When you look at the web site of a school offering the MBA degree, you can find a lot of information about the courses offered, the school calendar, various activities available for students, and much more. But there are important aspects of the MBA program that most web sites do not disclose. In this article we focus on several criteria that you should examine before you decide to apply to an MBA program.
Some aspects of the decision depend on your personal situation. For example, Do you plan to go to school full-time or are you employed and can consider only a part-time program? Do you have enough work and management experience to consider an Executive MBA program? Once you settle these issues, you can start looking at criteria that differentiate one program from another.
A measure that is used heavily by MBA administrator to decide whether or not to accept a student is the GMAT score. GMAT scores have a range of a low score in the 200-300 level up to scores above the 700 level (800 is a perfect score). Although there is little correlation between high GMAT scores and student success in the MBA program or success in a business career, the scores are relied heavily in admission decisions. The most selective schools have students with average GMAT scores in the 650 and above range. Less selective schools may have an average GMAT of 450 for their MBA class. The middle range is more likely in the 500-600 range.. You can generally expect that a school whose students score in the 600 average GMAT range are going to provide a good MBA education.
Consider your own GMAT score when you start hunting for programs to which you should apply. Clearly, if your score is in the 500-550 range, you may not fit well in schools that boast an average well above 600. Nor should you consider schools that report scores much lower than your own.
Another important criterion used by admission officers is students' GPA. The higher your grade point average in your previous degree program, the better your chance of admission, because the GPA indicates your ability to handle university level coursework. Applicants with grades in the 3.0-4.0 range can generally get admitted to good MBA programs, with those in the higher range going to the selective schools. Below a B average, your chances of admission to good programs is greatly diminished. Find out what the average GPA of the current MBA class is and compare it with your GPA.
It is possible, and happens quite frequently, that an applicant with a low GPA can offset it by a high GMAT score and good work experience. Admissions officers recognize that capable students who in their youth did not take their undergraduate education seriously can mature and prove themselves. This brings us a third criterion that you should consider investigating.
Most MBA programs prefer applicants with 2-4 years of work experience after their first degree. Some accept students right out of college if their GPA and GMAT scores are high. Some MBA programs are designed specifically for new college graduates without work experience. But in those programs you don't get the benefit of learning from other students who have work experience. A lot of valuable learning takes place through class interaction. Also when you graduate your job offers will be about the same as a business undergraduate gets because you have no work experience, and you've been two years out of your undergraduate field so it's hard to get work in that area.
In summary, when selecting an MBA program to which you want to apply, compare the program's average GMAT score, average GPA, and work experience of the students in the current MBA class. Use your own statistics to decide which program is the best fit for you.
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