Leadership of the small LGBT student group is really good stuff, why not focus on that and help you standout? You can mention the gpa slide, no need to focus on it, since your gpa is fine.

GPA calculations vary by school, and should be included on your transcript. If you're having trouble finding it, I would contact your school for help.
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Hi All,

I graduated in 2009 with a CGPA of 2.6 in electrical engineering from U of Toronto. The engineering program is ranked 8th in the world and 5th in North America by USNews, so the school is indeed "top" (I do realize my GPA is indeed crap, irrespective of the fact if it is from a good school or not). I am working for a solid F500 company now in an engineering role. I am being pro active in my role and my group lead has given me the entire responsibility of a part of team management for a near-future project !

One of the reasons for my low gpa is that midway through my first year my mom had an accident and I had to drop off from school to take care of her as I am the only son(I didn't mind as I was only 16 at the time I got admitted. But this incident left me shaken to see my mom in such a state). I came back next year to finish my first year. My gpa has been an upward progression from 2nd year (albeit from a very low start. 2.2 in 2nd year. 2.6 in 3rd year and 2.9 4th year for a cumulative of 2.6/4.0). Another "excuse" for my low gpa is that I wasn't really interested in engineering and wanted to study history. But I am from an Asian background and my parents would not even let me allow anywhere near history. I have excellent extra curriculars (winning university wide case competition, managing a student council, mentor for freshman kids, coaching the engineering intramural flag football team etc etc)

Ofcourse I am still a good 3-4 years from applying to B-schools (not aiming for H/S/W. I am targeting the likes of Duke/Darden or CMU. At Darden close to 10% of the students has a GPA below 3.0 and at CMU this percentage was in the high teens. So I have some hope). But when I do apply, do I still have to prove my "quant skills" since I am from an engineering background? I took 3 calculus course, a discrete mathematics course, a differential equations and linear algebra course and a probability and statistics course. My marks range from a 60 to 95 in these courses with a few mid70s thrown in. In all my courses I was either at or above class average.

I am very confused as to what steps I should take to mitigate my low GPA. A 700+ GMAT is obviously going to be very important. I plan to take some accounting courses at a local community college to build an alternate transcript. Say I do well in these courses, would my new gpa matter or am I going to be judged primarily on my UG gpa? Is this a good idea? Or since I am an engineer I have to show adcoms my soft skills/leadership/communication skills instead?

Thank you,

enggtomba

Hey thanks for the reply. Now I have an idea of what to do and on what to/what not to focus on!