<p>Came across this site from my daughter. I love it. Got a question.</p>
<p>My son is a junior. He is concern about his grades. He wants to continue to graduate school. Maybe someone can help me.</p>
<p>What are graduate schools looking for these days. Particularly MBA programs.</p>
<p>What type of GPA do they look for? With an impressive resume, what schools will accept mediocre grades or at least 2.7-2.9 GPA.</p>
<p>What type of GMAT score is required. Any help would be appreciuated.</p>
<p>Only the worst possible schools will accept someone with a 2.7-2.9 straight out of undergraduate for an MBA.</p>
<p>MBA programs are looking for 2-5 years of real (full-time, out of undergraduate) work experience. The only thing that will get your son into an MBA straight out of undergrad with that GPA is if he's running a multimillion dollar business with a lot of employees. If your son had much better grades, high GMAT/GRE scores and great EC's it's conceivable he would be accepted to a top-tier MBA program and "deferred" for two years while he works--but not likely, and he's not in that situation.</p>
<p>If there's something he's specifically interested that correlates with an MBA (information systems, finance, whatever) he could try and find a terminal masters degree program, but with those grades they'd probably want to see work experience too.</p>
<p>What is your son's undergraduate degree in?</p>
<p>Those are pretty bad grades for MBA right out of undergrad. He'll need work experience and a GMAT that can represent his ability, which can counter some GPA mistakes. Also, if he is showing improvement in grades (gets better towards the end) this may be to his advantage. He should get a job that will demonstrate his leadership ability, do well in it for 2-5 years, get a GMAT of >700, and the apply.</p>
<p>He is a finance major.</p>
<p>does Kaplan courses help with GMAT scores?</p>
<p>How about law schools? Do they have the same restrictions?</p>
<p>First of all, those admitted to top mba programs generally average about 28 yrs of age with 5 years of work experience. Only a small percentage come straight from undergrad, and in 99.99% of the cases it is not adviseable to do so.</p>
<p>There is a huge gap between good and bad graduate business schools. In order to get into a good one, I recommend that he raises his grades above a 3.0, works for 4+ years, and receives a 700+ on the GMAT. Some of those might not be possible, but that is going to afford him the best opportunities.</p>
<p>I don't know much about law school, but I do believe grades are much more important in law school than business school. Avg undergrad GPAs of admitted students at top business schools are between 3.4 and 3.6. You can find some good business schools where the avg GPA is around 3.2.</p>
<p>From what I've read, GPAs at top law schools are between 3.5 and 3.75. I'm not sure how large of a gap there is between the quality of top law schools and the quality of other law schools. Law students generally come straight from undergrad (those who have worked a few years generally know better than to go into law)</p>
<p>Kyra, there's really not a heavy difference between law and business graduate school admissions and undergraduate school admissions. It's different in other fields where research and recommendation letters are a big deal, but business and law school are both the same as getting into undergrad in the first place--good grades (work experience, in the case of MBA programs), good EC's, solid recommendations, etc. The better each of these things are the better the school you'll get into.</p>
<p>I also don't recommend law school unless you can get a close to full-ride (which is unlikely with those grades) or it's something your son really, really wants to do--because law and medicine generally result in two professions (doctor and lawyer) that are becoming less and less attractive economically as time goes on.</p>
<p>If he's a finance major, how much does he enjoy finance? There are a lot of terminal masters in financial economics/engineering, and they're generally less difficult to get into than an MBA program.</p>
<p>The main thing for him is to work, and worry about graduate school a little later. An MBA program, at its best, is a two year networking-fest where you make life-long connections with people working in the same world as you. Business schools aren't just accepting students, they're accepting said students professional network. Yes, you'll learn new things, yes, it can advance your career--but you have to have a career to begin with.</p>
<p>Your sons' undergraduate career, and forgive me for being blunt, looks like it's going to be nothing but a detriment in the future. If he's got a solid background of work experience MBA admissions committees will look beyond that, and he can more than likely get an MBA (or even a terminal in financial engineering or economics) paid for by his employer--which is a much better route than the one he wants to take.</p>