Ask Stacy Blackman

I've read often that there are many different mitigating stories for a low GPA. What do you do if you have a combination of them?

I am from a family that immigrated to North America, and upon graduation from High School as School President, Runner Up Valedictorian, my parents forced me to go into a Pre-Med/Life Science at a top Canadian University. Unaware of many things, because of a lack of guidance, I stuck in the Life Science program, racking up C's and B's, and A's in all non-science courses. In my second year, since my parents were supporting me financially, I decided to pay for my schooling so I could switch into what I had origianlly wanted to study - Business/Commerce. The summer before my Junior Year, my childhood best friend - who had a similar upbringing, moving around a lot when we were younger, adapting to new Western culture when we were preteens, dealing with parents' expecations - we were inseperable - she committed suicide. The next 2 years, I was still enrolled in school taking a few credits, dealing with therapists, completely depressed. Set me back 2 years.

The last two years of University, I switched to Economics/Political Science, paid my way through school, and kept a 3.3+. My overall GPA is a 2.95. My transcript looks ridiculous - more than half of my courses are A's (4.0's) and half are just average (B's or C's and maybe 1 or 2 D's). The year of my graduation, I cleared the CFA Level 1, got a job in Financial Services, began studying for the GMAT, and have scored around 740-760 on the practice tests.

I'm planning on taking a few more courses at my alma mater to raise my cGPA to a 3.0-3.1, and hopefully take classes I am interested in, which are beneficial for future MBA coures and do well in them. I also started a registered NGO when I was in my final year of university, and have 2 other small organizations focused on community practices (sustainable food consumption, microfinance)- very small things, but I have only now fully recovered mentally and am focused on productive, creative uses of my time. I'm 24 years old and although have a Canadian citizenship, originally from a very small country, which is actually a disputed territory. The NGO I started focuses on providing exposure for economic, political, energy issues in the region.

The reason I want to do my MBA is because in my last year of schooling I attended a Case Competition, and though I was unable to participate in it, I did some Case Studies and I fell in love with strategic problem solving. When I first immigrated to the United States when I was 10, I was entered into a special Gifted Program sponsored by Mensa for children with high IQ's. I have always loved doing puzzles. Throughout University, until my last years, I never took studying seriously. Now, I am extremely eager to learn the right tools, methodologies to solve real world business problems. I am addicted to HBR, Business Insider, The Economist and find myself pondering effective strategies for life/business everything constantly!

How would I be able to explain this story effectively, and what steps can I take to work towards attending a top 5-10 MBA program.