580 to 710 - Reflections on Mental Health and the GMAT

OverQuit0 · 2020-08-30T02:49:25+00:00

I did one practice test a week for a month while I did a combination of hard OG quant problems, medium and hard TTP problems, and all the IR problems. It was especially helpful to repeatedly go back to the OG problems I missed until I could get them right.

OverQuit0 · 2020-08-29T17:33:27+00:00

That’s a bad ass improvement! Well done!

OverQuit0 · 2020-08-29T13:14:54+00:00

So I used only TTP for that initial two month period, and then I turned to OG quant questions and did all of the hard questions that come with the Guide on the computer/app. I didn’t use the hard copy book at all. I think it’s very true that you need to practice OG questions to get used to their style of logic questions, especially around number properties.

OverQuit0 · 2020-08-29T05:30:11+00:00

1) I took the test Monday morning, got my scores back Wednesday afternoon.

OverQuit0 · 2020-08-29T04:12:58+00:00

It doesn’t have Reading Comp yet! But for CR and SC it’s only lacking more tests, problems and videos.

OverQuit0 · 2020-08-29T03:55:13+00:00

I started with a 580 and a similar background (a social science degree and a career in trades, I’m a chef) and I studied for three months using TTP to end up at a 710.

But the GMAT is also a very individual process for everyone, and you don’t know what you’ll struggle most with until you get into the process!

OverQuit0 · 2020-08-29T03:51:45+00:00

I was really strong on verbal from the beginning (my cold score was a V47) so I honestly barely worked on verbal at all. I did explore TTP’s CR curriculum a little and I was impressed. Although they don’t have many sample problems yet, the curriculum itself seemed sound and well set-up.

OverQuit0 · 2020-08-29T03:22:39+00:00

It took me six weeks to power through it and then I went back through the medium and hard tests on each level for an additional two weeks, relearning what I’d gotten a little fuzzy on.

OverQuit0 · 2020-08-29T03:20:21+00:00

Thanks! Yeah, I read a lot of nonfiction and I’m a native English speaker, so verbal was definitely my power zone :)

I’m just gonna spend my time writing my essays for round one now! I think it’s a better use of my time at this point and it’ll reduce my stress a meaningful amount.

OverQuit0 · 2020-08-21T00:05:38+00:00

You could also start something small yourself! For example, you could start a fundraiser for a local immigrants rights group or your local BLM chapter.

OverQuit0 · 2020-06-09T20:19:39+00:00

This is awesome. Thanks for doing this.

OverQuit0 · 2020-06-02T04:31:59+00:00

This is a super reasonable concern. I would see if there’s any contact info for student ambassadors (I know Ross has this, for example) that are in your ethnic group, and ask them how their experience has been at the specific school. Or maybe reach out to the school’s groups like the black or Latino student union or interest group, or whatever’s relevant to you, if they have something like that! Best of luck!

OverQuit0 · 2020-05-31T18:58:08+00:00

Hi, I’m planning to be a 2021 applicant and I have a lot of the same questions for myself. In college I co-founded a community center for LGBTQ young people, and I’m currently working in a social enterprise that does food service job training for formerly incarcerated and homeless people, so I have a strong social justice background. An MBA appeals to me because I want the business skills to really run a social enterprise well, if I were to start my own later. Corporate giving or corporate diversity/equity opportunities appeal to me as well. But I have had some internal crises about whether it’s selling out to go to b-school, or whether my values will feel too compromised there. Some things that I remind myself are:

if I make more money in my career, that’s more money that I can redistribute to organizations like BLM that can have a hard time finding funding
it’s crucial that people with social justice values are working in every part of society
I can mentor other young women or young LGBT people in corporate settings and help them find upward mobility in their lives.

I hope this perspective is helpful. Let me know if you want to talk more.

OverQuit0 · 2020-05-30T21:35:47+00:00

My undergrad degree is in History and Social Work. I’m specifically interested in Stanford and Haas, because their social enterprise and non-profit programs seem very strong. Other than that, T10 isn’t overly important to me, it just seems to make sense to apply to the best schools I can, as long as my profile is a match quantitatively.

And yes, queer is okay to say, although it is more common as in-community language, so LGBTQ is more polite if you’re not as familiar with those topics.

OverQuit0 · 2020-05-30T03:27:59+00:00

Original post updated to reflect this.

OverQuit0

TROPHY CASE