Hi there,

Thanks in advance for your help! I just took the GMAT this afternoon, and would appreciate if you could take a brief moment to evaluate my profile. I realize that my undergraduate GPA is quite weak, but I'm hoping that I'll still have a decent chance at gaining admittance into an upper-tier U.S. program for Fall '13.

Target Schools (in order of preference): Wharton, Stanford, Kellogg, Harvard, Chicago, Sloan, Stern

GMAT: 760 (Q50, V43)

Undergraduate Education: UC Berkeley '10, Economics, 3.3 GPA

Work Experience: Nearly 2 years at a boutique private equity firm, specializing in value-added multifamily real estate investments in the U.S., China, and Taipei.

EC's: 1.) Junior Analyst for a U.S. charitable trust (established in 1977), focused on building, supplying and sustaining primary schools in rural China, 2.) Global Business Development Analyst (focus on Asia) for my state's economic development commission, 3.) Big Brothers Big Sisters, 4.) Toastmasters

Do I have a realistic chance at any of these schools? I still have about a year to shore up weaknesses in my application, but I'm just afraid that my undergraduate GPA is going to end up being a deal breaker for me. If you'd like me to provide any other information, please let me know.

Thanks so much for your help!

A 3.3 GPA from a school with a respected reputation, like Berkeley, is by no means "weak." Furthermore, your excellent GMAT score does a great deal to counterbalance your GPA not being in the top-quartile of applicants to the top-ranked schools you listed. The real question is, what does your transcript say about your academic abilities and attitude? Is it evidence that you lacked motivation or intellectual curiosity? Concerns that you won't contribute energy and ideas to the academic environment of these top schools *will* in fact get you dinged. So the question becomes, how do you prove that you are, in fact, an academic dynamo? If you really want to ease concerns and there are specific classes or subject areas that you struggled with during your college days, then taking a college level course at a reputable university and crushing it is the best way to atone for any prior academic sins. This will also show the admissions committee that your recognize the shortcoming and are an individual who attacks weaknesses with a vengeance. Is this step strictly necessary? It really depends on the story your transcripts have to tell about your academic abilities and attitude.
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Tyler Cormney
MBA Prep School
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