LOW GPA - Alternative Transcipt Help!!

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LOW GPA - Alternative Transcipt Help!!

by smp5000 » Thu Dec 13, 2012 9:28 am
Hi All,

Looking for some worldly advice from the beatthegmat experts!

I have read a ton of threads on building alternative transcripts and low uGPA solutions, and was hoping for a little more focused advice for a guy like myself.

Background:
- Civil Engineering Grad from Top 20 Engineering Public U. 3.04 Cumulative GPA....3.5 in major (Avg GPA over last 3 semesters...3.7)
- Bunch of EC's bot in school and post-grad
- Good WE in Real Estate and Capital Project Construction industry
- Pretty good b-school application theme (or so I think!)
- Looking to go back into Major Construction/Real Estate finance and business after b-school
- GMAT: Taking in March '13, expecting 720ish (hopefully and capable of better)

I consider myself a pretty bright person, but suffered for the same reason of most others early on in school. So I am planning on taking 2 or 3 cont. ed classes to build an alternative transcript prior to my Rd1 apps in 2013. I actually have one under my belt that I took during undergrad.

Completed Alt. Transcript Courses:
- Real Estate Principles - UCLA Extension - A

Quant Undergrad Grades:
- Calc I - C
- Calc II - B
- Microeconomics - A-
- Advanced Stat - B-


All of that being said, I was hoping for some direction to the following questions:

- How many, and what, extra classes should I take?
- Do I need to retake Calc or Stat?
- I was thinking of doing finance/econ/accounting since that is what I am looking to go into after b-school.
- 2 or 3 Classes? More? Less?

- Does the institution matter? Is in-class better than online? I'm in Philadelphia. I could do UCLA Extension, but would Penn State World Campus be better? Is the local community college sufficient? (This matters because of cost and availability of courses)

- I am planning on taking these course as accelerated courses post-March and throughout the Summer to have completed for Rd1 deadlines next year. Is this a feasible endeavor while working full-time?


Thanks for taking the time to response. IT's always appreciated.

Looking forward to the conversation!
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by Jim@StratusPrep » Thu Dec 13, 2012 11:46 am
I would take classes from the most respected institution that you can and take more business oriented courses (probably stats, finance and/or accounting).
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by smp5000 » Thu Dec 13, 2012 1:34 pm
Thanks for the reply, Jim.

Do you recommend I retake Calc? If I were to take 2 courses, what would be my best bet?

Given my stats, do you recommend 1 course? Or would I be better of we 2 or 3?

Also, let's assume I do well on the GMAT, say 700, do you think the alternative transcript is still a necessity? Or would it just be a waste of effort and funds that could be more beneficially spent elsewhere in the application process?