BTG Scholarships are back!!

Wow this is probably the best opportunity to get save some serious $$$ and boost your GMAT numbers. Beat The GMAT is back with its legendary Beat The GMAT Scholarships 2010.

Whats in it for you?
Six scholarship packages for six winners, valued at over $8,500. Each includes a GMAT course from one of the top GMAT prep companies and a $250 GMAT voucher!

Important dates:

Last date to submit applications: May 20
Results: May 30.

Find more details here

All the best!!

Is my GMAT score good enough?

Of all the emails that I've received in the past few months, the most common questions that I'm being asked by applicants are - How good is my GMAT score? Will I get into XYZ business school with a xx0 score? and What GMAT score do i need if I want to be accepted by ABC business school?

So instead of repeating the same response, I thought I'd put out a post for the benefit of all the applicants. What all these questions really point to is the burning doubt in the minds of thousands of applicants about the weightage of their GMAT scores. Here are some of the points that I feel would be important in judging your score:

1. Is my GMAT score important? Yes it is. Business schools were having a hard time evaluating the applicants' ability to handle the rigor of an MBA curriculum. Hence the GMAT was born. GMAT provides a universal scale to evaluate the quantitative and verbal ability of a candidate and this would help the schools understand whether the candidate would be suitable for their course. Now as competition went up the scores of applicants applying to top schools went up to. But still the GMAT serves the very same purpose even today and that is to evaluate the candidates academic potential. So yes GMAT is important.

2. But really, how important is the score? I would say if your academic history does not illustrate a good level of your quantitative or verbal (English) ability then it becomes more important. For example, lets consider an applicant with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Obviously its hard to illustrate his/her ability to perform complex calculations through his/her academic coursework. Hence GMAT becomes a great medium to just do that - show the schools that the applicant is in fact capable of sailing through the MBA curriculum.

3. Is my GMAT score low? It depends on what you consider a poor score. I've come across candidates who consider 650 a poor score. A score such as this is actually pretty good. If you have taken several quant courses in the past and have a good level of English ability then a 650 shouldn't stop you from applying to the schools on your wishlist. But be aware that if you are applying to a top school there will be applicants with much higher score. So the million dollar question in fact would be, "what have I got to offer to the school that others haven't?" All things considered a score of 600+ should be a decent score that will prove to the school that you will be able to handle the curriculum.

4. How do i evaluate my score with respect to the applicant pool at a school? There are several ways to do that. One way is to check the schools' website and analyse the "student profile". Most b-school post a page on their website that shows the students' profile for the current intake. This will give you two very useful data - the mean GMAT score of the current intake and the top 80% GMAT range. The mean tells you the average GMAT score of all the applicants who got accepted, and the 80% range tells you the range of GMAT scores that are mostly accepted. So for example, if a school shows its 80% range as 580 to 680, it means that 80% of the accepted students' GMAT scores falls within this range. So if your score falls within the range, your GMAT score will not keep you from admittance. The only other possibility is if your score falls above the range in which case you are a great candidate for the school based on GMAT and if you score falls short; but you have a brilliant profile then you could still stand a chance.

Also another aspect to note is that if your GMAT score is equal to or over the mean then you need not worry about your score at all. But if your score is much below the mean say 590 as per the above example then you might need to provide further evidence of your academic potential - just to be safe!

BTW did you know that Harvard's 80% GMAT score range is between 580 and 780, which means people with 580 and even lower have got into HBS and there is a rumor that once Stanford rejected all applications with a perfect 800 score!

5. Can I overcome a low GMAT score? Of course you can! I stand as proof of this. If your score is below the school's typical intake score, you might still stand a chance. If you have a technical background, or have taken many quant courses in the past, or have extensive industry expertise or significant work experience, or have recently taken professional or quantitative courses, or are simply a brilliant candidate with an unusual profile that the school can't let go off - then don't loose hope you still can make it. In my case, my GMAT score was below the school's typical intake but I used the essays to emphasize my 6 years of technical education (engineering) and 4 years of technical work experience. Use the optional essays to your advantage to show the schools that GMAT might not be a proper indicator of your intellectual potential. A strong undergraduate GPA is another potential weapon to over power a low GMAT. Do you think a school will doubt a candidate's ability to handle their curriculum, if he/she has a 4.0 GPA? I don't think so.

So there you go, my 2 cents on GMAT scores. If you think I left out on any important aspect of evaluating the GMAT please do comment below or email me at hari4mba@gmail.com with your query/comment and I'll update this post with additional data.

Update:

Rocky was kind enough to share 2 very important pointers regarding GMAT score - thanks!. Here they are for the benefit of all:

1. A good GMAT score can be a differentiating factor for scholarships: This is very true as most scholarships are awarded on a merit basis and GMAT forms one of the important criteria for this. So if you are looking for a scholarship its best to get a high score or apply to a school where your score lingers around the top of the typical GMAT intake range.

2. Consulting firms might ask for GMAT scores when applying for a job: This falls into the gray area between fact and myth. Although i know of many consulting companies (some of the big ones) that explicitly ask for a GMAT score, many schools restrict companies from asking this to its students when they come for on-campus interviews. Be aware that what happens outside the school is not a area where b-schools have a say in. So, this goes to prove that your GMAT score might be important not only for b-school application but for future job applications as well.

My MBA application journey - From GMAT Prep to Acceptance

"Hard work certainly goes a long way. These days a lot of people work hard, so you have to make sure you work even harder and really dedicate yourself to what you are doing and setting out to achieve." - Lakshmi Mittal

The above quote by the great Mittal is really my matra and this is what i believed in when i started on this journey. There were a great deal of challenges and difficulties that i faced but what kept me going was the ultimate goal! MBA is what i wanted to do, this would take me to my destination and i wanted to give in my 100 percent to get there!

I started this blog back in February, 2009 and at that time I had no idea what was ahead of me. I still remember my first post on 9th February 2009. That was the day when I first laid my hands on the "Official Guide for GMAT Review". That was the day I promised myself that I'll put in my sole into the GMAT preparation and give-in my best shot towards my business school application.

So without further ado here is a timeline representation of some of the important events that followed that day:

Feb 9, 2009 - I prepared a GMAT gameplan - a time table of how I'll be taking on the GMAT. Ordered 5 books and dowloaded the beatthegmat flashcards by Eric. More Info

Feb 18, 2009 - Took my first Diagnostic test from the official guide. Did pretty well!

Mar 2, 2009 - Took my first GMAT CAT (GMATPrep 1 downloaded from mba.com) - didn't go well.

Mar 16, 2009 - Took my first Manhattan GMAT CAT

Apr 1, 2009 - Found out about GMAT Focus - that was a true gem!

Apr 20, 2009 - My first 700 score in a practice test!

Apr 22, 2009 - Influenced by all the GMAT gurus in the Beatthegmat community, I started an Error Log to record all my errors and started going throu' them once every 2 days along with the flash cards.

May 1, 2009 - A very anxious day indeed with GMAT in 24hrs!

May 2, 2009 - GMAT Day (Attempt 1) - scored a 640 (Q44 V34). Was disappointed with the score and decided to re-take.

May 4, 2009 - Back on with preparation! Analyzed what went wrong and tried to come up with solutions. (You can read about it here)

May 7, 2009 - Scheduled my GMAT (attempt 2) for 19th June.

June 1 to June 8, 2009 - Took 4 practice CATs and averaged around 720! It was a real moral boost.

June 19, 2009 - One of the worst days of my journey - GMAT attempt 2 - 620!! Herez some realization.

June 24, 2009 - Back in the game for another attempt. This was the first time i met Charles - the best tutor in NYC.

July, 2009 - Rigorous practice. And this time with tougher materials such as LSAT critical reasoning book, GMAT Focus, and others. (More info)

August 8, 2009 - Realized something - I'm a horrible standardized test taker. GMAT (Attempt 3) - 640, Again! (More Info) I decided to stop wasting any more time on GMAT started the b-school hunt with my 640!

August 9 to 11, 2009 - Prepared a list of parameters that would help me select 6-7 b-schools that i'll apply to. Shortlisted a few schools in Asia and Europe. (More Info)

August 15, 2009 - Prepared an outline for essays. First stop - INSEAD! Quite a bold move eh! :)

August 24, 2009 - INSEAD essays first draft - ready!

Sep 1 to 24, 2009 - went over 4 more drafts of INSEAD essays.

Sep 28, 2009 - After 6 drafts of essays, finally submitted my INSEAD application.

Sep 29, 2009 - Submitted my application to University of Hong Kong (I still haven't heard back from them :))

Oct 4, 2009 - ESADE Application submitted - after 3 drafts of essays!

Oct 6 to12, 2009 - IESE essays - done with my 3rd draft of essays.

Oct 15, 2009 - ESADE invited me to interview - this was one of my happiest moments since it was my first interview invite!!

Oct 23, 2009 - IESE Application submitted.

Oct 26, 2009 - IESE Invites me to interview within 3 days - That was the fastest response i've got.

Nov 1 to 20, 2009 - Interview preparation along with NUS Business school application essays.

Nov 5, 2009 - INSEAD dings! I kinda expected that.

Nov 13, 2009 - NUS Application submitted.

Nov 22, 2009 - ESADE Admissions interview (face to face with adcom). I still remember that day. It went amazingly well and I was quite confident on making it.

Nov 23, 2009 - IESE Interview - My longest interview but was a fantastic experience with a super friendly adcom!

Nov 25, 2009 - IESE Waitlists me and invited me to an Assessment Day on Jan 31st! It was a 2 months wait!

Nov 27, 2009 - ESADE dings me! I was totally shattered. I still have no idea why but now i understand that there is someone up there who controls your reins. Everything happens for the best!!

Dec 4 to 10, 2009 - HKUST application essays - draft 1,2 and 3.

Dec 12, 2009 - HKUST Application submitted.

Dec 15 to 31, 2009 - The dreadful WAIT!

Jan 1 to 15, 2010 - Applied to Tsinghua University in China, Interviewed and Waitlisted :(

Jan 29, 2010 - Two days before the big event - IESE Assessment day, I get dinged by HKUST!

Jan 30, 2010 - IESE Case presentation - Sample class by Prof. Mike Rosenberg from IESE B-school.

Jan 31, 2010 - IESE Assessment day - A fantastic experience interacting with 30 brilliant applicants from over 15 countries. A whole day of team activities.

Feb 1 to 10, 2010 - Waited impatiently for the IESE results!

Feb 11, 2010 - The day my dream came true - Got accepted to IESE Business school!

Like World cup is to soccer, Wimbledon is to Tennis, an acceptance is to an applicant blog. I waited 12 months for such a post and I can't be happier.

I couldn't have done any of this without the love, support, and encouragement of my parents and my girl friend. I would like to dedicate this admission to them. Amma, Appa and Vrush - this one is for you!

I also want to thank many people who have played an important part in my journey:

Eric Bahn for Beatthegmat

Charles Bibilos - my tutor

Rocky for all the support

Avi Gordon - MBA Studio and his wonderful book.

Richard Montauk, for his book

All the GMAT Gurus at Beatthegmat

ClearAdmit and Accepted for their amazing resources

The entire MBA blogging community

All my readers for their constant support and encouragement.

Alumni and Students of IESE
Nick Vujicic for inspiring me when i was low. (Check this out)
Guy Kawasaki for sharing his knowledge and teaching me a lot.

My apologies for making this post so long. If there is one take-away from my MBA application journey (apart from persistence) that I'd cherish life long is this acquired addiction of Blogging. So I'll be back here soon with another post.

Till then, hang in there and have fun!

Muchas Gracias!

My GMAT journey continues.....

Oh boy what a weekend it was!!! LAst saturday i took my GMAT and score a 640 (76 percentile) with Quant 44 (70 percentile) and Verbal 34 (69th percentile). Needless to say, i'm a bit disappointed with the score, but since i cant change the past, I've decided to tame my future and hence I'm planning to re-take it in a month or a month and a half.

But the most difficult part of retaking is that i have absolutely no idea how to change my prep or how to improve. Planning to take a couple of days to come up with a plan B that would improve my score the next time. But there is one thing that i know to improve my score. By being healthy!!! I was actually coughing my lungs out at the test center!!!

Ah anyways, I would appreciate any input from my peers at the blogosphere!!!