Low IR but HIGH GMAT

[abhinavsingh2391]

Hi,

I gave my GMAT on 14th March and scored a 750 (Q51,V40). AWA - 5.5 , but unfortunately I just scored a 3 in IR.

I want to apply to the M7. Can you please help me, how badly this IR score is going to affect. Should I go for a retake.?

[StaceyKoprince]

Wow! Great score! (except for IR, yes)

Are you applying right now / this year? Next year?

The main schools in the US and the top international schools are generally not using IR this year. I haven't heard of a single school who has announced that they have started using IR in the admissions process - just that they are still evaluating it.

I don't know now whether they will start to next year (nobody knows). They will likely start to do so sometime in the next 3 to 5 years, though IR will still be less important than Q and V for quite some time. (They just don't have much data to tell them how to use the scores!)

My guess is that you will likely still be okay next year, since you got such a very high score and your Q and V scores are quite balanced. I also recommend talking to an admissions consultant, though, as this is not my area of expertise.

Also, one other thing to consider: most of the top consulting and banking firms ask for GMAT scores when hiring. To date, they have used only Q and V, but eventually they will also presumably start to use IR. If you're thinking about going into consulting or banking, then that may tip you over into taking the GMAT again with hopes of improving IR.