20th March, 2022

The GMAT

Schools might let you believe that GMAT does not matter too much, but it definitely does. All the admission stats factor into MBA ranking calculations that schools try to protect. International students’ GPAs are not considered during ranking, so the school might be lenient with us on GPA, but expects us to bring a great GMAT.

More Indians apply than any other nationality. There have been admission events (zoom calls) where I have seen >50% audience of Indians, despite the school having only 8% Indian students.
Indians are good test takers thanks to the insane competition we face for college entrances back home (JEE/CAT for instance).

Indian’s GMAT target >= Mean GMAT + 20

One of the admitted students I talked to told me this metric which I think is a fair measure of comparison. So if you (as an Indian) are applying to M7, you should have a 760 GMAT.

Schools genuinely don’t care if you gave the GMAT multiple times to get to your current score. So if you believe you were not at full potential, don’t hesitate to retake it. I’d recommend that everyone budget time for 2 attempts. Maybe even a third attempt if you aren’t sure about yourself.

GMAT Scoring Grid

My GMAT experience

I scored 740 in my first attempt and made the mistake of assuming that it was strong enough for T10s.

I started at 680 (first mock, no prep) and ended at 740 . I prepared for 3h/day for 45 days (5 weeks verbal + 1 week quant/AWA/LR was the time I allocated). QA was a breeze (probably so for most Indian engineers). I used gmatclub.com to prep. It’s free and an absolutely incredible resource:

Solve based on difficulty level.
Questions from official and other reliable sources. You can time each Q.
Log questions for revision.
Instant, insightful analysis of each Q in the thread below.
The discussion threads on gmatclub redirected me to many amazing topic specific blogs on subtopics. I strongly recommend the extended official mocks. You’ll score the same as what you get in these. (Tip: Each mock can be reset once, you’ll not really be giving the same test twice, so be economical ;P)

Section	My score
QA	50
VA	40
AWA	6
LR	8
Total	740

GRE vs GMAT

I strongly believe schools are equally open to both. I had an old GRE score which was in the ballpark of my current GMAT. Many schools asked for just one score and I provided GMAT. When I was able to add >1 score, I added my GRE too.

Test waivers

Became very popular during Covid when test centres were shut. Not sure how this works out strategically. You usually need to justify a waiver and have a GPA that lets the school be at ease with a lack of GMAT. If test taking is your strength, then you’re probably better off giving the GMAT/GRE.

TOEFL

Among the top schools, only the University of California schools ask for it.

I see it as just a checkbox exercise. A score above 110 is more than enough. And if you’re scoring >38 in GMAT verbal, you probably just need a weekend to prep for TOEFL (the format).

I’d given TOEFL in 2018 where I scored 116, and in 2021 where I scored 119. Both times its was a couple of days prep from the free videos on NoteFull.

Appendix

GMAT prep links

Published: 20th March, 2022