What kind of GPA for a top MBA school?

Graduate School Business School - MBA
1

<p>I'm in engineering at the University of Alberta (#3 ranked engg school in Canada). I'm currently holding a 3.8 GPA in first year engineering, and am expecting to graduate with a 3.7 or so in MechE by the time I'm done.</p>

<p>Will this be good enough to get me into a top MBA program? I was planning on going to Law school, but I've been seriously questioning whether that would be a mistake, since I honestly just want to get into I-banking, or work my way up in the business world (I have extremely high financial aspirations).</p>

<p>Also, would it help if I had an MSc in engineering when determining if I'd get into a top MBA program, or no?</p>

2

<p>Also, since I'm very inteersted in i-banking, does anyone have opinions on Berkeley's Financial Engineering Master's program? (at Haas)</p>

<p>Average salaries out of that program look fairly high ($93k without bonuses, over $130k with signing bonuses).</p>

3

<p>Your GPA will be fine. But if you wish to get into a top MBA program, hyou are going to have to get some serious work experience on your resume.</p>

4

<p>The average for admits at Wharton is a 3.44 and at HBS it's 3.6 you're fine. :)</p>

5

<p>Oh ok, thanks. Yeah I know about the work experience... but I do eventually want to go to a top MBA, or some type of business program. I'll do my best in that regard.</p>

<p>Do you think that it will be harder being from Canada, or will it not make a difference? I don't know if they'll recognize my school as a top University or not.</p>

6

<p>what kind of work experience are they looking for? say you majored in engineering or chemistry. You then take an ordinary engineering job. Is this what they are looking for? Or are business schools more interested in management work so as an engineering one has to do some management and business work?</p>

7

<p>
[quote]
Also, since I'm very inteersted in i-banking, does anyone have opinions on Berkeley's Financial Engineering Master's program? (at Haas)</p>

<p>Average salaries out of that program look fairly high ($93k without bonuses, over $130k with signing bonuses).

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I actually find this extremely misleading. The truth is, much (often times most) of the money in banking is actually made in the year-end bonuses. Suffice it to say that a first-year investment banking associate working on Wall Street should be making 200-250k total in the first year. I believe Bear Stearns is now actually makeing offers that GUARANTEE at least a 200k first-year payout. </p>

<p>But the other thing about the Berkeley FE program is that it mostly caters to experienced individuals. The average age of entering students is 28.</p>

<p><a href="http://mfe.haas.berkeley.edu/mfeprofile2006.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://mfe.haas.berkeley.edu/mfeprofile2006.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Hence, the MFE program is basically something like a mini-MBA that caters especially to those who want to enter banking. It only takes 1 year to complete, not 2. And obviously everybody who enters the program is interested in finance and the coursework is specialized to cater to those who like finance and banking. So if you are sure that finance is what you want, then the MFE program is an excellent fit. But if you're not that sure, then you're probably better off getting a standard MBA. </p>

<p>
[quote]
what kind of work experience are they looking for? say you majored in engineering or chemistry. You then take an ordinary engineering job. Is this what they are looking for? Or are business schools more interested in management work so as an engineering one has to do some management and business work?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>They're mostly interested in management POTENTIAL. Of course, if you have actual management experience, that's even better. But basically, what they're trying to assess is whether you could be a good manager in the future. </p>

<p>Engineering is definitely a tried-and-true path to the top MBA programs. That's because most engineering jobs have strong business and managerial components to them, such as analyses of profit and loss, strategy, dealing with line workers, and so forth. Engineering is basically like "applied science", where people use science knowledge to generate profitable businesses. If you are just sitting around in a lab all day long coming up with new theories that have little real-world applicability, that is probably not a very job for getting you into B-school.</p>

8

<p>Sakky, when you say that it "caters" toward experienced workers, are you saying that it would be difficult to get in without multiple years work experience?</p>

9

<p>I was just wondering persay, that if I graduate from Cornell with a 3.7, would the MBA admissions committee take into account Cornell's rigorous academic environment or, would they place work experience, leadership, potential and originality far above the GPA value, once they see it is above a 3.4.</p>

10

<p>
[quote]
Sakky, when you say that it "caters" toward experienced workers, are you saying that it would be difficult to get in without multiple years work experience?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>That's exactly what I'm saying. But heck, why don't you ask them? Specifically, why don't you email them and ask them why is is that the incoming students have an average of 4 years of work experience. You may also want to ask them why is it that the majority of students have graduate degrees of some sort. </p>

<p><a href="http://mfe.haas.berkeley.edu/mfeprofile2006.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://mfe.haas.berkeley.edu/mfeprofile2006.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Heck, the program even specifically says that they recommend "post university work experience"</p>

<p><a href="http://mfe.haas.berkeley.edu/admissions.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://mfe.haas.berkeley.edu/admissions.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>In their own FAQ:</p>

<p>*"Is work experience required? </p>

<p>No, but work experience is recommended. It is also a key component to finding a full time job after graduation from the MFE. Our 2005- 2006 class has an average of 4 years of work experience. " *</p>

<p><a href="http://mfe.haas.berkeley.edu/faq17.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://mfe.haas.berkeley.edu/faq17.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

11

<p>
[quote]
I was just wondering persay, that if I graduate from Cornell with a 3.7, would the MBA admissions committee take into account Cornell's rigorous academic environment or, would they place work experience, leadership, potential and originality far above the GPA value, once they see it is above a 3.4.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>They ALWAYS place work experience, leadership, potential and originality over any academic criteria.</p>

<p>Truth be told, while I don't want to be harsh, when it comes to MBA admissions, getting a undergrad 3.7 really isn't that impressive, even if it is from Cornell. I'll put it to you this way. I know people who have gotten their PhD's in engineering at MIT, getting top grades in all of their doctoral coursework, and who still couldn't get into any of the top MBA programs. The problem? No work experience. Surely we can all agree that getting a 3.7 in Cornell undergrad is not comparable to completing an MIT engineering doctorate with top grades.</p>

12

<p>sakky,</p>

<p>You know, I knew a guy at Anderson who had magna cum laude from Penn, several years of running his own business abroad, and over a 700 on the GMAT and still found that he had a hard time with the top MBA programs.</p>

<p>His reasoning? "My work experience wasn't substantive enough."</p>

13

<p>so what kind of work experience do top MBA programs like to see? would running your own business be considered work experience?</p>