<p>Haha thanks man, I certainly try.</p>
<pre><code> To your first point, yes. If you don’t get into IB, there’s still plenty of other majors to choose from that are well-respected like Finance, Accounting, and just general Business Administration. Most students really don’t start their major classes until Junior year anways, so you’d be good. If you come out of Moore and have good internship experience, a good GPA, and a GMAT score above, say, 680, you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting into a good grad school. Most upperclassmen I’ve met in the business school have no trouble getting into good grad programs, but keep in mind it’s relevant to the region.
Lotta kids go to Charlotte or Atlanta to get the 3-5 years work experience and then they’ll gravitate towards MBA’s at Emory, Duke, Vandy, UVa, Georgetown, etc., this is just assuming that they have a good GPA and a GMAT score of at least 680, but above 700 would obviously serve you a bit better. The further North you go for MBA’s at, say, NYU, Columbia, or Harvard, the tougher and tougher it gets, thus you’ll need a higher GPA (at or near 4.0 in your major) and a GMAT score definitely above 700 to be in the hunt for admission. You’ll hear time and again about Moore’s grad programs, but being from out of state, it’d definitely be smarter to invest in that “brand name” for grad school. It’ll cost more, sure. But with the money you save at SC, you’ll at least be able to keep your head above water. Everyone knows the “brand name” MBA’s are brand names for a reason; higher starting salaries, job prospects in more bustling urban locales, and stronger connections. Moore is good, don’t get me wrong, but if you wanna live and work outside the Southeast, it’s better to invest in an MBA with a stronger reputation nationwide.
Finally, as far as workload goes, I wouldn’t say that I’m swamped with work. Plenty of kids in the Nursing and Pharmacy schools have what seems like unreal amounts of work compared to IB. That said, it is a high-pressure situation to be IB. You absolutely MUST maintain a 3.5 or higher, and coming from far away, it’s definitely daunting, especially when you come into the Sophomore level classes and Logic. The majority of my homework comes from my Arabic class, which is only level 122 (basic proficiency). Not that you shouldn’t expect that with language classes though; after all, you only learn by doing it over and over again every night. I’d say, as long as you have a decent amount of self-motivation and keep your aspirations for IB in the back of your mind at all times- yes, even when you’re deciding whether to study for a morning quiz or go out to $1 pitcher night at the Village Idiot- you should be fine. I’d qualify myself as an above average to exceptional student, especially when it comes to English, and thus far, I’ve not felt particularly overwhelmed in the slightest.
Plus, having that constant pressure to succeed will do wonders for your schoolwork. Put in the time, and I guarantee, it will pay off. Treat your freshman year and first semester of sophomore year as a marathon: you’ll be sick, you won’t want to study, you’ll be tired, hungover, sore, the works. But if 1.5 years can determine whether or not you get into the #1 IB program in the country, well **** me, it definitely seems worth it.
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