Tag Archives: GMAT

MBA Adcom, MBA Admissions

MBA admissions waitlisted – is the glass half full or half empty?

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It’s common to get a ‘waitlist’ notice in a competitive admissions process for a top MBA program. What’s going on and how should you handle it? First, interpret it correctly. By waitlisting, Adcoms are giving themselves an “option” on you while they wait to see who else is coming to the party. They like you, they are just not ready to commit.

How should you manage this? Remember, you do have some status. They have looked at you and liked you enough to keep you interested. This is reason to be optimistic, not to panic, and not to get needy or whiney.

Your waitlist notice probably came with instructions and these need to be followed scrupulously. If they don’t accept additional information, that’s that. If they do, then you can consider your options. If you didn’t get any guidance to the contrary, there is no harm in asking politely if there is anything you can add, or if there is any particular issue (that may be holding you back) that you might address.

In doing this, please remember that every last scrap of your interaction with Adcom is printed out and goes in your file, so ask politely once and don’t make a nuisance of yourself. If they offer you the opportunity to add something, do so promptly and stick scrupulously to the topic. You wouldn’t believe how highly touchy most schools are about being bugged by waitlistees.

Aside from any issue the school raises, it is legitimate to add something to your file if you have retaken the GMAT (and scored higher,) or if there is a significant change (of advantage to you) in your professional life. If you have been given an award or a promotion or a clear new professional opportunity that suggests you will bring in new skills and experiences, it is fair to want to add that while you fate hangs in the balance. But do not assume they will take it. Call or email to explain what the new factor will be and ask if they will allow it to be added. Unless it contravenes policy, usually they will say ‘yes’ because their motivation is to make the right decision not just to be ogres for the fun of it.

Further, if you have an offer from another school, particularly a top school, tell them. They will recognize that you will have to make a decision about School B and put down a deposit. This is likely to light a fire under them to clarify their decision one way or the other. Also it is human nature to want people that other people want. It deeply works in your favor.

MBA Adcom, MBA Admissions, MBA Admissions Book, MBA Essays

The Myth of the 800 GMAT

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I wrote this GMAT article last year on the Business Week b-school forum. It’s probably still up there somewhere, along with a firestorm of comments — gratifyingly mostly ‘agrees.’ (Speaking of gratifying, readers are still popping up on Amazon.com to say nice things about ‘MBA Admissions Strategy‘. I don’t know who you are, but thank you!)

Anyway, it’s been a year, and nothing has changed. I get the should-I-retake GMAT question from clients and prospective clients with healthy scores, so here is the article reposted:

I had a MBA admissions client recently who I’ll call Tim, and when Tim and I got talking about his admissions profile he told me he’d scored 720 on the GMAT, and then retaken the test (and scored the same again). I nearly dropped the phone. “Why would anyone ever want to retake a 720 GMAT?” I gasped.

The truth is, I know why. Candidates think the higher they score, the better their chances of admission. It seems obvious but is it right?

Yes, of course the GMAT is crucial. It tells Adcom about an applicant’s intellectual and cognitive skills, and is particularly useful in allowing easy comparison across institutions and undergraduate majors, and to some extent across cultures. Furthermore, every 10-point gain adds to candidates’ admissions prospects, and a move of 30 or so fundamentally changes which b-schools they can legitimately hope to get into. All true.

But this is true only up to a certain level, about the 700-750 range. A higher score has diminishing returns and can even – believe it or not – harm one’s chances.

Why? As I told Tim, there are two reasons. First, although the MBA is a post-graduate university degree, it is primarily professional education. Its fundamental task is to prepare and place people in business management positions, not academic positions. Managers need to be smart but, as everyone knows, the cleverest people don’t necessarily make the best managers, nor best entrepreneurs, or bankers, or consultants. Jack Welch, Herb Kelleher, George Soros, Ted Turner, etc., are smart enough. But they are not Einsteins. MBA Adcoms are not looking for brainiacs.

This explains why an ultra-high GMAT can be harmful. Scoring in the super bracket (750+) means that you are, by definition, in the 99th percentile. People who score like that are often better pure scientists or philosophers, than managers. It’s a stereotype, and perhaps a poor one, but the absent-minded professor is commonly associated with being a poor people-person and a poor manager. If you get a very high score, Adcom will be absolutely sure to thoroughly check and almost disbelieve that you are also a leader and team player and can manage adversity and do all the practical things you need to get done in a business day.

Maybe you can and do. But an extra burden of proof falls on you in this regard if you are in the GMAT super-bracket.

The second, related, problem is it takes a mix of talents to get admitted to a competitive school. The operative term here is “mix”. Academic ability is just one of many items considered, along with career potential, leadership potential, team player profile, work experience, volunteer experience, profile diversity, and so on. Academic ability is definitely a requirement, but so are many other attributes. This reflects the multifaceted demands of a real business career.

People who obsess with improving an already 700+ GMAT are, almost certainly, taking time and effort away from improving the rest of their admissions profile.

This is how it works: a threshold is reached at around (depending on GPA results and other  variables) the 700 level, where Adcom can safely put a check mark next to your academic ability, and move on to see what else you offer. If you are too far below the school’s average GMAT, yes, nothing else you are, do, or say will count. But once you hit the threshold, it’s pointless to keep knocking in that nail. A higher GMAT won’t check any other box than “cognitively capable” and chances are it’s already checked at 700. A super-score is not going to help you if your recommendations are so-so, your essays are undeveloped, and you stumble in your interview. Adcom greatly prefers “balanced good” to “unbalanced excellent.”

This also explains why there is more malleability in the GMAT rating than most candidates realize. If the rest of your application is good, and your undergraduate record is in the right range, you can be up to 40 or 50 points below the school’s published GMAT average (providing not too lopsidedly in Math or Verbal.)

Obviously, the published average means that half of accepted applicant’s scores are below that mark.

Bottom line: It makes sense to be very concerned with the GMAT until it is within the guidelines of your target program. Then forget about it and spend time on other aspects of your application.