What's the real scoop? I know bschools say that the GMAT isn't everything, but at what score can you feel reasonably confident that you don't need to improve it (and thus focus on essays, etc.)?

650? 680? 700? Your target school's mean score?

A 700 score with an eightieth percentile on both sides of the test is considered to be a competitive score. Once scores start creeping into the mid-700s, scores start helping. Similarly, once scores start falling to the mid-600s they can start to become a bit damaging. These are broad generalizations. We have seen candidates with scores in the high-500s get accepted to Stanford and Harvard and candidates with scores in the high-700s get rejected by these same schools. It is a cliché but MBA programs do indeed look at your entire profile.

Sincerely,
Jeremy Shinewald
MBA Mission

www.mbamission.com
646-485-8844

Thank you. So say you get a 700 and your target school's mean GMAT is 700. Would you retake it?

Thank you for your latest inquiry.

Your GMAT score cannot be understood in a vacuum. If you have a 700 and a school has a 700 average, then you are probably in good shape. However, if you had a low quant score or if your grades were lower than average, those would be two examples of times when you might consider retaking the exam. There really are a lot of variables in this decision.

Sincerely,
Jeremy Shinewald
MBA Mission

www.mbamission.com
646-485-8844

How about the low verbal scores??
I have a GMAT score of 700, with Quant score of 51 and Verbal score of 32. And my acads (Engineering BS equivalent) are not so gud too, being 3.0/4.0.

My quant score has fallen between the 60th and 79th percentile on the practice CATs that I have taken recently. I scored in the low 700s with a 43 quant score when I took the first GMAT Prep CAT. Would a quant score in that range be considered damaging?

I received As and A+s in nearly all of the math/ statistics/ econ classes that I took in college (at a large public university) and now work in a finance-related field. Will those aspects of my application help?

Again, I would say that all decisions need to be made within context and not in a vacuum. That written, in a vacuum, generally it is best to have an 80th percentile on both sides of test. However, if your score is going to be lopsided, then a lower quant score is always a bigger problem. Generally, there is more emphasis placed on the quant side, as candidates who can’t manage the quantitative curriculum are often in more trouble than candidates who struggle with the verbal side.

Sincerely,
Jeremy Shinewald
MBA Mission

www.mbamission.com
646-485-8844