Intern
Joined: 24 Jan 2011
Status:Rice c/o 2013
Posts: 3
Schools:Rice (R4), Carnegie Mellon (R4)
Tell me if I'm crazy!
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Updated on: 11 May 2011, 10:46
Hi Alex,
First of all, thank you for offering this free service.
I was going to apply to MBA programs for Fall 2012 matriculation, but life circumstances changed on me and it will be advantageous to me to apply for Fall 2011 instead. This means Round 3 apps, compounded by my unappealing undergrad record. I was hoping you could give me a quick reality check on my school choices.
Here's the short version:
Demographics: Utterly unremarkable (white male).
Undergrad: BA English, second-tier public school.
GPA: 2.8 (more on this below)
GMAT: Taking it 2/14. I took the GRE cold 5 years ago and got 700V/770Q. According to ETS, this is roughly equivalent to a 730 GMAT - since I'm studying my tail off for the GMAT, we'll say 720-740 GMAT for the sake of argument.
Work Experience: 5 years in software development with progressively increasing responsibility.
Extracurriculars: Significant community service and sports, some elected positions.
Career Goals: Management consulting and/or IT leadership.
Long Term: After a few years of experience, found or join a healthcare IT startup.
I'm not terribly worried about the GMAT, work experience, or extracurriculars, but I'm very concerned about my undergraduate record. I attended a large state school, got decent grades my freshman year, but left school my sophomore year while struggling with depression. I didn't drop my courses and so received straight Fs that semester. I transferred to a new school and completely turned myself around with excellent grades and tons of community involvement, but the GPA damage was done.
Here are the schools I'm looking at:
First choice stretch: Duke MBA/Health Sector Management
Second choice stretch: Carnegie Mellon
Reasonable: UT-McCombs, Indiana
Safety: Rice
My questions to you are:
i) Given the above, are the above school choices reasonable?
ii) I have no medical documentation about my depression, because I decided to 'help myself' rather than seek professional help. Should I go into detail about my 'screw-up semester,' or just say I was a knucklehead, learned my lesson, and moved on to a successful and stimulating career?
iii) My recommendations are strong (former indirect manager/current peer, former CEO of my company) but I don't feel comfortable asking my direct supervisor for a recommendation. I don't think she would be receptive to me wanting to pursue other opportunities. Is this a pretty fair defense for not having a rec from a current supervisor?
Thanks in advance!
Originally posted by
cmo83 on 24 Jan 2011, 22:33.
Last edited by
cmo83 on 11 May 2011, 10:46, edited 1 time in total.