690 (Q49, V33)...should I retake?

by **jamingo** Mon Oct 29, 2007 7:25 pm

Hi All!
First, I would like to thank you all for your help in making this happen. This forum is priceless! Today, I need your input to see whether I need to retake the test. My goal is school such as INSEAD, IMD, Cambridge, MIT, NY Stern and UCLA.
I identified 2 reasons against retaking:
1- The standard deviation of the test is around 30. This means that my level is between 660 and 720. Therefore, if I retook the test, there a chance that I end up with the same score event if I increased my level.

2- I think I can cover my gmat score gap by other factors in my applications. I am originally from a underrepresented country + I live and worked in various countries + I speak fluently 3 major languages + have 2 nationalities...

On the other hand, it is possible that the school will dislike my low verbal score. I know that I can do better on Verbal because I have been scoring 38+ on all gmat prep.

by **StaceyKoprince** Mon Oct 29, 2007 9:41 pm

Congrats - 690 is an excellent score. Some questions:

1) go post this question in the Admissions Consulting thread too - those people are the admissions experts!
2) what percentile is V33? I don't have my conversion chart handy.
3) how does your GPA compare to the median incoming GPAs for people accepted at those schools?

You can ask the schools whether they consider the math and verbal subscores or only focus on the 3-digit score. If your GPA is well below the median for a particular school, then you might need a better GMAT score.

One last question: if you had gotten a 700, would you be considering a retake? If your answer is no, then don't do it. There's no statistical difference between 690 and 700 - it's all psychological! :)