Columbia - 08-23-2019 | Clear Admit ApplyWire

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August 23, 2019 7:45am ET

Applying: Columbia, Cornell / Johnson, Duke / Fuqua, Michigan / Ross, Northwestern / Kellogg, NYU Stern, UCLA Anderson

Intake Year: 2020

Pre-MBA Career: Energy

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting Companies: Bain , BCG , Deloitte , McKinsey

GMAT: 720

GPA: 2.74

Years of Work Experience: 4

Location: Canada

Notes:

Undergrad from top 3 Canadian university (engineering) Leadership development program at large energy company in Canada. Masters degree in engineering from top Canadian school part-time in renewable energy (4.0 GPA) Non-profit work related to designing solar power classrooms in Africa (project coordinator). Post-MBA goal of management consulting with eventual goal of going into corporate strategy for renewable/utility company.

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Show Comments (8) Last: August 26, 2019

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1676 Some interesting things here, re your work experience, you volunteer work and your goals. Your undergrad GPA is low. I'm sure it was a challenging curriculum, but are there other reasons for this? Your grad work and GMAT signal that you're smart, but need to reassure that your academic motivation is there, etc. (0)

anon94806 Likes Earned: 0 Low GPA due to very poor first and half of second year. Moved to a new city for school and had a long adjustment period. Challenging curriculum but stepped it up to modest 3.3/3.4 by last few years. I'm thinking Kellogg as a reach but the rest hopefully are within range/slight reaches? (0)

anon94806 Likes Earned: 0 Heavily involved with graduate school commitments (mentorship program and leading undergraduate research groups) (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1676 Kellogg and Columbia will be comparable. Might make sense to add a note to the optional essay, making it clear that context of the lower GPA. It needs confronting, while other aspects appear to be strong. Like the non profit work, should be a nice addition to your stories. (0)

anon94806 Likes Earned: 0 Thanks Alex! Really enjoying the podcast and keep up the amazing work. You made a comment on one of the recent podcasts about how non-traditional applicants shouldn't worry about applying in Round 2 vs Round 1 due to their uniqueness. Would you consider my profile part of that demographic? Are there any schools on my list that may be more favourable to apply to in R1 than R2? (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1676 I would think you'd be fine applying in Round 2 versus Round 1, the only caveat is if your heritage is from an over represented region (India, China) then it gets a bit murkier. This should hold true for all programs. Advantage of getting 1-2 apps in in Round 1, in your case, will be to get an early signal re how you stack up at these programs. (0)

anon94806 Likes Earned: 0 Thanks for the tip! I’m Chinese but I have lived in Canada most of my life. Will this put me in the over-represented demographic? (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1676 That does make the issue less clear cut. Your experiences should set you apart from others with Chinese heritage, that said, I'd push a few apps into R1 where possible. Is there a reason you need to delay to round 2? (0)