Taking the GRE or not?

[linhdan]

So this is not exactly a technical question but I really hope to receive some advice.

I am graduating my undergraduate degree with major in economics and finance this year. I study in an Australian university, Vietnamese campus. My background is in business and my knowledge in statistics and programming is not much. My GPA is 3.5, not really high partly because I work a lot when I study. I have interned at some pretty well-known international company.

I plan to apply for a analytic master in the US in Fall next year. I got 710 in GMAT last year. I understand this field usually requires GRE but I am not sure whether I should take it. I am not from a top school, don't have too high GPA, not much work experience, not too many quantitative courseworks (though I am very good at mathematics and statistics). I think taking the GRE will not help me get in MS of Statistics/Operation Research in top school. Instead I am spending time learning R and statistics. My plan is to get the MS in Business Analytics/Data Science with GMAT and then try to study extremely hard.

Is my plan a good one? Or should I try to get the GRE? To be honest I prefer Statistics and Operation Research more. But the thing I care about most is employment opportunities after graduate in US.

Really appreciate any of your advice.

[have2thinkboutit]

When it comes to the gre it's not so much a matter of wanting to do it but rather having to do it. I think you will have to check with the universities you're planning to apply to. In their application guidelines they will tell you if the gre is required or not. In my experience it is required for most American post graduate degrees and your application would not be considered without it. But I'm sure there are exceptions to this rule.