aadirenpronk wrote:
My long-term objective is an MBA at Stanford, Wharton, or Harvard. I gave myself 5/6 years to work towards it.
I am about to graduate soon from my university; however due to some personal circumstances my GPA went from 3.6 to an unfortunate 2.9.
Upon graduation, I anticipate that my GPA will move to 3.2 again - however it's still low compared to the average score of MBA students of my target schools.
Next to strong ECs, motivation letters, and a high GMAT. What else can I do to cover-up for my low GPA?
I plan on taking extension courses in my weak subject areas (finance & statistics) of my target universities on Coursera, but I am not sure a course on Coursera will suffice as legitimate proof of my academic competence for adcoms.
Any advice on how I can cover-up for my low GPA? Where can I find legitimate extension courses? Is Coursera legitimate? Please note that I don't live in the USA.
Hey there,
Well I'll be honest with you dude. With a 3.2 or lower, H/S/W become highly unlikely. To give you an idea of what you would be up against, I remember a statistic from two years ago - At HBS they took two people out of 1000 with a GPA lower than 3.2.
Your real chances will be to apply with a very unique profile - you are doing amazing things in an NGO, or you founded your own firm, or you are doing amazing things at work, or you have incredible leadership. We're talking about some trailblazing stuff here.
Of course I don't want to tell you it's impossible, but I also feel that if you readjust your goals and aims towards something more realistic, you will work harder and be more satisfied ultimately,
Best,
JF
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13 Mar 2016, 10:33
