Cornell / Johnson - 07-24-2024 | Clear Admit ApplyWire

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July 24, 2024 5:31am ET

Applying: Cornell / Johnson, Duke / Fuqua, Rice / Jones, UT Austin / McCombs

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Data Analyst

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Technology

GRE: 318

GPA: 3.75

Years of Work Experience: 4

Location: NYC

Post MBA Location: Texas

Notes:

I graduated from UT Austin for undergrad. I worked as a Data Analyst for a major Bank and a major Tech company. I believe my story will be unique but unsure how my lower GRE will effect my admission decisions.

Will be applying round 1!

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Show Comments (6) Last: July 27, 2024

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1640

Curious what aspect of your story will be unique? Do you think that is your best GRE score? What are the quant and verbal scores? Round 2 May be a good option, if the extra time allows you to improve your score?

Showing impact and growth at work will be very important, backed up by strong recs. Are you also involved in activities outside of work? Any additional hobbies and interests?

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grichmond Verified User. Likes Earned: 1184 Very solid GPA from a great undergraduate program. Also interesting to see that you headed to NYC for work, as that will be a different experience than having stayed in Texas. It would be great to have a better sense as to what has made you unique in terms of your work, outside interests, or activities. The GRE will be light for most of your target schools...but it's hard to say how it will play without knowing more about the splits (were you better at math vs. verbal?), your undergraduate coursework, etc. If you think you can cross the 320 mark, it would be worth a second shot. Thanks for your post and best of luck!
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snsdrock6 Likes Earned: 0 Hi @grichmond and @alexbr4, thanks for the response. My splits were 163 Quant and 155 Verbal. I plan on taking it one more time to cross that 320 mark. But do you think if it doesn't improve, i'm reaching too high? More context: - Low Income First Generation (Dad had a pretty unique job that shaped how i grew up - want to tell this story in my application) - My Work Experience is a pretty standard Data Analyst role. Some pointers here is that I got promoted in 6 months of graduating undergrad. And both the companies I worked for are fortune 50 companies. - coursework: i majored in marketing, which leans more creative. But i took a lot of STEM classes because I minored in computer science. (0)

grichmond Verified User. Likes Earned: 1184 Thanks for sharing these additional details. Sounds like you have an interesting personal story to tell and some good milestones at work, and I am happy to hear that you were a computer science minor, as that will bolster your quantitative profile to some extent.

Keep in mind that a 163 Q is a 63rd percentile, and a 155 V is 65th percentile verbal, so neither side of the test is helping you to rise above/stand out from your peers. I would definitely try to push things to get yourself above the 320 mark, as that will open some doors and give the admissions teams more confidence in your academic abilities. If you don't cross the mark, I would still apply to your targets, but just consider casting a slightly wider net as well - perhaps adding another program that competes in the Rice/Jones tier.

Best of luck!
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snsdrock6 Likes Earned: 0 Hi, thank you. i just retook the GRE and wasnt able to improve on my 318. What do you think is a school that competes with Rice?/side question but why is Duke’s average scores lower than what I would expect it to be? thank you very much, love your podcasts btw (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1640 Duke’s average scores may be lower, due to smaller numbers of test takers, but those numbers are increasing, so we will likely see averages moving up to the mid 320s. Rice is around top 20, top 25 program generally, so that should give some indication. SMU / Cox might be worth exploring, too? (0)