Low GPA many years ago...Hopefully attractive profile now

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Dear MBA admission Consultants;

I would like to have your best advice regarding my profile and the chances I have to successfully apply to a full time MBA in a school such as INSEAD. I will basically lay down the variables of this equation and hope for your straight forward advice

Age when applying: 34
Race: Black (respecting sensitivities but I see that it might be a differentiating factor)
Origin: African (Again since africa is always very little represented seams to be also a differentiation factor)
Graduated from US college
GPA: 2.4 (Slacked in college)

Work experience when applying: 10 years
Executive Management Experience when applying: 5 years

Worked for ExxonMobil in Africa after graduating as Logistics Analyst for 4 years

Started to work for a project and asset management company in Africa as logistics coordinator.
Moved up to projects manager, with management responsibilities in USD 380M PPP waterfront rehabilitation project employing 600 technical staff, overseeing directly team of 6 project executive coordinators.

Currently Executive Director of same company (company owns assets valued at USD 290M), overseeing functional areas such as Human Resources, General Support Services, and Administrative Services. Additionally extended director role to waterfront rehabilitation project and real state development. Additionally in charge of oversight of USD 50M executive aviation operation serving the company board, shareholders, and currently targeting services to oil producing nations in Africa.

Now the Question:

Understanding the slacked undergrad GPA, taking in consideration the experience, leadership, and job relevance. Being of an emerging economy and a continent extremely little represented in major academic programs, What would an Attractive GMAT score be? in order to build a potentially successful application to a program such as INSEAD or IMD full time MBA?

Thank you for your feedback;

Regards.
Source: — Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant |

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by MBAApply » Fri May 18, 2012 8:14 am
For European schools like INSEAD, the GPA isn't as big an issue since their applicant pool is incredibly diverse (i.e. people from all around the world who studied in different school systems around the world - and as such it's much harder to compare Russian grades to Ugandan grades to Chinese grades -- even within Europe, it's still hard to benchmark Italian vs. German vs. UK grades). This is less of an issue in the US where the majority of folks went to US colleges for undergrad.

Also, given that you're older, your GPA is ancient history.

For you, it's really all about the GMAT. For schools like INSEAD or IMD, you should aim for at least a 700, and ideally a 720+ to be safe. Do that, and you should be competitive for these schools.

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by mikles » Tue May 22, 2012 12:45 pm
MBAApply wrote:For European schools like INSEAD, the GPA isn't as big an issue since their applicant pool is incredibly diverse (i.e. people from all around the world who studied in different school systems around the world - and as such it's much harder to compare Russian grades to Ugandan grades to Chinese grades -- even within Europe, it's still hard to benchmark Italian vs. German vs. UK grades). This is less of an issue in the US where the majority of folks went to US colleges for undergrad.

Also, given that you're older, your GPA is ancient history.

For you, it's really all about the GMAT. For schools like INSEAD or IMD, you should aim for at least a 700, and ideally a 720+ to be safe. Do that, and you should be competitive for these schools.
Thank you MBAAPPLY.....after reading a little bit about these schools and experiences from fellow forum members I am sure as well that a 700-720 mark will do. Time to roll my sleeves now and work hard to get it.

Cheers...