Applicants to business schools tend to be overachievers. A symptom of this is our tendency to want to be better than the average. Whenever I speak to applicants, the mindset is often, “I’m around the average, do I need to retake the GMAT?” Now, let’s step back for a moment. We all know what the word average means. It means that if HBS’ GMAT average is 707, a ton of people scored below 707. In fact, HBS’ GMAT median is 710, which means exactly half scored below 710! What this should tell you is that the GMAT really doesn’t matter that much. Or, if you scored in the 600 range*, don’t sweat it, focus on your story and your essays because they are five hundred times more important.
* Just as an aside, I’m not advocating that you not retake the GMAT if you scored in the low 600 range. Getting a score above a school’s GMAT average is obviously always better than getting a score below a school’s GMAT average. My point is, if you discover that you have trouble breaking the low 600 range after one or two retakes, don’t sweat it. Painting a compelling story about your past and future is what will drive you into a top school, not a GMAT score.
So why is the GMAT just not that important in the eyes of business school admissions committees? It’s because, through years of pattern recognition, business schools, and our society in general, has recognized that while intelligence is one predictor of success in the business world, more important, are personal factors such as leadership ability, empathy, different x-factors that drive a candidates’ ambition, ability to be self-reflective, etc. Many of our most admired business leaders are successful not because of their raw intelligence, but rather, their ability to lead and inspire. This may sound cheesy, but to be successful in business, only a baseline level of intelligence is enough. It’s the combination of enough intelligence with the right mix of personal qualities that can catapult a person to great success. Not to say George Bush was a success, but I’m sure he would’ve scored below the GMAT average of any business school (but then again, you have to give him credit for even becoming President of the United States, regardless of how dismal his performance as President was). Again, while at HBS, I personally knew many people who scored in the low 600 range. There are students with sub 600 scores at the top 3 business schools. Don’t let your GMAT score, whatever it may be, change your decision about applying to any busines school. After all, some person, at each top busines school, has the lowest GMAT score in their entire class, and they still got in, right?
While a well-articulated story always trumps a less than stellar GMAT score, there are exceptions where the GMAT score can carry more weight for particular candidates relative to others. For example, if you attended low-ranked college, AND didn’t have a fantastic undergraduate GPA, AND worked for a company that no one has heard about, then you really need to do well on the GMAT. Business school admissions committees are like investment firms. They are looking to accept students with great potential, but are “low-risk.” Think about the GMAT as one of several credibility levers. If other levers (blue-chip work experience, solid GPA, good undergraduate college, experience at a well-known non-profit, etc.) don’t exist for you, then you need to use the GMAT to validate yourself. Other exceptions include schools that are very focused on certain quantitative fields. Those will tend to have a higher bar for the quant portion of the GMAT (but will also perhaps be more lax with less-than-superstar like communication skills). Those exceptions aside, please, ignore the GMAT average that your target schools publish. Focus, focus, focus on crafting a brilliant story.
