Intern
Joined: 17 Oct 2011
Status:Wharton Class of 2014
Posts: 23
Given Kudos: 2
Location: United States (CO)
GPA: 3.89
WE:Other (Other)
Re: GPA 2.28, still trying to business school top 20
[#permalink]
05 Jun 2012, 21:08
Hi Bud,
I am going to give you my honest opinion... I think that you are a VERY long shot at a top 10 - 15 school. I recently applied and I feel that I at least have an understanding of what ADCOMs are looking for. I also applied to one lower ranked school (Emory). I attended the Welcome Weekend events at 3 different schools because I wanted to look beyond the rankings and get a feel for what my network would be and who the ADCOM was comparing me to regarding my admissions decision. That being said, the most important thing to have is a story - a very strong, very compelling story. Your GPA is part of that, as is your GMAT, your career path and your family circumstances. A 700 score is not going to cover up a 2.28 GPA; not unless you took astrophysics at MIT or were preoccupied with starting a business or other organization that became a significant success and justified your lack of academic focus. We all have circumstances. I had some major setbacks and those setbacks were the feature of my essays; however, I was not explaining my failure to achieve, I was highlighting my accomplishments. Also, your parents cannot credibly vouch for what you did while you are in college and if you include them as a recommender (ill advised), you will look ridiculous.
Here is what I think when I see your profile.
Low GPA - yeah he might have had tough circumstances, but life and business are about overcoming the odds. You didn't.
Average performer in a career where many applicants come from - why didn't you get promoted? What substantial impact have you had on your organization? Why would I select you over hundreds of others who did get promotions and had good grades, tough circumstances and a solid GMAT.
Next year I am matriculating to b-school for one reason, the network. Will I learn stuff? Yes. Do I truly care about the books? Not really. Business schools don't want to admit 'students', they want to attach their brand to people they feel would be successful without them. When I was applying to undergrad, one of my mentors told me something I will never forget. He said, "If getting into a top school would be the best thing to happen to your career, you won't get in."
Another misleading aspect of looking at GPA and GMAT ranges for business schools is that most people analyze the middle 80% and feel that if they can get within that range, then they have a shot. That is not always the case and here is why. Schools like to show that they don't just look at objective scores and they want to look at the 'total applicant', and they substantiate those claims by accepting students with GMATs in the 500's and GPAs in the 2's. If you meet these students (I was on a student ADCOM committee at a top undergrad and have been an interviewer as well) they have unbelievable stories that make their grades and others scores look meaningless. For instance, let say a girl from a war torn country in Africa, who taught herself English as a second language and helped pay for her family's living expenses, started a clean water project, which in turn reduced deaths from water born illnesses and her project is the primer that other villages are now copying. Also suppose that she took the GMAT and got a 580. If you were on the ADCOM, wouldn't you look beyond her scores? In fact, wouldn't you outright recruit her because of her passion, ability to implement, and the fact that its great public relations? Of course you would. If a school accepted a girl like this, they would publish the fact that they accepted an applicant with a 580, and all of the regular applicants who have a 600 think that they are somehow equivalent or better than whoever had a 580. Please do not think that I am saying that all applicants have saved lives such as the girl in my example, but these types of accomplishments are much more common when someone with a very low score is accepted.
When I attended the Welcome Weekends for the different schools, there was a HUGE difference in the caliber of admitted students. If you are eying the top tier, especially Wharton, you need to have a mile stone accomplishment (ideally two or three) that the ADCOM will look at and say "Wow, we want this kid at our school."
They aren't going to admit you because of what you want to do; they will admit you because of what you have done. If anyone tells you anything different, they either don't have the guts or the experience to be able to tell you the truth.
Take a year or two to develop your career, develop your charity work, improve your GMAT and retake some of the courses you bombed in undergrad. Then you might have a shot.
close
