Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Too Nice To Be Inside

Admit season seems to be coming to a close. Reading the BW forums or checking the blogs, it seems everyone who applied this season knows whether or not they were accepted somewhere. Apologies to those who are still in waitlist purgatory; I hope the wait doesn't kill you, and that in the end everything works out ok for you.

I've been doing the diagnostic test from OG11. Both Problem Solving and Data Sufficiency left me squarely in the Average category, which wasn't surprising. Reading Comprehension put me in the Above Average category, while my marks for Critical Reasoning was right at the cusp between Average and Above Average; that WAS surprising. My scores on Manhattan GMAT were pretty awful. I guess when everyone says the Manhattan GMAT tests are more difficult, they weren't kidding. Next up, I'll take the Sentence Correction portion to finish the diagnostic test.

Let me ask you this...is it true that your scores on the OG practice tests, Manhattan GMAT practice tests, etc., are all lower than your score on the actual GMAT? Seems to be that that is the consensus. I sure hope that's true. I've read of people getting 630s and 640s on Kaplan practice tests, then scoring 750s and higher on the actual GMAT. I'm not looking for a score that high; I just want something around 700, to give me the best possible chance at my target schools. I know my GPA won't allow me to even think about the big schools (H/S/W, Chicago, Columbia, MIT, Kellog), but I figure with my alternate transcript (more on this later) and a 700 or so GMAT score, then my schools (USC, UCLA, UNC, Duke, Darden, NYU, Texas) would be slightly in reach. Or maybe I'm still too far out of it. Won't know until I apply, right?

As for the alternate transcript...I enrolled last week in the UCLA Extension Online program, and signed up for Math for Managers. Veronica Ho at USC's Marshall Admissions Office specifically recommended it, and I had heard other good things about it. It's a for-grade course and will end before the application season starts, so I'm hoping I can go to AdComs and say "I know some marks on my undergrad transcript are lower than usual, but I took this course to show that I can handle the rigors of the MBA program). I sure hope this works out for my benefit.

In other news, it's 70 and sunny, and I'm not meant to be caged inside right now! I may eat lunch outside instead of at my desk. I love the office at lunch, because it's so quiet, I can get a lot of work done. Oh, and for those who are interested, the meeting with the parents went well. A good dinner on the grill (including some smoked venison jerkey!), a walk around their farm, and just some good conversation. I apparently got the seal of approval from both the parents, the sister, and the dog. Yay me!

7 comments:

theincarnated said...

Hey Omne,
cud you please share, which additional courses are you taking? My GPA sucks real bad(and is maybe one of the gr8est source of my worries....) I'd really want to improve my shot @ the top....... I'd be gr8ful if you can tell more about which courses and which university etc.

Justin Berthelot said...

UCLA Extension Online, specifically Math for Managers. That's all I'm taking that I know of. I'd suggest looking at your local schools, and then search for online programs.

Soni said...

Omne, if you check out GMATclub you will see instances of both people scoring higher and people scoring lower than their GMATprep test scores. All in all, most people will be +/- 20 points of their GMATprep tests. Don't rely on Manhattan gmat or kaplan for anything, only rely on GMATPrep...it's the best indicator.

Incarnated, I've heard that local university is best. Acct, finance, calc and stats are the best courses to take. After that, either community college or online at UCLA extension or Berkeley UNEX is fine as well.

Metal said...

Dont sweat about your score, prepare for 2-3 months regularly and give it one good shot.Ad coms donot read much into a 3 digit no.

Urban Frolicker said...

Thanks for the info about GMAT club, I felt so ignorant I had to sign up immediately. Do you mind if I link to your blog?

Justin Berthelot said...

Absolutely not! Feel free to link my blog, and also I'd suggest checking out Hella's list (http://opencoder.org/mbablogs/applicants.php)

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