In a 2008 Kaplan survey of 250 MBA admissions officers, 55% said that the GMAT is the most important factor on the business school application. Over 90% said it's one of the top 2 most important factors. Research shows that every 10 point increase in your GMAT score correlates to another $5K in your starting salary after business school. Why? Higher scores help you to gain admission into more competitive, higher-ranked MBA programs, which in turn brings more job opportunities and higher salaries. Prepping for the GMAT can have a big payoff. That's great if you did well on the GMAT. But how should you respond to a GMAT score that's lower than you want or need to get into the program of your choice?