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Hey everyone. This is my first post on the forum. Not sure if this is the right place, so if it needs to be moved go ahead.

I'm currently a sophomore at Appalachian State University but I will be finishing up in 2011 hopefully with a double major in Marketing and Management-Entrepreneurship Concentration (taking a couple summer courses to let me graduate in 3 years). I have a 3.49 GPA as of right now, but I'm planning on pushing that up some more. I'm also in the honors program on campus.

I'm in the marching band at App State. Bass Drum section leader this year and most likely next. I'm getting involved this year with some clubs on campus (American Marketing Association and the Association of Student Entrepreneurs). I'm also involved with college church group playing in the worship band every week.

So after all that, I'm looking for some advice. I'm wanting to go to school for a full-time MBA program. I'd love to be able to go right after undergrad, but I know that this is not the easiest thing to do. Some of the schools I've looked at are Harvard, Chicago, Vanderbilt, and UNC.

I haven't taken the GMAT yet, but I took a practice test on GMATPrep and got a 730, 49Q, 41V. The Quant might be a little skewed because I had looked at some of the math questions prior to taking it, but most of them I had never seen.

So what would be my best option? Is it worth applying to these places next year or should I wait for a couple years? Any advice is helpful. Thanks ahead of time. Sorry for the long first post.

riverripper · Answer

Huge difference between HBS and Chicago and the other two schools. My advice get a job and work for a few years. An MBA right out of school is going to limit your career options. Many companies wont look twice at you without a minimum amount of work experience...two is the bare minimum but more often its 3 or 4 years. Do yourself a favor, work on getting a top level internship next summer and then a killer fulltime job and work for a few years.

ajwagner421 · Answer

Yeah I know a huge difference in the schools. I live in Western NC so UNC is less expensive with in-state tuition. I like the Nashville area and have heard great things about Vanderbilt.

vcom · Answer

You should consider Harvard's 2+2 program which admits people as seniors in College but requires them to work for 2 years before joining the MBA program. You might already know about this but just in case...

dalmba · Answer

A lot of my classmates are gearing to become employed in management positions after graduating from the program... and these are people who did start their MBA right out of undergrad.

I guess our program is somewhat similar to the 2+2 @ HBS that was mentioned, except it's squeezed into 22 months where 8 of those are spent working. The idea is that you impress your company enough in those 8 months that they rehire you upon graduation. The CRMBA I'm in is designed so that those employers can help you design your elective course schedule after you complete the 8 months.

While I agree that it's preferable to many hiring companies to have work experience, that sort of assumes you come at them cold. If you're good at   networking   and are genuinely capable and intellectually curious there's no reason why you can't do your undergrad and MBA back to back and come out with a rockstar job (a few years ahead of the pack, no less).

Good luck (assuming you haven't already forged your path)!

jerryvn01 · Answer

Hi,

Thanks very much for this comment. It help me to think about my ideals.

Tks again and pls keep posting.

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