I am a science grad and come from an indian government organization and my journey began in 2012 when i decided to do MBA from some top school. I would rate myself as somebody with above average IQ and who is ready to put in effort for his aims.
I had everything in my career- promotion,good reports,references etc but they say that your past never leaves you. I had a below average GPA, not that i was not capable of but it was due to lack of focus at that age. I wasted my time at that phase of life.
When i decided to apply to US, i was discouraged by everybody stating that with below average GPA your chances are slim. Do something exceptional. That’s why i passed all levels of CFA and FRM. Now how do i justify this in my story, will it sound interesting,without work ex would it be even considered?
Will B school really care about all this, will it help me to overcome my low GPA?
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Further,today I am 29, would be applying next year for admissions.
High GMAT score, Good essays, Do-well in interviews, Good recommendations… CFA and FRM will help you but not that much in my experience. (It will help you later, like waiving some courses for you).
The fact that you have passed your CFA and FRM exams shows that you are self-motivated for a career change. One of your application essays will ask you (directly or indirectly) what you plan to do after your MBA. I would defintely mention CFA/FRM to demonstrate your committment to a clear career goal (e.g. research analyst, private wealth managerment, portfolio management, quantitative investing, etc)
Admissions committees takes great care to maintain high GPA, GMAT scores for their incoming classes. However, they also care a lot about post-MBA employment statistics. This is why they only want to admit students will clear career plans.
Make sure you do well in the GMAT since the top MBA programs use it to screen out applicants. A poor GMAT will most certainly earn you a ding while a good GMAT is just something they expect from you. GPA…well that’s just another story. The average Harvard graduate has a GPA of 3.7. However, if you have attended Cal Tech, a 3.0 GPA will earn you a lot of envy from your follow classmates. And admission committees are well aware that grading curves are very inconsistent among undergraduate programs.
A college (especially a higher level one) may be more interested in a gpa, but I think in the employment world, the package of accomplishments is more meaningful.
when one is just starting, the gpa is a deciding factor on what your first job will be and even what masters school you go to. but from there you’re building up/down on the first job.
a lot depends on where you are workwise. As you get older, your whole history rather than your gpa is judged Since youre 29, if you have a good 5 years in a company where you can advance, my thoughts is that would mean a lot more than which school you get an mba from. If you left your job to persue this, then you have a stop of career where a major school might give you the contacts to overcome. If you feel your career direction is a dead end, then you may consider a career change, but the older you get, the greater the challenge.
YOu may wish to discuss your situation with a career councilor or job placement service to see what advice they might offer.
Thanks for all the feedback guys. Adding further my GPA is somewhere like 3.0 out of 4.0. I wish to go to top 10 US MBA schools or may be to Insead or LBS.