Remember my post on 5 Biggest Lies in B School application? Sameer posted an excellent query in the comment box. Quoting him :
dear dagny,
I do not know how you will react to this, but then there are people like me who had long list of doing this-n-that, but have to even support ourself during school and college days for our education.
There are good amount of people who must have been helping their parent working part time (giving tuitions) and never really got time or money to pursue their heart or fulfill small dreams that we all have.
There are many reason which we do not know, but they do affect us.
What do people like us say to maximize our candidature, i really have no idea if we can get admission by saying i am NOT SPECIAL..I AM NORMAL..I AM NOT SUPERMAN.”
Although I replied to his query there only, I realized that this is a common query among hundreds of Business School aspirants. Hence, I decided to handle the query at a more elaborate level. Queries such as “How do I enhance my profile to get admission in a top B School?” OR “What kind of profiles do Stanford/Harvard/Wharton graduates have? “ are common among aspirants who dream of getting into top Business Schools.
In order to help you guys present a stellar application at B schools, I would be running a 5 post series.
- What steps to take if you have scored low GMAT? Already handled- You can read the post here- I Don’t Have A Perfect 800 GMAT Score
- How to address low undergrad Grade Point Average (GPA) in your B School application?
- Extracurricular Activities & Community Service
- GMAT Prep- Tips and Tools
The topics are not listed in any particular order but I promise I would handle all of them starting with Low UGPA today.
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Okay so you took Ancient Greek history at college just because you wanted to fulfill your Mumma’s dream or you took Advanced Organic Chemistry because your “Pappa” said, “Science is the language of our ancestors!”? Sigh! You knew that you could have got away with that dreaded “D” in your transcript had you decided to fulfil your dreams than your Mumma’s and Pappa’s. And you even partied and bunked too many classes at college because as they say “ College is all about Fun” but now that red mark on the transcript is giving you blues. Oh Dear!
Don’t worry, you are not alone who has dreams of studying at Harvard/ Stanford/ London Business School but do not have a brilliant GPA to make your B School application stand out. The bad news is that you can do nothing about your low GPA. But the good news is that you can focus on improving other aspects of your application. A low GPA can be a handicap in getting you an admission in a B School but would you not make efforts to turn stones into milestones to make your dreams come true?
How? Just know how to play your cards well.
1. Ace the GMAT: You have no option but to score high in GMAT. My personal take is nothing below 720 or 730 GMAT score. High GPA may be correlated with the greater effort a student must have put in during the college and but your grades at college may not be a true indicator of your performance at grad school. Let’s say you put in X amount of effort but you got a D grade while your friend has put in less amount of effort than you but he got an A grade. You cannot really justify why your friend got higher grades and you got lower when you had out in more effort than your friend. So the best way to overcome the low GPA hurdle is to score high in GMAT. As stated in my Low GMAT article, GMAT brings people from various backgrounds on the same level. There is a direct correlation between your GMAT score and how you would perform at in your first year at Grad school, if admitted. A high GMAT score would ensure admissions committee that you are competitive enough to take the challenges that B School has to offer.
2. Produce an Extra Transcript: To build an extra transcript you would have to enrol yourself for the courses such as statistics, calculus, accounts etc. The catch is to get all ‘A’s in the courses that you have applied to. You can also enroll yourself for a master’s degree at a reputed college in your area. Work hard and keep your goal at getting the Aces only otherwise you would just be wasting your time, money, and energy. The courses need not be MBA level courses because the idea is to prove that you are comfortable at handling graduate level courses and perform well as well.
3. Outshine At Work: Grab every leadership, team work, or managerial opportunity that comes across at your work place. Look for opportunities for promotions, perks, raise in salary etc. so that you get another area to reflect your capabilities and achievements. You would also get an opportunity to prove that although you might have not been able to fetch good grades while at college but now you have matured and have become much focused person.
4. Write an Optional Essay: “Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom. ~Thomas Jefferson”
Do not lie to admissions committee because it doesn’t work. While writing an essay make sure that you take the responsibility of scoring less in your undergrad while reflecting that now you have moved on to become a more focused person. Reflect on your achievements and reasons why admissions committee should no longer consider you low GPA and focus on your achievements. Just make sure that you don’t write a sob story but a matured write up that reflects your achievements.
Some Low GPA Success stories. Well! Business Week helped.
- Hey, my GPA was considerably less than yours (around a 3.0) and I still was accepted to Kellogg. I had a high GMAT score and I broached the subject during my optional essay. About me — I was also a math major and took graduate level classes as an UG. I also had steady extracurriculars while participating in ROTC training all four years of school. I only had one bad academic year and my GPA for the other three was around a 3.3. Still, I am not “proud” of my GPA and was honest about the issue in my essay — specifically I stated that I just don’t identify with the person who performed to that level anymore. I used my subsequent GMAT score, quant background, and work experience to show that I have the brains and the discipline to excel in any future academic endeavors. I also pointed out that following graduation from UG I was recognized as an honor grad during army officer training, etc.—BrewskiND
- I have 2.6 in engineering and I will attend Wharton in August. I did not build alternative transcript, but I did write an optional essay explaining why my UG record is not a representative of my potential and intellectual ability.—teladan
- I wasn’t even close to a 3.0, and I got in several top-10 schools. You’ll need to show that you’ve done a lot of other significant activities, have a good leadership history, and that you can bring a unique background to the school. A high GMAT can also compensate for a low GPA, assuming your undergrad was at a really good school. Personally I feel like the GMAT is more important to most schools than GPA, but in my case, they definitely looked at my complete application. Just recognize that your GPA is a weakness, and focus your essays on your strengths. –Itcolt1
- Got a 3.3 GPA. Lousy transcript. C- in Intro to Calc. The only Math or Econ Class I took. 720 GMATs.
At Wharton now as a 1st year.
Got a summer job offers at Mck/Bain in San Francisco office, two multi-billion $ hedge funds, and 1 large PE shop. Incredible recruiting year with all my friends with multiple offers. The Wharton name carries tremendous clout to recruiters. Mck and Bain asked for my GPA and still gave me offers. Go figure!
They really don’t care about GPA, once you get in. –WartonITE07
- I had a 2.8 (and 1 failing grade) and I just got into Ross. Here is what I did to mitigate the negative effects of my GPA;
1. got a high GMAT (710)
2. Developed an alternate transcript (took 3 business classes and got A’s)
3. Addressed in the addtional info essay (explained that my GPA is nobody’s fault, but my own, and said that XYZ proves that it will be better this time)
Of course, this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to an application, but I think these above points (among other things) serve to mititgate a low GPA.—cdubya
- I got into Wharton with a less than stellar GPA. And have a job at Goldman for the summer so it can be done (I did have a high GMAT and took 4 extra classes and got As to build an alternate transcript).—natasha MBA
- Currently in at Darden, interviewing at Yale, waiting from Tuck and Haas. Due to failing not one but two (!) classes freshman year, I sport a very odd 3.2 from a good but not great small college. I stressed in the optional essays that I learned from my failures, and put up an increasing GPA each year after that. (Had something like a 3.6 the last two years.) I also scored solidly on the GMAT (ever so slightly above median top-10 scores), and, I believe, most importantly, completed a four-course certificate program at Columbia while working full-time last year. Hopefully the 3.8 I racked up there makes a convincing case that I’m no longer a volatile undergraduate hippie who can’t be bothered to attend class.-KeithHScott
- Another low GPA success story….I got into Kellogg with a GPA of 2.7 (Ivy league school). GMAT was around the average for Kellogg. So it is possible….tough, but possible.—heckmatyar
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