Your GPA

Most of the applicants strongly believe that their undergraduate GPAs would be weighed more heavily, but surprisingly, it doesn’t. Admission people have their own good reasons of discounting the undergraduate GPAs. Most of the B-schools look for unique and mature applicants rather than applicants who are top rank holders during their undergrads. Admissions people are more interested in how you perform now rather than your previous GPAs. Thus, they stress on your GMAT scores, your accomplishments, your skills and your future career goals.

Enquiring your academic performances seems an old practice now. The admission officers are more interested to know how you have developed during the years and in what ways you have contributed towards your growth. For them your experience matters, rather than your educational excellence. For an applicant with five years of work experience, the admission panel puts more emphasis on that experience and on the applicant`s GMAT score and less emphasis on his undergraduate GPA.

Your unique potential skills, your successful experiences and your GMAT scores will be analyzed first to judge your eligibility. While I list GPA as number 4 in order of importance, you shouldn`t think that its value is set in stone. The evaluation process concentrates on you entirely, starting from your academic performances till your professional experiences. The admission officers leave no gap in understanding you. If you had a modest GPA score, you must have done exceedingly well in your professional career, and if you do not have much to boast about your professional experiences, then you need to discuss your academic achievements. Whatever you do, don`t give excuses for your average grades; take responsibility for them. 

A Caveat to Your Undergraduate GPA

Admissions officers are very much focused on your math skills. They will not mind if you were not a top ranker during your undergrads, but if you believe that your math grades are not up to par and that your performance on the math portion of the GMAT isn`t good enough to make up for those grades, then definitely you have a big reason to worry. Do everything possible to take a math course through a local university before applying to any B-school. You have to relieve the admissions committee`s fears about your ability to cut it in math-intensive classes. While you can be accepted into a great MBA program with only better-than-average verbal skills, you won`t be accepted if you are suspected of having anything but strong math skills. So fix your math profile. 

The Bottom Line on GPA

You can`t change your GPA now, so there isn`t much sense in worrying about it. People with modest GPAs often get into great schools all the time, the reason being, they have strong GMAT scores and good work experience. Don`t allow your low GPA alarm you from applying to top business schools. One thing you can do to address your GPA is, take some value added classes through a local university extension program. School seems lot easier the second time around, and you might be surprised to find that you can now get good grades in classes that you never found interesting. Performing well in scho