journey of a jat, the warrior

that's a shocker...which school is this?

Something doesn't seem right here. Is there something else in your academic profile that would necessitate a really high GMAT score (e.g. a very low GPA)? Most top schools will never recommend that someone with a 700+ retake (unless one section was very weak - sub 80th percentile, etc). Feel free to elaborate in a follow-up post... -Graham

Agreed! 720 is a good score. I wonder what their line of thinking was. Perhaps a higher GMAT would offset some other item they saw as a shortcoming?

Thanks guys for posting your thoughts. I am equally stumped. I don't wanna name the school, but its a well known top 15 school.

Graham (clearadmit),
Although I have a few (very few) low grades, my GPA is above 3.5
Further perplexing is the fact that they didn't tell me what would a ultra-high GMAT score offset in my application. All they said was that some of their applicants have scores above 750, so I may wanna retake GMAT.

I believe I did not receive a fair feedback, and I am thinking of raising this issue to the attention of their admission director.

Whoa! And everyone on my blog was just telling me not to stress about a super high GMAT score?!! Maybe I need to up my GMAT score goal? I hope you do speak with the Adcom about this. It seems a bit odd?

The squeeky wheel gets the grease. It's possible that they are just checking to see how you handle pressure. You may be tied closely with others who have similar averages by their scoring method, so they want to see what you can bring to the table before deciding.

720 and asked to retake? It doesn't make much sense. Perhaps your demographic has a very high average GMAT score (are you an investment banker or an electrical engineer?). I must stress that I am speculating wildly here!

If I were told that a balanced 720 on the GMAT is not sufficient, I would conclude that other parts of my application are too weak to get into that particular school. I would just apply elsewhere.

Wow good to see a fellow jat blogger !! Good luck with ur apps

That is very surprising advice. My guess is that you are from a highly competitive applicant pool and there is nothing "wrong" with your profile or qualifications. I realize this explanation is quite frustrating because you can't fix what's wrong when nothing is wrong. All you can do is try your best again, and perhaps consider applying to additional schools.

Personally, if you intend to apply to this school again, I would not go up the chain to the director.

Linda,

Appreciate you leaving comment on my blog. You are right. I belong to the most competitive applicant pool. Although its frustrating, I have decided not to pursue the matter further.

Will give bschools my best shot once more this fall. Looks like I need some luck.

That's talking Crazy man.

Wow...

I don't even know what to say. :(

Hi Jat,

I am not at all surprised, as I got the exact same feedback. My GMAT is also 720, slight imbalanced though - Quant 80+, and Verbal 90+. I too have very decent undergrad scores, though there are a couple of not so gr8 scores mixed in there. And yes, I too am an Indian IT applicant, arguably the most competitive pool to come from.

I was also told, twice, that most admitted applicants from my demographic have a GMAT of 750-760. And yes, it wasnt hinted as to what is acceptable score by their standards for my/our demographic.

Since we seem to have a couple of common schools we apped to, I think I can guess which school you are talking about. Not naming it here because you dont want it publicized.

regards,
Uday

Oh btw, I have decided not to reapp to that school; the attitude, even during the whole apping process, plainly stinks.

Uday

Geez! I thought I was the only one with such unfortunate feedback. Uday, I can totally understand your reason for not reapplying. I think some schools are trying to cash-in on high Indian GMATs to boost their overall average GMAT in order to climb up the rankings. Not fair at all!
I wish both of us lot of luck this fall; we need that.

Jatwarrior - I empathize with you .. I really do. But I feel that you should try looking at this from the Adcom's PoV as well. Since diversity is such an important factor for B-schools while allocating seats, you would be competing mostly against others of your own demographic. If, as you say, the average successful Indian IT engineer applicant at that B-school has a GMAT score of 750+, then unfortunately your GMAT score IS below average. Maybe your app was as good as others' in the other areas, but they had a higher GMAT score. If this were the only differentiating factor, then maybe the Adcom was just being honest with you in your feedback session. Everything else being equal, I would assume that the Adcom will go with the higher GMAT score.

However, I must emphasize the "everything else being equal" disclaimer.

Hey buddy which batch of Model school r u from ? I am from the 98 batch..

Hi JatWarrior,

I am another indian applicant who got dinged at wharton and kellogg. I just applied to these two schools this time. After reading your feedback where they told you that your GMAT score probably mattered while making decision I am a bit scared now. I have score of 730 but with higher age.

Would you like to discuss on re-applicant strategy. We might learn a bit from feedback we got from schools which might help in stregthing our applcation. Feel free to mail me if u feel it would be bebeficial to both of us.

Best of luck,
mbaaspirant2007@hotmail.com

That was Wharton for sure. Man really really scary.

720 is not enough to get admission in a Top B-Schools.You have to cross the 740 mark. Because most of school give admission to those who beat the GMAT exam and cross 740 mark.

applying to some other schools