Hi,

I'll try to make this brief. I just graduated from North Carolina State University May with a degree in electrical engineering. My overall GPA was a mediocre 3.22. My senior year GPA was a slightly more respectable 3.4. I took the GMAT yesterday and scored a 730 (Q47, V44). I figured I'd apply to business school in 3 years, so I might as well knock out the GMAT asap. Based on the limited information I've provided, do you see anything that will keep me out of a top 20 business school (specifically Duke, UVA, and Dartmouth)? My concerns are my low-ish GPA and my low quantitative score on the GMAT. If you do see a problem with something, do you recommend retaking the GMAT or developing an alternative transcript?

Thanks for your time!

Your GPA isn't great, but it's not low enough to be a serious handicap especially in light of your GMAT.

Keep in mind that MBA admissions (even at the top schools) is very different from law or med school. Top law or med schools are full of "A" average students, whereas top b-schools are typically full of "B" average students. The GPA ranges at b-schools are simply wider because adcoms look at a broader set of criteria than law or med schools.

The GPA/GMAT combo is important but not the only thing -- a lot of it comes down to the quality of your post-college work experience, your extracurriculars, career focus, maturity, and so forth.

Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com

Thanks for the response Alex.

Assuming my work experience and extracurriculars impress the adcoms at the schools I listed, I figure I have three options for tackling the academics issues:
(1) I can take quant-oriented classes to develop an alternative transcript
(2) I can use the optional essay to explain why undergraduate GPA was lower than it should have been
(3) I can submit my undergraduate GPA and GMAT score without putting any more thought into it

Given my qualifications and the schools I listed, which of these options do you think would work best?

I'm eager to read your response.

kjm

To be clear, you don't need to do anything to address your GPA - your GPA isn't low enough to justify spending extra effort to address it. You only need to take extra courses, address your GPA in the optional essay, etc. only if your GPA was below 3.0 (or you were on academic probation for a semester or more).

Just focus on everything else but your GPA. Stop thinking about it. The GPA that you have isn't going to make or break your candidacy.

Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com