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700 GMAT, 3.0 GPA - Will my GMAT score split hurt me?!?

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700 GMAT, 3.0 GPA - Will my GMAT score split hurt me?!?

by smp5000 » Thu Jul 04, 2013 2:22 am
First off, thanks so much for any feedback!

Would you mind discussing my chance for a top 10 program? As well as what I need to work/focus on? I'm terrified of only a 700 on GMAT(took it twice, 670 first time) and my low GPA.

Stats:

27 yr old, white, American male

Education:

Penn State University - Main Campus
3.00 Cumulative GPA, 3.5 Major GPA
Civil Engineering - 3.8 GPA avg 3rd and 4th year (all major-intensive courses), 2nd year had some family issues, 1st year immature (fraternity)
GMAT: 700 (44Q/41V)

Work Experience:

- 3 years in major construction project management. Was actually laid off twice in 1.5 years due to both companies suffering major, company-wide workforce reductions. Regardless, only unemployed for a total of three months in which I was proactive in job searching. Was still able to secure a great job and receive a promotion to Project manager after only 3 months. Managed two projects simultaneously worth a total of $25M from start to finish. Was overseeing all aspects of job operations which included a workforce of 40+ workers at times.

- Current (approaching 2 years): small, niche consulting division in Big Four firm. Global group with only 30+ members. Focused on major real estate and construction projects ($100M+). Provide both qualitative management consulting and quantitative analytic services. Promotion after one year.

Total 5 years.


MBA Goal:
I transitioned to a consulting role because my passion is actually in the "business" side of real estate and construction, as opposed to the heavy "engineering" side. Therefore, I thought consulting would be a good segue.

The reason for wanting a top-MBA is so that I can further learn and develop my business knowledge in finance and management in hopes of one day being a c-level member of a major real estate or construction firm

Extracurricular:

- co-leader of a yearly, global real estate and construction market survey. We contact over 130+ major companies in the RE&C industry around the world, and leverage our firm's partners across the world to meet with c-level executives of these companies and discuss future market predictions. We then take this data and form it into a formal document for presentation.
- assistant coach/volunteer for a golf organization that brings the game of golf to inner city children as well as teaching them life skills.
- lead organizer for Junior Achievement program within company. In charge of 30+ volunteers that go to inner city schools and help teach business/commerce to young children

Recommendations:

- expecting great recommendations from current supervisor as well as my previous supervisor
- also have multiple family friends who are alum and still involved with the following: Booth, Tuck, Fuqua, Wharton

Thanks so much for your help. Looking forward to your feedback!
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by essaysnark » Thu Jul 04, 2013 5:28 am
Hey smp5000 - we understand the concerns and yes, there's some weaknesses but we're feeling remarkably bullish on your chances overall.

The reason? Your career background is unusual in terms of what the schools often see, and when we dig into the details of your stats then the weaknesses don't seem all that bad.

First, GPA: The 3.0 is in danger territory, that's the cutoff point where we start to get concerned and typically recommend taking action. You can see a bunch of posts on the EssaySnark blahg about low GPA and what to do - here's two good ones:

https://essaysnark.com/2010/05/omg-2-pos ... a-low-gpa/
https://essaysnark.com/2012/06/tackling- ... ue-1-of-2/

That being said: You have countered any major worries we have based on the details. You graduated at a great place - 3.8 for the last two years?? Wow! And Civil Engineering is no joke, that's a difficult course of study. You will probably want to write the optional essay to explain the 2nd year issue (and maybe the 1st) but it should be super short - the adcom will see the trajectory of improvement over time, and you ended strong. There should be no problems with this academic record in the end.


Now the GMAT. As a general rule when we see a 44Q, we suggest that the person retest - particularly someone from an engineering background. The expectation is that an engineer would do better on the math side; most engineers do. The 700 total score is very decent but you got there primarily with a strong verbal.

And yet - just as we just did on the GPA - we're not really thinking that this 700 will stand in the way. We don't have your actual grades from Penn State but we're assuming that your junior/senior year classes were very quant-heavy, and those were the years you performed the best. That gives the adcom evidence that you will be able to handle the math that you'll face in bschool. That's the whole purpose of the GMAT: to make sure you can do this stuff. Looking at these pieces in conjunction with each other, we're not altogether worried.

Which is weird. 'Cuz usually it's our job to worry, and usually when people present this combo, it's cause for concern.

The big differences are:
- your applicant pool - yes there's a lot of American males applying but very few civil engineers, and even fewer who work in construction
- you clearly know how to work hard when you want to (the last 2 years at Penn State, the rebounding from being laid off)
- you have a clear need for the MBA
- there's not many applicants wanting to go into your post-MBA field yet it's a valid use of the bschool opportunity
- you're the right age for bschool

Plus, your strong verbal on the GMAT makes us hope your essays will be good, and you seem to have been responsible for big projects which is interesting.

So the gut is saying that you might very well be OK.

Those essays will matter a LOT, as will your recommenders. You have a slight risk with the latter - sometimes recommenders in industries that don't commonly feed into bschool don't write good recs. We've seen some awful ones from construction. You'll need to manage that process carefully.

And we have to be clear: A higher GMAT would be an insurance policy. But we don't think your current 700 will keep you out, provided you play your cards right. At this stage of the cycle we would recommend moving to your essays and keeping a GMAT retest strategy in the back of your mind - if you don't get any hits on interview invites by mid-November, ramp up your studying and take the test again before Round 2. Or, plan on this potentially being a multi-year process (a depressing thought, we know, but sometimes it happens - not trying to signal that it would happen for you, just being realistic).

In terms of schools: You didn't indicate anything about where you're targeting, but if you're up for the NYC adventure, then NYU in particular is a GREAT choice given their concentrations/specializations in RE and construction management - one of the few schools with a formalized program exactly for that. Columbia also has a strong real estate program but we're not aware of any similar focus on construction. Other schools could also be a great fit (Wharton is also good for real estate). These are all seriously competitive schools we're tossing out but we do think you could make it into one of them. We have a former client who came from construction who's at NYU and another currently going to UCLA, which might be a West Coast option to consider. There's plenty more that might be a good fit for you, those are just some ideas. If you want to share your list of targets we can comment on them more precisely.

Wow this was a long answer. We clearly had a lot to say. Hope it's helpful. Good luck on your next steps.

EssaySnark

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