pasnai

! Lol.

More on my background: 27 Asian male non-native English speaker. I grew up in South East Asia and went to Econ undergrad in my home country. Later I went for social science master degrees in UK and US. Been working for 2 years in ad agency in the US now. My MBA friends in those fancy schools: all non-native English speakers just like me. Very few had gone to undergrad abroad or had attained non-MBA degrees. Most went to social science undergrad and the rest went to engineering school. I would say on average they worked for 2-3 years in well-known global companies before coming to MBA. Their work backgrounds vary but collectively are from consulting, CPG, banking, engineering, and ad industry. Interestingly, all my friends that got into each school have more or less simialr traits. For HBS, they are highly ambitious, driven, and being educational snobs. Stanford friends are similar to HBS but they are more laid-back - I secretly think they subconsciously try to be an oppose force to Harvard kids to differentiate themselves. Kellogg people are outgoing and such social butterflies. MIT people are brainy and reserved. Wharton kids are well-rounded - they are a bit like every group and just in the middle of scale. U Chicago people are plain boring and conservative. I believe that my friends got firstly chosen from their strong applications. But then probably recruited per the fit of schools' personalities and theirs during the interview process. Though these friends got accepted to more than one great schools, in the end they did choose the schools that have the right personality fit. I am much attracted to Kellogg and Stanford at this point but would probably throw a couple of applications to others as well. Last but not least, if you want good times, just go to Kellogg. Even when Kellogg kids return home, their gatherings have the reputation to be the best parties among all top MBA alums! LOL.

Got the AWA score today. I got 6.0, this is funny because I think I did worse than last time, I was confident I would get 5.0 this time but alas... lucky me!

Dear all Testmagicians, Last time I posted my thread here I was confused and disappointed at my GMAT result. I did not understand why I got only 630 (47,30) as all simulated full-length test scores were much higher than this, here they are in order of the dates; GMAT Prep 1 - 680 MGMAT 1 - 680 MGMAT 2 - 690 MGMAT 3 - 710 GMAT Prep 2 - 750 (2 days before I took the first test) These tests were taken once every week. This gives an average of 700 for me, but in reality my math and verbal both kept improving - the average is 47 math and 38 verbal towards the end. I studied very regularly and with this I was confident that I would get 690-700 score level, so I went in the test without being nervous and everything went well (you can refer to my last post). Then it popped up, 630 (47,30). How did I tank my verbal? I had no idea. I felt fine throughout (got 5.5 AWA with only the 'template study' a night before) but the verbal score was definitely not representative of my level (not to mention that 630 is also not the score for any top schools). So I had to schedule the test again for next month. Then work had consumed my life during that extra month. I was out of the country for 2 weeks and was out of my city for another week. I barely had time to study anything, maybe only 10-30 minutes a night for SC part (if at all). But my hit rate stays the same throughout and I just thought... whatever. :rolleyes: The Thanksgiving week was when I really had time to do the study. I devoted Wednesday through Friday for the test (which was on Saturday). Finally I touched the math part after a month. I didn't do any RC practice and quite minimal on CR. All in all, ladies and gentlemen, I can confidently say that I had studied only 4-5 days for the second test this time. I did my fourth MGMAT and got 730. Everything followed the same pattern. Again I thought, whatever. :rolleyes: I went in last Saturday and everything felt exactly the same throughout. I felt the math was getting a bit harder so I was confident that my math score might increase a bit from last time. Verbal was the same - 4 RC passage and 1 was being really long (just exactly like last time), CR were doable, and SC were even easier than my first test. Then it popped up, 710 (49, 38) - and I knew this was the score I deserved as it was my average. In my heart, I think something is wrong with the first score I got. There is no other explantion and the test must have sabotage me. Here are other empirical evidences that happened to my close friends similarly. 1. My Kellogg friend (wait-listed HBS, also got MIT): She first took the test and got 590 her first time. Due to application deadline, she needed to take the test ASAP so she intentionally booked her first test date around the end of the month - if her score was not great she could retake it next week (new month) right away. And she did it. From 580 to 710. After one week. She told me this whole GMAT thing was a joke because no one should be able to improve 130 points within a week without studying (she had to do essays so no time to really do anything but the nigth before). She shrugged it off, applied to Kellogg, and got in. 2. Another of my best friends from undergrad who went to Wharton (wait-listed MIT and Kellogg, got Chicago GSB): similar story. She tried her first, got 620. Next week, got 710. No study in a week. Now the same event happens to me, I would like to conclude (although not statistically significant) that GMAT is secretly programmed to sabotage test-taker randomly. Do you guys have heard any similar experiences? Let's share so maybe someday we can collectively sue GMAC and get the scores we all deserve! :devil: Conclusion: GMAT is truly just a small part of the whole application. By obsessing with making 700-720 score to be higher is a wasted effort and the school won't even care about this. If I were the admission commitee and I saw someone trying to improve his/her already great GMAT scores, I would personally think this candidate had no strong sense of business management - weak economic investment decision. In fact, the highest score of my Kellogg friends is only 710. The majority got only around 680s and only 3 (out of 14) got 700+. Similar patterns exist among friends at Wharton, U Chicago, and MIT (15 of them). It is only with my HBS and Stanford friends that all got 700-720s (7 of them). Hope my post is useful and provides a better peace of mind for your application preparation. If I get in Kellogg or Stanford next fall, my score will once again prove that ridiculously high GMAT score is not mandatory for top-notch schools' acceptance letters. Ciao!

Vik - remember what we talked? 680 is not bad for Kellogg application

Thanks for the kind words Piju. I will definitely kill the verbal part next time :) By the way, my AWA score just came and I got 5.5, so my self-doubt above is proven untrue. LOL. I studied AWA only 2 days before the exam. I didn't really use any specific template, just have the visual outline in my head what my 5-6 paragraphs would talk about. On the day I winged at AWA and treated it as my warm-up for other 2 sections. I didn't read through the whole AWA topic list prior to the exam date so I had no idea what topic I would get. Though my quant. is strong, I want to improve it as well. The reason was that I took GRE (only once) and I got 800 quantitative and 760 Analytic (old version in 2002) so I know I could be a bit better at both Math and CR part. My wonderful GRE score expired in August so I can't use that for my PhD application anymore (hence explaining why I am taking GMAT). This whole experience puts even more fire in my prep now. Next time I vow to get 51 Math and 42 Verbal! Best wishes to everyone out there who is fighting as I am!

Thanks for the explantion everyone

Thanks for the explantion everyone

Thanks for the explantion everyone

Thanks for the explantion everyone

Thanks for the explantion everyone

Thanks for the explantion everyone

Thanks for the explantion everyone

Thanks for the explantion everyone

Thanks for the explantion everyone