Should I even bother with an MBA?

Graduate School Business School - MBA
1

<p>Hi guys,</p>

<p>New to the forums here…just wanted to get some feedback on those who have more experience than I in applying for an MBA program. The problem is my GPA. I thought I would be short and schedule out the facts and keep my eyes and ears open to your comments.</p>

<p>The Facts:
Age: 23
Sex: M</p>

<p>Education:
High School: 3.6 GPA 720 + on math sections of SAT I and II’s(if this means anything)
Undergraduate: UCI Engineering 2.1 GPA (Cause of work and other personal reasons)</p>

<p>Work Experience: I think I have a relatively strong list of work experience for my age(cant get in to to much detail) but it includes:</p>

<p>Quality Control Technician- Used computers/machinery to test IC chips.
Project Analyst- where I did R&D for a high level networking project(published in patent) for a growing midcap firm.
Financial Intern Analyst- helped with firm side in a recapitalization process with a big name investment bank.
Financial Adviser- But I am currently a licensed financial adviser at an average firm(have my series 7, 66 and life insurance licensees).</p>

<p>I took one practice test for the gmat without any studying and after a long day at work and scored a 650. I am pretty sure I can break 730/40 with more time and studying</p>

<p>Assuming I have a well written app and strong letters of rec, do I have a shot at a top 20 school B-School? If not whats the BEST action I can take to mitigate? </p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>What are your career goals? I think a top 20 might be tough. However, it seems your strengths are applying theory rather than testing on theory; which means your real world application of your education should be met with greater success.</p>

<p>My undergrad wasn’t spectacular, but I got a really good education at a very strong school and feel that it certainly was worth the time.</p>

3

<p>My eventual career goal is to start my own successful business that will most likely be in the financial services world. I feel like the MBA will teach me proper execution of my business ideas.</p>

<p>I’m hoping to get in to a top 20 to build a desirable network as well. Is there anything I can do at this point other than a high gnat score?</p>

4

<p>Your chances are pretty awful.</p>

5

<p>Top 20? Doubt it.Maybe a part-time MBA, not top 20 though.</p>

6

<p>Unfortunately, with the heated rankings competition between top 20 schools, I’d be shocked if one of them would take the hit of accepting someone with a 2.1 GPA. Information from high school is not requested on MBA applications. Given your strong work experience, you could probably still pick up a decent job after going to a school outside the top 20 (think top 40 or so) when your undergrad GPA will no longer be relevant.</p>

7

<p>With a 2.1 is very difficult to make it to a top school. </p>

<p>Unlessss… you are an underrepresented minority and manage to crack a 700 on the GMAT, then you’ll be headed to a top 10, no problem, apply yesterday and feel free to write the app in crayon. Also possible if you founded a successful business already (with a top line well into the millions), but it doesn’t sound like that’s likely to be the case.</p>

<p>What pieces out of your work experience are full time, post graduation? That is the only part ad-coms will care about. I assume just the financial advisory bit? </p>

<p>If this is the case, and assuming given your age that you are one year into working FT, I suggest you work another year while taking classes at night (to show you are not actually a poor student) before applying - leaving two years before returning to school. This will get you two years of night school to remediate your weak GPA and a reasonable amount of work exp (~3yrs). </p>

<p>Re the classes - basic stuff like accounting, economics, intro to finance (or possibly derivatives if you already have fin 101), and maybe some calc for business. Generic night classes are fine, something toward a lesser degree program would be a little better (masters in accounting, econ, finance, mathematical finance, whatever). </p>

<p>The point is to prove you can thrive in a (relatively) rigorous, numbers driven environment (note that the “relatively” is key here, B-school is laughably non-quantitative according to a legitimate quant type - think of a Russian MIT PhD in financial economics or physics - eg this animal <a href=“http://web.mit.edu/~lkogan2/www/[/url]”>http://web.mit.edu/~lkogan2/www/&lt;/a&gt;).</p>

<p>Also, if you stick with the financial advisory route your “bucket” will be that of a sales person. That’s not a bad one to be in (certainly easier than banking or consulting as far as competition goes). Bucket is the group that you will fall into and then be compared to by the adcoms. They have an idea of what they want every year: x % Mckinsey/BCG types, y % Goldman/Morgan Stanley IBD types, z% save the world types, and so on. One of these buckets will be sales guys.</p>

<p>So, who is the ideal sales guy? Ideally you would have a 3.95 from Princeton, are the international leader in widget sales and lost your arm escaping childhood genocide in Rwanda but still manage to find the time to run your charity for underprivileged ■■■■■■■. But, more realistically you should be accomplished relative to your peers (i.e. have strong sales numbers you can point to) and be a polished smooth talker with a good story as to why you should go to b school x because it’s the ideal place to prepare you to do y (insert something ambitious but not clich</p>

8

<p>awesome advice! thank you!</p>

<p>Ya my poor GPA is mainly do to upper div civil engineering classes that I truly lost interest in.</p>

<p>I have earned A’s in all levels of calculus…and hopefully coupled with a high quant score on the gmat is good enough to prove my quantitative skills? So I hope some finance classes will suffice. </p>

<p>In terms of the applicant “bucket” I represent, I was actually hoping to use the MBA to spring board in to the other buckets of Ibanking or Consulting…but some times it seems like its a better idea to bend your story to increase your chances of acceptance. Any thoughts/recs on this?</p>

9

<p>Look at doing an MSF or another business type masters. It will allow you to “redo” your GPA and you can hopefully go into banking/consulting without waiting for an MBA. Look at Duke’s MMS or maybe Wake Forest. They will allow you to be more broad with your career goals.</p>

10

<p>Re: "… some times it seems like its a better idea to bend your story to increase your chances of acceptance. Any thoughts/recs on this? "</p>

<p>Correct. Business school is aimed at: 1) those who want to advance in their current career, and 2) those seeking to change careers. Admissions officers, however, tend to favour those with a consistent, linear career progression and an established career in which to return. To this end, it may be best to ‘bend’ your story so as to be more favourable to admissions staff.</p>

<p>That said, a number of admissions people I’ve met indicate that many students develop interests in other fields once admitted into an MBA program. Your main task is to get an offer of acceptance; what you ‘really’ aspire to after graduation is your choice alone.</p>

11

<p>Yes indeed, bend but dont break</p>

12

<p>Hi there,</p>

<p>Before I reply to the original poster, I have to say that I found Storch’s assertion that:</p>

<p>"Unlessss… you are an underrepresented minority and manage to crack a 700 on the GMAT, then you’ll be headed to a top 10, no problem, apply yesterday and feel free to write the app in crayon. "</p>

<p>This is not only extraordinarily offensive, but it is also untrue. The very top b-schools get a TON of applications from under-represented minorities with 700+ GMATs who <em>routinely</em> get rejected. </p>

<p>And they <em>routinely</em> accept white males with sub-700 GMATs but amazing leadership/work history. </p>

<p>MBA admissions – at the top-tiers at least – goes way, WAY beyond a number and a color. </p>

<p>The idea that “under-represented minorities can be stupid but still get into top-tier schools” is at best tired, and at worst, extremely bigoted. </p>

<hr>

<p>Regarding the original poster, I agree with others that a top-20 will be a reach. I would leave out the first QC job if you can since it doesn’t “fit” with the rest of your “story” (?). Your low GPA is bothersome, but even more so since it’s not from a top-tier undergrad. However, you could mitigate this with a stellar GMAT (I would say 720+ to show that you’re serious, but maybe a 700 will be good enough). </p>

<p>There is room in every application for an “additional essay” in which you can write with candor and maturity about why you got the grades you did (don’t sound whiny; take responsibility for your actions and show that you have learned from your mistakes). </p>

<p>The glorious thing about MBA admissions (vs. law or medical school) is that they allow you to re-invent yourself, and they don’t force you to pay for the mistakes of your youth for the rest of your life. You can haul butt for the next few years and compensate for undergrad GPA (now, if there’s a PATTERN of getting into trouble, well…that’s tougher to bounce back from) </p>

<p>So, unlike others on this thread, while the GPA from a non-top undergrad is a very, very tall hurdle to pass, it’s not an impossible one. </p>

<p>What, unfortunately, worries me more is that your job experience so far seems to be a bit unremarkable. (sorry!) – it’s unclear where you would be able to really stand out as a pedal-to-the-metal “LEADER” ?</p>

<p>Also, if your goal is entrepreneurship, then honestly, the MBA isn’t going to be that big of a help. It will be better (not to mention cheaper) to start amassing the skills now that you’d need to launch a successful business, vs getting the MBA. ie, take classes in coding in Ruby, or courses in social media marketing. Get involved in StartupWeekend if your local area has one. Join the startup subculture wherever you live, and get cracking. </p>

<p>Honestly, if you’re entrepreneurial at all, I say that the MBA would be a waste of your time. Spend that time and money building your business instead!</p>

13

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