It is accepted wisdom that hindsight is 20/20, and for those prospective graduate management students who look back at an unexemplary undergraduate performance can see very clearly that they ought to have more diligently applied themselves. Undergraduate GPA is one of a handful of selection measures graduate school admissions committees use when assessing applicants. According to a US News article written by MBA admissions consultant, Stacy Blackman, this quantitative measure speaks to two different attributes of an individual: aptitude and application. Aptitude in regard to whether the individual can do the advanced academic work required in graduate school, and application in regard to whether the individual will apply themselves and work hard regardless of course content throughout the MBA curriculum.
For many of us, the undergraduate experience was not necessarily one marked by a great deal of foresight. College was just something you did after high school — and it was pretty fun to do. Life and work after college can drastically change a person and the cavalier, quasi-committed student of a sophomoric 20 years may well end up the precise type of master’s student that any world-class institution would be delighted to educate. Yet, a grade-point blemish can have disastrous affect on an admissions decision regardless of one’s current levels of aptitude and application.
Is this fair? After all, isn’t it the current individual the one that matters? Indeed, it is not the irreverent undergrad that is seeking acceptance. However, admissions committees are inundated with data and like any selection team they must have quantitative and qualitative measures to act as heuristics so they can evaluate in any efficient way the hundreds of digital and hardcopy humans knocking on their doors.
In short, this is how the game is played. Thus, it is up to the individual to present their whole self in such a way that lets evaluators gain insight into and beyond a comparatively uninspiring aspect of the applicant’s past. So what to do?
Here’s what not to do: leave the low GPA or even singular low mark in the academic record unaddressed. A void of information will be filled in. The applicant must ensure that they themselves are the ones who fill it and not the admissions officers. A graduate school application is a story—an intentional story. The moral of that story must clearly indicate that the sum of this person amounts to a valuable component of a crafted incoming cohort that will positively reflect the history of the institution as well as set the tone for a bright future.
A low GPA is an obstacle, but it is a surmountable one. Applicants are well-advised to tackle such an issue head on and nobly. We are very interested to hear how less-than-stellar undergraduate performance was either overcome or served to defeat advisees you have worked with. Share so your colleagues can learn from your experience and prospective b-schoolers can most appropriately articulate what that eagle-eyed hindsight can see.
