First and foremost, don't blame a crappy GPA on your parents not telling you it might matter someday! And definitely don't even hint at that in any part of your application. It will bite you on the butt and shows some immaturity on your part, and a lack of ability to take responsibility for your actions...something that matters for future leaders. Always take responsibility for your own mistakes and learn from them. If you can demonstrate that, it strengthens your app, not to mention you as a person.

Ok, lecture over.

With a low GPA, though, you're going to need to crush the GMAT and get more work experience. The GPA is a liability (some programs require a minimum of 3.0), and you don't yet have enough work experience to make up for it. I would wait another year to apply to improve your chances at getting into a decent school.

In the meantime, you could take a college course or two and prove you can cut it. Classes in finance, accounting, business, etc. Get As! This will help offset the low GPA. Also, what was the GPA for your last 60 hours? They take that into consideration too. They know that plenty of people screw around their first year or two.

Spend some time reading up on applying to b-school and what the schools really look for. There are some good articles on Princeton Review's Web site about applying, and there are some books out there too; check Amazon. The more you know about the process, the better your app will be.

If you can work on various aspects of your app over the next year, you'd have a much stronger app than you would this fall. Trust me on that...I rushed my app the first time around and didn't have anything really strong except my GPA, and was waitlisted everywhere. I knew so little about the process and what really mattered. I am a much better candidate this time, and my confidence will show in my essays for sure.

Hope this helps...