T20 b schools open to low-ish GMAT

Hi WSO,

What are some top business schools that are most accepting of a sub-par GMAT? I recently scored a 710 on the exam - I know this isn’t a terrible score but given the current “GMAT arms race” among the top Business schools I’m looking to choose my target schools wisely. Moreover, the GMAT is probably the worst part of my application - I’ll spare all of the details but think 3.6 GPA, top 25 School, CPA, ECs with leadership positions, etc. I’m a white male for what it’s worth.

I heard Fuqua, Tuck, and Darden are schools who tend to evaluate their candidates more holistically while Columbia, Wharton, and Kellogg have more of a “750 GMAT or bust” mentality. As mentioned, I’m looking to choose my schools wisely as I might only get one shot at this. Anyone else have similar experiences/get accepted to a T20 school with a similar gmat score?

 
Best Response

I've been doing some playing w/ the numbers from Clear Admit's "Livewire." The data's limited, but it's probably at least as good as Random Opinions on the Internet.

The chart just includes records of applicants who were accepted or rejected w/ numbers around yours (3.6-3.8 & 700-720).

Looks like the only schools with obvious opinions on scores like those were HSW and Columbia. These numbers did pretty well at Booth, Duke, and a few other places.

Obviously apps are about more than scores, but to the heart of your question, it a 710 might not be the liability poets & quants would have you believe it is.

You're likely a 'GPA-high splitter' at most of these schools, so the analysis we did on that topic today might be of interest--you can read about it here:

https://www.admitbrain.com/blog/clear-admit-livewire-data-high-gmat-low…

trying to make applying to b-school less bad at https://www.admitbrain.com/
 

Wow, terrific analysis. Great to see I have a decent shot at a few of these schools, it’s no surprise that Wharton, HBS, and Columbia have the lowest acceptance rate of this range of scores, considering they are the schools that have reputations of overemphasizing the GMAT. Also seems like Tuck REALLY emphasizes fit above all else, based on their “wtf” results. Either way, thanks for giving hope!

 

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