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Hi something is worrying me about my undergraduate education. I cant estimate my GPA as I studied in the UK, but I think it would be right at the lower end of the scale. The most worrying thing is that there is a downward trend in my results ( I suffered with anxiety and depression for two of the the three years).

Since university im a different person and havent had any of the problems which plagued me. I scored 720 on the GMAT and have international work experience, I have also set up my own company with partners in Singapore and Norway. I can also provide excellent letter of recommendation.

How damaging will this downward trend be to my application? Would developing an alternative transcript help?

My target schools are ASU, Eller, USC, USD, Rice, U of T @ Austin and thunderbird.

Do I have a chance at all?

Thanks for any advice you can give

Dear Skippy13,

Thanks for your post!

On the surface, my inclination is to not be overly concerned with the downward trend in GPA. At the end of the day, if your overall GPA was near the average of your target schools (you weren't terribly clear on this) you should be ok - particularly in light of decent performance on the GMAT. Of course, I have a number of questions based on your post:

1) What school did you attend for undergrad?
2) What did you study?
3) Which courses did you do poorly in? Are they MBA-relevant courses?
4) What is your overall GPA and specific results year-by-year?
5) Did the school you attend use a 1:1, 2:1 type of system? Where did you fall in that system?

Beyond your GPA issue, the limited details you've offered on work experience sound promising, but I'd clearly need to know more to advise you or gain a better understanding as to whether or not your target schools make sense.

Finally, in terms of how you go about explaining the poor grades, this is going to be a touchy subject that will require a good deal of thought. The danger in pinning the marks on your mental health is that some readers may fear those problems might resurface once you are back in an academic environment. As such, this is something we'd definitely need to discuss at length if you were a Clear Admit client.

Feel free to send along your resume to [email protected] if you'd like to set up a free initial session with one of our counselors to better understand our services and to begin mapping out the ideal strategy for your applications.

Best of luck,

Graham

Hi Graham, thanks for your reply.

I studied Business Management at the University of Newcastle and achieved a 3rd in my degree. My first and second year results were Average and it was in my final year that everything really went wrong. I did fairly poorly across the board, including in MBA related courses (Accounting). I have yet to have my transcript evaluated but I am sure it will be fairly dismal. There were several failed courses.

I understand your advice with regards to my mental health. The problems I had came about through a traumatic month in Hospital where I almost lost my leg due to infection. As a result of that experience I encountered anxiety and depression....although I overcame those obstacles, admittedly not in time to salvage my degree.

I dont know what to do. I really want to put my degree behind me but unfortuantely it seems like its going to prevent me from achieving my goals. It seems unfair that something from years ago can have an impact in your future.

Would there be benefits in building an alternative transcript? Should I do another undergraduate degree? This is really stressing me now....

Dear Skippy13,

Thanks for your reply. Please see my additional thoughts below.

I studied Business Management at the University of Newcastle and achieved a 3rd in my degree. My first and second year results were Average and it was in my final year that everything really went wrong. I did fairly poorly across the board, including in MBA related courses (Accounting). I have yet to have my transcript evaluated but I am sure it will be fairly dismal. There were several failed courses.
>>As you have gathered, this is clearly a liability in your profile (more so than I initially expected from your first post in this thread). Since you can't rewite history, the best bet is to secure a solid GMAT result (which you've done) and to consider showcasing your current academic skills by taking a class or two in business foundation courses like calculus, statistics, accounting or economics so as to build an alternative transcript (securing top marks, of course). You will also need to craft an optional essay which pushes a "that was then, this is now" theme regarding your academic abilities.

I understand your advice with regards to my mental health. The problems I had came about through a traumatic month in Hospital where I almost lost my leg due to infection. As a result of that experience I encountered anxiety and depression....although I overcame those obstacles, admittedly not in time to salvage my degree.
>>This experience sounds like a very logical explanation for a period of poor performance in school. You should certainly mention the month-long hospital stay and leg injury in the optional essay that explains your undergraduate marks.

I dont know what to do. I really want to put my degree behind me but unfortuantely it seems like its going to prevent me from achieving my goals. It seems unfair that something from years ago can have an impact in your future.
>>This is a common opinion that is voiced by candidates with low marks in undergraduate, and I understand that it seems unfair that the schools place such an emphasis on past academic performance. Having said that, it's really their only means (along with the GMAT) of determining how you might perform in their classroom. This is why taking some outside courses (and performing well) could go a long way towards convincing them to discount your ugrad performance and put more stock in your GMAT result as an accurate predictor of your future performance in b-school.

Would there be benefits in building an alternative transcript? Should I do another undergraduate degree? This is really stressing me now....
>>Yes, building an alternative transcript is a great idea (see my comments above). I would NOT pursue a second undergraduate degree - this isn't necessary.

>>One final point I should make is that when it comes to programs like those you are targeting, you will clearly have a bit more leeway than you might with HBS, Wharton, Stanford, etc. As such, I would encourage you to focus on taking a few outside courses, earning As, and on assembling a very compelling set of application materials (essays, recs, etc). If you can do that, and apply to the range of schools on your present list, you should be able to make it through.

Best of luck,

Graham