Hi I'm hoping for a bit of advice about what to do in my current situation. I'm an American with a finance background and I'm trying to start an MBA in 2018. I've been either dinged or waitlisted at every school I've applied to (dinged at Wharton, Columbia, waitlisted at Duke and Cornell.

I fear that my undergraduate GPA may be the cause. Here are my stats:

GMAT: 760
Work experience: 4.5 years total experience in banking.
Undergraduate GPA: 2.9 (top 20 school)

My undergraduate performance was due to a slow start and at first choosing the wrong major. I turned it around and my last year I received straight A's. I discussed this in my essays.

My question is what should I do now. Should I try to contact Duke and Cornell or do I just need to hold tight. I'm not sure what else I can tell them about the GPA. Any advice?

London Business School....

How long ago were you waitlisted? It might be worth it to touch base with the two schools you're waitlisted at, to re-express your interest and to see if they have any questions / concerns about your application.

Failing that, there's not much else you can do besides, well, wait. If you're concerned you can try to apply for a 'safer' school for the time being - I think the second round applications may still be open for some schools.

Maybe apply to few schools like UNC, Kelley? If you are able to get an admit from there, then perhaps use it as a bargaining chip?

I've emailed the schools I'm waitlisted at this week. Hopefully they'll get back to me. I didn't consider applying to other schools but I will consider it. Thanks for the advice!