Australian looking at US business schools

Question

I am looking to apply for an MBA at the end the end of this year/start of next year. I come from a background of providing technical consultancy services to the Construction industry and I am wishing to pursue a career change.

Background:

- 27 year old Australian 
- 2.75 (US equivalent) undergrad GPA majoring in Construction Management - obviously not great, but I worked full-time during my studies and in my current industry no one could really care less what your GPA is, its all about work experience, so I wrongly neglected my studies. 
- Post graduate diploma in fire engineering technology - this is a bit dodgy as I received credit for 4 classes as I took them in my undergrad. Nonetheless, the GPA was 3 for this course. 
- Work experience: 
1. I worked full-time throughout my undergrad degree (completed a 4 year degree in 5 years) and only had 1 day off to attend uni during the semester and did 2 night classes a week. This was spread over 2 large government organisations that were directly related to my studies. 
2. After graduation I worked for 2 years at one of the same government organisations, with a promotion and had limited delegation responsibilities. 
3. My current position I have held for 2.5 years as a building services/code consultant working on significant building developments (working on projects with development costs up to AU$500 million (probably approx. to US$300 million). Due to the project-based nature of the work this means meeting tough deadlines and being fully responsible for the projects that I worked on as the grunt portion of the work is solo.

I intend to target schools such as Boston College, Boston U, U Connecticut, Northeastern and Babson - essentially schools ranked around the top 50 mark and in the North-East. My reason for this is because I want to have the ability to do an internship in Boston with the goal of gaining employment after the MBA is Boston. My goal employment would be something to do with business analytic's, business consultancy and competitive service delivery.

The obvious: My GPA is low. Does my work experience offset this enough for it to not be a major hurdle? What kind of GMAT should I target to offset my low GPA?

Does being Australian (I am Caucasian) give me any kind of advantage in applying to a US business school? I only ask because I don’t believe that many Australians go to US business schools.

Appreciate any advice that can be given.

AlexMBAApply · Answer

A couple of things:

1. Aim higher. B-school these days are crazy expensive. If you're going to go, make sure it's worth it, especially if you're moving from overseas, and from Australia no less where the quality of life overall is better than the US at comparable income levels (unless you're financially independent, then in that case you won't need an MBA and you're 100% globally mobile). To be blunt, with the range of schools you listed, the kinds of job opportunities available to you may not be any better (or maybe even worse) than what you can find in Australia based on your current profile (you seem to have solid experience right now).

2. In your case, depending on your GMAT, you should be more competitive for higher ranked schools - that is, assuming you're not limiting yourself to Boston. Get a 660+ and schools in the top 30 such as Georgetown, Tepper, Texas, USC, UNC, and so forth are in reach. Get a 700+ and schools in the top 16 are within reach such as Stern, Yale, Cornell, Ross, Duke, Darden, and UCLA. Get a 740+ and you may want to add 1-2 top 8 schools such as Sloan, Kellogg, Booth, or Columbia. As someone who graduated from a non-US university, they will be looking more closely at your GMAT anyhow. And if you went to one of the top universities in your country, then that will be more important than your actual academic performance, barring any major issues (failing out, a ton of failed/repeated courses, etc).

3. Why are you limiting yourself to Boston? If it's a personal thing (your spouse/partner will be working there), then that's fine - you do what you need to do, and your original list of Boston-area schools makes sense. However, if it isn't a personal constraint, you really owe it to yourself to be more open-minded about where you should apply to and where you want to work.

PersonalMBACoach · Answer

Are you considering only full-time programs or are you open to part-time programs as well? While the full evaluation would depend on your GMAT score, with the schools you are referencing, (even if you reach a bit higher) it often makes sense to enroll in a part-time MBA if you can secure a similar job in the US. The reason being the ROI difference between PT and FT may not be there for you, and since you are comfortable working while in school it isn't the worst option. One thing to consider is the recruiting opportunities are more limited / you have to do more on your own when coming from a PT program as many students continue working at their current companies.

To answer your question about being Australian, as you know schools want to create a diverse class so international students are appreciated. While competition among international students can be high, as you mentioned Australia is not the most competitive. In addition, your background is different enough that if spun right, you could have an interesting story.

The low GPA and work experience outside of a traditional feeder firm will hurt you, so you want to aim as high as you can on the GMAT and create a plan once you see how that goes.

GeneralEducation · Answer

Hi there,

All US B-Schools appreciate diversity and being as Aussie could be a selling point of your application. If you get a decent GMAT of 650 to 680, your low GPA could be mitigated and yes, the quality of work experience would also take care of this to an extent. But it all depends on how well you present them in your application essays.

As for the the schools, you could also look at UMass Amherst also. Good luck with your application process.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

Squareoneprep · Answer

Hi - We are happy to offer you some feedback. Would you like to schedule a Skype call to talk in detail about your candidacy, and so you can ask me questions as I offer feedback? That tends to be much more productive than me offering you advice based the information you provided here and then you replying with more questions. One thing I do want to share is that you are not aiming too high, I think you are too worried about your undergraduate GPA. If you are able to do well on the GMAT exam (and "do well" is a relative terms because that is dependent on the level of schools you are interested in), your GPA can be forgiven (especially given that you worked your way through college, which you can address in an optional essay). We have worked with folks with 2.18 GPA/620 GMAT and gotten them into Columbia and Stern for example. It took hard work to make the client exceptional along every other metric, and to ensure he showed both a quant and vernal appetite through his resume, essays and LORs. but that work was worth the thoughtful effort and a natural part of our process. So we believe you could aim higher if you would like, though it isn't necessary. Just please know that you could attend any top program and find opportunities in Boston as recruiters for top schools hire folks for all major locations in the US (and around the world).

Ok, let me know if you would like to connect via Skype to further dive into your candidacy. Thanks!

Kathryn Lucas, Founder
SQUARE ONE PREP
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Australian looking at US business schools

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