How much do grades factor into MBA admissions?

I always hear people say that undergrad grades do not matter and its all about experience + gmat. How true is this for top 15 programs?

I ask because I have an interesting situation. My cumulative GPA not the best due to my first year of uni which was horrible (C/C- average). I didn't attend class and generally was uninterested (arts student). Luckily I was able to transfer in the business program as I did well enough in econ/english/calc to get in and my last three years went fairly well (A-).

I graded in 05, after which I did about 4 years of audit in a big 4, plus 2 years big 4 corporate finance (middle market m&a). Assuming I get a killer GMAT, am I good to go? Or is this GPA issue going to haunt me?

Thanks!

Grades and GMAT score are pretty much wha tthey look at. Certainly your work experience they will look at but the former is given serious weight.

The top 10 will not admit you with a 2.0 GPA and a low GMAT score unless you have some legacy connection going.

Remember your also applying against other applicants that may have stellar credentials and job history.

Don't know about MBA, but some grad programs only look at the last XX credit hours. Some med schools only looks at the last 60-90, Law is cumulative, some programs are only within their faculty/department.

So look at each school for that, since your arts grades sucked but your last+relevant grades rock.

If you have great essays that detail your hopefully awesome leadership/work experience, explain your GPA issue in optional essays, and get a great GMAT, I think you would have a shot. Since you're coming from CF, you're going to be fighting against a lot of guys with better grades and similar, if not better, work experience. Make sure to really get those essays right.

What is your final cumulative GPA?

Originally Posted by Jbreen1

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What is your final cumulative GPA?

3.0 overall, 3.85 in final two.

As long as you are above the cutoff to actually get looked at (and 3.0 is usually high enough to not get tossed in the wastebasket right off the bat) then the fact that after a lousy freshman year, your more recent history is good will be an advantage. You are a person who doesn't give up, and does what is required to re-form yourself. Personally I like that better than the person who was a consistent 3.0 student all four years. I would assume that is even more true in a business school than it is in Humanities.

Just my 2c.

This is not what you want to hear, but a 3.0 is a very tough sell to a top 15 program. Whats your GMAT?

Also, work experience does matter, like others have said, but at this level I think it would need to be absolutely brilliant to overcome the GPA issue. Sorry and ymmv

Originally Posted by HRoi

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This is not what you want to hear, but a 3.0 is a very tough sell to a top 15 program. Whats your GMAT?

Also, work experience does matter, like others have said, but at this level I think it would need to be absolutely brilliant to overcome the GPA issue. Sorry and ymmv
+1. 3.0 is not good enough for top programs. It would take an exceptional GMAT or GRE score to compensate for the low GPA.

3.0 is not great but not really shite either. keep in mind that your competition is mostly like 3.4-3.8. From your work experience, remember, there are dozens of others like yours but WITH a 3.3 or higher. thats what you are up against.

Also, I haven't come across any application (schools ranked 1-30) that ever mentioned that they separate out "in major" GPA vs overall, or last 2 years, etc. They might do it internally but I've never heard of it.

its basically career progression, GMAT, essays, and GPA. those are the 4 things that applications put weight on, not in that order. Recommendations usually don't help or hurt, except bad ones hurt and good ones help (aka famous people).

get all your other **** in order and you will have a chance...

For reference, I got admitted to three top 20 schools with a 2.6 undergrad gpa this year. My work experience is interesting, but not amazing. My GMAT is fairly strong, but again, not amazing. So it's possible. Use the optional essay to explain that you acknowledge how low your gpa is and how immature you were or whatever your excuse is. There's no sense avoiding it, and you only get one chance to explain it.

bah

this thread is reminding me that i recently dropped from a 3.3 to a 2.92 cGPA due to not handing in one blasted assignment

Originally Posted by KJT

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For reference, I got admitted to three top 20 schools with a 2.6 undergrad gpa this year. My work experience is interesting, but not amazing. My GMAT is fairly strong, but again, not amazing. So it's possible. Use the optional essay to explain that you acknowledge how low your gpa is and how immature you were or whatever your excuse is. There's no sense avoiding it, and you only get one chance to explain it.

Did you go to a top ranked school or graduate in a particularly hard major?

Originally Posted by oman

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bah

this thread is reminding me that i recently dropped from a 3.3 to a 2.92 cGPA due to not handing in one blasted assignment

Try and get it back to above a 3.0. I graduated with a 3.2 a few months ago, and was first pretty happy with it. Then I looked over my transcript and realized that my GPA could have been so much better if I didn't do some stupid stuff.

There was a class I probably should have withdrawn from, but didn't. I also never looked into the different professors that taught the same course. I probably could have gotten some professors that catered to my work style better and/or were just easier in general. Also, I never took any classes as pass/fail. At my school you were allowed to take one class each semester as pass/fail and I never took advantage of that.

here's another tip: claw and fight to avoid Cs. Just keep up and get that B- or B. Cs (and lower) will kill your GPA and take forever to make back