Extremely Unbalanced Undergrad Transcripts
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11 Jun 2010, 21:18
I'd like some advice on my situation. It is a little unusual. I am a 26 year old male from Bangladesh, but have been in the U.S. for the last 24 years. I was former Elementary and Junior High Valedictorian, won spelling bees, math contests, etc. Basically, I was a straight A student until my last two years of HS. Of course, none of this "counts" in an MBA application, but I just wanted to shed a little background on my unusual case.
In college, things took a dramatic turn for the worse. Part of that was due to extreme depression. I started as a Computer Engineering major at a very good engineering school. It wasn't for me and I did poorly. With my poor grades and other circumstances, I progressively got into a bigger and bigger hole. My father suffered a major heart attack, my grandmother passed away, and my family almost fell into bankruptcy. It took me SIX YEARS just to attain a two year Associate's Degree. I moved through three different schools during this period.
After that, I attended a four year CUNY school. I had some major life changing experiences and had a return to form. In 11 months, I completed about 2 full years of undergrad with a very heavy course load (55 credits). I got my degree in Business Management and Finance and completed every single class with an A (75 % of them were A+ grades and I completed 5 courses for Honor's credit). Obviously, this Jekyll and Hyde undergrad profile will raise some eyebrows for an admissions officer. Even with that 11 month period of straight A performance, my cumulative GPA is a low 2.8. You don't take six years for a two year degree if you have an outstanding GPA obviously.
I have a 720 GMAT score. Also, I have co-owned and managed a Subway restaurant for the past year and a half. I have volunteered at a very reputable hospital. In my Statistics course, I earned an A+ with Honors. My professor happened to be the head of the Econ. dept at my school. I've worked with him on two independent research "courses" as well. As such, he's going to write me a VERY strong letter of recommendation.
Now, the obvious question: What are my chances at a top 10 B-school? Can six whole years of extremely poor undergrad performance be mitigated with 11 months of overloaded and extremely productive work, strong essays, my good GMAT score, and the rest of my profile or have I done too much damage?
Should I also build an alternative transcript and retake Calculus and Managerial Accounting, which I did poorly in (C+ and C respectively) during my 6 years of below average work?
Any advice would be most appreciated.
PS - I am working on an interesting (at least to me) project. I am creating an amateur video series for Business Statistics. It's based on the teachings and notes of my professor. I plan to distribute a copy (on DVDs) to every student taking the course in the Fall. I go through the logic of each topic, how to do the math, etc. My professor and I will then gauge the performance of the class and see if there is a statistically significant improvement in class performance compared to previous classes. I theorize that having ownership of this teaching supplement will strongly reinforce the teachings and will improve grades. Do you think this is something that could help boost my profile enough?