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kawasaki
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 25 Nov 2011, 13:42
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Via
Hey Guys/Gals,

I have a low undergrad GPA (2.99) and a low GMAT (650/44Q/35V/5.5AWA).

All in all, I applied to 8 schools (Kellogg, Tuck, Yale, Darden, McDonough, Kelley, Owen, Olin) and I was accepted to all of them. I also received significant scholarships (half tuition or full tuition) from 4 of them (Yale, Darden, Owen, McDonough).

My success, I believe, was a product of my research efforts and application strategy. Using my research on the GMAT Club and several other sources, I realized that I had several attributes that were appealing to admissions committees and I worked hard to highlight every one of them.

My approach:

Two and a half years ago, I realized that I wanted to attend graduate school. Specifically, I wanted to attend a competitive b-school program but I realized that my undergrad GPA was low. Therefore, I took graduate level classes within an MA in leadership and management program. I only took four classes within a year and a half period but I received a 3.75 GPA. I was able to highlight this GPA on my application to counter my undergrad GPA. Although I only took four classes, I argued that I earned good grades despite working full time as a general manager, dealing with several life changing events, and volunteering/etc...

About a year ago this month, I started researching b-schools in depth. I was addicted to the GMAT CLUB, BW Forums, the GMAC website to see GMAT statistics, books ("How to get into top B-school"), and 15 b-school websites. I also attended MBA Fairs and discovered groups like The Consortium. Basically, I was a research-a-holic last year.

Using my research, I decided to apply to the 8 schools I listed above. Given my low GPA and GMAT, I didn't know where I'd lie on the competitive ladder among b-school applicants. Therefore, I decided to apply to 1 top-5 school, 1 top-10, 2 top-15, and a couple of other programs that lied in the 15-35 range according to US News and BW rankings.

I then developed a very specific essay strategy that highlighted any and every attribute that I thought gave me a competitive advantage. My goal was to show that I was a success story, that I could succeed in any rigorous academic program, and that I would contribute to any b-school as a student and alum.

In my opinion, my positive attributes include: I'm a first generation hispanic/ I'm the first member of my family to pursue a graduate degree/ I'm in the Army and have deployed twice/ While I was at my undergrad institution- I was heavily involved in my student government as an elected officer/ I served as a tutor, Div 1 athlete, and as an elected and appointed club leader throughout my time in college / I continue to serve as a Class Officer for my undergrad alumni organization/ I earned a 3.75 GPA in graduate level courses despite losing two family members and working full time as a general manager. As a general manager, I received formal ratings that eventually placed me in the top 2% of my peer group. There were a couple of other small data points I added to my essays but you get the point.

When I was writing my essays, I tried to answer the unique questions of each b-school while inserting these attributes to develop a unique story of enduring success. After endless revisions to my b-school essays, I submitted all of my applications by Round 2 for each school. I applied to 5 schools through the Consortium and 3 schools independently.

Some other things that I believe helped me:

I visited every school to which I applied and I highlighted that fact during my interviews. I searched for "key" terms each admissions committee was likely looking for. In my opinion, some of these include: Olin: Research driven thinking/Kelley: family, community, involvement / Kellogg: collaboration, Look at their 4 pillars ie. Intellectual Depth, Diversity of thought.../ Tuck: loyalty, community, friendship, advantage of a b-school education in a rural setting (ie. less distractions, community, focus, etc.)/ Darden: Case Method, working on a team to solve cases, interactive classroom environment.

Every school has a unique community and academic experience that they want to sustain. Figure out what that is and show how you could contribute to it.

Many of you have pointed out that, unless you are an underrepresented minority, female, or have unique work experience, you may not be able to overcome a low GPA or GMAT. Overall, that may be true. However, there are no absolutes in this world. I think everyone has positive attributes that can make them look very competitive despite poor stats. I could have easily applied to less prestigious schools and have saved a lot of time & money in dropping my Kellogg, Tuck, Darden, and Yale applications. Also, had I failed to highlight my strengths to the admissions committee, I could have experienced multiple rejections that some applicants with very high GPAs and GMATs have experienced. In the end, it never hurts to fight for your candidacy and apply to the b-school programs you love.

Furthermore, I believe that, even as a minority, I still overcame major weaknesses in my application. I am certain that over 80% of the minority applicant pool at Kellogg had better stats than I did. It is rare to have both a low GPA AND low GMAT and get into a top 5 program.

Now that my application journey is over, I hope that this post will help some of you. I feel indebted to all of you who have contributed to GMAT Club and have educated me for the last couple of years.

Good luck on your applications!

-Via
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Hi Via - you are indeed an inspiration - 8 for 8 is simply amazing!. I particularly enjoyed where you talked about what is unique to each school - however, you didn't mention on Yale (dream school) - what would you say is Yale's sweet spot?
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 25 Aug 2012, 21:47
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Bumping up this thread! Anyone have any new stories to add??
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 01 Sep 2012, 09:32
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Would any of the current students at the mentioned schools help me to evaluate my chances:

Duke , Darden , USC, Tepper , Mccombs


Here is a brief of my profile :

Educational Background:
Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communications - GPA 3.5(Converted to US)
GMAT 680 (Q49,V33)

My GMAT is on the lower side for the schools mentioned above

Professional Background: Experience: 5 years (as of August-2012)
1) Senior Analyst 2010 - present: Credit Risk Analytic at a Boutique Consulting
Currently working with the largest retail bank in UK to develop strategies and insights to advise clients on the following :
Customer acquisition ,Customer retention,Loss Minimization on High Credit Limit accounts,Collection strategies to minimize loss on delinquent accounts etc.

2) 2007-2010: Business Analyst at a Major IT MNC

Extra-Curricular Activities:

NGO experience - Worked for an NGO from within the organization to help the underprivileged children, of Denotified tribal area , in accessing a continuous stream of education. Involved in speaking to small fund donors and gathering volunteers.

Rock Band in Undergraduate Institute - Performed Live and backstage at various competitive events across State.
Head of Cultural Committee in Undergraduate Institute - Funds collections , marketing events for the various year round activities

Member of Core marketting committee in Undergraduate Institute - Marketing spotlight events across state, inviting high budget sponsors for event sponsorship

Languages known: English , Hindi , German(Speaking)

Reason for doing an MBA: Career Progress
I would want to leverage my Credit Risk Analytic experience and work post MBA for a Big 4 in their Risk Advisory domain, or leverage the same experience to work for a large lending Institution in their Credit risk vertical.
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 01 Sep 2012, 12:39
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KAS1
Bumping up this thread! Anyone have any new stories to add??
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Give me a few months and hopefully I will!
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 12 Dec 2012, 14:45
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KAS1
Bumping up this thread! Anyone have any new stories to add??

Give me a few months and hopefully I will!
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Me too :(
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 07 Feb 2013, 06:39
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My gmat score was extremely low (590). However, do I stand a chance with work experience of 5 years and willing to pay full fees?

Colleges of interest:
Dartmouth, Duke, HEC, NUS, esade and Nanyang.

Education - 15 years

28, Male, Indian.

Just an insight would be helpful.

Thanks a ton.

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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 07 Feb 2013, 07:07
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shatrujit
My gmat score was extremely low (590). However, do I stand a chance with work experience of 5 years and i to pay full fees?

Colleges of interest:
Dartmouth, Duke, HEC, NUS, esade and Nanyang.

Education - 15 years

28, Male, Indian.

Just an insight would be helpful.

Thanks a ton.

Posted from my mobile device
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Hi shatrujit,

You should have better luck with a profile evaluation if you post this under Admission Consultants. This thread is supposed to be for success stories :) good luck with your process!

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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 07 Feb 2013, 08:42
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Hi aerien,

Thanks for the tip. I just did as you said.

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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 21 Feb 2013, 07:32
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Thought I'd write my story here and the other low GPA thread since I read through all of the low GPA threads a bunch of times when applying because I was so nervous about my chances. Hopefully I will give another low GPA-er some hope!

Profile:
Age/gender: 28 y/o female
GPA: 2.9 from a top 10 liberal arts school, economics major
GMAT: 700 and 690 (yes did worse the second time), don't remember my split but my quant was nowhere near that 80% everyone says to get.
WE: 3 years in a rotational program for a well known financial services firm, 3 years in risk at a global investment bank
Extracurriculars: Captain of sports team in college, consistent volunteering since college (some leadership positions and unique stuff), very involved with former college, and have a lot of hobbies I mentioned in my apps to sort of differentiate myself.

Schools I applied to and results (all Rnd 1 or Regular Decision):

Wharton: Waitlisted (after a terrible interview mind you, Team Discussion was great, but interview, yikes)
Kellogg: Waitlisted
Columbia: Accepted
Fuqua: Accepted
Stern: Accepted

I think the following helped my case:

1. A clear idea/and description in my apps of my career goals, why an MBA would help them, why that specific school's MBA would help them, why now was the time I was pursuing MBA, and how my prior work experience would help me achieve those goals. I had heard that schools worry career changers won't find jobs if it is too great of a change, so I highlighted aspects/stories of my work experience that directly applies to my goals. I also made sure to show why I was passionate about my goals and what had led me to realize my goals.

2. In addition to tying my work experience to my goals, I tried to give examples of leadership at work. I told a couple of stories that demonstrated me taking initiative and leading teams. I also told my recommenders that schools like that so if they had any stories to put in their recommendations that would be great. Don't know what my recommenders ended up writing, but I did send them both an email with what my goals are and some of my professional and personal accomplishments.

3. Once you start doing in depth research on a school and its programs, it is pretty easy to figure out what is important to that school (what type of candidate they are looking for). So in each of my essays, I made sure to pick examples and tailor my message to that specific school's values.

4. I took two classes in the summer before I applied, 1 accounting class and 1 math class (not calculus level) to show that I have quant skills and can be a good student, got A's in both courses. Was told specifically by one of the schools that they really liked that I took the initiative to take those courses.

5. I visited every school I applied to. Luckily for me this was easy and the only two schools I really had to fly to were Duke and Kellogg which meant I could self-initiate an interview while I was there. Just felt like this showed my interest but more importantly allowed me to speak of my visit in my application.

6. In general I just really tried to show that I was ready to fully engage in the program and the school's community. Also tried to show a coherent story as to how my career goals were formed, how MBA would help achieve them, and what I hoped to do in the short term and long term.

7. Just a note about the optional essay since I wondered about this. I chose note to come right out and say "I have a low GPA because...". Instead I chose to use the essay to highlight the two courses I took in an effort to prepare myself for the rigors or the MBA program and since I had been out of school for awhile.

Hope that is helpful to someone! Nothing earth shattering above, but there are so many things to keep in mind and think about in this whole process it's easy to just get stuck on your low gpa or gmat and think that means you're not a strong candidate. Especially looking on this board, it's amazing how many people have such strong stats. But you never know, you see people with 750 GMATs and 3.8 GPAs get rejected from top schools all the time while someone with much lower stats gets in. To me, that really shows that the adcoms really do take a look at the holistic picture. Good luck!
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 21 Feb 2013, 08:43
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Hi,

I have friend having a GMAT score of 670, average ECs but good profile...he got call from ISB this year and also got selected...
So apart from GMAT score, profile matters a lot..
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 21 Feb 2013, 15:24
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Any stories from Desautels?
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA Updated on: 26 Mar 2013, 08:40
Originally posted by panama5565 on 21 Mar 2013, 19:25.
Last edited by panama5565 on 26 Mar 2013, 08:40, edited 1 time in total.
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Thought I'd add my profile to this for some encouragement. While I do think that many people’s opinion of a “low GMAT” is heavily skewed (I’m sick of reading the “750 GMAT – should I retake?” threads), I was so discouraged after my 680 score and don’t want others to feel the same way. Hopefully after reading this you realize that GMAT is only a small piece of your application and that many people get in with these “low” scores.

The bottom line: I got a 680 GMAT (97% verbal, 50% quant) and was admitted to Kellogg today. I’m still waiting on Wharton’s decision, but I was interviewed there as well so clearly my GMAT was just a blip on the screen for the AdComs.

3/26 Update: Was admitted to Wharton today as well! It happens to those with lower than average quant scores!

My story: I took the GMAT once, got the 680 score. I walked out of the test so discouraged; I was working tons and didn’t have much time, energy, or drive to study more. I knew I had to take the test again, but due to aforementioned factors my score went DOWN to a 660 (same quant, lower verbal). I was so depressed about the score and was positive that I wouldn’t get into any of the top tier schools. I procrastinated my applications, thinking it was a lost cause, and with three weeks to go in the cycle decided to suck it up, apply to the two schools that I would be PSYCHED to get into, and braced myself for denial.

Looking back, it’s kind of silly that I focused so much on the score. I have great work experience (consulting at a very well-known firm with tons of leadership and hefty promotions), extracurriculars I am supremely passionate about (Special Olympics for almost a decade, pro-bono consulting for diversity-owned businesses), and recommenders that had faith in me, even when I didn’t. My essays were passionate because I only applied to schools I REALLY wanted to go to. I’m a people person so I ended my interviews getting wine with my interviewer. Yet, where did my focus lie? On the quantifiable aspect of my application – the GMAT.

What I learned: Your GMAT score is a number. It doesn’t define who you are, but rather serves as a small bullet point that has a tenuous link to your ability to prepare for and take a test. Don’t sweat it as long as you’re close to your school’s average range. Take all that negative energy and channel it into the other aspects of your application and then go have a beer, get off of the forums, and take those extra hours you would have spent fretting and enjoy your life or improve the life of someone else. Everything will work out in the end. Trust me, today’s call from Kellogg proved it! :)
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 21 Mar 2013, 21:42
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panama, it's easy to see why you were accepted at Kellogg and interviewed at Wharton with writing skills like that. Kudos again!
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 25 Mar 2013, 22:35
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I think a high GMAT and good work experience can cover up for the weak GPA... not sure how the adcoms view it. Maybe need to explain in those extra essays.
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 22 Apr 2013, 08:07
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This topic simply inspires me .I hope I can post here one day :)
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 24 Apr 2013, 10:35
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Any one accepted with Low AWA and IR scores? Please share your story
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 11 Aug 2013, 20:06
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Good GMAT score is good to have. But that is not all. So, with a moderate GMAT score you can still make into a top B SChool. If you are not interested to give another shot at GMAT or if you dont see yourself with a much improved GMAT score in the near future, it's better to focus on criteria than spending more time on GMAT :)
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 28 Jan 2014, 18:54
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sesh
Good GMAT score is good to have. But that is not all. So, with a moderate GMAT score you can still make into a top B SChool. If you are not interested to give another shot at GMAT or if you dont see yourself with a much improved GMAT score in the near future, it's better to focus on criteria than spending more time on GMAT :)
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This thread is a godsend. As you can see from my profile my GMAT score isn't the highest, so it is kinda intimidating to apply to the top schools where all the applicants are boasting 720+ scores. I've taken it twice, and I'm in the midst of preparing for it for a third attempt - I'm pretty sure that'll be my last take.

Any other low gmat/low gpa stories, please do share them here! Really, really inspiring thread.
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 05 Mar 2014, 12:11
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Bump!!!
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 13 Mar 2014, 11:46
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Profile:

Ethnicity: Chinese
Gender: Male
GMAT: 720 (I suppose this is considered high)
GPA: 3.07 (This is considered low)
Undergrad School/Major: UC Berkeley, Mechanical Engineering (UC Berkeley is known as a tougher school GPA-wise so this helped mitigate the low GPA)
Age At Matriculation: 33 (considered old I guess, but I applied for the EWMBA)
Work Experience: 8 years - I consider it a mediocre research oriented profile

I applied to 1 school. First year, I was interviewed, waitlisted, and ultimately rejected. The school (Haas) offered feedback for people who are waitlisted, which I graciously accepted. They stated that my main weaknesses were actually my letter of recommendations. This said my GPA was 'ok', and told me not to bother retaking the GMAT.

I took a statistics class to fulfill a prerequisite, and nailed it: A. I got an extra letter of rec from the lecturer. I walked my recommenders through each question of the letter of rec, even creating bullet lists of things they could talk about for EACH question. I rewrote an essay... it was highly personal, and relevant to the prompt (Tell us about yourself, your family, etc.). I talked about when my mother died of cancer and how it changed me. I didn't show it anybody except for 1 close friend for review. To this day, only that friend, and AdCom has read that essay. I got in R2, no waitlist, and I'm graduating in May.
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