Undergraduate institution in MBA admissions decision

Question

This is interesting: https://www.tcrecord.org/content.asp?contentid=16473 This is counter-intuitive to how I think admissions officers rate undergrad institution. It almost seems like they "should" see a comparable GPA from a public school to be "better" than a similarly ranked private school. Prestigious undergrads, I think, show more about what kind of kid you were in high school than what kind of student you are as an adult. Personally, I have a 3.3 GPA from a large, mid-ranked public university (math major). The acceptance rate is about 50%, which is comparable to (or better) than a lot of Tier 2 private institutions. Do you think admissions still ranks down public schools?

CriticalSquare · Answer

Hi there,

Thanks for sharing your question. Schools look at your GPA to evaluate both your analytical skills as well as your work ethic. But, keep in mind that this is only half the equation. Your GMAT will play a major role as well. A killer GMAT score can work wonders for your academic profile. You're right to assume that your GPA will be taken in its context - your school, major, and difficulty of your curriculum will all factor in. However, your academic profile won't necessarily be "downgraded" because you went to a middle of the pack public school as opposed to a prestigious private school. The fact of the matter is that both private and public schools are ranked holistically, and AdComs will consider your school wherever it falls. Hope this information helps! If you'd like to take this a level deeper, it would be great to know which school you attended, but again, I think your time and attention is needed elsewhere given that your GPA is more than likely already static. If you haven't taken your GMAT, shift your focus to that. Best of luck this application season!

jz4analytics · Answer

Thanks. I was a math major at SUNY Albany - one of the major NY state school (at least I didn't go to SUNY Purchase or SUNY Oswego or something). It is "Tier 3" (I think usually ranked around 150; Tier 3 is 100-200). Not prestigious with a 10% admissions rate but not unknown with 90%, either.

My major GPA was a little higher, around 3.6. I think my last two year GPA was also around 3.6 (taking almost all higher-level math courses, and a couple economics/comp sci).

What I found interesting about the study was that public schools actually grade *harder* than similar private schools (I doubt that's taken into consideration, but it would be nice if it were). And some schools are known to have pretty bad grade inflation. For example, MIT is close to Harvard (undergrad) in ranking and similarly competitive. But MIT is known to be stingy with grades and Harvard is notorious for grade inflation. A 3.7 at MIT is more impressive than a 3.7 at Harvard.

I signed up for the GMAT in July. I've taken two Manhattan GMAT CATs the past two Sundays - got 720 and 690. The Verbal is right where I want it (got a 45 - 99% percentile - both times), but the Quant is lower than I can do. I've been working for three years and my higher-level (700+) math skills appear to be rusty. With some practice I aim to get that Q up to 49+ and my goal is 750 total. Just starting to get deep into studying.

dtse86 · Answer

I have to agree with Bhavik here.

This is why GMAT can be considered so important. It is the only standardized measure by which the adcom can compare all candidates. It can either confirm or repute the GPA you received from your undergrad institution.

IMO, with grade inflation rampant at all schools, GPA becomes a wildly variable and unreliable measure of intelligence.

kman3b18 · Answer

The only justification I can see here, and it makes sense to me, is that elite private schools, on the whole, have better students than lower tier universities. While there may be higher grades at elite private institutions this doesn't necessarily mean that the grades are undeserving. Basically, if you went to any one of the top 20 US universities then you likely were an overachiever in high school, with nearly all A's and higher standardized test scores. Why wouldn't we expect this trend to continue in college?

I think the real shame comes from B-schools reporting an overall average GPA and having it be such an important part of the rankings. MBA programs undeniably want that average GPA higher, and to some degree that can hurt students with difficult undergrad majors. At least IMO a 3.3 GPA in chemical engineering from a mid-level state school is waayyyy more impressive than a 3.7 GPA in econ or history from an elite private school, but MBA programs do not take this fully into account (they do a little, just not a lot) because appearances and rankings matter.

CriticalSquare · Answer

Good luck - I'm sure you're going to absolutely rock that test!

Bhavik

MBAbot · Answer

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Undergraduate institution in MBA admissions decision

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