MBA Applicants Navigate Test Waivers & Scores

“As title mentions lower GPA ~3.1 but 8 years removed from respected undergrad (no quant major / background) lower GRE 307 (156 verbal/151 quant). Strong work experience which I’m planning to lean on 6~ years with 4 promotions at a reputable FinTech company after making a pivot from an environmental internship / fly fish guiding in Colorado (unique arc). Made presidents club last year for exceeding quota. Will have strong recommenders. Trying to pivot into Corporate Strategy Is it totally unreali”

“I had a 3.22 GPA in undergrad (which allows me to waive the GMAT/GRE I think), 4 full years of full-time work in corporate finance, and am looking to apply to the Part-time MBA program for Fall 2027. I live in NYC and will be here for the next 3 years at least. If I submit great essays and recommendation letters, what are my odds of getting into the program? Any advice for an applicant like me? submitted by /u/Any-Masterpiece-6982 [link] [comments]”

“I just got approved to waive the GMAT as part of my application for an MBA program. I’m scheduled to take the GMAT in a week from now but am not confident that I’ll get the minimum required score (555). My practice scores in order are 525, 545, 515, and 485. If I really went hard this next week I think I could get there (I do much better under pressure), but since this is the only school I’m really applying to I’m heavily debating canceling my test. My thoughts are that since my application is s”

“Background: 27M - went to a state school in the south and graduated with Industrial & Systems Engineering major with 4.0 GPA. Did 3 co-ops and 1 internship throughout school year within Construction, Pharmaceutical, and Logistics industries. Also did senior project with a startup company to improve their warehouse processes. First out of job - 2 years - F50 Retail company and did more Product Management work owning internal software tool Second job - 1 year - F50 Logistics company - Treasury”

“I’m applying to a few schools this fall and saw that 5 of the schools (Columbia, Stern, Michigan, Darden, Fuqua) accept the Executive Assessment. I got a 645 on the GMAT (82 QR, 83 VR, 81 DI), and recently just got a 159 on the EA (12 IR, 12 VR, 15 QR). I’m wondering if I should submit both my GMAT and EA scores to those schools mentioned above, or just the EA? I know my GMAT is below the average for those schools, but my EA seems to be a relatively stronger score. For context I’m a military off”

“I took a GRE mock without proper preparation and scored 275 . I’m planning to apply for an MBA and want to know how much I can realistically improve. My biggest challenge is Verbal, especially the difficult vocabulary . For those who started with a similar score, how much did you improve with proper preparation? Is 300–310+ realistic from this starting point? Any advice on how to approach GRE vocabulary would be appreciated. submitted by /u/Interesting-Pair4234 [link] [comments”

“Which test should I take? I feel like schools give more weightage to GMAT because of the quant factor, but I don’t know. My undergrad GPA is like 3.4. So I was told that a good gmat score could compensate that. But I’m scoring better in GRE than GMAT. Does the admissions team have a preference for gmat over gre? submitted by /u/Flat-Lingonberry2740 [link] [comments]”

“Hi all, I am planning to apply for a MBA this year in US and maybe Europe too. Profile(Indian IT Male) Score: GRE 332(162V, 170 Q) College: Manipal University Jaipur(MUJ) Work Ex: 5yrs(TCS-4yrs,Clarivate) - Salesforce admin to senior Salesforce developer now Post MBA goal: Tech Strategy Consultant at top consulting company. Extra Curriculars: Toastmasters Planning to apply in Round 1 Shortlisted Schools: Darden, Fuqua, Ross, Tuck, McCombs and need a suggestion for another school. I am not confid”

“I am planning to apply to several T15 MBA programs, along with these three universities. Although I have a below-average undergraduate GPA of 2.7, I have a strong GRE score of 330, which I hope will help offset my academic record. By the time I submit my applications, I will have approximately 2 years and 4 months of full-time work experience, and by the time I matriculate, I will have around 3 years and 3 months of experience. I plan to apply next year so that I have sufficient time to strength”

“I’ve been preparing for the GMAT for ~6 months and recently took the official GMAT Focus, scoring 585 . My target schools are primarily Wharton, Stanford, Stern and Columbia , and I’m now seriously considering switching to the GRE because the test seems to fit my strengths better. I took an official ETS POWERPREP GRE mock cold , with essentially zero GRE-specific prep , and scored: 313 = V154 / Q159 My breakdown was: Verbal: 16/27 correct Quant: 20/27 correct RC: 9/12 correct Most Verbal misses”

“Hi everyone, would appreciate some guidance… I’m applying to MBA programs soon, targeting Fall 2027 admission. Thinking about Round 1 due to higher chance of admissions and scholarships. I have a 3.9 GPA from a top 30 college’s STEM program, and have been working in strategy consulting for the past 3 years. However, standardized testing is not my strong suit. Been struggling with a 665 for the focus edition after super scoring (cheers to the new policy) while looking at averages of 680-690 from”

“3 years full-stack SWE, BE undergrad • GRE 319 (165Q, 154V), retaking Aug 9, targeting US programs for Fall 2027 • Hard constraint: MBA only with meaningful scholarship - not taking on $150K+ in debt Why I'm considering MBA: I don't hate coding but I'm not passionate about it either. Roles like PM, Tech Consulting (MBB Digital), or Management Consulting genuinely sounds interesting to me. The dilemma: MS CS costs $30K–$60K. MBA costs $80K–$100K even with partial aid. MS CS is cheaper”

“UW Foster Full-Time MBA – Do I have a strong case for a GMAT/GRE waiver? Term - Fall 2027 Bachelor's degree in CS Master's in Applied Computer Science from Canada Citizenship - Canada Age 31 F Master's GPA: 3.82/4.0 Experience -7+ years of full-time experience Software Developer - IBM as a enterprise Master Data Management, data modeling, databases/SQL, backend systems and analyzing complex datasets MBA goal - Product Manager or Technical Program Manager submitted by /u/D”

“I applied to a top 15 mba and just got a test waiver since I was struggling cracking the gre and gmat. Is getting a waiver a positive sign or they are loosely handed so increase applications / receive money? Please no Sarcasm and apologies if this has been asked here before submitted by /u/Reasonable_Ebb_4411 [link] [comments]”

“Asking for real advice here, no sugar coating. GRE: Not taken yet, targeting around a ~325. GPA: 2.6, non-STEM major. I know that's rough. It's on me, but I was working full-time to pay for my own school, playing a varsity sport, and lost a childhood caretaker during that stretch, so I'm confident I can write a strong essay addressing it. Work experience: 6.5 years as a Marine Logistics Officer, including two deployments with MARSOC (support role, not an operator). Consistently stron”

“Half ORM/ Half URM, first gen student Undergrad GPA in Bio: 3.76 Ivy League masters GPA in CS: 3.94 GRE: 340 (170, 170, 6.0W) Working as a SWE at tech company a tier below FAANG+, should get promo to “Senior 1” title in the next 6 months, will have led 2 projects end to end at least by the time I apply. Applying next year at 2 YOE, hoping to matriculate at 3 YOE. My dream schools are HSW - particularly H and W. Also very interested in Booth, Columbia. Not as excited but will still apply to Stern”

“I just took my first ever GRE practice test and got a 156/147. Although I guessed on most of the quant. I have about 6 weeks before I take the actual test. Is it possible to improve my score drastically by the end of August? submitted by /u/EntrepreneurThis3083 [link] [comments]”

“Hi, I gave GMAT today and scored 645 (QUANT: 86, VERBAL: 83 & DATA INSIGHTS: 78) I am Indian, female, non engineer with 3 years 6 months of work ex right now which will be 4+ by next year intake time. My profile is 10th 9.6 gpa, 12th 89%, college gpa is 6.9 (eng honors). One caveat I am not confident about is I did my college from distant learning, will it impact my application? I started my career in content based startup as a digital marketing executive, where I worked on app user acquisit”

“Many leading business schools now offer test waivers for candidates who can demonstrate strong academic ability, quantitative skills, or significant professional experience List of schools offering Waivers: Carnegie Mellon Tepper Cornell Johnson Duke Fuqua Emory Goizueta Georgetown McDonough Georgia Tech Scheller Indiana Kelley Michigan Ross NYU Stern Rice Jones Rochester Simon Texas McCombs UNC Kenan-Flagler Vanderbilt Owen Washington Foster Wisconsin School of Business Yale School of Managemen”

“Background: starting to think through MBA apps and am starting with Stern. I got a GMAT/GRE waiver for CFA/CPA/ASA plus math/stats background. Work as a financial analyst in a highly niche boutique advisory firm. I want to do generalist investment banking after MBA and am struggling to frame why Stern is "necessary" without 1) lying, 2) sounding super generic, or 3) skirting the question. I'm in my head thinking "the AdComm is reading this thinking 'why not CBS?'"”