Addressing low GPA - 690 GMAT, 5+ years experience, non native english

Question

Hi all,

I am currently finishing my applications, but I am fairly worried about my undergrad GPA (civil industrial engineer, IT minor, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile) and course record. I failed a total of 6 classes out of 70 (in 7 years), and have a GPA of 3.0-2.7. I started university fairly slow since I did not attend my high school senior year and found myself at a disadvantage against the others (I was living abroad while my classmates were preparing), and also were going through a rough patch personally (family issues). I improved my GPA in the latter years with a positive trend, and finished with an award or distinction in my degree for academic performance, although my overall GPA is not exceptional.

I want to let the admissions committee know about this, that I have matured and have confidence that I am up to the task. I don't want to sound as making excuses, so my requests would be:

- ¿Should I address this issue? I have heard countless times that our curriculum is hard, hence it is not uncommon to have lower-than-average GPAs. Still I feel I am lower than the average applicant from my country (or university at least). Or maybe I am just drawing unnecessary attention to the issue.

- If you believe I should address the issue, I would like to ask for help translating these issues into a neat 250ish words of not-whining: lack of maturity to cope with everything that was going and fail to realize the importance of good grades (particularly in classes that didn't pique my interest), family issues, etc.

This is what I have for now:
 I would like the admissions committee to know that I am aware of my GPA not being at the level one would expect from a person applying to a top business school. During my first year at university, my family –my parents, two older brothers, and four younger sisters –was going through a particularly rough time due to a divorce. We are a very catholic family, and their decision to split up affected all of us, but it was especially hard for my sisters, since most of them were very young at the time, and such a decision can be very hard to understand and accept at such a young age, even more considering they attended a catholic school were divorced parents where very rare. I took it upon myself to look after my sisters so I could shelter them from the repercussions of my parents’ decision, but I was not mature enough to take the burden of being a surrogate father figure and keep focus in school. In the coming years I tried to catch up and managed to improve my grades, managing to end with an acceptable GPA and a recognition to my performance (called a vote of distinction). At the time, I wasn’t mature enough to cope with said situation, but now I have a clear picture of what skills I need to improve and a clear career path I want to achieve, and feel confident that I have what it takes to fulfill it.

Thanks in advance!

VeritasPrepDozie · Answer

Yes, you should certainly discuss this in an optional essay. For most programs this will be seen as a low GPA so my recommendation is to be frank and honest and most importantly concise. You want to keep this short and sweet. Take ownership of the challenges you experienced and communicate them directly via the optional essay

Admissionado · Answer

Definitely definitely definitely address this! And do so in two ways:
1. Explain as you did, why. Without making excuse. but definitely give them insight to your life
2. PROVE that you are smart and academically capable NOW - with good test scores, publications any intellectual work, anything that makes you seem really really smart

I hope this helps!
Jon

I hope this helps! Jon

Addressing low GPA - 690 GMAT, 5+ years experience, non native english

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