Low GPA&GMAT TBD

[SuzieQPoodle]

Hello all,

Just found your lovely site today!
Anyways, I am going to apply for an MBA program, most likely for 2013 or 2014.
I have a BBA in Management and MIS. I work for a big 4 consulting firm, initially doing IT work, but am phasing into Business Strategy & Ops work. I will have about 5 years of experience by the time 2014 rolls around- and so far, I have received excellent reviews of my work and it should not be hard to get high level execs to write me a recommendation.
I have a broad range of experience in my work, having done work in IT Change, Project/program, and risk work- as well as (non IT) strategy and ops work.
My question is, my gpa was low (3.1)- it was higher before I took a bunch of IT courses. Also, during my undergrad, I had a family crisis (medical) which made it impossible to focus, given that i was the sole caretaker of my parent during that time and had to take them to the hospital during class hours and it was very time consuming. Before that, I was an honors student. After my parent got better, I was just stressed and I didn't really focus as I should have, instead trying to get work experience via internships (again, great references- I have good work ethic.)

Do you think that i should be ok? I have excellent writing skills and probably can explain this well enough in an essay. Also, I have not taken the GMAT, but am scheduled to do so on August 6'th of this year (as I sometimes get test anxiety- and since I still have plenty of time to re-take, I may do better.) What score should I aim for? and I have not prepped, but I'm generally extremely good at verbal and written, but very poor in quantitative studies. How should I approach this? How much time should I spend a day? Is this doable to get a test score that I need?
I would have scheduled it for fall, but I usually am not good studying that far in advance... Work would get in the way and it wouldn't be a priority for me.

Oh. And the schools that I'm aiming for are of the Vanderbilt, Rice, Georgia Tech caliber. I am not sure that I would have a shot at an ivy league-- would I?

Any advice would be welcomed,

[vineeshp]

Hi,

The only reason you would have ZERO chance at an Ivy league is if you dont apply!!

I have seen lots of similar profiles at top schools. While your GPA can be called "low", you can work around it easily by taking a few MBA ready courses and showing the Adcom that you had issues which affected your GPA.

The way I see things, I think you cna make it to a very top school, provided your GMAT score is in their range and you submit competitive essays. GPA is one of the many criteria. So, that alone cannot prevent you from a top school.

Even if you dont make it to the Harwards and Stanfords, you should easily make it to a top 15/20 school with ease with the right approach to applications.

and hey, welcome to BTG.

[SuzieQPoodle]

Thank you, Vineesh!

Do you know what score I should shoot for (regarding the GMAT?)

[vineeshp]

I really should not be giving you that advice.

You know your abilities and your strengths best. Set yourself a strong target score and try to work at it. Set a tougher target than your current abilities indicate. Work hard for it. You should make it. GMAT they say is less about content and more about strategy. Anything above 680 should put you in a strong position (with your profile).

As I said, GMAT alone cannot prevent you from getting an admit.

But to look at it technically, see where your profile fits best. See the average GMAT scores in those schools and aim to be in that range.

All d best!