I've read a lot about this topic online but wanted to get some perspective from other current applicants. My profile is below. I've been considering applying for my MBA the last 2 years but my fiancee got into a post-grad health professional school at the same time and my career was just starting to advance so I decided to put it off (financial reasons + career opportunity).
Here's my profile:
GMAT (unofficial mock exam): 650 about 3 years ago with no studying/prep. I've been looking at the books since and I'm confident I could do 700+ with a few months of prep.
Undergraduate GPA: 3.0 - 3.2 from top 10 university in the US but with horrible grades in key business-prep classes (math, econ, statistics) due to poor undergraduate planning which led to me not going business in the first place.
Work experience: 7 years (1.5yrs managing team of 4+ in marketing @ large dot-com, 1.5yrs in mid-level management at advertising agency (top in US), and 2yrs senior marketing manager at startup that was acquired, and now 2yrs in senior manager position at very prominent software company (multi-$B)
I think my work experience is what might get me a chance even with my low-GPA. Is this very common or am I going to be facing an uphill battle?
More importantly to me, I've gotten some advice from people I trust and value (my manager and other colleagues - Harvard business, Kellogg) and they don't think it's valuable for people who are my age (late 20s) and have startup experience to get an MBA unless I want to do it for fun. They think at this point in my career, it's too much of an opportunity cost issue and recent MBAs in my company come in a few levels below me so they don't think it makes sense to stop advancing for 2 yrs just to get an MBA that doesn't get me further in my career. Thoughts?
Personally, I want to go back and get my MBA because I feel like I can improve my analytical and planning skills with some formal case/group work and if I ever change industries/jobs, some other companies/industries may value an MBA. Most of my colleagues are doing the part-time MBA but I feel that won't give me a chance to get the "real" MBA experience. Also, I've been lucky enough to get through a few acquisitions, so financially I'm able to take off two years and it would be a good time to explore other parts of the country or world and make some new friends.
Thanks in advance!
Here's my profile:
GMAT (unofficial mock exam): 650 about 3 years ago with no studying/prep. I've been looking at the books since and I'm confident I could do 700+ with a few months of prep.
Undergraduate GPA: 3.0 - 3.2 from top 10 university in the US but with horrible grades in key business-prep classes (math, econ, statistics) due to poor undergraduate planning which led to me not going business in the first place.
Work experience: 7 years (1.5yrs managing team of 4+ in marketing @ large dot-com, 1.5yrs in mid-level management at advertising agency (top in US), and 2yrs senior marketing manager at startup that was acquired, and now 2yrs in senior manager position at very prominent software company (multi-$B)
I think my work experience is what might get me a chance even with my low-GPA. Is this very common or am I going to be facing an uphill battle?
More importantly to me, I've gotten some advice from people I trust and value (my manager and other colleagues - Harvard business, Kellogg) and they don't think it's valuable for people who are my age (late 20s) and have startup experience to get an MBA unless I want to do it for fun. They think at this point in my career, it's too much of an opportunity cost issue and recent MBAs in my company come in a few levels below me so they don't think it makes sense to stop advancing for 2 yrs just to get an MBA that doesn't get me further in my career. Thoughts?
Personally, I want to go back and get my MBA because I feel like I can improve my analytical and planning skills with some formal case/group work and if I ever change industries/jobs, some other companies/industries may value an MBA. Most of my colleagues are doing the part-time MBA but I feel that won't give me a chance to get the "real" MBA experience. Also, I've been lucky enough to get through a few acquisitions, so financially I'm able to take off two years and it would be a good time to explore other parts of the country or world and make some new friends.
Thanks in advance!
