MIT Sloan | Ms. Engineering + Extracurriculars
GMAT 695, GPA 3.45
Harvard | Ms. Impact Consultant
GRE 317, GPA 7.630
Kellogg SOM | Mr. Fertilizer Financier
GMAT 735 GMAT Focus, GPA 3.85
Harvard | Ms. Indian Engineer
GMAT 760, GPA 3.5
Wharton | Mr. Private Equity
GMAT 730, GPA 3.2
HEC Paris | Ms. M&A Lawyer
GMAT 700, GPA 3.5
Stanford GSB | Ms. UK In the USA
GMAT 720, GPA 1st class (UK scoring)
Kenan-Flagler | Mr. Do I Have A Shot?
GMAT EA: 151, GPA 3.1
Chicago Booth | Ms. Tech4Good
GMAT 760, GPA 3.76
Columbia | Mr. Underdog
GMAT 695 GMAT Focus (750 Legacy GMAT equivalent), GPA 2.85
McCombs School of Business | Mr. Big Pharma
GRE N/A, GPA 3.1
Kenan-Flagler | Mr. Non-Traditional Undergrad
GMAT 660, GPA 2.9
Kellogg SOM | Ms. Talent Acquisition
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Ross | Mr. Tax Accountant
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Tuck | Mr. Nothing Is Perma
GMAT 760, GPA 7/10

If This Ding, Ding, Ding Re-applicant Can Get An 80/80 GRE, He Is Gold

by: John A. Byrne on August 13, 2022 | 2,637 Views

Yobou gained MBA admission interviews at Wharton, Michigan Ross, and UVA Darden last year but was ultimately dinged by each school’s MBA program.

Sandy Kreisberg, founder of HBSGuru.com and a leading MBA admissions counselor, thinks he knows why. It’s that damn standardized test. Yobou is sitting on a GRE score of 312, with a 50th percentile quant score and an 89th percentile verbal score.

His tough love advice: Retake the test, again and again. “If you can get an 80 percentile on both sides of the GRE it will change your story entirely,” advises Kreisberg in this episode of Friday’s With Sandy. “When schools see a 50th percentile quant score, they start wondering if you can do the work. There will rarely be a point in your life when one stupid thing can have such meaning. Bite the bullet, man. Take the GRE as many times as you can. It can change your life.”

It’s hard to imagine that a simple test can get in the way of such a viable MBA candidate. TK has a 3.8 in accounting from Quinnipiac University in Connecticut and a 3.8 from Bentley University just outside Boston on his master’s degree in the same field. He is the head of planning and analysis for a network of schools that help to prepare students in West Africa for the rigors of a university education abroad. The organization works with 3,000 students and has annual revenue of about $11 million.

Yobou is articulate and personable, has an undeniable professional presence, and would bring diverse perspectives into an MBA classroom given his roots in the Ivory Coast in West Africa. He wants to use an MBA to transition into either investment banking or consulting.

This year, he is re-applying to all three schools that turned him down a year ago and also targeting two Canadian MBA programs: The Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University in Montreal.

Watch Sandy’s analysis of his chances and his advice on how Yobou can improve his chances of admission this time around.

If you would like to participate in a future Fridays With Sandy webinar, you can contact Sandy and Poets&Quants Founder John A. Byrne here.

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