Ask Stacy Blackman

GMAT: 750 (Q49,V42)

GPA: 2.8 BS Electrical Engineering

Work Experience:

1.5 years at a start up defense contractor redesigning the Navy's Primary Long Range Radar

1.5 years at John Deere supporting High Precision GPS production and design.


Story:

I want to be an investment banker. I became interested in the industry while researching the financial collapse my senior year of college. Having what on the surface appears to be a GPA indicative of a poor student, from a non target school, I didn't have any chance to break into the industry out of undergrad. Instead i tried to develop a unique background of work experience to make me a competitive MBA candidate in order to use the degree to change industries. I've excelled at both positions and expect excellent letters of recommendation as well as an impressive list of accomplishments on my resume.


Low GPA explanation:

A Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from my school requires 128 credit hours for completion. From the spring semester of 2008 through my graduation in 2009 I completed half of those required credit hours, including all of the upper level engineering courses generally considered the most difficult material of the curriculum, with an average GPA of 3.63. My poor performance in the early part of my academic career was a result of personal immaturity and familial circumstance. my final 1.5 years is much more indicative of the quality of student i am.




I plan to target schools with strong finance programs and a history of feeding students into the IB industry, can you please tell me if this is a realistic school list:

Chicago
Columbia
NYU
Yale
Virginia
Cornell
Carnegie Mellon
Minnesota(safety school)