked for my resume because he would like to give me a networking list in Houston office with similar PhD background. I sent it to him, without listing my GRE score. And he gave me two names. Besides, he told me he would like to pass my resume to their recruiting manager. But I was not applying last year. So I told him I would apply in the next Sep. Then he said if so he would not pass my resume because recruiting manager was changing every year.

Here is my question: My resume will not be screen in BCG Houston, because I am on east coast. Most likely, BCG NYC will screen my resume. Does that mean the connections in BCG Houston will not give me any help? Also does it mean the lack of GRE score on my resume might not really kill my interview opportunity, cuz I did not list it on the resume which I sent him?

fight for MBB
 

I would definitely keep in touch with the person who offered to send your resume to the recruiting manager. Overall, if your stats are good (decent record of accomplishments in undergrad, grad school, etc), and someone is supporting your application, you should have a good shot at being interviewed. Depending on how well you know the MBA you mentioned, you may even want to ask him for the NY recruiter's email address, just so your application doesn't get lost in the shuffle come recruiting season.

Also, talk to the people he put you in touch with. Networking can make the difference, but doing it without seeming desperate/intrusive is tricky for a lot of people.

Good luck!

 

I have a similar issue. I got a 790Q/450V/4.0AWA. I have even worse SATs since I didn't prepare for them and I was always used to taking my time on tests. (Similar Verbal&Writing and Math in the 600's). I only reviewed 3-4 hours for the Math GRE, but it definitely helped. I probably would have been in the low 700's had I ignored the preparation. It would take me a lot longer to prepare for the Verbal. I don't think I've actually read a full book cover to cover since middle school (find them boring) and I don't know 90% of the words on those tests. For applications I have been clicking N/A if there's a * saying they're required. If they aren't listed as required I ignore them. I don't think these tests are a very good measure of natural intelligence. There's definitely a correlation, but I think they could do better. The verbal mostly just shows a big vocabulary which is learned and in my opinion, pretty useless. I have pretty good pattern recognition and mental math skills, but they don't matter on these tests.

 

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