Manager
Joined: 20 May 2012
Posts: 82
Detail: MBA admissions help
Concentration: Entrepreneurship, Strategy
Schools: Northwestern (Kellogg) - Class of 2000
GPA: 3.9
Re: Profile Eval Request: 2.8 GPA 720 GMAT Management Consultant
[#permalink]
06 Jun 2012, 06:04
hey consultant,
this is a pretty tough call. i'd say you were fairly competitive based on some of your work experience and a decent GMAT score, but that GPA is going to be a problem. it was done at a decent univ, but in what's regarded as a pretty soft major. i'm curious to know whether your grades show any kind of trajectory? did they climb upward, or stay at that level? did you take any quant classes, and if so, what were the grades?
in your essays, be sure to focus on the work experience of your turnaround career. the stuff you did right out of college, working at the resort, etc., will not be well regarded by the adcoms at the higher tier schools. unless there was smthg really magical about what you did during this time, i'd caution against including it. to me, there's a career trajectory issue that it surfaces, and there's no direct line between that work and the work you're doing now, so it seems unfocused. plus, it might call into question how you got the job you're currently in.
based on your credentials, i'd say you were competitive at the bottom of the top 10, and getting into tier 1 (HBS) will be a real stretch. you've got very unique work experience, which i can see the adcoms liking, but the GPA will be an issue, esp at the higher end. much of it will depend on how you address the GPA issue through your essays, and convey a very strong focus post-MBA.
Hope that's helpful,
-james young