“Mission Admission is a series of MBA admissions tips posted each Friday”
When candidates ask us whether they should take the GMAT again, our instinct is always to reply with a question, “Do you think you can do better?” Assuming that a candidate does indeed believe that he/she can improve, the candidate’s next question inevitably becomes, “What do the MBA programs think of multiple scores?”
Fortunately, MBA programs do not frown on students taking the test more than once. Many candidates feel that they have to be “perfect” the first time and that any subsequent test, particularly they recieve a lower score, might be damaging. That is not the case. In fact, Tuck anticipates that candidates will take the test more than once, openly stating their willingness to accept and then “fuse” candidates’ highest verbal and quantitative scores, if they occur on separate tests. Meanwhile, other programs have been known to call students and tell them that if they can increase their GMAT scores, then they will be admitted.
From an admissions perspective, it is in an MBA program’s interest to accept a candidate’s highest score, because this will increase the school’s GMAT average, which is then reported to rankings bodies (BusinessWeek, etc.) So, don’t be afraid to take the test two or three times. It can’t really hurt you. It can only help you.