GMAT Scores
May 22, 2012 Leave a comment
The topic of GMAT scores is an interesting one, because I’ve seen it both make and break an MBA candidate. I’m not going to repeat the sound advice already available on the internet, for example from MBA Apply’s blog posting. We all know about the magical 700 number and its ability to make you eligible for the top business schools.
But what about those who are just below (680-690)? What about (620-680)? Below 620? I’m going to say some pretty unconventional things about these GMAT scores, so brace yourself.
If you’ve scored 680-690, you’re probably feeling pretty annoyed. I mean, you know you can hit or beat 700. And you know that the adcoms know that you could beat 700. They’d probably be totally ok with a 680 or 690, especially if your admissions package is glowing everywhere else. But what if your next try is just unlucky? You could score less. It might take 2 or 3 tries. And if you just leave it alone at 690, it’s going to affect your confidence for the next several months or however long until you actually apply. It’ll make every little aspect of your candidacy look less attractive and less significant. Your 3.6 GPA suddenly looks too low. The fact that you’re 1 year older than the average 27 year-old applicant is going to make you feel like an old bag. Your work experience is going to look so meaningless and when you go to Businessweek forums, you’re going to convince yourself that if people who have started 2 companies and solved world hunger aren’t getting into a top 10, then you have no chance. If you get past the application process, you’re going to overanalyze every blink, shift, and expression on the face of your interviewer. And for whatever reason, you don’t get into the schools of your choice, you’re going to beat yourself up for not hitting 700, because that’s got to be the reason why you didn’t get admitted. You will think this, even if you know that an adcom wouldn’t be stupid enough to compare a 690 application vs. a 700 application based on GMAT score alone. But at least it would be one less thing to count against you. Go get your 700. Not for the score or for the adcom, but for your confidence and your sanity. Get it no matter how many tries it takes. What? No way?! (See below)
If you’ve scored 620-670, you’re probably already thinking you have no chance at a top 10. 30 more points sounds like a stretch even if you managed 670. But anything below that and you’re already starting to adjust your expectations. You’re starting to look at backup schools and trying to picture your life in the future as something less than awesome. Well stop wasting your time daydreaming about what you don’t want, and do the work necessary to get what you want. Take a prep course, or if you already have, try a completely different approach and talk to other folks who’ve taken the test several times and managed to see improvement. Whatever it is, and no matter how many attempts, try your hardest to break 700. Conventional wisdom says (and what adcoms will tell you) is that they only think you should take a GMAT once or twice and that any more is probably not going to help you. Well, think about it, what are they supposed to tell you? Take GMAT as many times as you can until you get 700, THEN apply to our school? They would make the GMAC very rich!
Here is a seemingly counterintuitive way to look at a 700 score from 2 different applicants. One applicant, Jack, got 700 after taking his GMAT 5 times. Another applicant, John, got 700 on his first GMAT attempt. Now, all else equal, the two scores communicate two different positive messages to the adcom reviewing the packages. Jack got 700 but he took so many tries. It would have been nice for him to do it on the 2nd or 3rd try, but he took 5 attempts. He obviously has the chops to score 700 and probably the rest of his package, based on other achievements, clearly indicates it too. Wait, isn’t one of the attributes we look for in a business leader = tenacity? He didn’t give up and successfully attained his goal. That’s the stuff of leaders. And he has proven that he has this stuff! John also scored 700, and he is clearly smart since he did it on his first try, but he may not have necessarily displayed tenacity in any other part his application. We might give him an interview to find out, and then admit him. Or maybe we’ll interview him, and then put him on the waitlist.
Now, if you tried many times and can only hit the high 600′s but need to apply soon.. at least feel confident that you have the guts and the persistence to try that many times. It’s that much more effort you’ve put into the process and as long as there’s some improvement in your score, the adcom will view it more favorably than not (assuming other aspects of your MBA are compelling)
If you’ve scored below 620, you’re probably thinking about not even wasting time and application dollars on top 10 schools. Well, I would still argue for you to try as hard as I suggest above, because even top 25 schools will be looking for a lot of the same traits and confidence I mentioned. And you may very well be able to hit the high 600′s or even 700 altogether. I have known friends to successfully start at the low 600′s and break 700. More importantly, it’s about not regretting having tried too little, which for many is exactly what the MBA is about. You want something different. You don’t want to just truck along on the same path forever. Most people who go after an MBA are ambitious in at least some fiber of their being and the regret of not trying harder would kill them.
As you can see, I’ve taken much more of a state-of-mind approach when thinking about GMAT scores. Because it can totally ruin your attitude about the MBA application process and even worse, destroy your confidence. You have a choice. Let it defeat you, or command success. Every top 10 MBA alumni will tell you they opted for the latter.
If you’ve perused some of the Businessweek forums where people with 740 GMAT scores and 3.9 GPAs didn’t even get interviews.. then you should know that adcoms don’t even take the score as seriously as we do. Take it seriously, but don’t ever let it touch your confidence. Confidence is part of the intangibles that adcoms look for in applications and interviews. And as I mentioned in my post MBA gone wrong, the intangibles are what make business leaders, not GMAT scores.
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