Please evaulate Stacy. Thanks!

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Please evaulate Stacy. Thanks!

by Cadence » Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:31 am
Hi

I would appreciate if you can advise me on my best possible course of action.

Background
I am a married 30 year old with a 19-month old son. I was born and raised in Southern California, but family is from Hawaii. I'm Japanese, but only speak english.

Undergrad
I went to jr. college for two years and transferred to USC. Majored in business with an emphasis in finance. I had a 3.4 GPA at junior college and a 2.7 gpa at USC. I also had an accounting internship for Edison International and worked 20 hours a week while at USC for what it's worth. At USC, I was in a fraternity and business club.

Current situation
I have 7 years of work experience. My first year out of college I worked as an currency/interest rate traders and obtained my Series 3 license which has lapsed. Since 2002, I've worked in real estate development (commercial real estate and homebuilding). I was a financial analyst for 3 years for known local developers. For the past 3 years i've worked for Bank of America's Commercial Real Estate Bank. I'm currently a vice president underwriter and have done quite well. I will have great letters of rec's from regional executives from Bank of America and the developers I worked for.

I'd utilize the MBA to advance my career to an executive position within the Bank or move back to the developer side as a VP Finance or CFO.

I make $125K now, so I'd be giving up significant income if I went to school full-time. In addition, I could probably make the executive level within the Bank without an MBA, but it would take longer. Short-term it doesn't make much sense, but an MBA from a top-tier school long term would be very helpful. I realize my GPA is low and I anticipate getting a 700 on the gmat.

Sorry for the long post, just curious to see if I'm even a candidate for a top-tier mba program. Thanks!
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by Lisa Anderson » Tue Jul 22, 2008 12:32 pm
Dear Cadence,

You could be a candidate for a top-tier MBA program, assuming you scored a 700 on the GMAT. However, I am curious why you are not considering either a part-time or executive MBA program. Since you want to stay on your current career path and, as you state, make a good salary, it would seem to me that those might be a better option for you. I would encourage you to explore the part-time and executive options in your area and visit the ones that look interesting. I think these could be a viable option for you.

Good luck,
LIsa
Lisa Anderson
Consultant
Stacy Blackman Consulting

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