High GMAT (740) but very low GPA (2.2)

[mcmebk]

Dear Instructors

Thanks to Manhattan GMAT, I got good scores 740 and is excited to start my application procedures yet with an embarrassingly low GPA score (2.2), and would like to have some advice from you about school/program selection and administration processes.

Some brief info about myself:

I am Chinese, Male, 29years old, my bachelor degree is Pharmaceutical Engineering in college, after graduation, I first worked in a British pharmaceutical company as a purchasing specialist and then moved to work for a Chinese pharmaceutical public company (+2000 employees) after two years. In this new company, I started working as a key accounts manager and then was promoted to be the assistant to the general manager of my company and business development manager after 2 years, since then my main work focus has been on business development activities for markets in Europe and US. While I have been quite successful at what I am doing, I feel I can move no further for the moment and think a MBA program would accelerate my career.

About my low GPA: I was born and raised in one of the most rural areas in China and I literally knew nothing about the outside work other than what I read on books - A few examples, my family could not afford to apply for a telephone number until I was in my last year in high school, I never touched a computer or heard of internet before college when most of my college classmates are from major cities and are well acquainted.

In my first semester I managed to get good scores, but then more and more I was struggling to blend into the big city life even just in a campus - I realized that my future success relied more on my acquaintance with the new lifestyle than on my school work. I chose to concentrate on my biggest weak point, which is English, to make the first breakthrough. I studied English very very hard and my improvement was tremendous, I was able to effectively communicate with foreigners in English after 12months or so (before that I never spoke one complete English sentence), and started to make many connections with expats in Beijing. This experience has dramatically changed myself from an extremely shy boy from poor countryside to a very confident person in language and socialization, and because of the expansion of my social circle, I was exposed to various culture and developed an excellent ability to communicate with people of different culture and class, and high English and communication skills, are the essential elements that ensured my success in my career so far.

I volunteered to be a leading recruiter for Beijing 2008 Olympic volunteer organization, evaluating and training candidate's English.

The dedication on English, and the huge effort I had to make to the city life consumed almost all of my time and energy. The GPA I received was not very rewarding but I was still able to graduate successfully and frankly speaking, it almost had no negative influence in my career at all because in China, most of textbook content is departed from the reality and not practical, all knowledge about the industry was obtained through my work experience.

I don't know if there is an automatic system in the admission process to eliminate candidates such as myself for its GPA not meeting school's minimum requirement - in another word, should I try to apply schools that have a minimum GPA requirement or I should automatically cross them out when I choose schools?

Another question is, I really enjoy my work and plan to continue my career in pharmaceutical industry - is it better to try to get a pharmaceutical concentrated MBA program in a lower ranked school or a general business management program in a higher ranked school, since I find schools having pharmaceutical concentrated MBA program are almost all lower than 50
- Which one will be better for my career plan, if my target is to find a job in US and work in business development side in pharmaceutical industry?

Great thanks to your patience and help in advance.

Regards

[mbamissionjenK]

Hi there,

Thanks for posting, and congrats on a tremendous GMAT score of 740! You are correct though, that 2.2 is a very sore weakness... have you taken any other coursework since undergrad at all? I would think that may be pretty much required to help raise that academic background, not sure when you are thinking of applying. Also not clear on your total # years of work experience... the further out you are from school the less the GPA is a focus, BUT a 2.2 is pretty tough for a school to get their head around. I think you have done a pretty good job explaining your challenges during undergrad and made an interesting case just in your post here, such that I think it would work on the optional essay and in interviews, so IF a program is ok with accepting the 2.2 GPA, you may be a candidate they'd consider.

I'd look outside the top 25 schools for your main targets, and have a look at their GPA ranges too, just to get a feel. The 740 of course helps offset it, certainly, and does show that you can probably handle the academic nature of the program. So I would think you could find a program for you somewhere, just depends on what schools you are interested in that may be flexible on the GPA.

In terms of a specialized vs general MBA, a few points to consider. Overall an MBA has a somewhat 'standard' reputation for the skills and coursework you are expected to gain in management, leadership, quantitative analysis, finance, marketing, etc... whether you have specialized or not, and whether you list that on a resume/job app or not. Adding a specialization can serve you well if you are applying to a job in that field-- you can emphasize that specialization. Otherwise you can just say "MBA" etc. Are the programs you mentioned in pharmaceuticals actually MBA degrees or Masters? As that would be different. But in general you'd want to go to a program that gives you the most opportunity in your future career. Each schools website has 'hiring profiles' or 'employment statistics' where you can see where their grads went, which can be helpful as you do your research.

I encourage you to dig deep into researching and check back in when you have some more ideas or questions!