Where can I get into realistically with these credentials?

[Jay_for_MBA]

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

-Graduated from Carnegie Mellon with a 2.05 GPA (yes, royally screwed up and went through some hardship with family)
-Shooting for a 740+ on the GMATs (having been in the 740-760 range on all practice exams)
-Have had great internship experience in finance and have worked in an investment bank for the past 3.5 years

Ideally I would love to get into a Georgetown or similar, but want to be realistic about my goals. I've completely changed from my undergrad but that GPA will haunt me unfortunately.

Thanks very much!

[tariqal]

If you score in the 700+ zone on your GMAT and back up your solid work experience with an awesome application (strong recommendation letters + genuine essays + leadership experience) then I think you can get to pretty high places. Georgetown would be a safe bet.

There are, however, other steps I believe you should take to strengthen your chances at other top-tiered schools. First and foremost, make sure you do your homework on the schools and honestly try to see whether your personal goals and aspirations are aligned with the school's offerings. Get in touch with the adcoms, do campus visits, be a part of information sessions and just generally be visible and interested. You can bet that the adcoms will definitely make note of your presence and will remember you. The added benefit of this is that once you establish an honest and strong rapport with the adcom of a school, you will most likely also find yourself getting genuinely interested and attached to the school which will make your essays and the application come more naturally and, thus, more strongly.

Secondly, I think it will be in your best interest to take up and Ace some standalone classes, preferably quant classes (if that was your weak point in school), at a local college or university. This will back up your skills and prove to the adcom that you've turned yourself around and are capable of excelling in an academic setting. Just a couple of courses in Statistics, Calculus or perhaps even Accounting/Finance would do.

Most of all, never sell yourself short! Good luck.

[Jay_for_MBA]

Tariqal - Thanks for your candid response, I will definitely take the steps you mentioned to bolster my application package.

Just one thing though, given that 3rd round application deadlines are approaching soon (mid-March on average). I won't really have any time to get down a couple of courses to set up an alternative transcript.
I'm thinking about applying to a GWU B-school or the like for a third-round app (to start in Fall 2012). Do you think it's wise to do that, or just wait for the first round deadlines for the following year?

Thanks again!

[tariqal]

First of all, I'd like to make a disclaimer here that I am in no way an expert and my advice is purely based on my own (fairly short) experience in this domain!

There, now that that's out of the way ...

Third round apps purportedly do not necessarily lower your chances to get admits into a good school - otherwise it wouldn't make sense for them to have the third round! In other words, just because you'd be applying in the third round shouldn't mean you lower your standards, if that is what you are implying. It ultimately comes down to a personal choice that only you can make: would you want to start in Fall 2012 by getting into a "safer" school or would you rather take the time to put together a stronger app and get into a more competitive school the following year? It really depends on your own circumstances of which you alone would be the best judge.

And remember - don't apply to a school only because you think it's easier to get into (whether it's 3rd round or not). Apply to a school because you believe there is a strong reciprocal fit. If GWU fits the bill, by all means, apply to it.

I hope this helps. Perhaps one of the experts here can pitch in as well and correct any of my mistakes.

[FutureWorks]

Hi,

The Application has a section that allows students to elaborate on anything that you feel is crucial for the admission committee to know while evaluating your candidature. It could be relating to academics or even your personal history. For example if standardized testing is not one of your strongest due to some factor then please use this place wisely to explain that. You might need to prove to the admission committee that your GPA won't be an issue. If you can tell in your application about any extra classes or courses you undertook in the subjects that you did not do well. This would highlight your zeal to learn and improve and in turn improve your low GPA situation.