Overcome bad academic past? High GMAT, low GPA

[ashleygmat]

Hi,

I'd like to know if my Master's GPA and GMAT score can overcome my poor undergraduate GPA.

GMAT - 730
Undergraduate - Cornell University, Electrical Engineering. GPA - 2.82 downward trend. Took 5 years to graduate and I did fail classes.

Work Exp - 8 years

Graduate GPA - 3.7 from a local university in Engineering. I took classes on and off since I paid for my degree while working. I took 5.5 years to complete my Graduate degree part-time. Does this look bad that I took 5.5 years or does it look ok since I was working full-time while pursuing my Master's? I do have two Withdraw as I was busyw ith work and I had to withdraw classes.

Does my GMAT and Grad GPA offset my poor undergraduate GPA? I would like to aim for a top 25 MBA program.
Is there anything else I can do to offset my poor academic past?

Thanks,
Ashley

[Bryant@VeritasPrep]

Ashley--with 8 years WE and a 730 GMAT I would be looking at top 10 programs with a couple of top 20 thrown in for insurance. The longer you are out of school, the less it matters what your GPA was, and your GPA was not bad considering it was in engineering from Cornell (yes b-schools consider both the rigor of the program and the quality of the school--both pluses in your case). The fact it took awhile to get your MAsters is of no consequence because you were working. Sure, if you were a full time student in grad school and it took that long, they might ask, but it shouldn't even warrant an explanation in your case. The key will be in casting a compelling short and long term vision for your career and demonstrating a progression in responsibility and achievements professionally. B-schools love engineering majors, and even though there will be much competition from other engineering grads, you seem to have enough to differentiate yourself with your WE. Let us know if we can be helpful in honing your vision for the applications. Aim high--you will surprise yourself.

[ashleygmat]

Thanks a lot. I appreciate your response to my question.