Advice needed for GMAT 610

[CrudeS]

Hey friends,

 

I have scored 610 in my first ever GMAT examination. Do I stand a chance to get a Ph. D. in Finance in some of the top colleges or maybe any college for that matter?

 

Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

[somedayprofessor]

Hi CrudeS. I recently decided to return to grad school for a PhD in management. I spoke with some of my former professors who have sat on faculty admissions committees. I needed letters of recommendation and application advice. We spoke about your specific question. One professor of management at Gonzaga University (a Stanford PhD) said, "A good GMAT score will not get you in to a PhD program, but a bad one could keep you out." This makes me think that the GMAT, for many schools, is a first-look screening to see if your application will be viewed further. Your score of 610 does not sink you, but if you are applying to top-level schools, there are likely many higher scores that will receive consideration first. Sixty-five percent of people scored lower than you, so you are well above average, but this includes MBA and PhD applicants. In general, PhD programs are more selective than MBA programs. Many programs publish the average scores of recently matriculated students. If you have a program that you are interested in, I would suggest poking around their website and finding out what scores they are expecting to see (sometimes in the admissions tab, sometimes in FAQs). This will probably be better than anything I can tell you about whether your score stands a chance or not. Best of luck with your finance PhD aspirations. I'm playing the waiting game right now after submitting several applications last month...