aloezuo wrote:
Dear Alex,
Hoping to get some advice on my candidacy
Asian, Female, 28
GPA - 2.63 - graduated engineering program at university of toronto, calc I grades C+, calc II grades C
GMAT - 710 - Quant 47 (68 percentile), Verbal 41 (94 percentile), IR 7 (81 percentile)
Work experience:
- 3 years at transit commission (1.5 year intern, 1.5 year assistant engineer)- working on design review for new trains that is being procured for the city
- 3 years at major sports league (2 years project manager, currently as senior project manager) working on various camera, video transmission project for IT/engineering department
wants to use MBA to get into strategy consulting
I know my gpa is probably a show stopper and I don't have a steller profile, just wondering where I stand in my candidacy and any chance for columbia, tuck, nyu?
Should I take any extra courses or redo my GMAT (this means I will miss Round 1 applications, and have to apply in round 2)?
Thank you!
In short, you're in a bit of a bind for Columbia, since it only has 2 rounds (unlike other schools that have 3 rounds or more) - they admit a large chunk of their class from their Early Decision round, which means it's much harder to get in through their Regular Decision round.
However, you are right that your GPA will be an issue. Yes, engineering GPAs are given more slack (they're graded on a much harsher curve), but below 3.0 is going to be a concern. So what you really need to do is the following:
1. Take a few extra quant courses - doesn't have to be upper level electives; it could be freshman level college classes in calculus, statistics, algebra, accounting, finance, physics, microeconomics, macroeconomics, etc. Take 2-3 courses and ace them. You can also enroll in online classes as long as the university is accredited (i.e. UCLA online extension is a popular one). This will help you build an alternate transcript.
2. Your GMAT is okay, but if you are confident you can score a 740+ (or ideally 760+ given your low GPA), then it may be worth studying for a retake as well.
Beyond that, your work experience is solid - it's not cookie cutter but still familiar enough to the adcoms that they know you'll have no problems fitting in with your fellow MBA classmates.
So with that in mind, yes, you should wait until R2 - and as for Columbia, while Regular Decision is harder than Early Decision, I think in your case it may be worth the gamble of submitting Regular Decision after having addressed your low GPA (alternate transcript, higher GMAT) than submitting Early Decision as is.
Good news is that it's not fatal as there are folks who have gotten in with sub-3.0 GPAs (especially engineers), and that it's also addressable (you can find ways to address it).
Finally, even if you had a strong GPA, I wouldn't limit it to just 3 schools. Try and go for 6-8 schools, as it's a numbers game. You want to apply to 2-3 stretches, and 3-4 sweet spots, and maybe 1 safety. Stretches for you will be top 8 schools (Tuck, Sloan, Columbia, Booth, Kellogg, Haas), sweet spots will be top 16 schools (UCLA, Cornell, Yale, Stern, Duke, Darden, Ross), and safeties will be outside the top 16 (Canadian schools like Ivey, Rotman and top 30 US schools).
Good luck!