21 Comments
 

How hard are you willing to work to mitigate the impact of the low GPA? You say you want to switch into finance? Are you willing to take the CFA? Finance related classes and earn A's . You also have to make your intent there a little more real.

Also don't lock yourself into top 5 or nothing. There are many programs that will help you transition into finance and that with a 750 would overlook your GPA. or perhaps in the top 10 and not the top 5. Think more broadly about how to achieve your goal, and it may become doable.,

You might be interested in https://blog.accepted.com/what-to-do-about-a-low-gpa/</a">5 As for Your Low GPA. I provide a lot more information on how to deal with it.

Linda Abraham President, Accepted | Contact Me | Admissions Consulting
 

Does talking to alumni really help? I've been grabbing coffee with graduates from B-Schools i'm interested in, but I figured their word wouldn't really matter to the admissions office.

 

It doesn't help in the way that you're suggesting. You can't just talk to alums and have them "put in a good word."

Each school has many thousands of alums. Imagine what would happen to the admissions process if getting coffee with alums was a way in. Every alum would be having several coffees a year and admissions would be fielding hundreds of thousands of "putting in a good word" emails. It would probably lead to that factor being eliminated from the process, which is as it should be.

The benefit of talking to alums is to get a feel for why the culture of the school is different from other schools, so you can write about that in your essay. Probably seems very silly to you now, but when you're writing those essays it can save you many hours or days of time if you have a good idea of what to say.

 

Provided your GMAT has a 7-handle, an Elite Eight spot is yours to lose, but this sounds more like a lower-end Elite Eight (Columbia given your finance focus) than making the Final (Harvard, Stanford), though a Final Four finish (Wharton, Booth) is also realistic.

The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be the shepherd.
 

It is his to lose based on stats alone as he will be competitive at all of the M7 schools assuming he continues down the path that he is on and can craft solid essays, get good recs, get involved in ECs, etc.

GPA: 3.5 (well within the 80% range for H/S/W and M7) GMAT: assume 700+ (well within the 80% range for H/S/W and M7) Ivy undergrad and bulge bracket experience

I hear you on the entitlement issue but if he is willing to put the time in I think he could easily get into a top program. Again, I realize a lot of admissions comes down to luck and execution.

 

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