Will AWA score hurt?

[wayneh_31]

I recently took the GMAT and scored 740 with a 4.0 on the AWA section. I have heard that anything over a 4.0 wouldn't hurt my chances but wanted to know how true this is? I'm looking at schools like Harvard, Tuck, Berkeley, Stanford and Michigan. Would you recommend taking the exam again? Thank you for your help.

Wayne

[mbamission]

Thank you for your question and congratulations on an excellent GMAT score. In our experience, a 4.0 AWA score with a GMAT score like yours should not hurt your chances in any way. The only caveat to this would be if your verbal GMAT score was quite low. In that case, you may want to re-take the GMAT to pull up the verbal, but otherwise there really is no need to do so.

You may also want to read this post from our blog. http://www.mbamission.com/blog/2008/08/24/mission-admission-i-have-a-700-gmat-score-but-my-awa%e2%80%a6-don%e2%80%99t-ask/

Sincerely,
Jessica Shklar
MBA Mission

646-485-8844

Website: http://www.mbamission.com
Blog: http://www.mbamission.com/blog
MBA Mission Insider’s Guides: http://www.mbamission.com/store.php
Free Consultation: http://www.mbamission.com/consult.php

[egoboy]

Thanks Jessica for the link. I'm in a similar situation: GMAT = 720 (94%) V40 (89%) M49 (87%) but AWA = 4.0

In addition, I took two tries at the GMAT before:
630 M48 (83%) V28(47%) AWA 5.0
640 M45 (74%) V32(63%) AWA 5.0

I'm hoping my high verbal score and two previous 5.0 AWA scores are more than enough to offset the 4.0 on my latest and final attempt on my application to top 10 bschools. Would you be able to confirm?

thanks,
Thomas

[mbamission]

Hi Thomas -

I can't guarantee of course, but yes, I do think that your 720, high verbal and previous AWA scores should make the recent 4.0 AWA not an issue.

Good luck!

Jessica