Low Undergrad GPA Success Stories

inspiring

2.54 GPA from a top Liberal Arts school.
Dings from uh...everywhere except georgetown w/l. I got in off the waitlist.

I got a 750 on the gmat. absolutely necessary if you're applying with a low UG gpa. My essays were kind of weak as well, or I think I would have been more successful. I spoke to the people at Tuck and Columbia and basically they said that because of my GPA I needed to have stellar essays to show them why they needed to ignore my past failure. Since I wasn't able to do that they felt like I just didnt' have good experiences to talk about and might have been a decent enough candidate in a few years, but that I seemed under prepared at present.

With any severe weakness in your application materials the onus is on you to MAKE them ignore it. You may know that you're not the bad risk you were as an 18 year old idiot, but the admissions department has never met you, so you have to show them why they should ignore the evidence that you've been a complete idiot in the past. I have more thoughts on this, but I'm in costa rica and the hotel computer kinda sucks so...

How did you do on your GMAT? I assume your work experience and extra curricular activities were excellent?

ISA had 760 GMAT.

Wow, that is a very impressive score!

This gives me hope! I got a 750 on the Gmat and have a similar GPA issue. I have great work experience so it feels great that I could get in as long as I have excellent essays. Yay!

It appears hard enough with a solid GMAT score and a solid gpa to be admitted into a top school.

hi, ~3 gpa

submitting for r2 this year! we'll see what happens

i think my gpa takes the cake on this one - 1.9 (and that's rounded up). a bunch of F's, especially in 2nd yr when i broke up with my ex and just didn't even sit for any of my finals.

i have pretty good work experience though and a 760 gmat.

here's the link to my story. my-road-to-oxford-sbs-and-insead-89413.html

I had a 2.8 as well, no Fs but I did have a D. I wrote an essay explaining a lot of personal issues I had gone through in college, and in my interviews I was very honest about how I didn't take education seriously. I ended up getting a 700 on the GMAT after a lot of studying, and I think this was a good way to prove I was now focused on school. I have been accepted to Foster so far, have had several other interviews, and am waiting to hear back from the other schools I have applied to in rd 2.

congratulations... when did you applied for and interviewed with foster?

This is great!

I applied at the end of round 2, and interviewed 2 weeks ago. Heard back from them last week.

that's so soon to hear a decision I interviewed with them last week. I applied on the deadline for the 3rd round- jan 15th. I hope I hear them soon. I am really curious...

Oh my mistake, it was round 3 for me as well, Jan. 15th. I think it was one week to the day that the person who I interviewed with called me and told me the good news. Good luck!

thanks,
good luck to you also

I'll add my story too, although I consider it to be more of a work in progress rather than a success story (which is why I didn't post earlier). I have a 2.5 gpa in math from a top 15 school. I had an F or two, and a couple of Ds. I took a very ambitious schedule, but above all decided to focus on online poker rather than my studies. All day, all night, I was playing poker. Skipped class to play poker, missed assignments, etc. The story is awful, and I feel like a jerk telling it. I cleaned up my act, worked at 2 blue chip companies, have done meaningful work, and scored a 780 on my gmat. (As an aside, if you have a low gpa and low gmat, you really better have something very special [e.g. you played professional sports, founded a charity in Africa, or came up with the next facebook] to have a chance at the very top programs)

Anyway, I'm still waiting to hear from CMU (I had an interview and visited and liked it). My other decisions are in the books:

Accepted with scholarship to Emory,
Interviewed and rejected from Booth and Kellogg
Rejected without interview from HBS, Stanford, MIT
Not interviewed, but not officially rejected yet from Duke