Ask mbaMission

HI

Please evaluate my profile and share your thoughts on the safe/competitive/dream schools that I suit for:

Looking for Marketing (Product Management/Development) or International Business. At US, Europe and Asia.

Scores -

· GMAT - 710 (49Q, 38V, 4.0AWA)

· CGPA UG - 6.84/10

Work Experience -

· Engineer - Financial Products at PayPal (3 years)

Achievements at Work -

· Project Lead, Technical Trainer, Mentoring New Hires, Process Auditor to all projects

Xtra-curriculars -

· Lot of journalistic and media activities right from college up until work
· Good sports record - Soccer, Hockey, athletics - represented college and company. Also a 5th kyu Karateka
· Good track of Social Service - Honored by University Director and by a Member of Parliament for social services

Specific Queries -

1. Done a few technical certification courses and got high grades. Would this make any impact on my below-par UG grade?
2. Which school looks at high school (12th std) grades?
3. I read in an other site about the low priority of recos as the adcom is almost always sure its beefed up by the recommender in consultation with the candidate - making it less credible. Thoughts??

Thanks!

Dear hiddenname:

I feel like you need to do some thinking about why business school and some more research on the schools and their rankings and strengths and weaknesses. My gut is that you would be a reach at any of the top 15+ U.S. business schools, but that is because you have not told me anything about why you want an MBA and why a certain school or schools are especially appealing to you.

To address your specific questions:

1. Done a few technical certification courses and got high grades. Would this make any impact on my below-par UG grade?
Not really - your low GPA will be a drag on your application and technical classes do not really help a business school further assess your abilities.

2. Which school looks at high school (12th std) grades?
It depends on the school - this is impossible to answer across the board. Most want to at least know where you went to high school and when you graduated. Grades are much less likely to be requested.

3. I read in an other site about the low priority of recos as the adcom is almost always sure its beefed up by the recommender in consultation with the candidate - making it less credible. Thoughts??
Many recommenders are alums from schools and are very able to write "average," "strong," and "stellar" recommendations. The Admissions Committees are astute enough to be able to differentiate from the above three categories.

Jennifer