Profile Evaluation Request for Duke/UNC admission

[cyclonus]

- GPA, major, school
2.97/4.0, Computer Science, Georgia Tech 2005
Certificate in Finance.

- GMAT with breakdown
690 (Q:43,V:41)

- resume highlights, including company name, job titles and promotions
Software Engineer 2, Harris Corporation (2005-present)
-4 years work experience, 1 promotion. Have some leadership experience as a software lead, have experience going on field assignments (they only send their best engineers) to customer sites, in New Mexico and Washington DC.
-2 years coop

- extracurricular involvements
-Captain of corporate volleyball team, 3 years participating.
-Sports Chair for GRAD committee, a club within Harris that helps acclimate new hires and graduates to the company and to the area. Planning sporting events, lessons, community leagues, etc. Also allowed me to be involved with social events, community service, corporate seminars for career advancement, Relay for Life, Habitat

- interesting personal facts - countries lived in, challenges faced, unusual interests
Born in Bangladesh, lived in U.S. since I was 3. Lived in Boston, NC, and grew up in ATL. Hang out with a pretty adventurous group of friends that take international trips, do rafting, cliff diving, etc.

I'm going to be applying to Duke, UNC, Virginia, and Wake Forest (as you can see I'm tied to a specific region). Duke is #1 on my list, but I'm not sure if I can create a competitive profile with my what I have just for right now. Obviously, GPA is a problem and I want to try and mitigate that as much as possible. I did go through a tough engineering program so hopefully they take that into account. My real question is, should I take the GMAT again? I wanted to offset my poor gpa with a great GMAT score. I was scoring 700+ with regularity on my practice exams, but my quant fell below what I had anticipated.

I should have good recommendation letters and I'm going to be spending a lot of time on the essays. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Lisa Anderson]

Dear cyclonus,

I think you have a competitive profile for your target schools, including Duke, based on the information in your post. A higher GMAT score will not hurt you, but a 690 is nothing to be worried about in your case. The fact you have an engineering degree from Georgia Tech will be taken into consideration, so I don't think your GPA is insurmountable nor a huge weakness for you. In my estimation, I think you just need to decide if retaking the GMAT will sacrifice the quality of the rest of your application; you do not want to spend your time prepping for the GMAT at the expense of your essays.

Best of luck,
Lisa

[cyclonus]

Lisa:

Thank you for the great advice. I think I will end up retaking the GMAT as I don't really have to study a lot of content. I know the content well and I was scoring 700+ easily in practice exams and I think I just had a bad day. If anything, timing is what I need to work on.

Do you think with my GPA and school, an alternate transcript would really benefit me?

As far as when to apply, does early action help vs R1/R2? Early action for Duke is Oct 6th. If I applied in time for the early action deadline, I wouldn't really be able to retake the GMAT before the deadline and I'd sort of rush the rest of the application as there is only a month left. Is there any advantage to early action or should I just wait for R1? If I apply and then retake the GMAT, do adcomm's consider new GMAT scores as they get reported?

I know to avoid R3 as it's very competitive since there are few seats left. I think R1/R2 would give more time to perfect my overall application.

[Lisa Anderson]

You are correct that it is best to get your application by R2, but that R1 is not necessarily an advantage over R2. If Duke is your first choice and you can hit the Oct. 6 deadline, then early action is an option for you. If you would not attend Duke over one of your other schools, then you should not apply early action and apply in R1.

Admissions committees use your highest total score in the evaluation. As long as you can report your new score, assuming it is higher, on your application and send the official score report to the school, then that is the GMAT score that will be used.

I don't think you need an alternative transcript to strengthen your application, per se, but you can take classes as part of your preparation for business school if you wish.

Good luck,
Lisa

[cyclonus]

"If Duke is your first choice and you can hit the Oct. 6 deadline, then early action is an option for you. If you would not attend Duke over one of your other schools, then you should not apply early action and apply in R1."

Yes, I understand that it's an option, but what is the advantage as far as early action goes? Does it increase my chances of admission or getting scholarship money?

[Lisa Anderson]

The advantage is you get your decision earlier. Your chances of admission are not necessarily higher nor your chance of scholarship dollars.

Regards,
Lisa