HBS CORe or community college courses to offset low gpa for MBA

My undergrad degree is in civil engineering from India and my gpa is 2.64/4.00. I also have a masters degree in construction management from Michigan State University where I secured a decent gpa of 3.58/4.00. I have 5 years of work experience in construction engineering, estimation, planning, forecasting and scheduling. I plan to get into b-school in Fall'22. I had applied to b-schools for Fall'21 (to Ross and NYU) but I was denied admission. My GRE score is 326/340. I believe the problem is my low undergrad gpa. To offset it, I plan to enroll in some community college math/finance/accounting courses although I have heard a lot about hte HBS CORe program. Is it worth it? Would getting HBS CORe certification and transcript prove more beneficial in comparison to community college credits?

Thoughts? Comments? Cheapshots?

1 Comments
 

Dolorem quod iure facere ut. Nobis officia atque ut autem. Modi voluptatem vel quia omnis.

Asperiores aspernatur distinctio odio odio accusamus aliquam. Doloribus aut blanditiis quidem amet fugit doloribus. Hic sed omnis aut voluptates alias minima nisi molestiae.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Guggenheim Partners 02 97.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 99.0%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 13 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (57) $264
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (28) $184
  • Intern/Summer Associate (16) $161
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”