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older - low GPA - best way to balance?

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older - low GPA - best way to balance?

by gmatmba09 » Sun Jan 25, 2009 10:14 pm
my profile is

gender : female
age : 33
field of study : engineering
GPA : 2.9 ~ 3
yrs of work experience : 11+ ( 5 years in managerial postion)
work field : IT

other info: ran a retail business and have done couple of initiation for community betterment service.

Gmat : 600 , planning to retake in mid feb (aiming for 700+).

Aiming to get into full time MBA in fairly good universities with good placement possibilities.

what would be a better time to apply and possible strategies that would balance the weak points of age and low GPA?

any advise would be greatly appreciated. TIA
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by Lisa Anderson » Mon Jan 26, 2009 1:41 pm
Dear TIA,

Your age is not a weakness, but you will be on the high end for a full-time class. There are always folks in their early 30's. You just need to make sure you have a solid rationale for why now and why a MBA in relation to your career goals. Likewise, you need to be comfortable with working on teams with folks up to 10 years younger than you.

Your GPA is below the average, but it is not too low. You are still within range there. A stronger GMAT score (>650) will mitigate the GPA.

I do think there is some risk in applying in the third and/or last round for many schools as there are not many seats to be offered. However, if you have a compelling application and can convey a solid rationale for going to business school, then it might be worth applying.

Best of luck,
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by gmatmba09 » Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:28 pm
Thanks Lisa for the prompt reply and the guidance.

I am trying to evaluate my options incase I decide to postpond and apply for R1 next year.

In such a scenario, thinking to take few courses to balance my UG GPA if possible. I am working currently and need to take care of a 3 year old, hence online courses would be of my choice.

Want to check , whether online courses and grades are equally treated as full-time course or evening course or try and doing an evening course would be better as online and inperson courses are treated substantially so different.

And also, with my engg.background , have not done any statistics or accounting based subjects anytime but have done calculus in UG . Want to know what courses, if done now, would really give some needed boost to my stats.

Thanks again .
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by Lisa Anderson » Tue Jan 27, 2009 7:14 pm
Dear TIA,

With alternative transcripts, there is generally not a preference for online versus classroom instruction. I think there are definitely folks with a bias towards classroom instruction, so you might want to do a little research to determine if your target schools have a preference. Regarding what to take, it depends on where you feel your weakness is. If you did lower on the quant section and your quant courses in college were generally C's, then I would suggest brushing up on your math classes with calculus, college algebra and statistics. If you did lower on the verbal section and earned C's in your liberal arts/humanities courses, then I would suggest taking a business communications class or a writing class.

Good luck,
Lisa
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