The sender is a Canadian MBA aspirant who is planning to apply to business school during the 2011-2012 application cycle. In the meantime, he wants to do whatever he can to strengthen his overall application profile and is especially concerned about his low undergraduate GPA. He asked for some advice on how he could address his low GPA, but I ended up giving him some other advice that wasn’t related to his GPA that might also be helpful.
One of the major themes that I tried to hit in my response was that an MBA application package is just that…a package. As such, I would advise others with concerns about one or two portions of their applications to focus on the total package and not just on single areas of weakness.
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CA wrote:
Hi Marquis,
I’m going to keep this brief and to the point. With admission season in full swing, I am sure you get plenty of emails so I’m hoping I didn’t miss any information on the site. I’m planning on applying for my MBA next year and I want to spend the next year making my application as bulletproof as I possibly can. Here’s a quick information sheet. I’ll expand on it below.
Information
* Nationality: Canadian
* Age: 27
* Undergrad: Computer Engineering (Graduated in 2006)
* School: Queen’s University
o This is one of the top 3 school in country. Not sure if it is relevant as an international student.
* Current Employment: PHP Team Lead / Analyst / Project Coordinator
o It’s a really fast growing company so I get to do a lot of different tasks that I wouldn’t get to do in a larger firm.
o Lead a team of 6 developers
o I get to do a lot of client relations with my job which is unusual for most tech jobs.
* GPA: 2.9
o This is what I calculated. We had no GPA grade. I did finish with Honours, but not first class.
* GMAT: 710
* Target Reach Schools
o Harvard (First Choice)
o Stanford
o London Business School
* Work Experience: A bit more than 3 years.
o My current employment is the relevant one and I’ve only been here for a 1 year and a half. I took a year off to do some traveling and a career switch.
* Extracurriculars
o Open Source Community in Montreal
+ Organize meetups
+ Volunteering
+ Public speaking engagements
o Spanish Classes
+ I’m fluent in French as well.
Analysis
Currently, I find that the weakest part of my application would be my 2.9 GPA and my age (Harvard likes younger applicants). I’m looking for ways to improve the GPA part. I understand that the GPA itself is set in stone as you said in many responses, but I’m really looking for ways to show that I can survive the academic rigor of the program. Harvard puts a lot more weight on GPA than on the GMAT (which I did well on). I’m not sure what I can do in terms of extracurriculars to improve this impression if it could fit in my overall story it would be even better.
Thanks again,CA
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My video response:
Ways to offset a low GPA from Marquis Parker on Vimeo.
Key points:
- Low GPA:
–> Take two or three courses to show that you can perform academically in tough subjects (i.e. Accounting, Stats, higher-level Math)
–> Try to take these extra courses through reputable four-year institutions
–> Aim to get A’s and submit transcripts along with MBA application materials
- MBA story:
–> Make the schools want you despite your low GPA
–> Describe how you are different from other applicants and what your “value proposition” for the school and incoming class might be
- Extracurriculars:
–> Target leadership roles in the organizations that you are already a part of
–> Pursue other organizations that interest you and go for maximum impact
