Do I have realistic chances for UPenn? (MCIT)

Hi! I’m a German (former) business studies undergrad and I’m currently working as a sales controller for one of the biggest German industrial corporations. I’m currently thinking about applying for UPenn’s MCIT (on campus), but I’m afraid the GPA of my bachelor’s degree is simply too bad for an Ivy League school. I haven’t had any official transcript evaluation done, but my grade should be equivalent to a GPA of about 3.4 (maybe slightly better like 3.44). However, there are some aspects that might justify my not so special GPA or at least compensate for it a little bit:

  • I did a special program during my bachelor’s studies with an integrated apprenticeship / trainee program with the company I’m still working for. I had to work as soon as my lectures were over (that’s when my exams usually started…) => I either studied in the evening or took some leave
  • I had a part-time job at that company during my entire final semester, so I had to earn some additional credits during the first few semesters to cope with writing my thesis, taking some courses at uni and having a job later
  • Earning additional credits during my first few semesters was also important for me since I’ve spent a semester abroad in China and I had to make sure to complete my degree in time despite that. Moreover, I took two Chinese classes at university (only got credits for one of them)
  • I had to study for some additional exams for my apprenticeship
  • I did finish my bachelor’s within the standard period of study (+ 1 practical semester during which I didn’t take any courses)
  • I did quite well in both of my maths classes (4.0 & 3.7) and in a class that taught us some basic vba programming and database knowledge (3.7)
  • According to my bachelor’s certificate I was among the top 8,2% of my degree… but I don’t know if that’s still okay and if the admissions board even cares about such stats
  • During my professional training I got the chance to work in many different departments of that company and I worked in 3 different cities (2 in Germany, 1 in Spain)
  • My extracurricular activities apart from my job were not very exciting: I was a mentor for a foreign exchange student for one semester and I occasionally played in a small orchestra.

The reason why I would like to hear your opinions on my profile is that I don’t know if it makes sense for me to study for the GRE and request letters of recommendation if I don’t have a realistic chance to get admitted because of my GPA What do you think, should I give it a try or should I better look for a different university?

Apply. What is the worst Penn will tell you? No?

If that is the answer, you can always try again or choose another program with the same caliber Masters degree.

Good luck man and believe in yourself!!!

@nontraditional20,

You’re right, I should probably just give it a try.
Getting rejected wouldn’t be my biggest fear, but I’m rather concerned that UPenn is completely out of my reach and it might be ridiculous to request letters of recommendation for an Ivy League school with a GPA of 3.4. It’s just not very common to request letters of recommendation in Germany at all, since we usually don’t need them for college admissions. So I also don’t want to waste people’s time if it’s kind of obvious that I’ll be rejected anyway.
But I’ll simply concentrate on GRE preparation for now and reconsider this decision when I’ve got my GRE results.

Thanks for your advice!