Weak GPA. Two additional courses enough?

[RJ43]

Hello,

I plan on applying to the Haas School of Business and the Tepper School of Business this August/September.

I'm a 2006 Marketing graduate who has spent the past 5 years working as a Project Accountant and Systems Analyst for a high-end residential contractor. I've recently taken the GMAT and scored a 640. I'm fairly confident with the new study material and approach I have that I can add about 60 points to this score, so I'm not too worried about it. What I am worried about is my poor GPA from undergrad.

I finished with a 2.88 GPA. This score in no way reflects my ability, but it's there none the less. I'm planning on taking two courses at a local university here in SF to show that I am serious about my application and to prove that the poor GPA is not representative of what I can do.

These courses would bump my GPA to a 3.0 which is still very weak for these schools. My question is: is it worth it to take these courses? It will show that I'm serious about my application, and that in at least two courses my GPA did not reflect my ability. The problem is that I'll still only have an adjusted 3.0 gpa. Does this seem like enough work to overcome this weak area for schools of Haas' caliber?

[humblebee]

At the end of the day, it's better than nothing and serves as another data point to prove that you have the mental dexterity to handle the challenges of the MBA.

Assuming you have the time and the other parts of your application are strong, then I don't see why you shouldn't take these classes to bolster your application.

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[wharton750]

I think just taking the courses shows that you're dedicated and sends a good strong message. You should definitely do it.

[Jessica@VeritasPrep]

Dear RJ43,

You should absolutely take the courses. You should not look at it as increasing your GPA from a 2.88 to a 3.0 (which would seem frustrating). Instead, the new courses and those grades will be viewed separately. If you show that you can get a 4.0 in business related courses today, it will do much more (in the eyes of the Adcom) than marginally increase your undergraduate GPA. It will be seen as a more recent testament to your academic abilities.

I can't say it enough, absolutely take the courses! It shows you are serious, helps your chances at admission, AND, best of all, teaches you some of the things you are hoping to learn with an MBA anyway!

Good luck!
Jessica

[Kaneisha Grayson]

Hi RJ43,

I wanted to weigh in and give you some advice on which courses you could take to prove your academic ability despite your low GPA. I'm interested to know WHY your GPA from college is so low, because then that would give me some idea of which courses you would be best off taking. However, since your GMAT is low, let's focus on the following:

Classes I recommend:
- Accounting / Financial Reporting & Control
- Finance / Corporate Finance
- Statistics / Quantitative Methods

I recommend you take these courses at an accredited local community college or university or online at institutions such as BYU that are well-known for delivering high-quality online courses.

I always urge applicants to stay away from spending THOUSANDS of dollars on these prep courses. They are merely a supplement to your application and are not guaranteed to convince the AdCom that you can, in fact, cut it in the classroom. Spend no more than $600 per prep class in my opinion. You didn't ask for MBA application budgeting advice, but I gave it anyway.

Good luck!
Kaneisha

[sawdle]

I have had a similar issue. Calculus is the number one course my consultant recommended. I also would be careful about thinking that you now have a 3.0 GPA (if you get the A's). You still have the 2.8, you just have some other information to hopefully deflect it. Just wanted to say this so you are realistic when thinking about school selection. Finally, my understanding is that the UC's are even more picky about numbers than some schools ranked higher, so Haas could be a stretch. I have not heard from my schools but if you message me I will let you know what happened and can also tell you more about the low GPA strategy.

[mourinhogmat1]

Hi Guys, a quick response to some of the entries here.

I got 2 .9 GPA in my undegrad engineering, and hold a 3.93 GPA in my post grad engineering. I scored A's in all my maths courses in undegrad. However, I took electives such as finance & accounting which were general electives and flunked those. These general electives dont count towards the final degree, they were courses which I though I would have the time to study for but eventually didnt have the time. Basically I was busy with extra curricular activities during undergrad and didnt focus on my general electives.

Should I still take courses in statistics, finance and accounting to prove to adcom I am good enough to cope with the studies there? Or will the adcom look into my post grad GPA. Majority of my courses in my post graduation are engineering subjects intensive in maths and statistics.

Appreciate your responses.