Profile Evaluation - Please Help!

Question

I'm a 26 Chinese female, born in Germany and studied highschool and university in Canada. I graudated from Computer Engineering at University of Toronto and my GPA is very low (2.9)!! I'm now working at a fortune 100 technology firm in China. I just wrote my gmat today and I only got 640 (Q50,V27). What are my chances to get into Haas or Anderson (PT or FT)? The problem is, the application deadline is October and I'm not sure if I can boost up my verbal score enough to get past 700. Is retaking GMAT my only way to get into these schools? Thanks in advance for your help!

PaulBodine · Answer

gotomba,

I apologize for the late response; I've been on the road. You seem to have an interesting international background and decent work experience. That, combined with the fact that you are female, may give you a chance at  UCLA 's part-time program, but I don't think Haas would be doable. A higher GMAT is of course not the only way to gain admission to these schools, but there is a range of scores that you need to shoot for to be competitive, especially if you have a low GPA. The closer you can get to the 690-700 threshold, the better. If you have outstanding leadership in your professional life, rapid career progress, and strong leadership in activities outside of work then the schools may forgive your GMAT score, but with your current score and GPA you cannot afford any other major weaknesses in your profile if you hope to get into UCLA, even part-time.

Hope this helps,

gotomba · Answer

Thanks Paul!

I'm writing my gmat again in Sept, hopefully I'll do better this time.

PaulBodine · Answer

Good luck to you.

gotomba · Answer

Hi Paul,

I finally wrote my GMAT again and I got 690 this time. Do you think I stand a chance for Haas or UCLA full time? Do I need to write my gmat again?

PaulBodine · Answer

gotomba,

Given your profile (female, born in Germany, Canada, etc.) your 690 probably puts you in the game for UCLA but you will need to give them concrete reasons for the low GPA and you will need to show them leadership in and outside of work. In other words, a 2.9 GPA is a negative, so you don't want to give them any other negatives. Haas may be out of reach, but if your story is really distinctive, you have a strong career history, and you can partly explain away the 2.9 then you may have a shot even at Haas. But it would be a longshot.

Good luck,

gotomba · Answer

Hi Paul,

Indeed Haas is my first choice. Do you think retake GMAT would help, or my low GPA is fatal?

I'm also taking a couple university level courses online right now (Accounting and Marketing), would it help?

Btw, does Round 1 and Round 2 matter for Haas? If raising my GMAT score would help, I would like to give one more try, but that means I would need to postpone my application to Round 2.

Thanks!!

PaulBodine · Answer

gotomba,

Your low GPA is *not* fatal. I would need to know your full profile to know whether retaking the GMAT is a good idea, but assuming the rest of your profile is strong a 690 should be good enough to put you in the running at Haas. If your profile has other weaknesses besides the GPA then even a GMAT in the 730 range or higher might not help you. My guess is that you probably don't need to devote extra time to your GMAT now but should focus on other aspects of your application. The difference in admissions odds between first and second round is not significant.

Good luck,

GMAT888 · Answer

In order to compensate your low GPA u should have a high GMAT. If u shoot 700+, I think u'll be competitive for Berkley or UCLA.

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