Am I competitive for MBA admissions?

Question

I have 2.4 GPA from Providence College, a 630 GMAT, and 5 years of military experience as an officer (27 months is combat leading soldiers - phenomenal reviews by supervisors). What can I do to make my application to Boston College, UMASS, and Northeastern more competitive? Would taking an online class from UMASS and doing well before applying help my situation? Thanks.

Answer 1

You probably are at many schools. The 2.4 is low but the GMAT is high and experience counts too. Locate the program best for you in the official MBA Guide, a free service.

Answer 2

Your GMAT and your military service look great for UMass Amherst and Northeastern. The GMAT is just a bit low for Boston College, but I feel you should apply anyway, because it's not that low, and your military experience may compensate for that. Your work experience is going to be a key factor in your application, and your decent GMAT may help counteract that GPA.

Other good MBA programs in your area that you may want to have a look at, see if they fit re: GMAT and personality, include: Boston University, Bentley, Babson (reach re: GMAT), Brandeis, Clark, and WPI. And if they have a program in a city far south enough for you, UNH.

A minimum requirement for any MBA program for you should be that it be AACSB accredited. A lot of employers won't even look at you if it is not:

http://www.aacsb.edu/General/InstLists.a...

The issue, as you may suspect, is your GPA. That's really low for all three programs you list. But if you have a story around that GPA, it could help. So, for example, if you did poorly in your first two years, and great in your last two, you'd want to highlight that. If you didn't do well in one term, and did well the rest; or if you didn't do well in a certain type of class, but did great in others, or if something happened in your life, an issue that caused your GPA to be low, but has since been resolved - these are things you want to talk to on your application.

If you can write a convincing essay, and have strong recommendations, you could well get in. But you're going to have to sell yourself. However, this really does work. I had a student with a GPA in the 2's get into good MBA programs due to a strong GMAT, extraordinary work experiences, and excellent references, plus a compelling application/essays.

If your GPA is low in certain subjects that you know MBA programs want - say your quant skills are in question - then yes, taking an accounting or a finance course at a strong university, and doing very, very well in it, may help your application. In the essay talking about your grades, you'd mention the new class in support of your potential for such high grades. Ideally, take two classes, so you can show a trend. Maybe accounting and stats. But make sure you ace them.  

Answer 3

I think that you should talk to their respective officers and ask what are their minimum requirements for the MBA and then seat and compare your credentials with theirs.