Your Academic Record

The last thing an admissions officer wants is to accept a student who does not perform well.

Schools will take a careful look at your academic skills and record, even if you’ve been out of school for awhile.

Most schools gauge your academic skills by looking at your Graduate Management Admission Test® (GMAT®) score and your previous academic record, including grade point average (GPA*). If one is weak, the other needs to be exceptional enough to compensate.  Be prepared to explain if you think your undergraduate record does not accurately reflect your academic ability.

*If your school did not use a 4.0 GPA scale, use the table below to determine how your school’s grading scale translates to a GPA.

Most MBA programs require an undergraduate degree (or first university) from a four-year college or university.  You will be expected to provide transcripts from all the schools you attended as an undergraduate. Contact your previous schools early in the application process to learn how (and how long it takes) to get a transcript. You don’t want a missing transcript to hold up your application processing.

Most graduate business management programs are looking for people from a range of backgrounds to ensure a diverse student body.  Successful applicants come from a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate studies, including engineering, fine arts, liberal arts, medicine, life and social sciences, law, business, and education.

Admissions professionals will review your academic record to help them gauge your potential for success in graduate business school. Most schools will consider all aspects of your academic experience, including:

• Where you received your degree
• The difficulty of the degree/major requirements
• The competition you likely faced as an undergraduate
• Your academic performance or GPA, both cumulative and within your primary area of study
• Any trends in your grades from term to term (whether your grades improved as you progressed in school)
• Any academic study after your undergraduate degree

If you plan to apply to programs outside your home country, find out the differences in their education systems first. Check to see if you meet a school’s minimum requirements, both in terms of grading system conversions and the number of credits earned as an undergraduate.

For US schools, all records must be submitted in English. If your school does not provide records in English, original-language records usually may be submitted if accompanied by a notarized English translation. Ask a school directly if you are unsure what you need to meet application requirements.

In assessing your academic performance, a school’s admissions staff will consider graduate work, including coursework taken outside a degree program. Be sure to include transcripts of all coursework. Admissions staff actually may weigh your most recent work more heavily as a measure of your aptitude and maturity as a prospective student.