Accepted Admissions Consulting Blog
Admissions consulting and application advice
You’re running out of time to reserve your spot for this afternoon’s free webinar, That GMAT Score: Implications for Your MBA Application.
Linda Abraham is going to analyze 4 different applicant case studies focusing on their GMAT scores and the question of retaking or not.
So register for That GMAT Score: Implications for Your MBA Application and mark your calendars now!
The webinar will take place today, Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 5:00 PM PT / 8:00 PM ET.
We’ll be hosting our MBA webinar, That GMAT Score: Implications for Your MBA Application, on Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 5:00 PM PT / 8:00 PM ET.
If you are applying to b-school and struggling to understand how your GMAT fits into your MBA profile and the rest of your application, then you won’t want to miss this event.
During the FREE webinar, Linda Abraham, Accepted.com founder/CEO and GMAT number decoding expert, will be offering specific advice on how to prepare for the GMAT, analyze your score, determine if and when you should retake the exam, and more.
Reserve your spot for That GMAT Score: Implications for Your MBA Application now!
Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best
Examine the details of your scores and reflect on them in the context of a bigger picture.
A low GMAT score or a low GPA is not necessarily an MBA deal breaker. No adcom is going to admit or dismiss a candidate based solely on one semester’s poor GPA or a low verbal GMAT score without also reflecting on other numbers as well as the rest of the non-quantitative parts of the applicant’s profile. Average numbers vary according to school, as well as numbers within your demographic group. You should examine each of these aspects needs and weigh the strengths and weaknesses in your application before you can really start to worry. And once you’re worrying, figure out how to respond to those concerns.
That being said, there are certain numbers that will be significant hurdles. Say, for instance, you have a GPA of 2.9 and your top choice MBA program’s GPA average is 3.5. In such a case, your chances of acceptance have just taken a major hit. If, on the other hand, that same applicant applies to a b-school with a GPA average of 3.2, then he or she may have a chance of acceptance, provided, the rest of the application is solid, or better yet, above average.
Here’s another “it depends” situation: Overrepresented demographics—Indian engineers or investment bankers from over-represented ethnicities—will have a harder time getting into a top MBA program than a corporate finance executive from an under-represented background with the same stats. In such a case, a GMAT score in the lower part of the school’s 80% range and a GPA of 3.3 may be just too low for one person and just high enough for another.
The point is, you need to examine the details of your scores and reflect on them in the context of a bigger picture. Ask yourself these questions:
• Is one score low, but balanced out by other higher numbers? Can you provide other evidence of academic ability?
• Did your overall GPA improve as you matured through the college experience?
• Do you have flawlessly-written, compelling essays that prove your strong writing and communication skills despite a somewhat lower-than-average GMAT verbal score?
• Do you offer specific examples and anecdotes in your essays that highlight your quantitative skills, even though your GMAT quant scores weren’t as high as you’d like?
• Do your recommenders vouch for your abilities—especially ones that the numbers don’t reveal?
• Have you chosen schools that will view your scores as competitive?
• Have you taken additional college courses in an attempt to boost your quant or verbal capabilities?
• Have you written the optional essay to further boost your competitive edge?
You need to assess and interpret how you’ll be perceived with such scores and numbers, and then develop an application strategy to address those issues.
Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best
Do you know how your GMAT score will affect your chances of gaining admission to your top choice MBA program? Have you taken the test and are contemplating taking it again? Are you curious to know what the adcom members think when they see scores like yours?
It sounds like you could use some expert advice.
Join us on Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at 5:00 PM PT / 8:00 PM ET for That GMAT Score: Implications for Your MBA Application, a free webinar during which we will explore the intricacies of GMAT scoring and answer the questions above.
Spaces are limited – reserve your spot for That GMAT Score: Implications for Your MBA Application now!
Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best
Your final opportunity to put your best verbal face forward.
Recently I talked about overcoming the challenge of a low GMAT quant score. Today we’ll discuss how to handle a less-than-perfect verbal score.
With such a strong emphasis on teamwork and communication in b-school (and for the rest of your life as a successful businessperson), it’s no wonder that stellar written and spoken verbal skills are essential for MBA students.
If your verbal GMAT score is low (in the bottom of the 80% range or lower for your target programs), then you will need to construct expressive, flawlessly written essays. Maybe you couldn’t prove it with your test performance, but now’s your final opportunity to put your best verbal face forward. In addition, be sure to include examples and anecdotes that highlight your solid communication skills.
There are two more steps you can take if you’re worried that your low verbal score may interfere with your chances of acceptance:
Read other articles in this series:
Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best
A low quant score on the GMAT (at the lower end of the school’s 80% range) is never good news, but it doesn’t equal immediate rejection. As I’ve mentioned in the past, no single score is scrutinized independently, but rather your entire profile is examined as a unified package.
Interpret your scores as an adcom member would: Is the rest of your profile stellar? Do you have solid grades in quant-related courses? Is it possible that you’re just not great at standardized tests? Is your score perhaps not so low for people in your demographic group? Are you applying to schools where the average GMAT score is not far off from your lower-than-you-would’ve-wished score?
The following three tips are good strategic practices that you should utilize if you find yourself with a low quant score:
1. First, you MUST improve your quantitative abilities or demonstrate that you have them in some other way. In b-school and in the business world at large, knowing how to crunch numbers is essential. You’ll need to act quickly to show you are equipped for a spot in their next b-school class. Enroll in a calculus, statistics and/or accounting class at your local community college ASAP. (Make sure you have the prerequisite skills; you will need to earn an A! If you have time, also take additional quant-oriented courses, like finance or economics.
2. Next, in your resume and essays, highlight quantitative aspects of your work to further demonstrate your quant proficiency. Use vivid details, examples, and anecdotes that will prove to the adcoms that your low quant score was a fluke, and that it’s clear to you and those who work with you that there are no quant problems here.
3. Finally, ask your recommenders to highlight your quantitative achievements as well. Having a respected third party vouch for your skill will help you immensely.
Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best
Washington University School of Law’s Online LLM program just got in touch with us to tell us about their new study aid, Spotify Playlist, a compilation of late baroque era classical music including works by Bach, Beethoven, Handel, and Vivaldi.
The playlist was created based on a Stanford study that shows that certain types of music engage different areas of the brain and can improve skills such as paying attention, making predictions, and memory.
Check out Wash U’s blog post on Spotify Playlist here.
An Attention Enhancing Study Playlist provided by @WashULaw, an online LL.M Degree
Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best
What kind of prep does it take to get a good GMAT score?
You have signed up for the GMAT and you want to know: what GMAT materials should I use? What kind of prep does it take to get a good GMAT score? First of all, remember the Great Law of Mediocrity: if you do only what most people are willing to do, you will get only what most people get. If you want outstanding results, this requires outstanding preparation: not an attitude of “what’s the least I can do?” but rather “what else can I do?” The GMAT is hard — not impossible, but a good challenge, and with the proper preparation and enthusiasm, you bring your best to it.
Materials
Start with the best GMAT books and resources. That would no doubt include the Manhattan GMAT books, which are perhaps the finest GMAT prep source in print. I’ll also recommend a free GMAT ebook that summarizes the basics you need. In addition, it’s important to have a proper GMAT study plan, which will allow you to organize all this material and use it efficiently.
Play to your … weaknesses!
During your GMAT prep, you should give particular attention to those areas in which you have not traditionally shown strength. If you are a math whiz, then shore up you your Verbal. The best thing you can do for GMAT Verbal is simply read every day: the Wall Street Journal and the Economist magazine, periodicals with which you will have to be familiar when you are a manager, are obvious choices for anyone’s GMAT reading list. In everything you read, analyze grammar and sentence structure, and also analyze the structure of arguments.
If you are a verbal maven, then focus on math. As you probably know, you don’t get a calculator on the GMAT Quantitative section. Do mental math every day, ordinary arithmetic in your head. Practice estimation in real life situations. Study the graphs that accompany articles in the WSJ or Economist — you will need to understand graphs just like this on the GMAT Integrated Reasoning. Remember that the skills required on the GMAT are, in many ways, the skills a manager uses every day: look for the real world intellectual challenges that might be facing a good manager, and reflect on how you might puzzle through them.
The success mindset
Overall, preparing for a successful GMAT performance requires focus, dedication, and commitment — not unlike what brings success in many business undertaking. The sooner you can cultivate the managerial mindset in yourself, the more you will understand the GMAT not as an external obstacle but rather as part and parcel of the challenges you are embracing in pursuing this career. Best of luck to you!
This post was written by Mike McGarry, resident GMAT expert at Magoosh. For more advice on taking the GMAT, check out Magoosh’s GMAT blog.
Back in October of last year, ETS (the GMAC of the GRE) posted an important press release on its website regarding the increasing popularity of the revised GRE for business school admissions: http://www.ets.org/newsroom/news_releases/gre_acceptance.
Now that MBA programs at top schools like Stanford and Harvard are accepting GRE scores as well, many students are weighing the relative difficulty of the two exams, especially for the Quantitative sections.
Both the GRE and the GMAT test math. What’s the difference? There’s a lot to consider when assessing the GRE versus the GMAT. Well, first of all, the GRE is a more verbal test — after all, it’s a test for poets and literary critics, people who live for obscure words and impenetrably sophisticated phrasing. Correspondingly, the GRE has a truly stratospheric level of vocabulary. By contrast, vocabulary is not a huge issue on the GMAT. The GMAT is for folks going to business school, so it tends to have more difficult math than does the GRE. Someone with stronger verbal skills might therefore contemplate taking the GRE for business school, but if you choose this somewhat unconventional path, you should check whether each school on your list accepts the GRE.
The question formats
Part of the difference on the Quant sections of these two tests involves questions of different formats. Both feature five-choice multiple choice questions — no surprise here, as every standardized test in your life since before puberty has featured these same questions! Beyond that common format, the tests diverge. The GRE features a three specialized math question formats: Quantitative Comparison, Multiple Answer, and Numerical Entry; each of these demands a slightly different set of skills, so overall, studying for GRE math involves great intellectual agility.
The GMAT, on the other hand, has a unique math question format: Data Sufficiency. This question, using basic math as the subject matter, tests skills that are pertinent to the delegating mindset of a good manager. In addition to the Quant section, the GMAT also demands math-type skills in a whole other section: the GMAT Integrated Reasoning. Studying for GMAT math involves learning these questions types as well as the demands of the sections.
In addition to the format of individual questions, there’s another important different in the format of the test overall. The GMAT Quant section employs Computer Adaptive Testing: as you move through the section, the difficulty of the questions will dynamically adjust to how you are doing. If you are doing very well, you get harder questions on average, and if you are struggling, you get easier questions. This has the direct consequence: once you answer a GMAT math question, it’s gone forever — you can’t go back to it. By contrast, the GRE gives you a whole Quant section at once, fixed once you get it, so you can jump around, skip questions and come back to them later.
The content of the Quant sections
There is tremendous overlap in the content of the GRE and GMAT Quant sections. Both test basic number properties, fundamental algebra & geometry, and basic probability. The GMAT goes a little more in depth with difficult algebra (e.g. variables to powers) as well as with word problems about rates, mixtures, work, and interest. Percents are huge on the GMAT, because they are huge in the business world. The GRE has Data Interpretation questions mixed into the Quant section, so a GRE Quant section will have more on graphs and charts than will the GMAT Quant section — but, then again, the GMAT test taker will see that material on the GMAT Integrated Reasoning section.
Anyone studying for one of these tests could certainly gain some insight from the practice materials for the other. If you haven’t done math since some time in high school, you have a good deal of math to relearn for either test, and with the right test prep material, you should master the Quant you need to know!
This post was written by Mike McGarry, resident GMAT expert at Magoosh. For more advice on taking the GMAT, check out Magoosh’s GMAT blog.
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