Admissions Tip: Address Low GPA/GMAT - 工管

Admissions Tip: Addressing Academic Weaknesses
By: CA team


Hello applicants! We at CA want to offer some advice about the role of
academics in the admissions process. Many candidates considering business
school focus on the credentials they will hold and the network that they will
join upon graduation, but it is important to keep in mind the academic
experience at the heart of any MBA program. Because a business school is,
after all, a school, it makes sense to begin your consideration of your
profile by thinking about your academic aptitude and track record to date.
Your performance in your educational endeavors up to this point will be
treated as a predictor of your success in business school.

While this is all well and good for applicants whose undergraduate GPAs and
GMAT scores are close to the average of students at their target schools
(about 3.5 and 710 for the top programs), things become a bit trickier for
candidates who fall below the pack in either or both of these categories.
Retaking the GMAT is always an option, but this can become counterproductive
after the first two or three attempts, and there is obviously nothing to be
done to alter one’s college marks. If the other aspects of your candidacy
are strong and you're only lacking in one of these two academic areas, an
effective strategy is often to use an optional essay to acknowledge that one
of these numbers is below the school's average and assure the adcom that the
other is the more accurate indication of your academic ability.

Meanwhile, applicants who fall short in both of these measures – as well as
anyone who simply wants to strengthen his or her academic profile or falls
well below the average in GMAT or GPA – should consider putting together an
alternative transcript that demonstrates a track record of As in quantitative
coursework (e.g., in basic classes in accounting, statistics, calculus or
economics). These classes can be taken at any community college or even
through an accredited online program. This is a particularly sound strategy
for candidates who focused on the social sciences or humanities in college
and do not have a record of demonstrated success in quant-heavy disciplines.
Applicants can then point to this as a more recent – and therefore more
accurate – reflection of their present abilities in a classroom setting.
While one or two classes can suffice, keep in mind that the more classes one
takes, the more convincing this argument becomes (assuming strong performance
in these supplemental classes, of course).

Of course, these are general guidelines about the ways that one might address
a shortcoming in a single element of the admissions process. For a more
detailed evaluation of your entire candidacy and more comprehensive
application services, please contact Kevin Chen at [email protected].

Best,
Kevin
[email protected]

---------------------------------
Kevin Chen
Partner/Senior Admissions counselor, Clear Admit LLC
(http://www.clearadmit.com)
Master degrees: Stanford Graduate School of Business; Harvard Kennedy School
of Government
Bachelor degree: Princeton University
Previous work experiences: Reuters; McKinsey; NBA



kchen95初級會員
文章: 73註冊時間: 2008-11-13 10:18

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