MBA admissions Q&A: GPA, Integrated Reasoning score, alumni engagement
Some MBA admissions questions from clients and friends — answers below
On the Integrated Reasoning score
Q: My overall score was 770, but my IR was only 5….I was wondering if this low IR (integrated reasoning) score would have a negative impact on me please? How do the schools look at IR scores, and are there any that use this as a criteria? Should I retake it?
A: No! Do not retake the GMAT. At this stage (summer 2016) admissions officers are still pretty agnostic about the IR score. I’ve heard them say in conferences that there is not enough data to make a real assessment on the IR score alone. I’ve also heard from GMAC people that the IR correlates pretty well with the quant score. So if you have a high quant score and a low IR, your quant score outweighs it. If you have a low quant score and a high IR score, that’s actually less powerful, sadly.
On a low-ish GMAT, but from one of the best schools in the USA in chemical engineering
Q: How much does our GPA from undergrad matter, especially if it is lower than the average reported GPA from the business school? Does this significantly disadvantage us?
A: Not all GPAs are alike. You’ve told me that you have a degree in chemical and biological engineering. That major and those courses will offset courses everyone knows are just not as hard. I was a political science major and I know, (as does every admissions officer) that my GPA in should be discounted against a chemical engineer.
The other thing they look at is the trend. They are ok if it gets better over time. Most schools weight your junior and senior years higher than your first 2 years. That makes logical sense as well.
Finally, they do look at the whole picture, and your work experience, international experience, and publishing experience will all play into the whole picture.
If you have one course where you really did poorly, that might require an unemotional explanation in an optional essay. But that’s really only the case if you got a D, or something like that. I don’t think that a C is really that big a deal.
SPECIAL BONUS: Answered from Tuck Admissions Officer Kristin Roth
Q: Why is alumni engagement at Tuck so strong?
A: This is an immersive experience, whether you’re on campus in Hanover or around the world for on-the-ground learning opportunities. People don’t disappear after classes are over; they stay together in a living, learning, and social environment. This intimate experience requires students to learn how to engage with each other, support and challenge each other, and work through problems collaboratively. They also experience the support of alumni during their time as students which translates into strong alumni engagement. People pay it forward to the next generation of Tuckies, because they experienced that themselves. It’s a virtuous circle.