Retake GMAT for higher IR Score?

[michrha]

I finally took the GMAT today was curious if you thought I should potentially retake the test given my fairly low IR score.

Q: 49 / 79%ile
V: 41 / 94%ile
Total: 740 / 97%ile
IR: 6 / 67%ile
Essay: TBD

Thanks for your feedback everyone and happy holidays!

[StaceyKoprince]

Nice work - congratulations!!

Two questions: When are you planning to apply? And what do you want to do after b-school?

Most schools either aren't using IR yet or aren't weighting it heavily, so a 6+ is good enough this year or next for the schools. (After that, I'm just not sure - we'll have to wait and see.)

The other variable is work - internships and post-b-school jobs. The major consulting and banking companies ask for GMAT scores when you apply out of b-school. Presumably, they will also start to look at IR scores in the future (again, the question is when).

[michrha]

Thanks Stacey.

I am currently in corporate development and was previously in investment banking. I'd be applying this fall so fall of 2015 during Round 1s and be class of 2018 (matriculating 2016).

I am a bit worried as I am keen on consulting post-B school and worried that a low IR might have be looked at negatively.

Let me know what you think. Thanks!

[StaceyKoprince]

This is an educated guess, since I don't work for these firms, nor can I see into the future :)

But I think you'll be fine. You have high Q and V subscores - if one were lower, then it might be a concern that you'd want to offset with IR, but they're both quite good. And a 6 (out of 8) on IR is also very respectable - it's not like you have a 2.

You'll be up against other applicants who mostly won't have as good a mix of scores as you do, and that's what really counts!