GMAT 750, but quantitative "only" 86th%

[EdEx]

Hello,

thank you for the great forum.
I would like to ask your opinion, do you think that despite of relatively high GMAT score 750 I managed to pull out, I may have difficulties in being admitted to top 15-20 PhD Business programs because the quant part is only 86th and apparently many schools would like to see 90/90 rather than 86/99.

I have a master degree in law from University of Helsinki (Finland), it's the leading school in the country but I guess doesn't say too much to AdComs of US universities. I am beginning to work for my applications for the next deadline, and I would like to have some idea if I should aim at top 30-50 rather than top 15-20.

[Naijaman]

Hi,

I share a similar concern to you regarding the GMAT score. In addition, I scored 720, not 750. I wanted that extra ONE point raw score, which would have put me at 90%.

I am also wondering how I will fare with some of the top 20 schools, especially since I am looking to get into a finance program, which is among the most quant-based of doctoral biz programs.

[desimba]

Originally Posted by EdEx

Hello,

thank you for the great forum.
I would like to ask your opinion, do you think that despite of relatively high GMAT score 750 I managed to pull out, I may have difficulties in being admitted to top 15-20 PhD Business programs because the quant part is only 86th and apparently many schools would like to see 90/90 rather than 86/99.

I have a master degree in law from University of Helsinki (Finland), it's the leading school in the country but I guess doesn't say too much to AdComs of US universities. I am beginning to work for my applications for the next deadline, and I would like to have some idea if I should aim at top 30-50 rather than top 15-20.

I don't believe it should be a great concern to have a somewhat lower quant score as your overall score is very good. At the level of 750 GMAT, you have already cleared any thresholds that your school might have on GMAT scores and you should be fine with that. Regarding your concerns about the lack of brand name recognition, those are somewhat of a valid concern though I would think that they could be addressed by (a) securing recommendation letters from folks who have studied in the US/ are known in the US through their research & (b) by being able to publish any research in a journal. Both of them can be immensely useful in being admitted to a top b-school PhD program.

[shootermcgavin7]

I can't answer for the GMAT, only the GRE, but I'd imagine it is a similar situation.

For the GRE two years ago, a perfect 800 was something like 94, 95th percentile because there was clustering around the perfect score.

There's probably something similar going on here.


To your real question: there is no guarantee to admission in a top business program, the class sizes are too small. Although, your question is conditional on what field you are interested in.

[ahah]

750 GMAT is good, but as someone here said already, there are no guarantees. Finance Ph.D. programs are small and the number of applicants is large. At a top 50 level, pretty much all acceptances are with GMATs above 700. I know people with 770-780 GMATs who went to programs at the bottom of top 50.
At that level, minor differences in GMAT are not important. Other, frequently idiosyncratic factors, become relevant.
Any evidence that the applicant dealt successfully with the type of courses he or she would be having in the PhD program would be helpful.
Showing an undertsanding that it will take five years of hard work is also helpful.
In terms of research, forget about it. No one expects anything important in that sense. There simply can't be. Each year, 90% of Ph.D. graduates go to the job market without publications. Expecting something from applicants is unrealistic. Just check CV's of Ph.D. students in the job market from places like NYU. You won't find any pre-Ph.D. publications.

The bottom line: As there are no guarantees, it makes sense to apply to many places.