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cindyAtStaged4more
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Undergrad GPA? 12 Jan 2008, 02:14
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Hi

I want to know how crucial is my undergrad GPA in the application process? I had no plans in attending graduate school so it's less than stellar. Any opinions on this?

Thanks!

Cheers,
Cindy
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clobo
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Undergrad GPA? 12 Jan 2008, 05:33
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Cindy, the importance of the undergrad GPA increases or decreases depending on:
- the time of graduation: if you graduated many years ago, your UG GPA is of less importance than your work experience and professional achievements
- GMAT Score: a solid performance on the GMAT does go some way in convincing the adcom that you can handle the content of an MBA program
- overall profile: a weakness in one area can be offset by strengths in others, so if you've been very active in your community, have lots of extra curriculars and great work experience, adcom will ignore your less than stellar GPA
- extenuating circumstances during UG: If something happened that took an emotional and mental toll on you or if you were occupied with another responsibility during your UG, thereby causing your performance to take a hit, explain it in the optional essay

This is all I can think of or have gathered from other posts. Also, if you just plain goofed like I did during my last year, explain it in the optional essay and indicate to the adcom how you've matured since then and learned from your mistakes. Good luck!
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Undergrad GPA? 12 Jan 2008, 06:45
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I think clobo has captured all the major points. I had a moderate-lowish GPA but I think the rest of my application sort of made up for that including GMAT and some good extra curriculars . I did not address it in the optional essay for Ross and still ended up with an admit (did so for the other schools). So, unless your GPA is really really terrible, I would not really worry about it. also I think it depends on the school- HBS might be much more difficult to get in versus some of the lower ranked schools.

Good luck.

clobo
Cindy, the importance of the undergrad GPA increases or decreases depending on:
- the time of graduation: if you graduated many years ago, your UG GPA is of less importance than your work experience and professional achievements
- GMAT Score: a solid performance on the GMAT does go some way in convincing the adcom that you can handle the content of an MBA program
- overall profile: a weakness in one area can be offset by strengths in others, so if you've been very active in your community, have lots of extra curriculars and great work experience, adcom will ignore your less than stellar GPA
- extenuating circumstances during UG: If something happened that took an emotional and mental toll on you or if you were occupied with another responsibility during your UG, thereby causing your performance to take a hit, explain it in the optional essay

This is all I can think of or have gathered from other posts. Also, if you just plain goofed like I did during my last year, explain it in the optional essay and indicate to the adcom how you've matured since then and learned from your mistakes. Good luck!
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Undergrad GPA? 12 Jan 2008, 09:58
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I find myself in the same situation. I'm taking extension classes (UCLA online) and trying to ace them. A's in accounting, mathematics and business economics (or finance) combined with a 700+ GMAT could convince AdComs that you would be able to handle the classes of an MBA (and forget about your GPA).
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Undergrad GPA? 12 Jan 2008, 10:00
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I think the GPA doesnt tell the whole story. You need to look at the grades. If you get a 3.0 and almost all Bs thats a lot better than a 3.0 with a mix of As in easy classes and Cs in very important ones. Thats why they want transcripts.
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Undergrad GPA? 12 Jan 2008, 11:23
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Welcome to GMAT Club. I thought you may find it helpful to look at threads that address somewhat similar questions. This not only helps you, but other members with similar questions who may otherwise never see these threads:

Undergrad School ----> Effect on App! - 97-t48786?

gpa weight? - 103-t38457?

Does your undergraduate institution matter? - 97-t23258?

A Conceptual view of Admissions - 97-t19450?

Reputation of Undergraduate School, Concerns About -
https://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=23258
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Undergrad GPA? 12 Jan 2008, 23:40
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one word, pelihu. Enuf said =)

(to elaborate, he had a 2.9 GPA and a 780 GMAT and got into Darden with scholarship).
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aceman626
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Undergrad GPA? 13 Jan 2008, 02:51
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dosa_don
I think clobo has captured all the major points. I had a moderate-lowish GPA but I think the rest of my application sort of made up for that including GMAT and some good extra curriculars . I did not address it in the optional essay for Ross and still ended up with an admit (did so for the other schools). So, unless your GPA is really really terrible, I would not really worry about it. also I think it depends on the school- HBS might be much more difficult to get in versus some of the lower ranked schools.

Good luck.

clobo
Cindy, the importance of the undergrad GPA increases or decreases depending on:
- the time of graduation: if you graduated many years ago, your UG GPA is of less importance than your work experience and professional achievements
- GMAT Score: a solid performance on the GMAT does go some way in convincing the adcom that you can handle the content of an MBA program
- overall profile: a weakness in one area can be offset by strengths in others, so if you've been very active in your community, have lots of extra curriculars and great work experience, adcom will ignore your less than stellar GPA
- extenuating circumstances during UG: If something happened that took an emotional and mental toll on you or if you were occupied with another responsibility during your UG, thereby causing your performance to take a hit, explain it in the optional essay

This is all I can think of or have gathered from other posts. Also, if you just plain goofed like I did during my last year, explain it in the optional essay and indicate to the adcom how you've matured since then and learned from your mistakes. Good luck!
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what was your GPA may i ask?
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aceman626
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kryzak
one word, pelihu. Enuf said =)

(to elaborate, he had a 2.9 GPA and a 780 GMAT and got into Darden with scholarship).
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I think when looking at pelihu's situation, it actually goes both way.

On one hand, its an example of low GPA getting into a good school (Darden).

On the other hand, it proves that its super hard (close to impossible this year) to overcome that low GPA. I believe (if I rememeber correctly) that he took several extension classes and aced all of them, has a top law degree, insanely superb GMAT, also worked hard on executing his apps. In the end, still didn't get into most of the top schools. Imagine if he just had a 3.2 or something, would almost be a lock to get in at least one of the M7. Fact is most of the M7/top 10 really hate it when your GPA starts with a "2".

Personally, I feel like U.S. schools are quite unfair when it comes to GPA. They care so much about stats and rankings that they would rather take a decent GPA from bad/easy school over a low GPA from good/hard school (all else being the same). In reality, the low GPA guy from the hard school will most likely do very well if he went to the easy school. Its like they're punishing people for going to a good undergrad.

From what I hear, international schools like INSEAD actually care much less about GPA, because intenationals make up a large majority of the student body, and much more diverse than U.S. schools. They look at your academics via GMAT + reputation of your undergrad institution (they have some kind of ranking system) + difficulty of major. The actual GPA is not that important. I think that's a much more fair system.
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Quote:
From what I hear, international schools like INSEAD actually care much less about GPA, because intenationals make up a large majority of the student body, and much more diverse than U.S. schools. They look at your academics via GMAT + reputation of your undergrad institution (they have some kind of ranking system) + difficulty of major. The actual GPA is not that important. I think that's a much more fair system.
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I confirm that.

I attended their info session in Fontainebleau last October and they actually did say that reputation of undergrad school is important.

Another point: INSEAD mission statement is to be the best (and hence diverse) international school. They are dozens of grading systems worldwide that are sometimes not convertible into a single grading system (GPA for instance). The unique factor is that equal for everyone is the GMAT.
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Undergrad GPA? 13 Jan 2008, 08:13
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aceman- my gpa was 6.8/10, not high by any means. But the school that I did go to, IIT, is pretty tough to get into (~1% selectivity) and I guess adcomms know that. But even then, a lot of IITians apply to top business schools and I dont find too many people with a lower gpa than mine. But I personally feel I had decent extra-curriculars in my UG that offset my gpa. Also, I think it is very difficult for adcoms to convert the international grades into a 4 point scale. In fact when I w as reading the class stats for one of the top schools, it was specified that the average gpa is only for students who graduated on a 4 point scale. But if your GPA is low, you have make make sure your GMAT is much above average.

Regarding Pelihu- I am not sure if he applied to a whole bunch of M-7's but he is getting a full ride (I think) at Darden. So, I would say that his GMAT score and his Law degree and all the effort he put in to negate his lowish GPA definitely helped.


aceman626
dosa_don
I think clobo has captured all the major points. I had a moderate-lowish GPA but I think the rest of my application sort of made up for that including GMAT and some good extra curriculars . I did not address it in the optional essay for Ross and still ended up with an admit (did so for the other schools). So, unless your GPA is really really terrible, I would not really worry about it. also I think it depends on the school- HBS might be much more difficult to get in versus some of the lower ranked schools.

Good luck.

clobo
Cindy, the importance of the undergrad GPA increases or decreases depending on:
- the time of graduation: if you graduated many years ago, your UG GPA is of less importance than your work experience and professional achievements
- GMAT Score: a solid performance on the GMAT does go some way in convincing the adcom that you can handle the content of an MBA program
- overall profile: a weakness in one area can be offset by strengths in others, so if you've been very active in your community, have lots of extra curriculars and great work experience, adcom will ignore your less than stellar GPA
- extenuating circumstances during UG: If something happened that took an emotional and mental toll on you or if you were occupied with another responsibility during your UG, thereby causing your performance to take a hit, explain it in the optional essay

This is all I can think of or have gathered from other posts. Also, if you just plain goofed like I did during my last year, explain it in the optional essay and indicate to the adcom how you've matured since then and learned from your mistakes. Good luck!

what was your GPA may i ask?
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aceman626
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Undergrad GPA? 13 Jan 2008, 19:43
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Yes, I have heard the same thing! They do not compile the international grading systems in the their average GPA, and as a result I've heard that its easier to get in with a low GPA if you went to an international undergrad as oposed to US undergrad. I have heard of multiple instances of that. For example, one Columbia alum (an international) at the info session straight up told me he fudged his way into Columbia. He has a crappy GPA from a pretty bad university, but he wrote in his apps that his school was "one of the best" in his country. He said they might know the best or the second best in each country (this was also a few years ago), but they don't know the 3rd or 4th best, etc. He also told adcom his GPA altho low was highly ranked and he was tops in his class %wise, which wasn't true. He applied to many top schools and the only other one he got into was Pace University :shock: But yeah, that just shows adcom's a bit more lenient on international GPAs cuz they just don't have as deep of an understanding about it.