<p>How important is the undergraduate GPA when applying to selective B-schools such as Stanford?</p>
<p>Could someone also list the most important factors they consider in order?</p>
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The Importance of Undergrad GPA
How important is the undergraduate GPA when applying to selective B-schools such as Stanford?
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<p>Basically, not very important from a relative standpoint. I would place it, at most, as 6th in importance.</p>
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Could someone also list the most important factors they consider in order?
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<p>In no particular order: leadership experience/potential, work experience, essay answers, interview, letters of recommendation. All of these, as well as arguably a few others, are more important than grades. Plenty of people with straight A's can't get into any top B-schools because they are weak in one or more of the other more important categories.</p>
<p>So what would you recommend as my "game plan" for the next four years as an undergrad? Since grades aren't too important, should I spend most of my time building up my work experience? </p>
<p>Also, do I get the letters of rec from professors or employers?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Yahooo, the point is that your undergrad education is not that important to a top business school. Your undergrad GPA is certainly more important than your undergrad employment or letters of rec you could receive from professors.</p>
<p>What you need to do is put yourself in the best position possible to get a good job out of undergrad. In other words, you will probably want to get as high of a GPA as possible. With a good job, you should gain good work experience and become a good candidate. You will want your letters of recommendation to be from your post-graduate employment.</p>
<p>BTW, he said GPA is relatively unimportant. Keep in mind though that the top schools generally average around a 3.5. So, most people have great GPAs, but if you have better work experience, perhaps a 3.0 could suffice. Top business schools probably have a hard time accepting anyone with a worse GPA than that as they want to keep their overall GPA average high.</p>
<p>I'd say aim for at least a 3.2 overall gpa and at least a B in Calc 1 (math and science calc) and intro to stats. Other than that, take what you want, have fun.</p>
<p>What constitutes a "good job?" Working at a prestigious company with a fancy title? </p>
<p>And isn't a 3.2 a bit low to aim for?</p>
<p>A good job would be one which pays at least decently well (relative to your peers) and will give you opportunities to advance/grow.</p>
<p>As for GPA, aim as high as you can, but I agree with tomslawsky that you should have fun in the process. Obviously, if you keep a high GPA, it will help you if some other parts of your application are a bit weak. On the other hand, if your GPA is a bit low you won't necessarily be disqualified if the other pieces to your application are strong.</p>
<p>I wouldn't worry too much about grad school right now though. Just do well in school and have fun.</p>
<p>How about working for big oil for $70k a year. Is that good enough to set myself up well for Stanford MBA. Or is being an ibanker better?</p>
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In no particular order: leadership experience/potential, work experience, essay answers, interview, letters of recommendation. All of these, as well as arguably a few others, are more important than grades.
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<p>Good advice, IMO, except it left out the GMAT score, which is important to admission to the better schools. A high GMAT can also help to make up for some deficits in grades (which really do need to be above 3.0 -- significantly above if possible -- for you to be highly competitive). But B-school admissions is a lot less by-the-grid GPA + test score than law school admissions. A high GMAT + high GPA is no substitute for leadership, work experience, and well honed essays. For that reason I'd place it 4th on the list, followed by grades.</p>
<p>Can leadership experience include something I did in high school? It was rather significant.</p>