Background:
Undergrad GPA: 2.6/4 BS Mechanical Engineering from a high ranking school
GRE: Verbal 168, Quant 166, W 4
Worked at least 20hr/week to pay for school without parental assistance and competed on a varsity team throughout undergrad
Missed a semester sophomore year due to surgery
Junior Year helped take care of a sick grandfather
Hey Everyone,
I am considering applying to graduate schools. Ideally, I would be looking at programs that offer a double Master’s in Mechanical Engineering and Entrepreneurship or an MBA that leans heavily towards Tech Startups and allows candidates to continue taking technical classes. I have good project/internship experience and have started a venture that earned some recognition ( I am also currently pursuing another venture).
Most of the schools I would like to attend rank top ~15 for the fields in which I am interested, yet my undergraduate GPA is significantly below average. As I start my applications, I’m finding that I’m having trouble explaining my GPA. I think it would be prudent to include some of the relevant circumstances, but I do not want admissions to think that I am shirking responsibility. I know that I should have prepared more for tests/not skipped assignments…etc and do accept responsibility for my actions.
In short, (1) how should I go about explaining circumstances without seeming to shirk responsibility for what was my own failing, and (2) are high ranking schools likely to overlook a bad GPA?
First, know that this is going to be a very uphill battle for you. That’s a very low GPA, and GPA is a much larger factor in admissions than GRE or internship experience.
Second, keep in mind that the admissions committees are a small group of professors in said department. They aren’t going to want to read 6 paragraphs about all the things that happened to you during your undergraduate studies. You can address some of them, but keep it short and to the point, and make sure you don’t come off as sounding like you are passing blame onto others. If you can frame it as a learning experience, even better.
Last, you may want to consider asking various departments if they admit students on a provisional basis (i.e. you are admitted and take a few classes to prove you can handle it before they really make you part of the full program). Otherwise, you may have to consider lower ranked schools, but even then you are going to really be fighting an uphill battle.
Talk to some MBA programs. My experience back in the day was that MBA programs were programs that preferred that you have some work experience before attending. I would try working for a year or two and try to figure out exactly what you want out of a grad program, especially ones like MBA that are usually not funded. Work experience along with strong personal statement may help offset grades at some point. Your GRE scores are good and can be used for up to 5 years.
If you start work in engineering field, maybe look at some professional MBA programs that are designed for people who are working full time.
Top 15 schools generally have a minimum GPA of 3.0. That is a University requirement and is rarely waived. But, of course, minimums don’t get in without a huge hook. (For example, D1 quarterback who is a graduate transfer.) You need to put some time between your low academic performance – for grad school – by working for a few years.
Are you a senior now, or recently graduated? If the former, you need all A’s this year. If the latter, I’d suggest taking some courses at a local University as a special student where you can demonstrate academic mastery by earning A’s.
My suggestion is to apply to places you want to be location wise that are well known with their communities and have solid connections to companies. In our blog - Coloradombablog.com you can see the diverse nature and background with strong emphasis in building your network. Here is a video of some information from our second year class - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6ALBdCVgeI
I am a super-senior. Because of financial aid reasons, I have already made up the majority of classes I missed during the semester I had surgery. I am on leave as I work full time at a robotics company. Instead of taking another full semester, I will be taking only 1 class (my last) this spring as I compete on my athletics team and continue working part-time.
Yeah, if you are still in college, an MBA program is unlikely. If you’re interested in blending the technical and the business, I’d look into master’s programs in engineering management. Here’s a list: http://www.mempc.org/engineering-programs/
But I agree with the above that your GPA is quite low, and you’re unlikely to be very competitive for top 15 programs especially coming right out of undergrad. Top schools do sometimes overlook a low-ish GPA - like in the 2.8-3.1 range - but that’s for candidates who are otherwise outstanding ones. Other than your GPA, you’re a pretty standard candidate - in other words, top schools will have plenty of applicants who have done what you did AND managed to keep their grades above a 3.0
Sometimes acute problems (like being very ill, taking care of dying family members, being the victim of a crime, etc.) can explain dips in a low-ish GPA that have affected the cumulative. But a 2.6 is low enough that it looks, from the outside, like a consistently low string of grades rather than a GPA that would’ve been good if you hadn’t had something discrete happen.
Competing on a varsity team definitely isn’t a good explanation, because all the professors will wonder is that if you were really serious about academics why you didn’t just drop it so you could keep your grades up.
What I would recommend in your case is that you attempt instead to get some work experience and put some distance between you and your low undergrad GPA. Try to find a job at a good company, maybe one that provides some tuition assistance. Then, after a year or two, consider taking some graduate classes as a non-degree student or completing a graduate certificate in engineering or management. If you perform well at your job and in the classes, you’ve built a case for your undergrad performance not being reflective of how you can do as a grad student.