Considering BSchool! Need some help to get started
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17 Jul 2006, 17:18
Hi,
Recently I began juggling a few options in terms of my future career. I graduated last year (2005) with a B.S. in Computer Science from UC Santa Barbara’s College of Engineering.
I have been working for over a year as an Engineer at a Enterprise Security company, and have realized that this is definitely not what I want to do for the rest of my life. I began studying for the LSAT to pursue a potential career in Patent Law. After taking the LSAT and doing research, however, I came to realize that law may not be what I’ve been looking for. I talked to some previous professors, my sister who is an Attorney in a large Law Firm in San Francisco, and they all told me that I have always came across as someone who would do very well in business. My professors said that during my project presentations (we had to complete potential high-tech startup company products in our classes) that I was very persuasive and clear about our product’s potential, even though the product we came out with wasn’t even all that great. One professor after one of my presentations told me that I should go into sales or marketing rather than computer science. It might as well have been a joke, but now that I think about it, he was probably serious. A few other factors have lead friends, family, and mentors to point me towards business.
I enjoy organizing many events, have a lot of hobbies that I am very passionate about (which are also extremely expensive I might add), and I combine those two elements and find myself organizing events for all different hobbies. I’ve put together hundreds of car club meets, one of which had a head count of over 50 cars. I am in love with photography, and have put together a few photo shoot outings, including one with over a dozen people. I have also been involved with Circle K throughout college, which is an community service club linked with the Kiwanis Club. Somewhat of an annoyance to my friends, I always point out businesses closing down, trying to figure out why that happened and what would be successful in its place. I think a lot about opening up my own business in the future, a career in law funding that dream.
But all of that is very naïve, and so I’m now doing a bit of research on how business school will benefit me.
I know most schools, such as Haas, require the GMAT. I did a search on Google but came up with many test prep websites, but no general information. I checked out ETS’s website, but somehow they don’t even list the GMAT, though I may be going blind though from staring at monitors all day at work. Where can I obtain information on this?
What kind of career opportunities do I have being a Computer Science undergraduate, wanting to stay somewhere in the high tech field in the future, but not exactly doing engineering work? I’m interested in opening a business, or maybe having a position in a high tech company, or maybe something entirely different, I don’t know.
If you can give me any suggestions, that would be great. As you probably can tell, I’m totally new to all of this and just need a bit of a kick start, and maybe some tips and tricks.
I had a 3.4gpa in my undergrad at UCSB, 1 year of work experience, a handful of professors willing to send letters of recommendations (I asked them previously for law school recommendations, I’m sure they’ll be more than happy for business school apps too) and haven’t taking the GMAT yet. As for a school, I'm looking for a full time school preferably close to home (Berkeley, CA).
Thanks!