Low GPA & Work Experience - It Is Possible!

Long time lurker here who has benefited immensely from the resources of this forum. I've just finished my MBA application journey and hope that my experience can help someone!

The whole process began at the start of this year during a conversation with a friend. I had grown disillusioned at my previous job and was looking for alternatives. I realized that an MBA would be a logical, though not immediately apparent, path to achieving my goals, and started doing more research on the options and the application process.

There were 2 major issues for me. The first was my lack of work experience - at the time of application I would have less than 2 years of full-time work experience. The second was my undergrad GPA - I went to a very competitive course at one of the top-ranked Asian universities (Tsinghua, HKU, NTU), was quite distracted in my undergrad days, and graduated with a GPA of 2.55. Due to personal reasons, I also wanted to finish the MBA program by 2019, leaving me with very limited options and time.

I did not work with an admissions consultant for a number of reasons. I could not justify the high cost of working with one, and the 2 consultants I spoke to at the start did not really like my chances, primarily due to those 2 factors I've stated.

Nevertheless, I thought there was no harm trying and went ahead with the process. I focused and worked hard on the GMAT while doing research on different schools and was pleased to score a 770 (Q50, V46, IR 8) at my test in February. By this time, the US schools were into Round 3 applications. I had limited understanding of the admissions process. I underestimated the difficulty of a Round 3 application and overestimated the impact of the GMAT score. I thought a 770 GMAT would easily land me a spot in the top business schools (including Stanford) and came up with the following shortlist (in order of preference): Stanford, Insead, IESE, HEC.

I wrote what I thought were pretty solid essays for Stanford, spoke to my recommenders, and submitted my application. At the same time, I was working on my applications for the other schools. The interview invite window for Stanford came and went and there was silence. At this stage, I was disappointed. I thought I would have gotten an interview at least. I decided to work even harder on my remaining applications and was consistently refining the essays. Over the 4 weeks or so that I spent preparing the applications, I must have spent at least 2 hours a day reading and making small modifications to the essays. These cumulative effect of these small amendments was amazing. I just compared the first draft of the essays to the completed product and the difference was staggering.

I submitted the remaining applications and waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually, I was invited to interviews for all 3 schools. Having had experience conducting several interviews in the past, I knew the key to doing well in an interview is to be relaxed, confident and to know the materials well. In this case, I simply made sure that I knew the little details of my application well. I thought of what an interviewer might want to know about my goals and potential follow-up questions. I did not want to over-prepare and risk having my answers sound rehearsed. The interviews went well, and I felt I was able to deal with the interviewers' questions and also emphasize my passion for my goals.

After more waiting, I was first notified by IESE that I was accepted. In the past week, I have also been accepted by Insead and HEC. I have been very impressed by Insead throughout this application process, especially during the interviews with alumni. I'll be going to Insead in January and can't wait to get started on my next journey!

Some things I've learned in the application process:

Overcoming a low GPA: A high GMAT is definitely very useful in helping prove to the schools that you're able to handle the workload, notwithstanding a low undergrad GPA. I also made sure that I utilized opportunities such as optional essays to explain the reasons for my low GPA, and tried to turn it into an advantage by highlighting some of my extracurriculars (was working on many extracurricular activities - 3 different business ventures, regular volunteering activities and representing the university in a sport).

Overcoming low work experience: I approached this by attempting to highlight the quality of my work experience through my CV, the application forms, and the essays. I wanted to convey how I did well in my relatively short time at work, was on an upward trajectory in my career path, and would be able to contribute to the class. I also had supervisors from work who I worked with closely and were willing to write strong recommendations for me.

Attempt the Stanford essay: I spent a lot of time working on Stanford's notorious "what matters most" essay. While my application was ultimately unsuccessful, the process was beneficial to my other applications. It gave me a lot of material for the essays and interviews in other schools' application processes. I would definitely recommend spending some time thinking about this topic, even if not planning to apply to Stanford.

Be clear in essays: I have a very clearly defined goal and tried my best to convey this goal and how an MBA would bring me there through my essays. Writing good essays is not an overnight process and definitely requires a lot of fine tuning. I was fortunate to have close and supportive friends who helped review my essays periodically, especially given that I did not work with an admissions consultant.

Once again, many thanks to this wonderful forum for all the helpful information and resources. I hope I'm able to help someone, especially those discouraged by a low GPA or work experience, with this post. Feel free to ask any questions here or by PM and I'll try my best to answer!