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dtse86
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 16 Sep 2015, 10:10
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hideyoshi
GoBruins

This is gonna be my 2cents, I would not apply to columbia and apply to either kellogg or booth. The reason I say that is, having applied ED to CBS it might be more difficult since there application does not stress EC's very much. Also since Kellogg you will get at least an interview. Chicago is also a little more generious on grades in my opinion if you can show depth and intellence.

CBS tends to be more stereotypical in admissions.


Pretty much if I was you (I was you, but didn't have the I must leave this year)

I would suggest
R1
Yale
Kellogg (or Booth)
Duke (or Ross)
CMU (or GT)

R2
Ross (or Duke)
darden
UNC


What does applying ED to a school mean? I am really ignorant of the lingo here on forum. Thanks
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Applying "ED" means early decision. Columbia has a binding early decision round where the decisions are rolling and you can get accepted as early as August. A few schools have this and some schools (like Tuck) have non-binding early rounds. You'll need to look at each school in particular to see what their admissions rounds and process looks like.
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stevkang8
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 17 Sep 2015, 05:31
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Vmtp
While the GMAT is farely easy for some people, it is more challenging for others. I believe that it depends on the person and the education background. A former professional tennis player might have a harder time scoring a Q47 than an academivally drilled finance major.. That does not mean that the tennis player doesn't posess skills and experiences that are extremely intersting to top tier schools and top employers. The schools are aware of that! A great gmat score is important if academics have been your primary focus growing up... If you have other important skills, the universities will appreciate and respect that!

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I agree with what you're saying, but at the same time, business schools are also easier for some people, and harder for others. GMAT is a uniform way to measure the likelihood one will be successful in the academic portion of the business program. If someone gets a score that is The person might still have a great business career (as many people will say Jobs and Gates never even obtained their undergrads), but will probably not do very well in a top tier business school.


Another thing is....GMAT is not hard. The quantitative portion tests the test takers on nothing harder than high school level concepts. And I would say, for someone who puts in some effort in reading and using the English language, just a little refreshing on the SC part, the person should be able to score a 35+ on verbal. Using your tennis player example here, who says tennis players cannot do math?

I mean, does it sound fair to you if this tennis player (or tennis star) goes to the adcom and say, "Look, I am a great tennis star, but I refused to learn the fundamentals in math because I didn't care enough. However, you guys should still admit me because you should judge me based on non-business school related criteria. Why? because I'm a tennis star."?

GMAT isn't everything, I think we can all agree on that. Nevertheless, it DOES predict the academic capability to a large extent, and if there is this rule, either abide to it or change it. Business school isn't for everyone.
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 22 Jan 2016, 23:18
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Bump for the 2015-2016 season. Please update your data
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 22 Jan 2017, 02:17
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Hello Everyone,

It’s really encouraging to find so many success stories of people who made their career steer clear of all obstacles with low GMAT & GPA. Someone in the forum has rightly said that we are human being and not just “numbers” and so our fate cannot be just decided with a low GMAT or GPA. The good news is that the Ad Coms of most of the premiere (Top-ish) B-Schools realize this very fact and consider the admission application holistically i.e. consider all the factors viz. your profile, education, background, work experience, extra-curricular activities, community service, recommendations / references, English proficiency etc. along with your GMAT scores.

Three years back, I was in your shoes. Even after thorough preparation, I got a discouraging 570 in GMAT, though my quant scores were decent however verbal score was a complete mess. I tried enough to improve upon my verbal scores; however I met with little success every time. In the end, I decided to move ahead with whatever I had in my hand.

Well, a little about me at the time of application – I had about two years of technical experience in project management wherein I had managed few contracts and gained experience in robust man management. I am basically an engineer by degree with 60.6% in undergraduates (which I am sure is not impressive).
I talked with my three supervisors / seniors at work and they agreed to be my professional recommendation providers (admission committees place critical importance on your recommendations). To cover my low GMAT and GPA, I thought to get some score on IELTS and luckily I got a score of 7/9 in the very first attempt.

I did an extensive research of the B-Schools world-wide for about 3-4 weeks. While selecting the school, I placed utmost importance on the post-MBA job prospects. As such, North America was a natural choice like everyone does have. However, since the immigration policy of US is mostly uncertain (i.e. stay in US after completion of such an expensive degree program – problems with H1B working visa for immigrants- “and now screwed up all the more”), I decided to turn towards Canada.

On exploring the possibilities, I found the country loaded with great MBA programs. The very encouraging fact for me was the low tuition fees of the MBA program with great scholarship opportunities even for the most reputed B-Schools (FT Rankings Top 100). The Post Graduate work permit program offered by the Canadian Govt. was yet another cherry on the cake. In addition to it, the stable economy, high paying jobs, work-life balance, jobs availability, cost of living, presence of huge Indians community, connectivity with India terrain, permanent residency, citizenship options etc. were some of the many factors for selecting Canada over any other country.

After earmarking the B-Schools, I started off struggling with my application. I never imagined that preparing the admission application would be so challenging and demanding. I literally went blank when I started off with preparing my Statement of Purpose (SOP). Further, when I asked my recommenders to provide me the recommendation for the 5 B-Schools to which I had applied – they in turn asked to suggest the important points that they should cover while writing a strong recommendation for me.

By this time, I knew that it would be absolutely not possible for me to complete my admission applications along with my grueling work hours so I started to consult various MBA Consulting firms in India and abroad, however I was stunned after learning about their sky-rocketing consulting rates. Even for a short discussion over phone, Consulting firms were asking several thousand bucks forget about their huge demands for assistance in application (few started their bid with Rs. 1,25,000 per B-School just for the sake of providing advices and reviews). To look out for economical means, I was searching frantically in community forums when some member mentioned about Jugaadugar. Upon enquiry, I came to know that Jugaadugar can help me throughout the application journey and even draft SOPs, recommendations, reviewing and resetting CV, English test waiver appl., help in getting scholarship, interview preparation etc. on my behalf and further help me around in filing visa application, medical test, and provide assistance (free of cost) w.r.t. accommodation, currency exchange, and what not if I am proceeding to Canada for MBA. (I think they have some Canadian affiliation or government funding).

They helped someone with a profile like me to get admission offers (with modest scholarships) from reputed B-Schools such as Sauder School of Business (UBC), Schulich School of Business, McMaster, and Simon Fraser University. After considering the tuition cost and post-study prospects I had joined UBC and successfully completed the 16 month program in Jan’15.

Ah….so it has been a long read, so to cut it short now…I would suggest all readers not to lose hope on account of your low GMAT or low GPA scores. Stand confident. Make your application strong in all ways possible. Pour down all your efforts. Show the admission committees what they want to see.
Success will be yours!!

Best of Luck :-D
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 22 Jan 2017, 02:18
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Hello Everyone,

It’s really encouraging to find so many success stories of people who made their career steer clear of all obstacles with low GMAT & GPA. Someone in the forum has rightly said that we are human being and not just “numbers” and so our fate cannot be just decided with a low GMAT or GPA. The good news is that the Ad Coms of most of the premiere (Top-ish) B-Schools realize this very fact and consider the admission application holistically i.e. consider all the factors viz. your profile, education, background, work experience, extra-curricular activities, community service, recommendations / references, English proficiency etc. along with your GMAT scores.

Three years back, I was in your shoes. Even after thorough preparation, I got a discouraging 570 in GMAT, though my quant scores were decent however verbal score was a complete mess. I tried enough to improve upon my verbal scores; however I met with little success every time. In the end, I decided to move ahead with whatever I had in my hand.

Well, a little about me at the time of application – I had about two years of technical experience in project management wherein I had managed few contracts and gained experience in robust man management. I am basically an engineer by degree with 60.6% in undergraduates (which I am sure is not impressive).
I talked with my three supervisors / seniors at work and they agreed to be my professional recommendation providers (admission committees place critical importance on your recommendations). To cover my low GMAT and GPA, I thought to get some score on IELTS and luckily I got a score of 7/9 in the very first attempt.

I did an extensive research of the B-Schools world-wide for about 3-4 weeks. While selecting the school, I placed utmost importance on the post-MBA job prospects. As such, North America was a natural choice like everyone does have. However, since the immigration policy of US is mostly uncertain (i.e. stay in US after completion of such an expensive degree program – problems with H1B working visa for immigrants- “and now screwed up all the more”), I decided to turn towards Canada.

On exploring the possibilities, I found the country loaded with great MBA programs. The very encouraging fact for me was the low tuition fees of the MBA program with great scholarship opportunities even for the most reputed B-Schools (FT Rankings Top 100). The Post Graduate work permit program offered by the Canadian Govt. was yet another cherry on the cake. In addition to it, the stable economy, high paying jobs, work-life balance, jobs availability, cost of living, presence of huge Indians community, connectivity with India terrain, permanent residency, citizenship options etc. were some of the many factors for selecting Canada over any other country.

After earmarking the B-Schools, I started off struggling with my application. I never imagined that preparing the admission application would be so challenging and demanding. I literally went blank when I started off with preparing my Statement of Purpose (SOP). Further, when I asked my recommenders to provide me the recommendation for the 5 B-Schools to which I had applied – they in turn asked to suggest the important points that they should cover while writing a strong recommendation for me.

By this time, I knew that it would be absolutely not possible for me to complete my admission applications along with my grueling work hours so I started to consult various MBA Consulting firms in India and abroad, however I was stunned after learning about their sky-rocketing consulting rates. Even for a short discussion over phone, Consulting firms were asking several thousand bucks forget about their huge demands for assistance in application (few started their bid with Rs. 1,25,000 per B-School just for the sake of providing advices and reviews). To look out for economical means, I was searching frantically in community forums when some member mentioned about Jugaadugar. Upon enquiry, I came to know that Jugaadugar can help me throughout the application journey and even draft SOPs, recommendations, reviewing and resetting CV, English test waiver appl., help in getting scholarship, interview preparation etc. on my behalf and further help me around in filing visa application, medical test, and provide assistance (free of cost) w.r.t. accommodation, currency exchange, and what not if I am proceeding to Canada for MBA. (I think they have some Canadian affiliation or government funding).

They helped someone with a profile like me to get admission offers (with modest scholarships) from reputed B-Schools such as Sauder School of Business (UBC), Schulich School of Business, McMaster, and Simon Fraser University. After considering the tuition cost and post-study prospects I had joined UBC and successfully completed the 16 month program in Jan’15.

Ah….so it has been a long read, so to cut it short now…I would suggest all readers not to lose hope on account of your low GMAT or low GPA scores. Stand confident. Make your application strong in all ways possible. Pour down all your efforts. Show the admission committees what they want to see.
Success will be yours!!

Best of Luck :-D
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Schools: Booth PT '22 (M$) Kellogg PT '22 (A) Anderson FEMBA '22 (WL) USC MBA.PM '22 (A)
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 12 Feb 2019, 12:52
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lingx073

damn that's an inspiring read. Congrats on your admission to Booth!
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thank you for reading and the kind words!
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 07 Mar 2019, 14:37
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Thrilled be be able to add to this thread! I had a very mixed profile with a few positives and a few negatives, so I really wasn't sure how this admissions cycle would turn out. Very happy to say that I'll be at Kellogg next year!

The bad:
ORM, male, 30 y/o at matriculation
3.0 GPA in humanities

The good:
750 GMAT
Undergrad from HYPSM

The neutral:
Non-traditional work experience (almost entirely at nonprofits)
Medium extracurriculars -- not a lot of service, but reached a good level of success and leadership opportunities in a niche sport

I've always considered myself a natural writer, but I think essays for MBA applications are inherently really tricky. It's really difficult to balance telling your story, retaining your personal voice, bragging about yourself, and expressing your interest -- all with very short word limits! Getting started early (I knocked out the GMAT in March) and working through multiple drafts (probably 8+ revisions for my top schools) was really critical to the flow of my essays. I also thought ApplicantLab was an invaluable tool, and couldn't recommend it highly enough. It was invaluable in helping me think through my story, explain my poor undergrad, and target my essays for each school.

Ultimately, I applied to several schools R1:

Accepted: Kellogg, Tuck
Waitlisted: Wharton, Ross
Dinged: Haas (with interview), GSB, CBS
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 03 May 2020, 23:29
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dlee61
lingx073

damn that's an inspiring read. Congrats on your admission to Booth!

thank you for reading and the kind words!
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This was such an insanely, inspiring story. So much grit and heart while overcoming such adversity.

I know I’m a year late reading this, but I hope Booth is going well in your first year. Based on who you are from your story, I’m sure your classmates are even luckier to have you as a peer.

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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 03 Oct 2022, 06:13
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Great topic and inspiring stories!

I hope to see many more of those here
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 03 Oct 2022, 06:20
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I saw another thread about admission results and profile sharing here on this forum. All of the profiles have very good GMAT scores. It seems very discouraging for those who are applying to top B-schools with low GMAT scores.
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Profiles - Admitted to Top B-Schools w/ Low GMAT or Low GPA 01 Dec 2025, 20:07
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