Hqta
11-10-2006, 12:10 PM
What GMAT Score means for your application
High Score does not say that one is smart, but it means a number of things:
* Good classroom learning skills and ability to succeed in the academic environment (not business environment, however)
* Higher score shows that you are more determined about the school and you place higher value on the education and this opportunity
* There is a tendency among people to still say that people with higher scores are “smarter.” It is psychological and I often hear
from 680 people that I am real smart just because I have 750. It is not true but the stereotype exists. GMAT is a competition and an easy quantitive way to compare applicants. Don’t tell anybody I said this (sounds completely illogical on the internet) I’d rather be in the same class with people who have 200 on GMAT and 8 years of work experience than 800 on GMAT and 0 years of Work experience – however dumb the person may be, at least he/she will have something to tell.
* High score can mean a scholarship – some schools sponsor poor and brilliant students; one of the chances to qualify is to get a good score.
* Schools that strive to improve ratings tend to emphasize score, so more chances for admission if you have high GMAT. It once was said that Columbia used to do this in late 90’s.
* High score and poor experience can be negative! There is a number of intellectuals – nerdy people who are brilliant but are worthless when buying a car or negotiating a deal. These people are never sure about anything and can’t make a decision when there is a lack of quantitive data. They are good for consultants or research staff, but NOT leadership. For a short classification – these are impractical smarts-asses, and who hires those?
What GMAT does not represent?
Schools perfectly know that GMAT score does not include work experience that a person has, so they tend to consider professional experience more valuable since it is a life changing and more meaningful attribute in contrast to the GMAT score.
Busy people don’t have time to study for the GMAT every day, and schools know this; 650 is more than enough for a person who has a strong experience and is a natural leader. People with 4+ years of experience tend to place lower value on the GMAT since they believe their experience will play the crucial role, and they are right, but sometimes the lack of preparation to the GMAT produces a low score that often spooks the adcom. This is very true about Executive and Fully Employed Programs.
When your higher GMAT Score will pay a higher dividend?
* If the school you are applying is a growing program and they want to improve their rankings fast – they tend to place a higher value on the GMAT scores
* If there is a large number of homogenous applicants (i.e. 2,000 people from Arthur Andersen apply to Chicago or MIT with very similar experience)
* Scholarship opportunities available to high GMAT people – this is called “buying GMAT Scores” – when schools try to boost their ratings by getting higher average score rather than spending money on other things. (I mentioned this above)
GMAT After the admission date
Imagine or not, but it is not entirely useless.
* Many employers when offering an internship in Finance or other quant fields ask for a high GMAT score as an easy way to select applicants. Yet, if you are not jumping your industry and have 4 years of impressive experience in Finance or Investment Banking, even 200 on the GMAT will not keep you from getting an internship in Morgan Stanly. Thus, your GMAT is not relative in this case. However, if you are a Biologist, you will need all you can get your hands on, and GMAT may be one of a few things you can put on your Morgan Stanly application.
* If your school has a study abroad program, and usually all schools have partnerships with at least 20 other schools, you will have to “re-apply” to some degree to the inviting institution and your score may help you here to get a competitive edge
Score Distributions
GMAT scores are often mentioned along with GMAT percentiles. A percentile is the percent of test takers you have outsmarted on your test out of the total number of test takers. The highest percentile is said to be the 99th. For your convenience we list below the distribution charts that link scores to percentiles. Of course, each GMAT test has its own distribution, but they do not differ substantially. The distributions allow to make estimates, as this: On average, about 220,000 tests are taken every year, so around 2,200 people get 750 or above.
GMAT Score Distribution
Scr % Scr % Scr % Scr % Scr % Scr %
790 99 690 92 590 67 490 34 390 11 290 2
780 99 680 90 580 64 480 31 380 9 280 2
770 99 670 89 570 61 470 29 370 8 270 1
760 99 660 87 560 57 460 25 360 7 260 1
750 99 650 85 550 54 450 22 350 6 250 1
740 98 640 81 540 50 440 20 340 5 240 1
730 97 630 79 530 45 430 18 330 4 230 0
720 96 620 77 520 44 420 16 320 3 220 0
710 95 610 74 510 40 410 14 310 2 210 0
700 93 600 70 500 37 400 12 300 2 200 0
Math Scaled Score Distribution
Scr % Scr % Scr % Scr % Scr % Scr %
59 99 49 99 39 89 29 56 19 16 9 1
58 99 48 99 38 85 28 51 18 15 8 0
57 99 47 99 37 83 27 45 17 12 7 0
56 99 46 99 36 81 26 43 16 9 6 0
55 99 45 99 35 76 25 38 15 7 5 0
54 99 44 97 34 72 24 35 14 6 4 0
53 99 43 97 33 69 23 30 13 4 3 0
52 99 42 96 32 67 22 28 12 2 2 0
51 99 41 93 31 61 21 24 11 2 1 0
50 99 40 90 30 59 20 20 10 1 0 0
Verbal Scaled Score Distribution
Scr % Scr % Scr % Scr % Scr % Scr %
59 99 49 91 39 57 29 25 19 7 9 1
58 99 48 87 38 55 28 23 18 6 8 1
57 99 47 83 37 52 27 20 17 4 7 1
56 99 46 80 36 48 26 18 16 4 6 0
55 99 45 78 35 43 25 15 15 4 5 0
54 99 44 74 34 41 24 14 14 3 4 0
53 99 43 71 33 39 23 12 13 2 3 0
52 99 42 67 32 35 22 10 12 2 2 0
51 99 41 64 31 31 21 9 11 1 1 0
50 96 40 62 30 29 20 8 10 1 0 0
Score Reports
You take a test and Pearson VUE sends your results to schools. For some reason they just don’t trust us. Business Schools will not accept any reports from you. Just before the Test, you can pick 5 schools that Pearson VUE will send copies of your reports to. Schools will not know where else you have sent your report. If you want send a report to additional schools, you will need to order them. There is even a special form or you can do it online on www.mba.com if you have an account.
There are two kinds of score reports: official and unofficial:
* The unofficial one is the piece of paper you get immediately after your test – it is simply a printout of your scores (verbal and math, no AWA) with a date and a wet stamp at the bottom.
* The official report is a verified score report that is sent in by the Pearson VUE.
Official reports also have two versions:
* The one you get – one page print out of your score distributions and details you have submitted prior to your test. There is no photo though. The report does not have your essays.
* The one they get – the report sent out to schools. It has water marks at the back and includes your essays. Schools do read those essays. The primary goal of the essays is to establish your writing skills and thus verify that the admissions essays you wrote are really yours.
As a rule it takes 2 weeks for Pearson VUE to deliver your official test report to you if you are in the US or 4 weeks outside of the US. The report is sent to you now from the regional center. What matters, however, is that most of the schools are in the US and it will take them 2 weeks to get your scores.
Source: www.gmatclub.com
High Score does not say that one is smart, but it means a number of things:
* Good classroom learning skills and ability to succeed in the academic environment (not business environment, however)
* Higher score shows that you are more determined about the school and you place higher value on the education and this opportunity
* There is a tendency among people to still say that people with higher scores are “smarter.” It is psychological and I often hear
from 680 people that I am real smart just because I have 750. It is not true but the stereotype exists. GMAT is a competition and an easy quantitive way to compare applicants. Don’t tell anybody I said this (sounds completely illogical on the internet) I’d rather be in the same class with people who have 200 on GMAT and 8 years of work experience than 800 on GMAT and 0 years of Work experience – however dumb the person may be, at least he/she will have something to tell.
* High score can mean a scholarship – some schools sponsor poor and brilliant students; one of the chances to qualify is to get a good score.
* Schools that strive to improve ratings tend to emphasize score, so more chances for admission if you have high GMAT. It once was said that Columbia used to do this in late 90’s.
* High score and poor experience can be negative! There is a number of intellectuals – nerdy people who are brilliant but are worthless when buying a car or negotiating a deal. These people are never sure about anything and can’t make a decision when there is a lack of quantitive data. They are good for consultants or research staff, but NOT leadership. For a short classification – these are impractical smarts-asses, and who hires those?
What GMAT does not represent?
Schools perfectly know that GMAT score does not include work experience that a person has, so they tend to consider professional experience more valuable since it is a life changing and more meaningful attribute in contrast to the GMAT score.
Busy people don’t have time to study for the GMAT every day, and schools know this; 650 is more than enough for a person who has a strong experience and is a natural leader. People with 4+ years of experience tend to place lower value on the GMAT since they believe their experience will play the crucial role, and they are right, but sometimes the lack of preparation to the GMAT produces a low score that often spooks the adcom. This is very true about Executive and Fully Employed Programs.
When your higher GMAT Score will pay a higher dividend?
* If the school you are applying is a growing program and they want to improve their rankings fast – they tend to place a higher value on the GMAT scores
* If there is a large number of homogenous applicants (i.e. 2,000 people from Arthur Andersen apply to Chicago or MIT with very similar experience)
* Scholarship opportunities available to high GMAT people – this is called “buying GMAT Scores” – when schools try to boost their ratings by getting higher average score rather than spending money on other things. (I mentioned this above)
GMAT After the admission date
Imagine or not, but it is not entirely useless.
* Many employers when offering an internship in Finance or other quant fields ask for a high GMAT score as an easy way to select applicants. Yet, if you are not jumping your industry and have 4 years of impressive experience in Finance or Investment Banking, even 200 on the GMAT will not keep you from getting an internship in Morgan Stanly. Thus, your GMAT is not relative in this case. However, if you are a Biologist, you will need all you can get your hands on, and GMAT may be one of a few things you can put on your Morgan Stanly application.
* If your school has a study abroad program, and usually all schools have partnerships with at least 20 other schools, you will have to “re-apply” to some degree to the inviting institution and your score may help you here to get a competitive edge
Score Distributions
GMAT scores are often mentioned along with GMAT percentiles. A percentile is the percent of test takers you have outsmarted on your test out of the total number of test takers. The highest percentile is said to be the 99th. For your convenience we list below the distribution charts that link scores to percentiles. Of course, each GMAT test has its own distribution, but they do not differ substantially. The distributions allow to make estimates, as this: On average, about 220,000 tests are taken every year, so around 2,200 people get 750 or above.
GMAT Score Distribution
Scr % Scr % Scr % Scr % Scr % Scr %
790 99 690 92 590 67 490 34 390 11 290 2
780 99 680 90 580 64 480 31 380 9 280 2
770 99 670 89 570 61 470 29 370 8 270 1
760 99 660 87 560 57 460 25 360 7 260 1
750 99 650 85 550 54 450 22 350 6 250 1
740 98 640 81 540 50 440 20 340 5 240 1
730 97 630 79 530 45 430 18 330 4 230 0
720 96 620 77 520 44 420 16 320 3 220 0
710 95 610 74 510 40 410 14 310 2 210 0
700 93 600 70 500 37 400 12 300 2 200 0
Math Scaled Score Distribution
Scr % Scr % Scr % Scr % Scr % Scr %
59 99 49 99 39 89 29 56 19 16 9 1
58 99 48 99 38 85 28 51 18 15 8 0
57 99 47 99 37 83 27 45 17 12 7 0
56 99 46 99 36 81 26 43 16 9 6 0
55 99 45 99 35 76 25 38 15 7 5 0
54 99 44 97 34 72 24 35 14 6 4 0
53 99 43 97 33 69 23 30 13 4 3 0
52 99 42 96 32 67 22 28 12 2 2 0
51 99 41 93 31 61 21 24 11 2 1 0
50 99 40 90 30 59 20 20 10 1 0 0
Verbal Scaled Score Distribution
Scr % Scr % Scr % Scr % Scr % Scr %
59 99 49 91 39 57 29 25 19 7 9 1
58 99 48 87 38 55 28 23 18 6 8 1
57 99 47 83 37 52 27 20 17 4 7 1
56 99 46 80 36 48 26 18 16 4 6 0
55 99 45 78 35 43 25 15 15 4 5 0
54 99 44 74 34 41 24 14 14 3 4 0
53 99 43 71 33 39 23 12 13 2 3 0
52 99 42 67 32 35 22 10 12 2 2 0
51 99 41 64 31 31 21 9 11 1 1 0
50 96 40 62 30 29 20 8 10 1 0 0
Score Reports
You take a test and Pearson VUE sends your results to schools. For some reason they just don’t trust us. Business Schools will not accept any reports from you. Just before the Test, you can pick 5 schools that Pearson VUE will send copies of your reports to. Schools will not know where else you have sent your report. If you want send a report to additional schools, you will need to order them. There is even a special form or you can do it online on www.mba.com if you have an account.
There are two kinds of score reports: official and unofficial:
* The unofficial one is the piece of paper you get immediately after your test – it is simply a printout of your scores (verbal and math, no AWA) with a date and a wet stamp at the bottom.
* The official report is a verified score report that is sent in by the Pearson VUE.
Official reports also have two versions:
* The one you get – one page print out of your score distributions and details you have submitted prior to your test. There is no photo though. The report does not have your essays.
* The one they get – the report sent out to schools. It has water marks at the back and includes your essays. Schools do read those essays. The primary goal of the essays is to establish your writing skills and thus verify that the admissions essays you wrote are really yours.
As a rule it takes 2 weeks for Pearson VUE to deliver your official test report to you if you are in the US or 4 weeks outside of the US. The report is sent to you now from the regional center. What matters, however, is that most of the schools are in the US and it will take them 2 weeks to get your scores.
Source: www.gmatclub.com