Let me be direct. The GMAT or GRE is not the most important part of your application. It's not even close. Your essays, your narrative, your recommenders, your overall story matter way more than a test score.

But it's a box you have to check.

The admissions committee is trying to answer one question with your test score: "Can this person handle the academic rigor of our program?" That's it. They're not sorting applicants by score from highest to lowest and working down the list. They're looking at your whole profile and making sure the quantitative piece doesn't raise a red flag.

If you have a strong GPA from a rigorous program, the bar is lower. If your GPA is weak or your major wasn't quantitative, the test score carries more weight. Either way, you need something in the range that lets them check the box and move on to the parts of your application that actually differentiate you.