Last visit was: 18 Nov 2025, 21:54 It is currently 18 Nov 2025, 21:54
Home
GMAT
Messages
Tests
Schools
Events
Rewards
Chat
My Profile
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
avatar
Youngjames
avatar
Joined: 20 May 2012
Last visit: 25 Jan 2013
Posts: 82
Own Kudos:
18
Detail: MBA admissions help
Concentration: Entrepreneurship, Strategy
Schools: Northwestern (Kellogg) - Class of 2000
GPA: 3.9
Schools: Northwestern (Kellogg) - Class of 2000
Posts: 82
Kudos: 18
low GPAs and top MBA programs 05 Jul 2012, 07:48
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Back when i was on the adcom at Kellogg, a few colleagues and I would always wonder what the lowest admitted GPA and GMAT scores were for any given year. we knew there was no "official" GPA cutoff. meaning: we never stopped reading a file just because a GPA or GMAT score was super low. every application was read and scored from end to end, regardless of how low the GPA or GMAT was. with that said, however, there was certainly a correlation between high GPA and rate of acceptance. candds with high GPAs from strong programs were always more likely to be admitted than the opposite. but every once in awhile you'd hear about some guy with a 2.5 from a state school and a 560 GMAT getting into HBS, and no, he wasn't friends with the dean. these outliers always mystify and further complicate an outsider's understanding of the admissions process. to help dispel some of this confusion, i wrote this article: https://www.thefirstread.com/low-gpa-can ... a-program/

in reality, it'd take an entire book to discuss how GPAs are evaluated at the top MBA programs, but hopefully this provides a concise high-level view.

best of luck to everyone this year,
-james young