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bhandlin
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Wasn't Expecting a 730. Now what? 16 Jun 2011, 07:17
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I'm REALLY stuck. I haven't yet decided if I really "need' an MBA, but I'm now the proud owner of a GMAT score that's better than half the people at Harvard and Stanford!

Age: 50
Gender: Male
Nationality: American

Education:
B.S., Journalism
Northeastern University, 1989
Graduate Certificate, Technical Writing

Undergrad GPA: 3.0

GMAT: 730, Q43, V47 (Don't know the AWA yet, but I'd bet a dollar it's 6.0)

Work Experience:
20 years in tech
10+ years in marketing in tech
Currently a Principal Product Manager at Oracle
Could produce stunning professional recommendations if needed

Extracurriculars:
Coaching kids basketball
Volunteer work
Gigging musician at times

Schools:

No clue. Would like to study online, if possible. I'd prefer not to go into $100k into debt at this point in my life. Maybe a top 100 school in MA (where I live now), or NC (where I hope to move soon).

After my MBA:
I want to get "unstuck" professionally. I'm very good at what I do, but I live among the young up and comers and I want to get into a senior management or leadership role.

Any advice greatly appreciated.
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bakfed
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Wasn't Expecting a 730. Now what? 16 Jun 2011, 10:40
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Congratulations on the 730! Your undergrad grade, while it's at the bottom of the top schools, probably won't mean much to adcoms anymore (you're simply way too far stretched from undergrad for anyone to give a crap about). If you wanted to study online, I'm not quite sure why you've gone ahead and taken the GMAT as I thought most online schools require simply an undergraduate degree and a minimum of 2.5 GPA (my assumptions). You really need to figure why you want this MBA now. If you don't know why, don't get it. There's really no point in sinking $100k into this process without knowing why you're doing this. Given your titles and resumes, I would assume that you could get into senior management without doing this MBA. An MBA is done for people who want to switch career but enter into a more entry-level job. Think about an EMBA where most would like to stay within the same industry but to move on to more managemenet job with the MBA name.
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bhandlin
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Wasn't Expecting a 730. Now what? 16 Jun 2011, 10:52
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bakfed
Congratulations on the 730! Your undergrad grade, while it's at the bottom of the top schools, probably won't mean much to adcoms anymore (you're simply way too far stretched from undergrad for anyone to give a crap about). If you wanted to study online, I'm not quite sure why you've gone ahead and taken the GMAT as I thought most online schools require simply an undergraduate degree and a minimum of 2.5 GPA (my assumptions). You really need to figure why you want this MBA now. If you don't know why, don't get it. There's really no point in sinking $100k into this process without knowing why you're doing this. Given your titles and resumes, I would assume that you could get into senior management without doing this MBA. An MBA is done for people who want to switch career but enter into a more entry-level job. Think about an EMBA where most would like to stay within the same industry but to move on to more managemenet job with the MBA name.
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Thanks, bakfed.

An increasing number of schools seem to be offering online equivalents for their on-campus degrees. I'm assume that the more elite among these schools will still require GMAT.

As for the rest of your advice: I think you've outlined the next bit of work for me: Discussing with peers whether of not an MBA at this point in my career makes any sense...
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eskimoroll
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Location: United States (MN)
Concentration: Entrepreneurship, Marketing
Schools: Harvard Business School - Class of 2013
GMAT 1: 750 Q48 V45
GPA: 3.67
WE:Supply Chain Management (Consumer Packaged Goods)
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Schools: Harvard Business School - Class of 2013
GMAT 1: 750 Q48 V45
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Wasn't Expecting a 730. Now what? 16 Jun 2011, 11:17
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bhandlin
bakfed
Congratulations on the 730! Your undergrad grade, while it's at the bottom of the top schools, probably won't mean much to adcoms anymore (you're simply way too far stretched from undergrad for anyone to give a crap about). If you wanted to study online, I'm not quite sure why you've gone ahead and taken the GMAT as I thought most online schools require simply an undergraduate degree and a minimum of 2.5 GPA (my assumptions). You really need to figure why you want this MBA now. If you don't know why, don't get it. There's really no point in sinking $100k into this process without knowing why you're doing this. Given your titles and resumes, I would assume that you could get into senior management without doing this MBA. An MBA is done for people who want to switch career but enter into a more entry-level job. Think about an EMBA where most would like to stay within the same industry but to move on to more managemenet job with the MBA name.

Thanks, bakfed.

An increasing number of schools seem to be offering online equivalents for their on-campus degrees. I'm assume that the more elite among these schools will still require GMAT.

As for the rest of your advice: I think you've outlined the next bit of work for me: Discussing with peers whether of not an MBA at this point in my career makes any sense...
Show more

Yes but the more elite among the online schools still will charge you an arm and a leg to attend which like you mentioned wouldn't make sense for someone at your stage in your career. Wouldn't work sponsored executive education make more sense at this point vs. another degree?
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bhandlin
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Wasn't Expecting a 730. Now what? 16 Jun 2011, 11:28
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eskimoroll
bhandlin
bakfed
Congratulations on the 730! Your undergrad grade, while it's at the bottom of the top schools, probably won't mean much to adcoms anymore (you're simply way too far stretched from undergrad for anyone to give a crap about). If you wanted to study online, I'm not quite sure why you've gone ahead and taken the GMAT as I thought most online schools require simply an undergraduate degree and a minimum of 2.5 GPA (my assumptions). You really need to figure why you want this MBA now. If you don't know why, don't get it. There's really no point in sinking $100k into this process without knowing why you're doing this. Given your titles and resumes, I would assume that you could get into senior management without doing this MBA. An MBA is done for people who want to switch career but enter into a more entry-level job. Think about an EMBA where most would like to stay within the same industry but to move on to more managemenet job with the MBA name.

Thanks, bakfed.

An increasing number of schools seem to be offering online equivalents for their on-campus degrees. I'm assume that the more elite among these schools will still require GMAT.

As for the rest of your advice: I think you've outlined the next bit of work for me: Discussing with peers whether of not an MBA at this point in my career makes any sense...

Yes but the more elite among the online schools still will charge you an arm and a leg to attend which like you mentioned wouldn't make sense for someone at your stage in your career. Wouldn't work sponsored executive education make more sense at this point vs. another degree?
Show more

Probably. I'm starting to poke around at that as well. It's great advice. Thank you.

I'm starting to learn something else: These MBA programs are clearly big profit centers. Once the schools become aware that you're interested, they essentially assign a sales rep (oops, I meant adviser) to explain the merits of the program and shepherd you in their direction.
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bakfed
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Wasn't Expecting a 730. Now what? 16 Jun 2011, 13:00
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and as always in life, take what sales reps (or advisors) words with a grain of salt. ;)