2009 mba application for USC

[cooper2248817]

I recently was looking at the USC Marshall application for their part time MBA program and found out that they only have one essay and one optional essay. I am finding it difficult to bring out the uniqueness in my application through only one essay(500 words) and the optional essay(250 words). The way I crafted my application is as follow:

1. application
2. essay- future goals
3. optional essay that reflect my hardships to show my low grades
4. I bounded 5 years of my professional annual review and awards I received during my employment and mailed it to USC.

I am 27 and it has been 4 years since I have been out of college. I also have 72 months of full-time experience with three promotions in that time. I have a degree in finance with a 2.8 GPA and after my forth try a gmat score of 570 -39q/28v.

Do you think my profile fits that of the school. Looking at the previous years class profile, I am in the 80% range.

What do you think? Will applying early in round 1 help?

thanks

[MBAApply]

You're near the bottom of that 80% range for both your GMAT (and I'm guessing your GPA as well - anything below 3.0 is usually a concern, whether it's part-time or full-time).

Just do the best you can on the essays. They will also have rec letters to evaluate as well, so there should be enough for them to make an assessment.

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

[cooper2248817]

I think my essays are pretty solid. I have crafted my optional essay to explain my low gpa, which was due to personal hardships. I went to school full-time and worked-full time.

I hope that holds a lot of weight.