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1b.
GMAT Scoring and Business Schools
You'll receive four scores for
the GMAT CAT:
- Quantitative scaled sub score,
ranging from 0 to 60
- Verbal scaled sub score, ranging
from 0 to 60
- Overall scaled score, ranging
from 200 to 800. This is an overall score that is the combination
of your 0 to 60 Math and Verbal scores (hence the name 800score.com-an 800 is a perfect score). The 200
to 800 cumulative score is what business schools primarily use.
- Analytical Writing Assessment
score, ranging from 0 to 6. This is a separate score that is
less important than the 200 to 800 cumulative score.
The
test is graded on a preset curve so that your scaled score will
correspond to a certain percentile. An overall score of 630,
for example, corresponds to the 90th percentile, meaning that
90 percent of test takers scored at or below this level.
Sample percentiles within the score range of 200-800
99th percentile 720
90th percentile 680
75th percentile 570
50th percentile 500
Painfully Competitive
Those 6-figure starting salaries
have had an impact on the MBA market... everyone wants one. In
the early-'90s the average GMAT score at NYU
Business School was 610. By 1998 it had jumped 65 points
to 675. Getting a high score on the GMAT is crucial because
the business schools are getting flooded with applicants. The
market gets tighter every year. Expect around a 690 average for
the top-ten business schools in 2000-2001.
That 690 figure is deceptive because
that average includes many students who were accepted for favorable
traits (diversity, unusual accomplishment or success, etc..)
that allow them to gain acceptance with a lower score. If you
have none of these types of traits, you probably need to break
720 (that's over the 99th percentile) to have a chance
at a top ten school.
Good News
The reason for the MBA bull market is
that B-school grads are a hot commodity in a booming global market
where the rules of business are in flux and employees are needed
with up-to-date knowledge. Thus, even schools that were a backwater
a few years ago, such as the Fordham Graduate School of Business,
are now turning out high-salary grads. The point is that even
if you don't get into Wharton,
the MBA market is strong enough that grads from second-and third-tier
schools are doing well. Make sure you have plenty of "safety
schools" when you apply to business schools in 2000. And
going to those safety schools may not be as bad as you think.
>> Continue to How
the New GMAT CAT Works (page 3 of 5 in chapter 1)
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