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Please review my profile, great GMAT relatively low GPA

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Please review my profile, great GMAT relatively low GPA

by Don Wrigley » Wed Mar 25, 2009 5:52 pm
I just sat for the GMAT, have the following credentials:

1) 750 GMAT Score (Q47,V46), with a 6.0 on the essay

2) 3.0 undergraduate GPA with a bachelor of science in Computer Science from Rutgers University

3) 2 years of work experience as a software engineer, recent promotion. Plan on working roughly 3 more years before attending Business School (5 years total experience).

My first question is, what chance I would have at getting into a top 10 or top 20 program, after another few years of work experience? The only thing I could see being a problem is of course my relatively low GPA. I'd like to know how much of an impact this would have, specifically 4-5 years out of undergraduate.

My second question is, what can I do over the next 3 years to improve my chances? Should I look into doing volunteer work, or something else of that nature? I figure I have another 3 years to beef up my application, may as well do all that I can.

I am very committed to this goal of business school, unfortunately I wasn't so committed in college until my senior year (when I had a 3.5 and 3.6 GPA in my final two semesters). I'm now doing everything I can to hopefully counteract that.
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by Graham » Mon Mar 30, 2009 4:53 am
Dear Don Wrigley,

Thanks for your post! My general thoughts/questions are as follows:

1) Your ugrad GPA of 3.0 is clearly a bit of a liability at the top MBA programs, but the GMAT result of 750 actually goes a long way towards limiting the damage. The other good news is that you attended a decent school and pursued a challenging major (comp. sci. is typically viewed as being quantitatively rigorous) with an upward GPA trend in the final year. One key step you might consider taking is to pursue a set of intro-level courses in accounting, statistics, economics and calculus in an effort to help build your foundations for business school and assemble an 'alternative transcript.' You would obviously need to aim for a 4.0 GPA in these courses. Taking this approach allows you to make the "that was then, this is now" argument in terms of your academic aptitude. It is also a very common step that applicants take to address a weaker ugrad GPA.

2) I must admit that with top b-schools taking candidates with less and less work experience (and showing a bit of a preference towards doing so), I'm not so sold on your 5-year plan. In other words, my guess is that you could actually consider an application much sooner.

3) In terms of how to develop your candidacy before you apply, there are a number of things you could do. For example, you should clearly be aiming for increased leadership at the office, exposure to work in teams, client-facing opportunities (if applicable) and more managerial responsibility (e.g. less programming, more planning/managing). You might also expand existing involvement in hobbies or commuity activities - exactly how you go about this will depend on your prior track record in this area...(and I'd need a lot more information to guide you).

You may want to send your resume to Clear Admit ([email protected]) to set up a free session with one of our counselors and talk about your overall plan towards application - since I expect that we could shed some light on how you might develop your profile and determine the best timing for application.

Best of luck,

Graham
Graham Richmond
Clear Admit, LLC
[email protected]
215 568 2590

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Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
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by Don Wrigley » Mon Mar 30, 2009 5:24 am
Graham wrote:Dear Don Wrigley,


2) I must admit that with top b-schools taking candidates with less and less work experience (and showing a bit of a preference towards doing so), I'm not so sold on your 5-year plan. In other words, my guess is that you could actually consider an application much sooner.

3) In terms of how to develop your candidacy before you apply, there are a number of things you could do. For example, you should clearly be aiming for increased leadership at the office, exposure to work in teams, client-facing opportunities (if applicable) and more managerial responsibility (e.g. less programming, more planning/managing). You might also expand existing involvement in hobbies or commuity activities - exactly how you go about this will depend on your prior track record in this area...(and I'd need a lot more information to guide you).
Interesting point with question #2, I did not realize this at all. Will a 5-year plan hurt me? My 5-year work plan has a few different facets to it, I'm not just doing it for more work experience before applying.

Most importantly, I'm doing it to save money for tuition; I figure I'd like to go in with at least enough cash for 1 year of tuition and room and board at a top university (which I calculate I can have easily with a 5-year plan).

Additionally, the plan gives me more time to get involved in activities outside of work, and possibly take some more classes.

Finally, I'm actually very comfortable in my current situation, as a 23-year old with a very highly paid, professional career--something that I'm not quite prepared to leave, at least as of yet. Applying as a 26 year old with 5 years of work experience doesn't bother me in the slightest, I'm not in any rush beyond that.

So...will waiting 5 years to apply actually hurt my chances? I think that's the only thing that could make me apply sooner; if applying sooner would actually help whereas waiting would hinder.

I will sign up for one of those free info sessions. Thanks for the advice.
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