Statistically Blonde

"Once I decided to apply to Yale I had less than 12 weeks to learn all the math I had forgotten since a 1979 high school algebra class..."

by Linda Craib

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Linda Craib
Health Care Executive MBA Program
Class of 2010
Yale School of Management

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Amanda Brown, a former Stanford law student, voice actor, and author struck a hit with her debut novel, Legally Blonde. A film adaptation, a sequel, two Golden Globe nominations, and a hit Broadway musical later, the film was the unlikely subject of conversation between my brother and me as I drove to my Yale School of Management interview this past summer. With my car radio out of order and excitement about the day mounting, I called my brother Ray (a graduate of Yale and a professor of history at Cornell) for a last-minute pep talk.

As we spoke, I jokingly told him I was feeling a little like Legally Blonde protagonist Elle Woods, the untraditional candidate applying to Harvard Law. I had great transcripts, recommendations from professionals who knew me and my academic ability, and essays articulating who I am and the woman I would like to become. I didn't know how those aspects of my application would stand up against my unbalanced verbal and quantitative scores on the GMAT. Being a little different from the rest of the crowd does indeed set you apart…but a quantitative score short of the stratosphere when applying to Yale is probably not the best way to do it.

My brother, never missing a beat and always being supportive, dismissed my worry. Elle, he reminded me, was a success not only because she was smart, but also because she was simply herself.

The GMAT

How can anyone possibly talk about the grad school admissions process without mentioning the trials and tribulations of their GMAT experience? The Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) administers the test and asserts on their Web site that the test is only one measure that schools will use to consider your application.They also say the GMAT does not measure "subjective factors important to academic and career success, such as motivation, creativity, and interpersonal skills."

For weeks and with an almost morbid fascination, I read online blogs and commentaries of individuals questioning if they were "competitive" with GMAT scores of 700+ (92nd percentile). Were they kidding? On virtually every business school Web site there is an assertion that mirrors the GMAC statement: GMAT scores play only a part in admission decisions. Who knows if that is true across the board? Having never been a fan of standardized tests as an indicator of ability or success; I will only disclose that I'm living proof of the GMAC disclaimer.

Once I decided to apply to Yale I had less than 12 weeks to learn all the math I had forgotten since a 1979 high school algebra class in order to meet the third-round cutoff. Time was so tight for me that I scheduled my exam just one day before the deadline to give myself more time to study. It goes without saying that I wouldn't recommend trying to learn the content or the test format under that kind of time constraint, and I was fortunate to not have to spend much time studying the verbal and analytical subject matter the GMAT measures.

On a positive note, I was fortunate to have found a wonderful teacher, Ryan Licwinko from Veritas. Ryan was not at all daunted by my 20-year lapse in formal math education and he actually tried to use it to my advantage when teaching me how to approach the test. He worked with me privately and I attended his intensive quantitative class over a long weekend in New York City.

Be sure to leave yourself time to cancel your test and reschedule if need be without the worry of missing deadlines. Fate has a way of interfering with your best-laid plans and your ability to rest and concentrate on the task at hand; I lost my beloved grandmother in England just two days before my exam and took my test with a heavy heart. Having pushed everything to the absolute last minute, there was simply no time left to reschedule.