General Questions
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16 Jan 2018, 11:28
Howdy,
First time posting on this board -- though I've lurked here and there for some time. Looking for some general advice about applying to business school.
As the username suggests, I'm contemplating business school. I would likely do an online format, as I'm married, travel often for work, and want to avoid student loans (my wife and I worked hard to pay off $88k in loans from our prior graduate degrees).
The purpose of business school would be fourfold: (1) pursue an genuine interest; (2) increase knowledge/skills; (3) accelerate my career growth; and (4) leave myself open to the possibility of changing careers after school. Ideally, I think I'd like to attend a highly-rated school.
My questions are:
1) How necessary is the GMAT to general admissions? On paper, I would seem to qualify for a waiver for some good schools (UNC, etc.), but not all. For those I qualify for, would going the waiver route hinder my application?
2) How necessary is the GMAT for scholarship offers? As I said, my wife and I took quite a bit of loans for previous education, so we'd like to avoid the $100k cost of quality business schools via scholarship opportunities where available.
3) Is a top-tier school really even necessary for me? I'm not sold on switching careers, but I'm also not sold on my current career (see below for details). A business degree isn't necessary for moderate growth within my career; it would be necessary for executive level positions, though. Part of me thinks that if I'm going to stay with my company, I should apply to a cheap, easy, AACSB-certified, public business school that I can crank out in a year. Another part of me thinks I should shoot for the stars and see what doors open.
For perspective, I'm a 27 year old white male working in a mid-level position (low six-figure income; no management) for a large biopharmaceutical company with ~3 years work experience since finishing my graduate degree. I like my job but feel a little bored and underutilized. I have an undergraduate degree in chemistry (~3.9 GPA with 4.0 GPA on graduate courses) and a master's degree in a clinical field (~3.9 GPA). Lastly, I live in a major market in Texas.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!