<p>I understand that you have to get a B in every class that you take. Does this mean that grad business classes are easy?</p>
<p>There is no way that Business schools are tough, since the standard grading criteria states that a student must maintain a gpa of 3.0 and also receive a 3.0 in every class in order to maintain a passing candidate. You're taking like what 2-3 classes per sem, and your focus is only on business classes, it's not like your undergrad years where you have to focus on math, english, and other electives. Just make sure that you maintain a gpa of 3.0. Besides the mba program focus much on research, it's just like taking upper division business courses, but more emphasis on the group activity, and projects.</p>
<p>I've been told, by a recent MBA grad, that business school is really tough.... It takes about as much work as undergrad, but you are usually working, having kids, etc. at the same time. So the toughness is brought on by all the juggling required.</p>
<p>The classes are hard, but the curve is really sweet. Only the bottom 10% in each class get below a B. So just make sure that for every B- you happen to get, you get a B+ in another class to even it out and you'll be fine. I was well below the mean in one class last quarter and still got a B+. But the classes are still very hard and will challenge you. But they don't want you to be stressing out too much about grades so that's why they hook you up with the curve.</p>
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I've been told, by a recent MBA grad, that business school is really tough.... It takes about as much work as undergrad
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<p>I guess that depends on how tough your undergrad was. I can say (and many people have confirmed) that if you were an engineering undergrad from a top school, then the B-school curricula will be a walk in the park by comparison.</p>
<p>However, I would point out that the truth is, grades don't really matter. Many of the top B-schools practice grade nondisclosure. And the fact is, many employer except for the top IB's and MC's don't care about your grades. They care about your interview skills and your work experience. Moreover, most people will have gotten their job offers in their first semester of their 2nd year, so basically the grades of the last 2 semesters just don't matter very much. </p>
<p>This is why plenty of B-school students actually spend more time on their EC's (i.e. clubs) and on general networking than they do on their studies. The truth is, those EC's and networking can often times help you more with your career than will the classes. Lots of people get jobs through those clubs and networking. There is no point in getting perfect MBA grades, and then not getting the job that you want.</p>
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I guess that depends on how tough your undergrad was. I can say (and many people have confirmed) that if you were an engineering undergrad from a top school, then the B-school curricula will be a walk in the park by comparison.
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<p>Except that a common theme in engineering undergrads is being void of emotional/social intelligence--one knowledge base that is essential for doing well, and getting the most out of an MBA.</p>
<p>Yeah, but engineering undergrad is bereft of the other negative characteristic of other undergrad programs - namely the laziness. Let's face it. If nothing else, you can at least be assured that the engineers studied hard, something you can't really be sure of about people in majored in other disciplines. The truth is, there really are a lot of students who are basically majoring in drinking/partying, in that they hardly ever show up to class, hardly ever study, hardly ever do anything at all. For example, George Bush has freely admitted that he was an unmotivated student who really only cared about drinking and hanging out while he was at Yale. John Kerry didn't do very well at Yale either, and he has admitted that he was more interested in learning how to fly than in studying.</p>
<p>Bush is a President.</p>
<p>I think we know that.</p>
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This is why plenty of B-school students actually spend more time on their EC's (i.e. clubs) and on general networking than they do on their studies. The truth is, those EC's and networking can often times help you more with your career than will the classes. Lots of people get jobs through those clubs and networking. There is no point in getting perfect MBA grades, and then not getting the job that you want.
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<p>What is networking? Does it have to do with computers?</p>
<p>Networking is doing the meet-and-greet with lots of people. As they say in business, it's not really about what you know, but rather about who you know.</p>
<p>sakky makes a good point about grades not being that important (given the non-disclosure that most b-schools practice)</p>
<p>however, some b-schools are moving towards a transcript system - i believe starting next year, HBS will be moving from a 1-2-3 grading system (which was non-disclosed to employers) to an ABC/F system which will be disclosed to employers (according to a current HBS student I know).</p>
<p>Also, it is possible to flunk out of certain b-schools that require students to meet certain minimum requirements or meet a minimum GPA - HBS is one b-school that comes to mind that you can flunk out of (though it is a rarity).</p>
<p>The point is though, as b-schools move towards a transcript / disclosure system, the days of "coasting through" b-school will be over - i.e. grades (and subsequently increased competition) will start to matter as the Goldmans and McKinseys of the world (employers who have probably been pressuring schools to do this) start demanding transcripts.</p>
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The point is though, as b-schools move towards a transcript / disclosure system, the days of "coasting through" b-school will be over - i.e. grades (and subsequently increased competition) will start to matter as the Goldmans and McKinseys of the world (employers who have probably been pressuring schools to do this) start demanding transcripts.
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<p>I agree that there will be more grade pressure than before. But even so, I believe there will still not be a lot of pressure. For example, even at the top schools that don't practice grade nondisclosure, like the MIT Sloan School, there are still PLENTY of MBA students who are don't really care about their grades and spend a lot of time networking and socializing rather than studying. Yet they end up with excellent jobs anyway, getting into the McKinsey's and the Goldman Sach's of the world.</p>
<p>You have to keep in mind the structure of MBA programs. Keep in mind that MBA programs are only 2 years long. Furthermore, the only employers who ever really seem to care about grades are the consulting firms and the banks. These companies tend to complete their recruiting in the fall semester of the 2nd year. What that means is that these firms can only see your grades for your first year. They never get to see your grades for your second year. These firms have to make a decision to interview you or not, and to hire you or not, without having any idea of how well you are doing in that 2nd year. By the time that final grades for the fall semester of the 2nd year are posted, they will have either given you a job offer, or not. The upshot of this is that most 2nd-year MBA students don't give a damn about their grades. In many ways, I think this is a good thing because it frees them to try out various 2nd-year electives just to learn something, without having to worry about grades. </p>
<p>Furthermore, that's just talking about the the full-time recruiting that happens in the 2nd year. Yet the fact is, most job offers are not obtained this way. Most full-time offers are actually made to the summer interns - those MBA students who interned there in the intervening summer and performed well enough to merit a full-time offer. So the "real" game is to get yourself one of these consulting/banking internships. But how do you get them? Again, most recruiting for that happens in the fall, but this time of your first year. Hence, these firms have to decide to give you an internship offer, or not, before any of your final grades for ANY of your semesters have been posted. In other words, these offers are doled out "blind". </p>
<p>So the point is, even if grade non-diclosure were to be lifted, consulting/banking firms would still not have THAT much more information at their disposal. You're still going to have dudes who get terrible grades at B-school, but who also manage to land themselves the summer internship at McKinsey or Goldman Sachs, and then through that, do well enough to merit the full-time offer. </p>
<p>So would there be less coasting at HBS and other B-schools if and when they lift grade non-disclosure? Sure. But there would still be a lot.</p>
<p>^^^ all great points as usual</p>