Should I take Gmat or focus on case practice?
Hi all,
I go to a semi-target university and am majoring in Econ with Accounting minor.
I did not even get an interview with BCG or Bain. I have 3.85 (3.95 econ GPA) but I think my lack of experience, sucky cover letter, and low SAT score hurt my chance.
I am currently interning at a ML private banking and will be interning at either PwC or PIMCO this summer. I am also a VITA tax preparer if that holds any weight.
I expect hitting very close to 3.9 by Fall.
Everything seems in line except for my SAT score which is about 2000.
I feel like scoring high on the GMAT will mend this damage while demonstrating my intellectual abilities, willingness to get an MBA and lastly that I am a strong candidate even for MBA admissions.
BUT, at the same time, I feel like I should solely focus on case interviews. Time I spend on studying GMAT will help me with the interview in many ways, but it is still time that could have been spent on practicing and reading over cases.
How much weight do interviewers place on these standardized testing scores?
Should I just focus on prepping for case interviews with all that I have on my resume?
Thanks guys
hope you have a fun three day weekend :)
I know kids who have retaken the SAT for the sole purpose of listing it on their resume.
Do they even check your SAT scores? From my understanding you would have to personally release the scores to them.
It's my understanding that SAT scores won't be emphasized as much in consulting as in banking, but that they're still looked at and still matter. Coming from a non-target I'd say it's probably a bit more important too (it gives employers a means to evaluate you against their usual pool of target kids).
I'd argue that SAT scores matter just as much, if not more, to MBB as a BB bank, especially if you're not from a target.
If you're from a semi-target, the answer is yes to anything that will help you. Kill the GMAT this spring and prep for cases when you get closer to interviewing from FT. That's what I did when I struck out for an internship, and FT was much more kind to me.
do MBA programs take only the highest score?
If you are serious about getting a job at MBB, you should both nail the GMAT and prepare hard for the case interview.
Take a free practice GMAT.
If you do well, then take the real one (doesn't take prep time, but will cost a few hundred bucks). If you do poorly, consider doing some GMAT prep (although I'm not sure how study-able the GMAT is) and then take.
Then, if your score is good, list it; if not, don't.
Obviously the important thing is to get interviews, which it sounds like you've struggled with. An excellent GMAT can help matters; I can't speculate as to how likely you are to get an excellent GMAT score.
Got an offer from one MBB but didn't even get an interview with another. Heard it was because of a GPA cutoff. Rumor was >700 on each section.
I have a similar question, I go to a target school, and my GPA is not stellar but still pretty good. I got interviews at Oliver Wyman, but cut from MBB, and I think it's because of my SAT scores, they aren't that good.
Is it better to retake the SAT or try to get a really good score on the GMAT in order to land interviews at MBB? which would be relatively easier to accomplish??
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