Hi All,

I wrote the GMAT yesterday and received a score of 660(Q39, V41). I was a bit disappointed with my Quant score which put me in the 46 percentile. Luckily i made up with a 93 percentile in verbal. I would appreciate your thoughts on a few queries listed below

1. Is the difference in my Quant and my verbal scores bad? I know that a higher verbal score is a very good thing, but i hope my quant score suffices too.

2. What are my chances of getting into my preferred schools? Do i need to retake the GMAT?

Here is my profile
1.GMAT score - 660
2. Work experience - Currently 6.5 years. I will have more than 7 years by the fall of 2014. I have worked/am currently working as a software engineer in two very reputed firms(Cognizant Technologies & Philips Healthcare) and over the last 2-3 years i have been working in a lead (albeit a technical lead) role.
3. I can get good recommendation letters
4. I can write a fairly good statement of purpose/admission essay
5. I have a good extra-curricular profile . An avid marathoner having running run a dozen half-marathons and 1 full marathon. I played tennis and volleyball at the school/college level. I have also done a couple of high-altitude trekking expeditions in the Indian Himalaya.

My preferred schools at the moment are
1. Mays Business School, Texas A &M,
2. Krannert, Purdue
3. Scheller College, Georgia Tech
4.Richard Ivey, Western Ontario
3. School of management, Boston university

Appreciate the help.

Looking at your schools, I think Purdue and Ivey are the only realistic options. Mays has a 9% admit rate. Scheller and BU have average scores around 680. I do recommend that you retake.

Personally, I think Ivey would be my choice of these five even if you had a much higher GMAT.

Thanks Duncan. I thought so too. My worry is that there is a small chance i may do worse on the retest. As far as i understand most schools take your best score. But i did hear that some schools average your scores. Is that so?

On the present score, can you recommend schools which you think are best for me? I did get a fair idea from the comprehensive list you have put on the site, but i would still like your evaluation.

I can't make a specific recommendation, since I don't know you, per personality or your career goals. I don't think you should worry about a lower score: that's very rare and schools understand that.

Purdue and Ivey are great schools. Also consider these: http://business-schools.findthebest.com/compare/25-103-112-119-155-171-200-240-318-360/Emory-University-Goizueta-GA-vs-University-of-Tennessee-Knoxville-TN-vs-University-of-Connecticut-CT-vs-Babson-College-Olin-MA-vs-University-of-Utah-Eccles-UT-vs-Rutgers-the-State-University-of-New-Jersey-New-Brunswick-and-Newark-NJ-vs-University-of-California-Irvine-Merage-CA-vs-University-of-Arizona-Eller-AZ-vs-College-of-William-and-Mary-Mason-VA-vs-Case-Western-Reserve-University-Weatherhead-OH

PS Scroll right and left on that list!

Okay. Thank you so much for the info. I will consult some more and make a decision soon. Will most likely take the GMAT again.

Hi Duncan,

Hope you can answer another quick question for me. Does it help my chances at all that i am a woman? I've heard some talk about gender ratios and diversity, but how much does this really matter? I know that my ethnic background(Indian) and my work profile(Information Technology) is far too common to make a case for diversity.

Yes, it will help you, and especially with the schools with fewer women: Utah (which also gets very few international students), Knoxville, perhaps even Babson or Emory. However gender along doesn't make up for being off target on the other key variables: there are lots of young Indians in the IT industry with lower than average GMATs.

Thanks Duncan!

Hi Duncan,

So i've decided to give the GMAT another shot. But i am a bit worried about the application deadlines. Since there has to be a gap of 31 days, the earliest i can next take the GMAT is September 8th. This leaves me barely enough time to apply for schools in the first round(I am kicking myself for not having given the exam sooner). Ofcourse i plan to have all the other parts of my application ready by then, but is it okay if i get my application in just before the first round closes? Are there any disadvantages to applying late in the first round? Or is it much better to re-adjust my expectations and apply to the schools that are more suited to my present score? After all, i think there are quite a few good schools that i can hope for.

I am sorry to badger you with so many questions, but i get such conflicting answers from my friends to these sort of queries. I hope you can clear some things for me.

Thanks in advance.

Congratulations: that sounds like a great decision. It's fine to get your application in the day before the deadline, although earlier does help a little. The main thing is to make the deadline.

I think you should apply to a range of schools: safe school, where you are well above average on all the factors, competitive schools, where you are above average on most of the factors, and stretch schools where you are above average on only one or two but have a great fit.