Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant

Hello all,

Ironically, I did better on verbal and essays than math, as a chemical engineer.

Can you tell me my chances of getting into these schools for a distance MBA, and if there are any other schools I should be looking into:

Duke
Thunderbird
UNC
Indiana
IE Spain

Hey zachdj - first of all - a 640 is a respectable score!! And, combined with the quant strength from your awesome undergrad record, you should be in fine shape to target many good MBA programs, including, probably, most of those on your list. All the distance-learning programs are more flexible in their admissions criteria simply because they have not yet gained significant market traction and many still go wanting for well-qualified students to fill their classes. The online MBA hasn't quite been proven yet and many bschool wanna-bes prefer the full-time/butt-in-seat experience of the traditional MBA format. BUT these are still good schools and you will still end up with a very high quality education from any of them! Much of it depends on what you want to do with it.

You didn't ask about this, but we went into some pros and cons of the online MBA in a post on our blog earlier this year:
https://essaysnark.blocked/2011/05/ ... e-mba.html

The best way to choose a bschool is to look at how can it help you achieve your career goals. Without knowing more of why you want an MBA, we can't really suggest anything beyond the list you've got. We do know that UNC is working *hard* to blaze a trail with this online stuff, and we are expecting them to do some great things. Re: Duke, we assume you mean the Cross-Continent MBA, which is also a very compelling option. If you're interested in doing business in Asia, then the Ross Global MBA might be one to consider, though it has more residencies (we think) than the others on your list. And, depending on where you are geographically, there could be other part-time options to consider. Sometimes people commute quite a distance to attend the P/T program of top schools - e.g., coming from Boston to Kellogg, or from Arizona to UCLA FEMBA, or Oregon to Haas EWMBA, etc.

You have significant strengths in your profile with that undergrad GPA and so the doors may be more open to you than you might expect... Of course, the choice of school depends on the realities of your life and why you want the online/virtual option (we're assuming there's some personal situation driving that). If you were targeting the standard F/T track at a school like Duke then we'd be much more reserved with a 640 GMAT, and we'd be encouraging you to retest since you clearly would be able to boost the quant side and come up with a very shiny second score. But you probably don't need to retest given this list of programs -- though you should also note that you very well could be fine with a last-round application at these programs, since as stated, they tend to be undersubscribed and the schools are often still on the hunt for strong candidates in the Spring. (See this post for more: https://essaysnark.blocked/2011/03/ ... und-3.html ) - So what that means is, maybe you should just test again and get that score up, and then you'll have more confidence going into the process, and more doors will be more widely open?

Just a thought...!

EssaySnark

Awesome response; thank you for the feedback. And yes, I personally want to take the online route simply because I don't want to take 2 years off of my job/career. Additionally, my employer pays 90% of continued education. Also, I am geographically isolated from the executive route -- I live in Alaska now.

ALASKA!!! Wow! That's pretty cool (*chortle* couldn't help ourself!) -- you're certainly adding some differentiation just based on your unique geography! The online route most definitely makes sense now!

Plus, getting tuition reimbursement makes for a phenomenal ROI all the way around.

Good luck with it all and let us know what you decide and where you take things!!
EssaySnark