Solid GMAT + Poor IR Performance = Anxiety

[AustinW760]

Hello,

First and foremost, I just want to thank Manhattan Prep for its excellent prep material. I chose the self-study route and religiously went through all of the Manhattan prep materials, helping me achieve a score that I had only dreamed of.

I took the GMAT yesterday and finally crossed over the 700 mark. My first practice exam, after a few weeks of studying, was around a 500 nearly 18 months ago! On my first attempt I scored a Q47 V35 (680) IR5 AWA5.5 back in July of 2015. Yesterday, I scored a Q49 V36 (710) IR3 and am waiting to hear back about the AWA. Although I was super excited/relieved to see the 710, I cannot stop thinking about the IR3. I had no issues in the past with IR (I work in corporate finance and normally love IR questions); I scored a 5 on my first attempt and generally scored anywhere between a 5-7 on all of my practice exams (Manhattan, Veritas, and GMAT Prep). For whatever reason, I found the IR wording extremely difficult yesterday and wasn't fully comprehending the questions being asked. No excuses, I bombed the IR yesterday and I am bummed because I am so happy with my composite score!

I am looking for honest feedback on this one. I know you all aren't admissions professionals, but based on what you have seen, I need to know where I should go from here. I am planning on applying to business school in two years; I wanted to take the exam now, as work has been slow and I have had more free time on my hands. I currently work in Big Pharma and graduated, with a 3.8 GPA in Finance, from a top 50 University. Additionally, I played a Division 1 sport, in which I was Captain of my team for three years. Working for a large corporation, I have worked closely with many people that have graduated from the business schools I am targeting, which I believe will help me from a recommendation standpoint.

I don't mean to rattle off a bunch of stuff, but I am trying to give you a little bit of a perspective on my background. I need help in deciding whether I should retake the GMAT. Quite frankly, I have put so much time into GMAT Prep, that I don't want to take it again; I am burnt out. Will the IR3 kill my chances? I am shooting for a top-5/top-10 MBA program. My goal with the GMAT was to get a high enough score in which I would be tossed in the "candidate will be further evaluated" pile of applications, rather than the trashcan. Do you think the IR3 will put my future application in the trashcan? Do some of the other characteristics of my application offset the low IR score?

Thank you for your time and thank you for your awesome prep materials!

Best,
Austin

[StaceyKoprince]

Thanks for your thanks, Austin; we appreciate it. And congratulations on your 710! Great work!

It is a little annoying that your IR score dropped, yes. And there isn't a great way to know now how schools will be using IR 2 years from now.

A couple of questions for you:
- You kept the 680 score (with IR 5) on your record?
- Are you planning to go into investment banking or management consulting?

Today, the schools mostly still aren't using the IR. They do seem to consider a 7-8 a plus and a 1-2 a minus. And they seem to just sort of shrug at a 4-5. If you were applying this fall, I'd say that even if a school raised an eyebrow on the 3, they'd look at your other score, see the 5, and then shrug and start looking at the rest of your app. The only wildcard as far as the schools are concerned is how that *might* change in 2 years. (And it might not...)

Next, your remaining school / academic background is quite strong (GPA + extracurric), as is your 710, so my best guess is that this can offset any concern about the IR 3, yes. But I have to stress that this is my best guess, as (a) I am not an admissions consultant, and (b) I don't have a crystal ball to predict what schools will do 2 years from now.

Finally, the top banks and consulting firms do typically ask for your GMAT scores and some of them have said that they are looking at the IR scores, too. So if you are thinking about going into those fields and want to apply to the top firms, then you'd want to aim for a 6+ on IR.

We haven't heard that any other fields are using IR scores, though, so if those two fields aren't where you're looking to be, then don't worry about the IR from an internship / job perspective.

Short answer:
(1) You're burned out. So, right now, give yourself permission to take a 4 to 8 week break no matter what. In that time, do your research and think about this further. You don't need to decide right now.
(2) Ask some admissions consultants, if you haven't already. I know MBA Mission offers a free 30-minute consultation and I'm sure other firms do something similar.
(3) If you do want to go into banking or consulting, and you want to work for one of the top firms, think seriously about re-taking. If you don't, see #2.

Let me know what you decide! And let me know what you hear from admissions consultants / others. I'm curious to hear their take.