<p>I'm going to be graduating at the end of the fall semester with a liberal arts degree from a very well respected state school, however, I have a fairly average gpa (3.0) and from the sounds of it from friends who are just now graduating and have been looking for jobs, the market is very bleak.</p>
<p>I'm not overly concerned necessarily with going to a top 25 program, but a lot of them even outside the top 25 require at least 2 years of work experience. </p>
<p>I want to get involved in the business side of professional/collegiate sports, however the programs I'm looking at (outside the top 30) require multiple years of work experience that I likely won't have a chance at having. So my question is would it be better to look at well respected MBA programs that don't necessarily require experience or go to graduate school for sport management?</p>
<p>1) By having no work experience, you have no context in which to apply this “new” information (aka your MBA education) to. Therefore, the MBA won’t be as helpful for you. </p>
<p>2) Getting an MBA with no working experience has an adverse effect. If you get an MBA before getting some work experience under your belt, you still have ZERO work experience. Obviously. To employers, you’re still an entry level kid that’s fresh out of school and they’re not going to want to pay you the bonus that is often times associated with having an MBA. Furthermore, a lot of prospective employers may label you as “overqualified”, which also hurts your chances of landing a job.</p>
<p>If you were doing some accelerated program at a top school, it’d be a different story. But, if we’re just talking a decent MBA degree (which is what you seem to be striving for), then what I said above directly applies to you.</p>
<p>You may want to consider taking a stab at actually applying for jobs instead of merely accepting that the opportunities are bleak or non-existent. The only way you will become successful is to put yourself out there and be open to both opportunity and failure. Some of the greatest lessons you will learn in life will come from rejection. Then again, you never know where your networking may take you if you are willing to be aggressive with your job search.</p>