Suggestion for Optional Essay and Profile Evaluation please
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14 Dec 2006, 05:30
Hi Paul,
I have found very helpful advise on most of the answers that you have given in the threads here. I hope that you can look at my questions and help me:
Asian IT Male
Undergrad: B.S Electrical Engineering.
GMAT: 770 ( V 47 , Q 50)
GPA: Total (7.1/10) i.e 65% { Might be near to 3.0 or LESS on US Scale(Not sure though) }. However the grade trend is downward. The percentage for the final year is bad and is close to 50% with 3-4 D’s. The first 3 years were good and i was generally close to 70%. However the final yr bought my GPA down.
Work Ex: 3.5 yrs total till now. IT ERP Space in middleware System Integration. Worked in 3 different projects in 3 industries. Formally still a developer, but have led a team of 6 people as a module lead in 2 projects. Designation will change next year with promotion.
Extracurricular:Sports: Wrestling: Have participated in National Championship and have certificates for the same. Lawn Tennis: Organized and won Events both at University and school level. Participated in Nationals at Junior level in School.
Community Service: I have participated in programs for HIV/AIDS alleviation. I am a member of rural reach program and I need to visit villages regularly to feed polio drops for kids. I have taken courses in First Aid and sometimes manage patients in Emergency Trauma ward of the Local community hospital. I have done these activities mostly on the weekends. However I have no leadership in these activities.
Short Term Goal -> Process/Operations Consultancy in Non IT domain (preferably finance) Long Term -> Strategy/Management Consultancy and ultimately entrepreneurship.
Applying to:
NYU Stern , CMU Tepper
Indiana Kelley, Texas Mccombs
Vanderbilt, Ohio State and Georgetown.
I don’t have any concrete explanation for my Low GPA in the final yr. The reality is that I lost interest in my major i.e Electrical Engineering and worked on non credit projects for the Computer Science Deptt and the lack of effort in core Electrical Engineering courses reflected in my grades. I also wanted to finish my degree and get working in IT. Basically did not get my priorities right and paid for it.
I have tried to put together an optional essay explaining my grade trends in the final yr. However when I read it critically the whole essays just sounds like a bunch of excuses.
1) I suppose the Admission Committee will not ignore the grade trend in my senior year and might want some explanation. Given the fact that I have no convincing explanations, should I still try to put together an essay outlining the circumstances and my shortcomings. In other words is a lousy optional Essay better than no Essay at all?
2) How would you rate my chances in the schools that I mentioned given the information about my profile in this post.
Thanks very much.