From Flunkee to Top 10 Business School?

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From Flunkee to Top 10 Business School?

by XeroZeus » Tue May 14, 2013 10:09 am
Hello BTG,

As someone who has just recently started perusing these forums, I am excited by the wealth of information accessible with regards to the MBA application and acceptance process.

My question is this - has anyone ever heard of anyone being dismissed from a university and later being accepted to a top tier B-school? My GPA fell below 2.0 in the beginning of my academic career, to the point where I was dismissed from school. Later on, I attended community college and then gained acceptance into a private school in FL (Rollins College). At the time of application to B-school, I will have had a 3.7 - 4.0 GPA at Rollins for just over 2 years and my overall GPA should reside at somewhere around 3.4.

I have just under a year left at Rollins and plan to start studying for the GMAT. I understand that I will need a 700+ on the GMAT to get to where I want to go.

I have worked a job since I was 15 years old (I am currently 24. I will be 25 at time of application). I will have worked a full-time corporate job for 4.5 years at a company in the medical field at the time of application. The company is family-run and I have been elected for succession, which means that it is a necessity that I gain proper management knowledge and grooming.

Other than hiring a coach, (I have a lot of research to do, there are so many and I am new)are any of you able to lend any advice? I believe in being blunt and direct as oppose to soft coating things. I appreciate any and all responses.

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by essaysnark » Fri May 17, 2013 7:48 am
XeroZeus wrote:I believe in being blunt and direct as oppose to soft coating things. I appreciate any and all responses.
Wow - such an open invitation to EssaySnark we've never seen before!! ;-)

First-blush reaction was to wince... it's purty darn tough for many top bschool adcoms to overlook a flunking-out part of the academics.

BUT! Then we read the rest of your story, and we have a glimmer of hope.

The thing the schools are about most of all is the big-picture story. In other words, what happened, and what did you do about it. It appears that you stumbled badly but have since pulled yourself together and you even have a tale of redemption going on, with the 3.4 total GPA. Anyone can get in with a 3.4; that's completely in the realm of the reasonable (it's about average at many very good bschool and just a tick below average at the best of them).

What the schools will want to know is, what was going on in your life at the time? What happened? If you have a good answer to this (that's not a sob story) then you might be just fine.

If you had stumbled badly and never recovered, well... that's a very different story, and one we have little hopes around.

There's some other complexity to your profile (you've not yet graduated but you have 4+ years of work experience - we get it, you've been juggling multiple things, but it is not as linear as most applicants) - also the family business (makes the recommenders' situation a little tricky) - but at the same time, you appear to be someone who now values academics and knows how to work hard - doing a job + school is always tough. Provided you've got the right elements of leadership and achievement in your career background too, then you could easily be top bschool material.

It's always hard to be definitive with the limited info in a forum post. Apologies for the upsell but you really might want to look into our Comprehensive Profile Review - it's designed for exactly this type of situation, to give you in-depth (and private) feedback on every element of your app. You can check out some of the reviews on the product page here to see what we mean: https://essaysnark.com/tutorial/comprehe ... le-review/

Bottom line though: All schools look at everything. Flunking out is obviously not so great, but a 3.7 is pretty impressive (Rollins isn't the most elite of all schools but it's quite good in its region and has a decent rep). We think you should be able to overcome this glitch.

Of course, it all comes down to the pitch!!! You have some work ahead of you. Make sure to nail that GMAT, it'll help a lot - it won't obliterate the black mark but it can neutralize it a bit.

Good luck!! Let us know if we can help!

EssaySnark
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by Michael@VeritasPrep » Sat Nov 14, 2015 5:14 pm
Sure, I've definitely heard about it. You'll obviously need a good explanation for what happened and why. Obviously having an answer about how you learned from it and how it changed you will also help. It might even make a good essay topic if you write it well.