The Application Process

I thinking of applying to MSc Real Estate Finance or MBA with Real Estate concentration courses for 2012.
The list of schools I have in mind are:

UPenn, MIT, Berkeley,Columbia or Cornell ...

but the problem is that I have a low GPA... well... I studied BSc Accounting & Finance at the LSE and got a third (at that time I thought accounting wasn't really for me and spent my time else well, which now I regret of course).

I've been working full time for two years now (going to be three) in a few high profile real estate companies and have hands on experience in a couple of large real estate projects in China. I'm pretty positive that I can get some good references from my employers...

My question is with my bad undergrad grades will I have a chance... with my work experience and if I get a really good GMAT score?

Hi,

You can always mitigate the bad impact due to your low grades with your GMAT score. Try to get the best possible GMAT and you can compensate for your low grades.

Apphelp Team

apphelp wrote:Hi,

You can always mitigate the bad impact due to your low grades with your GMAT score. Try to get the best possible GMAT and you can compensate for your low grades.

Apphelp Team

thanks! that's sounds quite reassuring for me..

B'schools want a benchmark for you intellectual ability...the GPA is just one factor, others are the GMAT, the way you write your essays, what your recommenders say about you, maybe scientific publications, etc.

So try to mitigate your third (which isn't that bad, considering its from LSE) with other stuff

Since you are aiming for top schools then a score above 700 is desirable. However GMAT alone won't determine your chances of admission; beyond the academics and your work experience will also help you in determining your candidature.
Generally most of the applicants have a good 4-5 years of work experience. Although it is not just the work experience that counts but also what you did there like-what were your achievements, what initiative you took, what changes you drove in your workplace etc. So if you can show that in 3 years you have demonstrated the skills business schools are looking for you could put in a strong set of essays.
Hence the quality of your work, your academics and beyond academics will play an important role in determining your candidature.
Although you might need to prove to the admission committee that your GPA won't be an issue. If you can tell in your application about the skills that you gained at work and beyond in the areas you had scored low would put you in better position. If you took any extra classes or courses in the subjects that you didn't do well and highlight your zeal to learn and improve it could also improve your low GPA situation.
Make sure you follow the 'show rather than tell' principle so that the admissions committee could really understand your strengths and differentiating factors.

bln123 wrote:B'schools want a benchmark for you intellectual ability...the GPA is just one factor, others are the GMAT, the way you write your essays, what your recommenders say about you, maybe scientific publications, etc.

So try to mitigate your third (which isn't that bad, considering its from LSE) with other stuff

thanks!

Kavita_Singh wrote:Since you are aiming for top schools then a score above 700 is desirable. However GMAT alone won't determine your chances of admission; beyond the academics and your work experience will also help you in determining your candidature.
Generally most of the applicants have a good 4-5 years of work experience. Although it is not just the work experience that counts but also what you did there like-what were your achievements, what initiative you took, what changes you drove in your workplace etc. So if you can show that in 3 years you have demonstrated the skills business schools are looking for you could put in a strong set of essays.
Hence the quality of your work, your academics and beyond academics will play an important role in determining your candidature.
Although you might need to prove to the admission committee that your GPA won't be an issue. If you can tell in your application about the skills that you gained at work and beyond in the areas you had scored low would put you in better position. If you took any extra classes or courses in the subjects that you didn't do well and highlight your zeal to learn and improve it could also improve your low GPA situation.
Make sure you follow the 'show rather than tell' principle so that the admissions committee could really understand your strengths and differentiating factors.

Majority of my classes are accounting or finance related and economics (because apparantly all undergrad students at the lse are required to take)...but my gpa's low because all my scores were low ... I'm not sure what additional classes I should take now...