What’s going on, peoples. I hope you all had a nice weekend and took the time to enjoy the quickly passing summer. The gorgeous days in Chicago over the weekend were nice, but they also had me thinking a lot about the impending winter. I spent my first 5-6 months here being told that the Chicago summers make dealing with the winters worth it and I ALMOST agree with that…but those winters are a BEAST!!! Be prepared to read a LOT of stuff about how those sub-zero months are hitting me in a few months.
The email below is from a long-time reader of my blog who hit me up after taking the GMAT and not scoring as well as he had hoped. He and I have been exchanging emails about his application process for a while, so I could feel the frustration in his words. He was seeking some advice on how to proceed from here and I thought some of you might get something out of my response from him. It’s never an easy thing to go into the application battle with a weak point, but that one weakness doesn’t have to sink your entire application. I hope this reader recognizes and can get himself ready to go back into the battle with his head held high.
—–
DP wrote:
“Hi Marquis,
I am bit depressed with my GMAT score as I write this email to you. I got my lowest ever score in GMAT today, which I did not get even in the mocks. I was stunned for some time after seeing the screen.
I am in a bad mood but not given up yet on GSB. I have made up my mind to go ahead with the GSB in the R1 only. Its tough when you loose nerves at the D-time after 4 months of studies and preparations.
I would appreciate if you could provide some tips. I know its tough but not impossible.
Well, on the good front, the essays are coming really good. Got sealed recommendations from my manager, a social activist with whom I have worked on and off and a colleague, who is a student at [a top-20 US business school].
Though I am feeling very low at this juncture with a major setback with GMAT but as one of my friend said today “FUCK the trend, tell the admission who you are and if you could sound genuine, you will be there.”, I am trying to recover slowly and start my applications as strongly as possible.
DP
PS: I feel you did not mind sharing some of my inner setbacks/thoughts here. I really wanted to speak out and as (I feel) you share the same values as me, I wanted to talk it out loud to you.”
—–
My response:
DP,
I’m sorry to hear that your GMAT didn’t go well. Are you certain that your score isn’t good or is the issue more that you didn’t reach your expectations? Either way, it’s always distressing when the score on that test doesn’t go your way. With as many people as I’ve advised on B-school stuff over the years, I understand how you must be feeling.
It might feel hopeless right now, but just know that the GMAT is just one part of a business school application and there are many other parts that can still help you achieve a successful result. With that in mind, I’d offer the following advice for you as you move forward:
- Focus on telling YOUR story: As I’ve mentioned on my blog several times before, I believe that the majority of a successful B-school application is having a strong MBA story. You might not be happy with your GMAT score, but that still shouldn’t change the MBA story that you want to tell in your application. So, at this point, I’d recommend that you get your MBA positioning as tight as possible and tell a compelling story about why School X, Y, or Z should send you an admit letter. Average GMAT scores are just that…averages…, so there are always admitted applicants who score below that average. If you have a dynamite MBA story as part of a strong application package, I have a hard time believing that a school wouldn’t at least give you a second look, despite your GMAT score. In other words, “FUCK the trend, tell the admission who you are and if you could sound genuine, you will be there.”
- Get one or two supplemental recommendations: It sounds like you’ve got three good recommenders lined up and that’s a good start, but, given your GMAT issue, you want your application to be as blockbuster as possible. A way to ensure that is to get a couple more folks to write supplemental recommendations for you to include with your application package. Policies on these extra submissions vary by school, but it can never hurt to give a school more data points about you to think over when reviewing your app. I had to do this for a couple of my applications back in 2003-2004 because one of my recommendation writers came up with some janky, poorly-written stuff on the reco that he wrote for me. The supplemental reco would be more of a general, one-page essay providing a testimonial for you than the question-based submission formatted for each school. That way, you can submit a single supplemental reco to multiple schools.
- Sign up for one or two extra quant courses: I’m not sure if your GMAT was weak on the verbal or quant portion, but, if it was the latter, you might want to sign up for one or two quant classes at a local community college to show that you can actually handle the rigor of that type of work. It certainly won’t be an apples-to-apples replacement for the GMAT, but it doesn’t hurt. Plus, a strong score in those extra courses could show the admissions folks that your GMAT score isn’t representative of your true abilities. At this point, it might be a little late for this option though.
- Consider retaking the GMAT: Normally, I would tell people to forget about the GMAT and focus on everything else, but, depending on your score, you might want to consider retaking the test. With the continued down economy, everybody and their mother is applying to business school now and, with that trend, I imagine that the bar is going to be raised at the top B-schools. The last thing you’d want is to work your butt off cranking out a super-strong application and then have the GMAT sink your chances. You said that you spent four months preparing for it, so there’s a chance that your nerves just got to you on your test day. I bet you’d have a different result if you take a couple more weeks to refresh your memory on the GMAT content and then go in there again with a clear mind. I understand that there may be financial concerns around this option, but I wanted to put it out there anyway for you to think about…
I don’t know if this message is going to provide the “silver bullet” solution that you’re seeking, but I do hope that my words give you a bit of a boost. Just know that you’re not totally sunk despite the GMAT result. Just make sure you don’t take yourself out of the game mentally before you have a chance to even compete in it. Keep your head up and keep pressing forward on those B-school applications. Good luck!
Marquis
The email below is from a long-time reader of my blog who hit me up after taking the GMAT and not scoring as well as he had hoped. He and I have been exchanging emails about his application process for a while, so I could feel the frustration in his words. He was seeking some advice on how to proceed from here and I thought some of you might get something out of my response from him. It’s never an easy thing to go into the application battle with a weak point, but that one weakness doesn’t have to sink your entire application. I hope this reader recognizes and can get himself ready to go back into the battle with his head held high.
—–
DP wrote:
“Hi Marquis,
I am bit depressed with my GMAT score as I write this email to you. I got my lowest ever score in GMAT today, which I did not get even in the mocks. I was stunned for some time after seeing the screen.
I am in a bad mood but not given up yet on GSB. I have made up my mind to go ahead with the GSB in the R1 only. Its tough when you loose nerves at the D-time after 4 months of studies and preparations.
I would appreciate if you could provide some tips. I know its tough but not impossible.
Well, on the good front, the essays are coming really good. Got sealed recommendations from my manager, a social activist with whom I have worked on and off and a colleague, who is a student at [a top-20 US business school].
Though I am feeling very low at this juncture with a major setback with GMAT but as one of my friend said today “FUCK the trend, tell the admission who you are and if you could sound genuine, you will be there.”, I am trying to recover slowly and start my applications as strongly as possible.
DP
PS: I feel you did not mind sharing some of my inner setbacks/thoughts here. I really wanted to speak out and as (I feel) you share the same values as me, I wanted to talk it out loud to you.”
—–
My response:
DP,
I’m sorry to hear that your GMAT didn’t go well. Are you certain that your score isn’t good or is the issue more that you didn’t reach your expectations? Either way, it’s always distressing when the score on that test doesn’t go your way. With as many people as I’ve advised on B-school stuff over the years, I understand how you must be feeling.
It might feel hopeless right now, but just know that the GMAT is just one part of a business school application and there are many other parts that can still help you achieve a successful result. With that in mind, I’d offer the following advice for you as you move forward:
- Focus on telling YOUR story: As I’ve mentioned on my blog several times before, I believe that the majority of a successful B-school application is having a strong MBA story. You might not be happy with your GMAT score, but that still shouldn’t change the MBA story that you want to tell in your application. So, at this point, I’d recommend that you get your MBA positioning as tight as possible and tell a compelling story about why School X, Y, or Z should send you an admit letter. Average GMAT scores are just that…averages…, so there are always admitted applicants who score below that average. If you have a dynamite MBA story as part of a strong application package, I have a hard time believing that a school wouldn’t at least give you a second look, despite your GMAT score. In other words, “FUCK the trend, tell the admission who you are and if you could sound genuine, you will be there.”
- Get one or two supplemental recommendations: It sounds like you’ve got three good recommenders lined up and that’s a good start, but, given your GMAT issue, you want your application to be as blockbuster as possible. A way to ensure that is to get a couple more folks to write supplemental recommendations for you to include with your application package. Policies on these extra submissions vary by school, but it can never hurt to give a school more data points about you to think over when reviewing your app. I had to do this for a couple of my applications back in 2003-2004 because one of my recommendation writers came up with some janky, poorly-written stuff on the reco that he wrote for me. The supplemental reco would be more of a general, one-page essay providing a testimonial for you than the question-based submission formatted for each school. That way, you can submit a single supplemental reco to multiple schools.
- Sign up for one or two extra quant courses: I’m not sure if your GMAT was weak on the verbal or quant portion, but, if it was the latter, you might want to sign up for one or two quant classes at a local community college to show that you can actually handle the rigor of that type of work. It certainly won’t be an apples-to-apples replacement for the GMAT, but it doesn’t hurt. Plus, a strong score in those extra courses could show the admissions folks that your GMAT score isn’t representative of your true abilities. At this point, it might be a little late for this option though.
- Consider retaking the GMAT: Normally, I would tell people to forget about the GMAT and focus on everything else, but, depending on your score, you might want to consider retaking the test. With the continued down economy, everybody and their mother is applying to business school now and, with that trend, I imagine that the bar is going to be raised at the top B-schools. The last thing you’d want is to work your butt off cranking out a super-strong application and then have the GMAT sink your chances. You said that you spent four months preparing for it, so there’s a chance that your nerves just got to you on your test day. I bet you’d have a different result if you take a couple more weeks to refresh your memory on the GMAT content and then go in there again with a clear mind. I understand that there may be financial concerns around this option, but I wanted to put it out there anyway for you to think about…
I don’t know if this message is going to provide the “silver bullet” solution that you’re seeking, but I do hope that my words give you a bit of a boost. Just know that you’re not totally sunk despite the GMAT result. Just make sure you don’t take yourself out of the game mentally before you have a chance to even compete in it. Keep your head up and keep pressing forward on those B-school applications. Good luck!
Marquis
