Low GPA? Not a problem!

I am going to refrain from talking about politics on this blog because most of you already know my politics. But once in a while when I see something political that relates to the other subjects I write about, I will put it on the blog.

I heard this on Imus earlier, turns out the President actually had an undergraduate GPA at Yale that is slightly higher than that of Senator John F. Kerry. I am sure you've all heard all the partisan Bush bashers talk about how dumb our President is because of his grades. I have always felt it was unfair to judge the President base on his grades, and I will now apply the same standard to Mr. Kerry. However, this is part of a bigger issue I have been dealing with throughout this MBA application process - how does your undergraduate GPA affect your career/educational opportunities in life? My answer is that while having a high GPA will definitely beat out having a low GPA, having a low (or subpar) GPA will not necessarily count you out.

When I decided to apply to Darden, I realized that my GPA was going to be an obstacle. The average GPA for the Class of 2005 at Darden is 3.40 and I am nowhere near that.  I went to an MBA fair (there is a funny story about that, I was leaving the gym at work 5:30pm dressed up in a suit and one of my co-workers walked by just as I walked out of the gym and asked me if I had an interview) where Justin Serrano, General Manager of Kaplan's Admissions Consulting Services spoke. He said "your GMAT is the one part of the application you have the most control over at this point." I decided to take his advice and realized that the only way for me to have a shot at Darden was to come out with a GMAT score that is higher than Darden's average of 678.

To make a long story short, I decided to not apply to Darden unless I was able to get a GMAT score of at least a certain number or higher. I took the GMAT in October, scored 20 points higher than my goal, and applied. I applied to other schools in addition to Darden - I considered one of them my reach school because it has the highest average GMAT/GPA scores. I got into that school (I will reveal the identity of this school on Thursday), thus proving that having a low GPA will not screw youfor the rest of your life. And I am sure the President and the Senator will agree.