<p>I am going to be applying to some graduate school programs (non-MBA) in business (Finance and/or Accounting) which require the GMAT (obviously).</p>
<p>I am a full-time undergraduate student, and also work outside of school full-time. How much time should I give myself to adequately prepare for the GMAT? I need to at least score 500, which for some of you geniuses is a cake walk, but for someone who does quite poorly on standardized tests, it might be more difficult for me. Honestly, I do well in classes and exams, but when it comes to tests like the ACT/SAT, etc., I do quite poorly (average at best based on percentages). </p>
<p>With all that in mind, would you recommend an online course from Kaplan and/or Princeton Review?</p>
<p>Do you think 8 weeks is long enough to prepare?</p>
<p>For a 500? Probably. I'd recommend taking the practice exam from the official GMAT site ( <a href="http://www.mba.com%5B/url%5D">www.mba.com</a> ) and seeing how you do. That should give you a better idea of your potential score and the areas you most need to study.</p>
<p>The GMAT is trivial.
I did the GMAT with no preparation a few years ago and scored in the 99th percentile. I was offered places at the Australian Graduate School of Management, Brown and Dartmouth but turned them down since I was too busy with Medicine.</p>
<p>I'm definitely going to aim higher than a 500. I just know if I don't get a 500, I automatically will get rejected from several programs due to their minimum GMAT score requirement. I think I read the average score on the GMAT is 480, so that's why I'm a little concerned, since I usually score around average on these types of tests, that's why I was wondering if I should take one of the online prep courses.</p>
<p>(I do have the official GMAT book and several others).</p>
<p>
[quote]
I did the GMAT with no preparation a few years ago and scored in the 99th percentile. I was offered places at the Australian Graduate School of Management, Brown and Dartmouth but turned them down since I was too busy with Medicine.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Considering the fact that Brown doesn't even have a business school, I am very impressed indeed that they offered you a spot.</p>
<p>sakky, you are clearly ignorant on this topic as you have never heard of the McDuck Graduate School of Business. There are no core requirements, you throw darts at a board to select your classes and hope for the best, and there's a mandatory semester abroad in Duckburg.</p>
<p>"Considering the fact that Brown doesn't even have a business school, I am very impressed indeed that they offered you a spot."</p>
<p>It may have been some other school !</p>
<p>It was around 1989, and I had done the GMAT with no preparation. I was a busy pediatric resident at the Children's hospital at Camperdown, Sydney and had no time for prep books or prep courses. My total score was over 770. This was not unexpected, since I am adequate at standardised tests and had done adequately when I did the SATs some years before. I was primarily interested in applying to the AGSM (Australian Graduate School of Management ) since I might have been able to juggle work and attending the course. In addition to acceptance by the AGSM, I was mildly surprised to receive two unsolicited offers to MBA programs. </p>
<p>I was actually offended at being offered places by what I thought were bottom of the barrel colleges, since I had never heard of them before. One sounded like it had links with a prison program and the other sounded pretty suspect. I did not realize until nearly a decade later that they were Ivies, until I began researching American universities for my children !</p>
<p>The offers were from Dartmouth ( I definitely remember the name, since I assumed that it must have had a connection with the famous prison Dartmouth Gaol in the UK !!! ) and what I vaguely remember as Brown ( but could have been something else equally obscure and unimpressive sounding ).</p>
<p>The moral is three fold:
1. The GMAT is easy.
2. The lesser Ivies are unknown in Australia*, with Dartmouth Prison being better known than Dartmouth College !
3. My memory is faulty :-)</p>
<p>*Before you laugh at that, consider whether you can name the Russell Group ( UK's elite universities ) or the Group of 9 ( Australia's best universities )</p>
<p>""Before you laugh at that, consider whether you can name the...Group of 9."</p>
<p>You're right bearpoo. Doubt if anyone I know, or have ever known, can name a single one. Never heard of it myself.""</p>
<p>Ooops !
Should have been the Group of 8.
They consist of :
The University of Adelaide
The Australian National University
The University of Melbourne
Monash University
The University of New South Wales
The University of Queensland
The University of Sydney
The University of Western Australia Welcome</a> to the GO8 Website</p>
<p>"Why did you decide to go into medicine? Did you have that much of an interest in that field that you didn't really mind the relatively low pay?"</p>
<p>Every Christmas, I get hundreds of chocolates, from people whose lives I have saved ;-)
I save lives while IBers save dollars. Which matters more ? :-)</p>
<p>On a slightly more serious note ( the sad truth is that the novelty of saving lives wears off fairly soon ), the pay, while not as good as in IB is reasonable, here in Australia. The working conditions are a lot better. I earn around half of an IBer my age but only have to work 3 days a week for it.</p>
<p>I must admit however, that neither of my children wants to do medicine. One is doing law, the other is headed into IB or management consultancy.</p>
<p>Nice Swiss and Belgian chocolate trumps gratitude any day :-)</p>
<p>"1989 is... "a few" years ago?"</p>
<p>As Eliot said:
'I grow old … I grow old …<br>
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. </p>
<p>Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?<br>
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.<br>
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.'</p>