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'Online' university undergrad. Am I in trouble?

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'Online' university undergrad. Am I in trouble?

by a380038 » Tue Sep 27, 2011 5:43 pm
I went a non-traditional route and worked my way through my undergrad. My plan was to finish my first sixty credits at a local community college and transfer to a four year university to finish with no debt, at least four years of quality work experience, and enough saved to get me through a full-time grad program without student loans.

Everything was going great until I got a promotion that required me to move out of state. I was left with the choice to drive over an hour to school every day after work, or transfer to the University of Phoenix to finish online. I made the decision to go to Phoenix and finished with a 3.8 GPA.

I'm sure a 3.8 from an 'online' university isn't going to blow anyone away, and I worry that it might be a serious problem for me. My goal is to get into a top 50 program, with BYU as my primary target followed by Texas A&M. I have six years of quality work experience at a national mutual fund company, and my target GMAT is a 650. How bad will my online undergrad hurt my chances?
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by essaysnark » Fri Sep 30, 2011 12:13 am
a380038, you actually seem to have an interesting story. Obviously we don't have all the details, but you appear to be a go-getter who was trying to do something cool at a young age. The University of Phoenix is obviously not a prestigious institution... but a 3.8 GPA is noteworthy. You would probably want to explain the circumstances surrounding this choice in your essays, ideally in the main essays but in the optional essay if you had to.

You can *definitely* get into a Top 50 MBA program with a U of Phoenix undergrad - and possibly a higher-ranked school than that. It all depends on your essays and how you present the facts of your profile (and, your career goals and why you need an MBA). If you want to set your sights higher than Top 50, then you'll need to do better than 650 on the GMAT. But you should go for it! The U of Phoenix is absolutely not a showstopper in this equation.

EssaySnark has seen candidates with a "general studies" bachelor's degree get into very good schools. It really depends on the situation you were dealing with and the rationale behind your choices, and what you've done with the opportunities you've been given.

You should go for it!!!!!!
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by throughmba » Fri Sep 30, 2011 2:15 am
University of Phoenix is a nice place to be from and your online degree will not be a hurdle in any way. Most of the applicants have a worry nerve. This one is yours.

Relax and concentrate on the better things. You can easily make to top 50 even with a 650. Better is always good. Dont pressurize yourself much for the GMAT, even 650 will land you with an admit call.
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by jeffdn02 » Mon Dec 17, 2012 5:25 pm
I'm in a similar situation as the OP however with a few differences...

I also got my degree at the prestigious U of P. I, however, got a 3.21 GPA in business management. I was working full-time and traveling a lot, hence the degree there. My company wouldn't pay for an online degree, and the only on-ground option that worked with my travel was the U of P.

I have 6+ years of full-time management-level experience. 3 of that is with a manager title and 10 direct reports, about $50M in inventory and responsible for multiple plants/operations in a $50B company. Extracurriculars are mostly in the church - small group leader, part of a group of about 20 that started the church with 20 people and have grown it to about 100, group leader/translator on mission trip to Mexico. I speak native-like Spanish and intermediate German (self taught in my spare time). I have started two companies, both with small profits and currently have a rental property. I've been recognized for leadership at work as well as increases in production and performance, promoted, and given exceptional (top 5%) performance appraisals.

I'm shooting for top 20, I'd LOVE Booth/Kellogg and Indiana is one I feel I have a good shot at.

Jeff
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by essaysnark » Mon Dec 17, 2012 5:48 pm
OK cool!! Now what was your question? ;-)

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by jeffdn02 » Mon Dec 17, 2012 6:10 pm
Is it feasible to get into a top 20 program with that profile?
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by essaysnark » Mon Dec 17, 2012 6:32 pm
Hate to be so flippant but it's "feasible" to get into a top 20 program with almost ANY profile. It's all in how you pitch it. It seems that you have a lot to offer but it's pretty difficult to say anything more specific than that. If you're targeting "top 20" then that means you're realistic but you should know that every school is looking for different things - sure, there are commonalities, but across 20 schools there's huge variation in terms of what they care about and how they assess candidates, and we're not going to be able to say that you can definitely get into any of them with this information. Just as an obvious example, Booth and Kellogg are VERY different, both in terms of what the schools are like, and how the adcoms approach their candidate evaluations. Sure, there's similarities too -- plenty of people get into both schools but generally the pitch needs to take the individuality of the school into account.

So we can't be overly helpful in answering a question like that in such a forum; there's just too many variables, and 20 schools is too many to try to talk about. What we can say is that it's much (much!) easier to get into a school like Kelley - still a great program, but much less competitive. A pitch that's rejected out of hand from a Kellogg or a Booth could easily find a warm reception at a school like Kelley.

All the schools say that they don't care where the applicant went to college, they care about what they made of the opportunities available. It's the stories of leadership and achievement that move the needle at the top-top schools. It sounds like you have a lot to pull from and it all depends on how you tell your story and present your case for admission.

Sorry that we can't be more useful than that.

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by jeffdn02 » Mon Dec 17, 2012 6:56 pm
That actually was helpful. I know what you mean as far as Kellogg and Booth being different. It was a very vague question and you gave a vague answer but a good one! Maybe a better question is which of the top programs would be more inviting to a profile like mine. For example, In my Booth app I'm taking the approach that the rigorous program will help round out my leadership skills.

Another question I find myself asking is whether or not its worth the foregone salary/etc.

Thanks!
Jeff
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by essaysnark » Wed Dec 19, 2012 10:43 am
See above. Really can't offer any more than that. Schools respond to pitches not profiles. And nobody can tell you whether or not it's worth the foregone salary/etc.

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