Solution to Stewing Over Graduate School Standardized Tests

The June 4th Wall Street Journal article “Q: What Is New and Scary? A: The Revised GMAT” by Melissa Korn caught my eye because, in the fall of 1977, I took the GMATs before applying to Wharton for my M.B.A.

At that time I took no GMAT preparation course but did spend a great deal of time practicing my multiplication tables as all calculations on the exam had to be done “by hand.”

Fast forward to 2012, and my interest was snagged by this:

Prospective students often put undue emphasis on their GMAT scores because it’s one of the few elements of an application they can control, certainly more than a college transcript from years earlier, a job title or a letter of recommendation, say admissions experts.

The reason this paragraph so interested me is that I do not agree with it. While changing one’s college transcript is probably not in the cards, students can have a lot of control over letters of recommendation and other pre-undergraduate or pre-graduate school activities.

This is why I wrote the three-ebook series HOW TO SUCCEED for teens and young adults — to help with those other elements that can, to a greater or lesser extent, be controlled by the college or grad school applicant.

This ability to control parts of one’s academic future is why the best time to read the first book in the series — HOW TO SUCCEED IN HIGH SCHOOL AND PREP FOR COLLEGE — is the summer before starting 9th grade. Decisions in all innocence made then can adversely affect a student’s college admission choices.

For the same reason, the best time to read the second book in the series — HOW TO SUCCEED IN COLLEGE AND PREP FOR BEYOND COLLEGE — is before starting freshman year of college. Then college students have four years of school plus possibly additional years beyond college before applying to grad schools to “get their ducks in order.”

And out soon will be the third book in the series — HOW TO SUCCEED BEYOND COLLEGE — for those coming late to the party but who are motivated to make up for lost time.

Get these books now for 8th grade and high school graduates on your gift list — and give these students a helping hand up.

P.S. I can even individually autograph the Kindle books via Kindlegraph.com

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter and @ZimblerMiller on Pinterest) has an M. B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the online marketing company Miller Mosaic LLC. Besides her nonfiction books, she is also a fiction author.