<p>I am hoping to get some advice regarding my chances of getting into a 2nd or 3rd tier MS Finance program. </p>
<p>Here is my information:
BBA in Finance from the University of Texas at Tyler.
3-year graduate with 3.20 GPA.
After graduation: 3 years of non-routine experience as a financial analyst for a regional bank.
GMAT score of 680.</p>
<p>The ultimate goal is to pursue a PhD at a reasonably well-respected business school.</p>
<p>I am realistic, so I am not shooting for the top tier schools (Carnegie Mellon, Boston U., Vanderbilt, etc).</p>
<p>I am, however, very interested in the following programs:
DePaul (my favorite so far)
Tulane
Lehigh
U. of Houston
U. of Arizona
Marquette
U. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
U. at Buffalo
U. of Cincinnati
U. of Kansas</p>
<p>I am fully aware of the weakness of my undergrad school and GPA ...so my question is this: Would I have a good chance of getting into any of the above mentioned schools?</p>
<p>Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>You'd stand a chance. Your GMAT is better than most and can be leveraged to compensate for your GPA. You have experience (have you been promoted), and I assume you have a defined career goal. </p>
<p>I attended an information session for U. Cincinnati not too long ago and the weigh 'real life' more than they do scores, or so it seemed. Also, I have a freind who opted for University of Northern Kentucky over UC, and I opted for Xavier Universtiy over UC.</p>
<p>My advice; apply and quit doubting yourself. There is no limit to what you can do if you put your mind and actions toward doing it.</p>
<p>MBAs and MAs are certainly not prerequisites for Business PhD programs. Whether or not they improve your odds depends.</p>
<p>In your case you'll need to try for a very high GPA. If you're serious about PhD programs you really should be doing everything to get a 4.0. That will cover for your UG GPA which is not so bad, but low for PhD programs. It will also give you the opportunity to age your GMAT score and retake it. You should be shooting for a >700 score. That's not strictly required for PhD programs, but it will help a lot more than you might think. You should also select the most rigorous and quantitative electives.</p>