Profile Evaluation (Low GPA)

[tomcanfieldjr]

GMAT: 650, Q43 (67%,) V35 (73%,) AWA Unknown
GPA: 2.7

Educational Background: Attended small liberal arts college ranked in the top 75 according to US News. Majored in English. Didn't take any quantitative courses. Overall, didn't really take school too seriously hence the low GPA, including one F in a Spanish course. Studied abroad in Spain for a semester. Completed a junior year and senior year thesis paper as part of college's graduation requirement. Interestingly, this capstone program is ranked as the #2 such program in the country behind only Princeton (again, according to US News.)

Extracurriculars: Played lacrosse for 4 years.

Work Experience: By the time I start applying to MBA programs in October, I will have had almost 5 full years of employment. All five years will have been with a community bank in Chicago where I have held various positions. Management experience is virtually non-existent as my jobs have been more customer service related.

Supplemental Transcript: Took an online accounting course through UCLA Extension and receievd an A. Also retook the same course that I got an F in, at Depaul University, and receieved an A. I plan on taking one more quant oriented corse as well.

Schools that I think I would have a good shot at:
Purdue
Texas A&M
Illinois
Vanderbilt
Maryland

Do I have a good shot at these?

[mbamission]

Hello Tom,

I think that it’s great that you have taken a few additional classes to help make up for the low GPA. If you have been doing well at your jobs and have a history of leadership and achievement (even if you don’t have managerial experience) you should be OK in terms of professional experience. If you can retake the GMAT to improve your score and top the 80th percentile in both verbal and quantitative sections of the GMAT, I would suggest doing that. Your low GPA, coupled with the fact that you didn’t take many quantitative classes in college and perhaps your work in customer service oriented roles might raise some questions about your quantitative skills. The other thing that I was wondering about are your more recent extracurricular activities. Other than lacrosse (which I assume you played in college) what do you do outside of work? It would be helpful to know these things to provide a better assessment for you.

Sincerely,

Akiba Smith-Francis

MBA Mission
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