NYU Langone - Spring 2011

Captain Winters,

Seriously, I know how you feel. Cause I've been there before. The truth is though, if you truly believe in yourself, I'm 100% positive you will get in as re-applicant. This is more true for you than I. You at least got wait listed - I was outright rejected the 1st time.

But you can't stay stagnant. You have to improve some aspects of yourself or the application materials. Below is what I posted initially on this thread. Hope my example helps. By the way, I have since switched to Wash U weekday program from West Chester. (I requested it as my new role required me to work in the city)

After trying it for the 2nd time in 2.5 years, I finally got in to Stern part time program! I got a call from Stern guy on Oct 22nd, asking me to check my email, and when I did it, it said congraulations! It was definitely a surprise, as I didn't expect to be notified before Dec 1st, especially considering that I submitted my application a day after the deadline. He said that they had just started notifying admissions for the Westchester campus.

For those of you who didn't get in before, or may not get in this time, there's definitely hope for you guys. Here's some info for those of you interested.

2008:
Undergrad GPA: 2.56 (Top 25 US ranking)
Grad GPA: 3.9
GMAT: 660
Age: 30
Title: Project Manager at a Media company (2nd year)
Experience: 9 Years experience in various IT roles
Creative essay: Mock interview question and answers
Program: Washington Weekends only. Wash weeknights and Westchester were not options.

2010:
Under Grad, Grad, GMAT: All the same as 2008
Age: 33
Title: Manager at same Media company (4th year)
Experience: 11 years experience in various IT roles
Creative essay: PDF presentation with various pictures and narrative of my life
Other essays: I modified and made improvements from the 2008 essays. Overall, I think it was better quality.
Recommendation: Much better due to the fact that same guys knew me much better in my 4th year at the company as opposed to 2nd year. I was promoted, so they had a lot more to talk about.
Program: Westchester, Wash Weekends, then Wash Weeknights.

So as you can see in 2008, my undergrad gpa was horrible, my GMAT was ok but not terrific, I did not show very good progression in my career path (non-managerial role), my creative essay was not that creative, and I was too adamant about program option (Wash Weekends only). I was 30, which was a bit on the older side compared to other candidates, but not sure if that was that much of a negative.

There was nothing I can do about my undergrad gpa, and I wasn't willing to retake GMAT again, because that was just too painful especially at 33. So I tried to change all the other negatives. I worked my ass off to get promoted, got bunch of awards etc as bonus points, I got more creative in my creative essay with more visuals etc, and I made program option more flexible. It turns out Westchester was only a 20 minute drive, and it was a better choice than the other options.

So there you go. For all of you guys suffering from bad judgement in college with pisscrap GPA to show for, you can still get into top tier MBA program with hard work and perseverance.