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souvik101990
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Alum
Joined: 19 Mar 2012
Last visit: 11 Nov 2025
Posts: 4,321
Given Kudos: 2,326
Location: United States (WA)
Concentration: Leadership, General Management
Schools: Ross '20 (M)
GMAT 1: 760 Q50 V42
GMAT 2: 740 Q49 V42 (Online)
GMAT 3: 760 Q50 V42 (Online)
GPA: 3.8
WE:Marketing (Non-Profit and Government)
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Expert reply
12 Dec 2012, 11:36
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LOW GPA: What you can do
What is a low GPA?
Technically, the yardsticks for GPA are quite flexible and school specific and you should not bother about absolute high/low figures. What you should be concerned with is the median range of the GPA of the school you are applying to, and it’s always good to be on the higher side. However, that said and done, undergrad GPA, just itself, is not a complete piece of information as business schools look for your story, and not absolute figures that you have achieved in life. So a low GPA is definitely not a deal-breaker and let’s try to explain why.
Why GPA is important:
- GPA is a clear indication of how you performed in college in the past, so business school can have a fair idea of how you will perform in the school by simple correlation.
- Often, the progression in GPA values is more important than the mean GPA itself, as an ascending GPA is often regarded as a highly valuable asset in your profile. So even if you have a relatively lower GPA than the school median figure, the fact that you have improved throughout your college semesters mean that you have been persevering and consistent.
- Higher grades, especially those in quant subjects, is indicative of your reasoning abilities and acts as an assurance that you will be able to survive the academic challenges of a business program.
How to overcome low GPA in business school application:
- Ace your GMAT: Chances are that, if you are an international candidate, your high GPA might not be as valued as those studying in US/Europe. The GMAT is a common platform and your score is equally valuable as that for your international competitors and becomes the most effective way to stand out. A 700+ score is always helpful and especially if you get a score which is higher than the median score of the school you are applying to.
- Alternative transcripts and certifications: These are great add-ons to your academic evaluations. Of course, these cannot increase your GPA but it can surely act as a guarantee that you can do well in the MBA program. Make sure to take quant courses such as finance, accounting, calculus, probability and statistics and make sure you get all A’s. Community colleges or even online programs can come of help with these, but please be certain that alternative transcripts do not erase your GPA problem. See this link for a couple of courses to consider: https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/x459.xml#5
Cerifications such as CFA, PMP, CSQL can come in handy, but make sure they are strongly tied to your story and goals for them to make a stronger impact. - Your story: As always, your story is your best bet when you want to overcome/compensate for your low GPA. Explore the reasons that led to your GPA problems and make them your strengths. Were you working somewhere part time/full time while you were in college? Were you involved in very strong extra curricular and achieved significant results albeit with some sacrifices on the GPA front? Were you into serious national level sports? Not only these can give you tools to defend your GPA but also they can act as incredible story telling topics which the adcoms will love, provided they are aligned with your short/long term goals.
- Other facets of your application: Like your GMAT score, your GPA is also one part of your entire application and thus has limited effect in your admission. Make sure you use your essays , LOR, EC and most importantly your story so as to compensate for your GPA issues. There have been and still continues to be a massive number of applicants who did not get straight A’s but got admitted in top 10 schools and so can you. Here are a couple of inspirational profiles who got in with a relatively lower GPA/GMAT: profiles-admitted-to-top-b-schools-w-low-gmat-or-low-gpa-73999.html
Correlation Data with GPA and GMAT
| Undergraduate GPA range (10th-90th percentile) and median GMAT | ||
| School | Undergraduate GPA range (10th-90th percentile) | Median GMAT |
| Harvard Business School | N/A | 724 |
| Stanford GSB | 3.36-3.97 | 730 |
| University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | 3.18-3.87 | 718 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan) | 3.1-3.86 | 710 |
| Northwestern University (Kellogg) | 3.19-3.88 | 712 |
| University of Chicago (Booth) | 3.08-3.9 | 719 |
| University of California--Berkeley (Haas) | 3.39-3.9 | 715 |
| Columbia University | 3-3.8 | 716 |
| Dartmouth College (Tuck) | 3.2-3.84 | 718 |
| Yale University | 3.1-3.87 | 719 |
| New York University (Stern) | 3.02-3.79 | 719 |
| Duke University (Fuqua) | 3.06-3.79 | 689 |
| University of Virginia (Darden) | 3-3.8 | 701 |
| University of California-Los Angeles (Anderson) | 3.2-3.86 | 704 |
| Cornell University (Johnson) | 2.78-3.77 | 691 |
More discussions on GMATClub about low GPA:
https://gmatclub.com/blog/2011/03/mba-ad ... a-low-gpa/
https://gmatclub.com/blog/2012/07/is-my-gpa-too-low/
profiles-admitted-to-top-b-schools-w-low-gmat-or-low-gpa-73999.html
what-are-my-chances-at-top-b-schools-lower-gpa-129420.html
13 Dec 2012, 23:19
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Thank you souvik101990, helpful. Regards
18 Dec 2012, 00:44
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Thanks for the important info! the questions is - can a high GMAT compensate for low GPA? according to this online calculator looks like it can:
https://www.aringo.com/MBA_admission_cha ... ulator.htm
Would love to hear more opinions about this - can a good explanation for the low GPA and a high GMAT be enough to overcome low GPA?
https://www.aringo.com/MBA_admission_cha ... ulator.htm
Would love to hear more opinions about this - can a good explanation for the low GPA and a high GMAT be enough to overcome low GPA?
.Thats really bad.Also, If u consider my class, i will be in the bottom 15. But earlier to that, my All india rank (in 400s) and state rank (single digits) are really good and i went to one of the top 10 engineering college in India. So what are my chances of getting into a good bschool 
