Hi Stacy/Amy,
My achilles heel is my low GPA, but here is my profile and what I have been doing to minimize damage of the past:
School:
- 2.58 Cum GPA from a top 20 Engineering school
- Dual degrees in Electrical Engineering and Economics
- 3.1 GPA last two years (82 credits), most of damage was Freshmen and Sophomore year.
- Paid 100% of tuition through scholarships and on my own.
so hopefully it gets slightly better from here on out...
Work:
- 2 years of sales experience as Account Manager for a high-tech Fortune 500 company. Lots of international experience selling to Europe/Asia and was directly responsible for $25M of company revenue.
- 4 years of sales experience as an Account Manager for a small software company. Consistently exceeding target and was responsible for 20% of company's total annual revenue.
Volunteering:
2 years of of continual work with Habitat for Humanity
2 years of SAT tutoring for underprivileged children.
2 years of Toastmasters club
Continual Education:
5 UCLA extension classes with focus on Accounting and Finance -- All As.
GMAT: 740.
--------------------------------------------------------
As you can see, my GPA was extremely low, but I have done quite a bit to mitigate the damage:
technical/quant degree
upward GPA improvement
paid own tuition
alternative transcript
sales experience
above avg GMAT
volunteering
I have two questions:
1) I notice that there are not many applicants with sales background in Business Schools, is that going to be an advantage given my work experience in consultative, high-tech sales? Or is this actually a bi-product of BSchools not wanting candidates with sales background (highly doubt though).
2) I am definately applying to UT-Austin since I believe UT only looks at last two years of GPA (huge advantage for me). Aside from UT-A, what do you think of my chances with some of the other top 20 schools?
Thanks for your help!!
My achilles heel is my low GPA, but here is my profile and what I have been doing to minimize damage of the past:
School:
- 2.58 Cum GPA from a top 20 Engineering school
- Dual degrees in Electrical Engineering and Economics
- 3.1 GPA last two years (82 credits), most of damage was Freshmen and Sophomore year.
- Paid 100% of tuition through scholarships and on my own.
so hopefully it gets slightly better from here on out...
Work:
- 2 years of sales experience as Account Manager for a high-tech Fortune 500 company. Lots of international experience selling to Europe/Asia and was directly responsible for $25M of company revenue.
- 4 years of sales experience as an Account Manager for a small software company. Consistently exceeding target and was responsible for 20% of company's total annual revenue.
Volunteering:
2 years of of continual work with Habitat for Humanity
2 years of SAT tutoring for underprivileged children.
2 years of Toastmasters club
Continual Education:
5 UCLA extension classes with focus on Accounting and Finance -- All As.
GMAT: 740.
--------------------------------------------------------
As you can see, my GPA was extremely low, but I have done quite a bit to mitigate the damage:
technical/quant degree
upward GPA improvement
paid own tuition
alternative transcript
sales experience
above avg GMAT
volunteering
I have two questions:
1) I notice that there are not many applicants with sales background in Business Schools, is that going to be an advantage given my work experience in consultative, high-tech sales? Or is this actually a bi-product of BSchools not wanting candidates with sales background (highly doubt though).
2) I am definately applying to UT-Austin since I believe UT only looks at last two years of GPA (huge advantage for me). Aside from UT-A, what do you think of my chances with some of the other top 20 schools?
Thanks for your help!!

















