Advice on Profile

Question

Hi Hjort, 

My profile is as follows:

GMAT: 45 Q (78%) 38 V (85%) 690 (91%)
GPA: 2.74 BA Economics and Communication (University of Maryland), I worked full-time (45-55 hours/week while attending full-time)
W/E: Currently I am a financial analyst. I budget for the Department of Defense as a contractor/consultant. I have been here for about 6 months. Before that, through out college I managed restaurants. I ended up opening a location right before I finished school. At this location I oversaw the construction of the building and negotiated all contracts for the store. I also was an active member in the Chamber of Commerce. I organized several charity nights at the restaurant once open. The Budget I was in charge of was $5,000,000.+. 

I am interested in a top 20 program but feel my GPA will hinder my chances. I am set on applying for this upcoming year. Do you have any recommendations for schools that do not weight so heavily on GPA and more son on W/E and GMAT. 

Thanks, 

Pat

sm176811 · Answer

Which schools do you plan to apply to (and why - what are your career goals)?

amorica · Answer

Have you thought about taking classes at your local college? I'm in a similar position in that I graduated with a 2.98 GPA(double major in comp sci / bus adm)

I'm taking calculus and a stats course at a local college. I also had a low quant score on my GMAT, so I'm focusing on quant type courses..

squali83 · Answer

sm176811 , I am planning on applying to UVA, UNC, Cornell as hopefulls. My father is pushing for me apply to Stanford ( I know I have no chance), he is an alumni, recieved his PHD from there so he has always wanted one of his kids to attend. My other long shot is Dartmouth. My saftey schools are Vanderbilt and Rice. Do you feel I have the right feel for what schools are long shot, hopefulls and safties. Any input (but positive and negative ) would be much appreciated. 

 amorica , I really wanted to attend this upcoming year. Do you think there will be time for me to take a class. If so, do they really hold value to community college courses taken, when considering your application? I have heard about this approach, but find it really hard to swallow.

amorica · Answer

Can you take classes at an accredited four year college as opposed to a community college? I'm taking my classes at the university of alabama-birmingham. I won't get my grades until april / may, but at the very least it shows that I'm willing to put forth the effort with a full time job and taking courses. I'm hoping that if I get waitlisted, I can come back later and show them grades. I'm not honestly sure about this strategy, but I feel as though it would be much better than doing nothing at all.

squali83 · Answer

I will probably enroll for a winter course or two at U of M. What do you think the admission council's feelings are for online classes. I agree, doing something is better than doing nothing. I will look into that. Thanks for the encouragement. Where are you applying?

aaudetat · Answer

Coming from an economic development background, I have less of a quant background than I would like. (I took and did well in Calc and some econ courses in college, but kept blowing off statistics to take foreign language courses.)

Someone in the admissions staff at Cornell recommended that I take a stats course (She preferred over calc, since I had that already and it's less applicable. Also preferred over acctg and finance as stats is a harder quant course.) She was very wary of community college courses and many online courses, saying that many simply don't provide the rigor that I would need. She did, however, recommend this course from UC Berkeley's online extension program. The folks at Haas obviously recommend it as well. And it's a fairly good deal when compared to Cornell University, but much more expensive than the local community college. https://explore.berkeley.edu/UCExt/cours ... n=Internet.

squali83 · Answer

Thanks for the help, aaudetat, I definitely appreciate it!

amorica · Answer

I'm applying to Illinois Urbana, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, and Wake Forrest. My gmat is only a 600, so it might be a bit of challenge for me.. 

I'm hoping the quant courses this spring will help to mitigate the grades and gmat. In talking to admissions staff, It definately will be looked favorably.

squali83 · Answer

Thanks for the encouragement. I do need to mitigate my poor GPA and prove I can handle quant courses. I definitely think my GMAT will help a little and the fact that I worked on average 50 hours a week while an undergrad. However, I think the supplemental courses should solidify why I am a viable canididate for a top 20 school. Hopefully, the adcom feel the same way! :roll:

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