<p>What GPA should you have to apply to top MBA school? How important is your GPA?</p>
<p>And how important is your GPA in a MBA degree?</p>
<p>Obviously, the higher the better, but it's not nearly as important as you would think.</p>
<p>I mean if you graduated from a top MBA school, how important would your MBA GPA be to your employer?</p>
<p>Your GPA in MBA school hardly matters. To only a few employers does it matter (like maybe a few consulting companies), and maybe your grades in certain classes matter to certain companies (i.e. your grades in finance and accounting might matter to some IB's). </p>
<p>But even then, your MBA grades don't matter that much. Again, I've seen people with stellar MBA grades get beaten out by guys with weak MBA grades for the top jobs. At most MBA schools, you will hear the mantra of 'grades don't matter', and for the most part, it really is true. What's far more important is that you actually learn the material so that you can do well on the interview. The fact is, as an MBA student trying to get hired, whether you get the job or not is going to be determined by things that are far more arbitrary and inconsequential than your grades. </p>
<p>Couple that with the fact that many top B-schools enact 'hidden grades' policies, where you are actually barred by the B-school from actually talking about your grades to employers, you cannot show your grades to your employers, and employers are not allowed to ask about your grades, on pain of being barred (either the employer or candidate) from using the B-schools Career Office. For example, HBS, Kellogg, Wharton, Stanford, and many other top B-schools enact such a nondisclosure policy. Now, the fact is, there is a lot of debate about just how effective this policy is (i.e. those students who do extremely well are tempted to surreptiously disclose their grades in violation of the policy in the hopes of getting an edge in hiring, and some employers will still surreptiously ask for grades in violation of the policy), but that just illustrates how grading is really not the biggest thing in the world when it comes to B-school. What's most important is what you learn and the networking you do.</p>
<p>Whats the point of having a 'hidden grade' policy? If the grades don't matter, then why do top B-schools have grades at all?</p>
<p>Because now it's getting back to what I think grading was all about in the first place - namely, a way for the prof to communicate to you how well you are doing, but not so much a way for students to be ranked by employers. Let's face it. If you don't know finance well, there ought to be a way for the prof to communicate that fact to you, so you don't go around thinking that you know finance well. Grades are that mechanism.</p>
<p>This is how, I believe, grades were used in education in the very early days of education. Only later did grades become a method of differentiation and competition. Which then obviously led to students worried more about getting high grades than actually learning, which led to other perversions like students deliberately taking easy classes just to boost their GPA. For example, I've known people who were completely fluent in a foreign language take the intro series in that language just to rack up a bunch of easy A's. They didn't learn a damn thing in those classes because they already knew all of it, but they didn't care, all they wanted was the A. You gotta admit, that's a perversion of the education process. The real purpose of education is to learn, not just to get an A. I think we all know people who don't really care about learning anything, as long as they get the A. </p>
<p>Hence the point of a hidden-grade policy is to remove the pressure of grading so that you can care more about actually learning the material rather than obsessing about getting the top grade.</p>
<p>I've heard that although employers don't care about grades, some employers purposely try to discuss one's grades during an interview to test them. I've heard of interviewers asking for one's GPA and then asking questions like "Why did you get a B in this class? Why couldn't you do better?" It seems like a bluffing strategy to see how well students react when they're put on the defensive, especially when discussing a sensitive subject like grades. So is it really the grades that matter, or one's reaction to criticism and one's ability to defend themselves?</p>
<p>I thought employers look at your undergrad grades. If you come from a non target school they make sure you have a 3.8+ I thought. Not sure about graduate, but don't they look at your undergrad grades?</p>
<p>I don't think graduate grades matter because nobody ever ask for them since thats the end of the road for you academically. I'm wondering whats keeping MBA and grad students from doing the bare minimum to graduate with the degree?</p>
<p>Again, while I'm not saying that grades have no importance to employers, I think their importance is often overrated. Plenty of employees with top grades get beaten out for a job by people with weak grades. Now don't get me wrong. Obviously having good grades is better than having bad grades. However, they just aren't that important of a factor when getting hired. What's far more important is your work experience (if you're an undergrad, your work experience will be evidenced by coop and internship work) and your impressiveness in the interview. </p>
<p>
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I'm wondering whats keeping MBA and grad students from doing the bare minimum to graduate with the degree?
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</p>
<p>Well, I don't think that's the right way to look at it. I think a far more accurate statement is that those students are interested in learning the material, not only so that they will know it for the interview, but so they can use it to help them do their job. So they're interested in the learning and the knowledge, not so much the grade. </p>
<p>I know a couple of guys who took an advanced Mergers and Acquisitions class without knowing any of the prereq material. They said they knew they probably wouldn't get a good grade because they didn't really have all the background they neede to take the class (it's a class meant for MBA students in their final semester, but they were taking it in their first year) - but they didn't care. They wanted to become bankers (and had already secured summer IB internships), and so they were in the class simply because they wanted to learn about M&A. Hence, I wouldn't characterize them as wanting to do the bare minimum. I would characterize them as doing what they thought was valuable to learn what they wanted to learn. I think of my father, who has a doctorate, and he said he never cared about his grades in graduate school. He took classes without regard for what grade he would get. He took them because he thought they would be useful to teach him what he needed to know to complete his thesis. </p>
<p>In that sense, I think that MBA school and PhD school is a far more 'pure' learning environment, in that the pressure to get good grades is attenuated. Classes exist for you to learn the material, not to see who can get the highest grades. Now, that's not to say that there still aren't some gunners and grade-grubbers, because obviously there are. But far less so than in undergrad, because the simple fact is, grades in an MBA program and a PhD program just don't matter that much.</p>
<p>You took the words right out of my mouth. MBA students and grad students in general are not there for the grades. Business school is primarily for networking and establishing useful contacts among peers, alumni, professors, etc. as well as learning in-depth nuances of business. They don't care about grades because the grades by themselves hold little significance. An employer will almost always pass over a nerdy grade-grubber for one who has better interpersonal and communication skills. So the moral of the story is: study hard, for higher grades are always preferred over lower ones, but think about what you're sacrificing. It's often better to socialize and make some rich friends than studying all night for that coveted "A+".</p>
<p>What about if your applying for a DBA after your MBA? How important would your GPA be then compared to work experience?</p>
<p>Well, few people go for their DBA or business PhD right after their MBA. Most people who opt for such a doctorate will do so without getting an MBA at all, or many years after they've gotten their MBA (i.e. after they've been working for awhile). Speaking specifically about business doctorate admissions, the top criteria would be your research work, followed closely by your recommendations. An MBA is not a 'normal' stepping stone to a doctorate, and should not be seen as such. One possible exception are those MBA programs that incorporate thesis-writing. For example, the MITSloan MBA offers students the opportunity to write an optional master's thesis on some business-related research topic for academic credit. The quality of that thesis (and the grade you receive on that thesis) would weigh heavily on your DBA/PhD admissions.</p>
<p>However, I would rank the value of work experience quite low when talking about doctoral admissions. And in fact, plenty of doctoral students will have minimal or even no work experience. Keep in mind that these doctoral degrees are academic degrees, whereas MBA degrees are professional degrees. They are designed for two entirely different goals. The business doctoral degree prepares you for a career in business academia. The MBA prepares your a career in actual business.</p>
<p>What are the requirements for a DBA? Would you need a MBA or a masters degree first? And would a DBA be good for I-banking?</p>
<p>By DBA, I take it that you probably mean all kinds of business doctorates. Very few B-schools actually offer a DBA per se, most offer the PhD. And some (confusingly) offer both the DBA and the PhD. There basically is no practical difference between a DBA and a business PhD. </p>
<p>The requirements obviously vary from school to school but are basically the same as getting a doctorate in any other discipline. You complete coursework, then pass your qualification exams to advance to doctoral candidacy. If and when you do that, then you complete a major research dissertation on some academic area of business. The whole process generally takes 4-6 years. </p>
<p>While some people get a doctorate after getting an MBA or a masters, it should be emphasized that you do not need it. Some people get in without it.</p>
<p>Finally, again, it should be emphasized that business doctorates are primarily meant for one thing - to get its graduates into academia, particularly to become future business school professors. While you can do other things with a business doctorate, this is not the primary focus of the program. If you want to get into Ibanking, the most direct path is to just go get a job in Ibanking as an analyst after undergrad, then getting your MBA. A DBA can get you into Ibanking, but it is clearly not the most direct path. </p>
<p>The point is, if you are not interested in a career as a business-school professor or other similar academic position, then you should probably not consider a business doctorate. Consider these quotes:</p>
<p>"MIT Sloan PhD graduates go on to teach at the world's most prestigious universities. "</p>
<p><a href="http://mitsloan.mit.edu/phd/p-main.php%5B/url%5D">http://mitsloan.mit.edu/phd/p-main.php</a></p>
<p>"The HBS Doctoral Programs seek to develop individuals for careers as professors of management at top business schools and universities."</p>
<p>"Stanford's Graduate School of Business offers the Doctor of Philosophy degree for those seeking academic research and teaching careers in the study of management. "</p>
<p><a href="http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/phd/overview/%5B/url%5D">http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/phd/overview/</a></p>
<p>"Chicago GSB's doctoral program in businessthe first established in United Statestrains prospective scholars to become highly skilled and innovative researchers. Most go on to become faculty members at premier academic institutions throughout the world"</p>
<p><a href="http://gsb.uchicago.edu/phd/index.aspx%5B/url%5D">http://gsb.uchicago.edu/phd/index.aspx</a></p>
<p>"The Ph.D. program focuses on training students in the design and execution of original research. By promoting interaction between students and faculty in the research process, the program allows students to make significant contributions to the overall research activity of the school. Most Columbia Ph.D. graduates assume academic posts at leading colleges and universities at which research is an integral part of a successful career"</p>
<p><a href="http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/doctoral/%5B/url%5D">http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/doctoral/</a></p>
<p>Grades in graduate school can be extremely important. If the company you are employed by decides to pay all of your tuition or just part of it, they will expect solid grades in return. Ive heard a 3.0 is expected. .. Of course, this all depends on if you want to remain at the company.</p>
<p>Now I can agree with what BizzMajor says, but with the caveat that the reason why many if not most people get their MBA's is to change companies. And the fact is, when you are hiring with another company, very few if any of them are going to ask for, or care about your grades.</p>