Lisa, thanks for your input. It seems that taking classes is quite a common recommendation for applicants looking to beef up their academic record. Does the reputation of the school where one decides to take this extra coursework matter to adcomms? In other words, if I take a Calc course at Harvard vs. UMass, will there be much of a perceived difference (assuming equal grades)? Thanks!

Dear Lisa,

If you don't mind could you comment on my situation.

I'm ex. CEO of a stock brokerage company in Qatar with only 29 years old and I've got 10 years of experience, however my GPA is 2.49 in Oct, 2004 and this low GPA was a result of working as full time and studying at the same time as a full time student ( evening classes ).

After almost 5 years away from studying I returned back to the study life, which is hard specially when my study will be in a different language than my mother language and solving the Quantitative questions without using the calculator, which we used to use it in the past.

My last GMAT score was 410, which is poor specially at the verbal section with 2 percentile and 45 percentile at the Quantitative section.

I could understand almost the whole business and tech. topics, however its rarely appeared in the test. The most topics appeared in the test is either biological or science topics, which is new for my as an international student with business background.

My question is do they consider my experience as important as the GMAT score or the GMAT is the most powerful standard they measured the candidates with ?

With best wishes,

Abdulla

Thank you

Best regards,

Abdulla

Hi,

I am a Columbia University '07 grad with a BA in Econ and a 3.32 GPA. I am an African American female, age 23, and the first in my family's history to get a BA. I plan to apply for Fall '09 admission to Stanford, Berkeley and UCLA. I am currently in a very competitive Finance Analyst Program at a very prestigious financial services company.

In addition to my low GPA, my concern is that I don't have enough leadership experience and I will only have two years of full time experience upon enrollment. I manage a lot of important processes but I don't supervise anyone. I do a lot of number crunching and reporting.

I plan to start a nonprofit offering services to impoverished urban communities, like my own, to provide financial education and help them with tax preparation, budgeting, etc.

I am confident that I will get very strong letters of recommendation and I am aiming for 700+ on the GMAT. I have signed up for a Princeton Review course.

For extracurricular activities, I am a formal mentor to a college student at Columbia and an 11th grader from my high school. In college I was a coordinator in a student run organization that staffed homeless shelters to ensure that they stayed open. I partake in other volunteer activities as they come up, such as cleaning high schools.

Do i have a shot? My GPA gradually rose from 3.1 in first year to 3.6 my last year (during which I worked for the same company).

I apologize for the lengthy post.

Hi Lisa or Stacy,

I've been reading more and more about an alternative transcript, but I'm not too sure how to sign up for classes since I already have my undergraduate degree. I'm in the Washington, D.C. area, so I'd like to take my classes at Georgetown or George Washington.

Should I call their undergraduate admissions office and ask what the steps would be?

Thank you very much for your time.

Respectfully,

Paytheprice

Edit: One more additional question, please. If I were to focus on taking four undergraduate business classes, I assume I should be taking four quantitative classes I did poorly in, correct?

Thank you Lisa.

Lisa Anderson wrote:Dear paytheprice,

You can take courses for your alternative transcript at a university or community college, whichever works best for your lifestyle. Yes, it is best to contact the admissions and/or registrar's office to find out how you can register for courses at a school. It is best to take quantitative courses to make up for poor performance in, or lack of, quant courses on your transcript. I would suggest finite math, college algebra, calculus and/or statistics as great options; these will also help on the GMAT if you are preparing to take the exam. You could also take a finance or accounting class.

Good luck,
Lisa

Great. Thank you so much for your response.

I am in a tough spot and could use some advice/insight.

I lacked direction and motivation during my first two undergraduate years and my GPA has suffered as a result. During my last two years of study I refocused and gained all A's and B's. However, I ended with a 2.75 with a BS in chemistry.
Since graduation, I worked in industry for 3 years performing intense chemical analytical work and then transferred into teaching math and chemistry at a very prestigious school.

My questions are these:

Despite my low GPA, can I only hope that a strong GMAT score will aid in my admission chances?

Does the field of study for my BS degree have any impact on how my GPA is considered? Should I have just gone for a 4.0 in communication?

Can any of my experience and the skills I have gained(analytical, interpersonal, ability to synthesize efficiently) be factored into my admission determination?

Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions.

Hi Lisa,

I was wondering if you can evaluate my credentials for further advice:

I graduated Columbia University in 2007 with a degree in Engineering. This was after a year of completed studies in another engineering school in upstate NY. My cumulative GPA is 3.2.

While I was in school, I have held two internships simultaneously in the financial services field (2yrs), and have transferred my internship to a full-time position with a bulge-bracket investment bank upon graduation. Also, I have been acting as a consultant to a family friend's privately owned business (7yrs). I am in the process of taking my CFA level 2 exam next June. My aspirations are to continue working as an analyst in the financial services sector.

In terms of community service/leadership, I have held several leadership positions in college, and have been a member to a volunteer charity program in my town for the past 2 years.

I have yet to take the GMAT, but I am shooting for a 700+ to apply for the top programs (Columbia, HSB, Wharton).

My questions to you are -
1) Would I have a chance to be admitted to these schools given my current credentials?
2) Would it be best to wait and work more, or fully obtain the CFA designation before applying to better my chances?
3) I am interested to apply to Columbia for ED - would this year's increase in applicants (due to recent layoffs on Wall Street and demand to go back to school due to economic pressures) be a detrimental factor for ED?

Thanks for reading, and sorry for the long post!