How important is a bad GPA when it was 10 years ago?

[tomntnguyen]

Hi all,

My profile below for your consideration and assessment. Any advice or feedback you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Personal:
- 30 year old Australian male

GMAT (expected solid):
- Yet to take it. Practice tests are telling me 740-760, so I'm expecting something in this ballpark.

Undergrad (crappy):
- Bachelor of Information Technology (Software Engineering) graduated in mid 2003
- Dismal GPA 4.9 on a 7 point scale, which comes out at roughly 65% - I'm hoping that the fact that I spent 2 out of the 3.5 years of this degree working full time as a software developer, and that it was so long ago, will mitigate this.

Work Experience (solid):
- 2 years Software developer at a boutique consulting firm
- 6.5 years IT management roles in government including appointments as manager of a market research and web team (managed 7 people) as the Principal Information Strategist for a major government department (managed 3 people) and Product Development Manager for a suite of e-commerce products (managed 6 people)
- 1 year owner/General Manager of a small retail chain (12 employees) of which I had been a previously been a long-time silent partner
- 1 year army officer in a headquarters role

Extracurricular (interesting):
- Army Reserve from 2004-present, including graduation from the Royal Military College, Troop Commander apopintments and attachments with the regular army as an exchange officer in Malaysia and a brigade liaison officer (see work experience)
- Personal investment/small business ownership: property investor since 2002, minor millionaire since 2008, silent partner in various small businesses since 2007 including a retail chain that sold for 7 figures in 2010 after I took control of and ran it for a year (see work experience).
- Active in a major political party from 2000-2007, including terms as Secretary and then Chairperson of my local branch, staff work for a senator and campaign team member during various elections.
- Instructor/mentor at a university rock climbing club - on and off since 2006.

Why MBA:
- Rather than spread myself across many pursuits (as I have been doing), I am looking to focus myself into a single career that meets all of my needs (entrepreneurial, in a values-based organisation, collegial-yet-competitive environment, lucrative) and base myself somewhere global like NYC or London. I'm hoping that a good MBA will help me with this. Ultimately, I want to solve global-scale problems as either a management consultant or in a similar in-house role at a corporation.

What's your assessment? How big a killer is my crappy undergraduate performance for getting into a good program?

Cheers :)

[mili]

Hello!

Very interesting profile. The GPA is certainly not ideal, but I do think you could overcome it - definitely address it in an optional statement and explain the circumstances. Another thing you could do is enroll is some supplementary courses to show that you are capable of doing well in an academic setting.

You've had quite a bit of leadership experience in your time and some very interesting extracurriculars, as well. I think your profile is unique and strong (outside that GPA), but I do worry about you coming across as a very unfocused candidate. I think it's good that you have that self awareness of knowing you've 'dabbled' in the past and that you're seeking to change that... I'd probably show that self awareness to the adcom as well, and be sure you have a strong story as to why you need an MBA in order to achieve your goals... honestly, given your success with past endeavors, you seem like the kind of person who could achieve his goals w/o an MBA (just a first impression), so just be very thoughtful about your story. That's going to be your biggest challenge: proving you need the MBA.

Good luck,
Mili

Mili Mittal
Senior Consultant
http://www.mbamission.com

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[tomntnguyen]

Hi Milli and other consultants,

Thanks for your advice. For the record, I ended up scoring 760 on the GMAT (Q50 V44).

At this point, I'm in application writing mode, trying to form a cohesive and logically flowing narrative linking my past with my immediate and long term goals.

My proposed narrative is below for your review. Obviously I can't change my past and would be reluctant to modify my long term vision too much (although there is some flexibility here). The real question is whether I am equipped to achieve my immediate career goals and whether these immediate goals logically support my longer term vision. Your advice, as always, is appreciated.

LONG TERM VISION:
I am passionate about good government and, particularly, lean and and effective public service delivery. My hope is to make a lasting contribution in this area, for example, by implementing a service delivery model that is emulated by international counterparts. I see myself achieving this as a senior member of either a consultancy, a public corporation, the civil service or a think tank.

PAST:
I have had a seven-year career in state government, specialising in e-commerce and online service delivery. My career has culminated with appointments as an agency's principal information strategist and as the whole-of-government e-commerce solutions manager. Additionally, I have experienced government from other perspectives: as an army officer and as a political aide. Finally, as a long time partner of a retail chain, I unexpectedly found myself managing it for a year.

IMMEDIATE CAREER GOAL:
I want my career to broaden beyond one specific government. Therefore, I hope to become a management consultant and, in doing so, accelerate my exposure to commercial best practices whilst broadening my network beyond Australia. The MBA is a logical precursor to a consulting career, but would also equip me with the scientific approach to management necessary to practice it at enterprise scale.

I look forward to hearing your feedback.

Cheers,
Tom

[mili]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for sharing this, but unfortunately this isn't the appropriate forum for essay/narrative feedback. This forum is really designed for profile evaluation and general application questions.

If you'd like to discuss this though, please feel free to sign up for a free consultation with one our consultants and they'll be happy to discuss. You can sign up here:

http://www.mbamission.com/consult.php

Good luck!
Mili

Mili Mittal
Senior Consultant
http://www.mbamission.com

Read the mbaMission Insider's Guides (16 individual school titles)

Download mbaMission’s Free Personal Statement Guide

Visit the mbaMission Blog

Follow mbaMission on Twitter