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Your undergrad GPA is abysmal. Not being mean or anything, but the reality is... it's awful.
What MBA program would even accept a GPA that low? Is it a for-profit school? It it an online program? Did u have to take the GRE or GMAT? Is the MBA program even accredited? With such a low GPA I don't really see how they could admit students with a GPA less than a 2.5 and still remain accredited.
Do they require letters of recommendation to be admitted? If so, what professor will write you one?
I will be finishing school this fall with a biology major and my GPA is in the 2.0-2.5 range. That is not good enough for masters but I do have a choice to get accepted into this MBA program (not a well known one) on a conditional basis and my parents have said they will pay for it, they have also been pushing me into it by saying "MBAs are good".
Now I have also thought about working as a lab tech but they are highly against me working right out of college.
Their claim is that if I do good in a masters program, it will almost blank my undergrad GPA and create more opportunities for me in the future. Issue is, I have no idea on what I want to do with my life now.
Now my dad claims that once I am out of education (as in, if I reject this chance of an MBA), it will be extremely difficult if not impossible for me to get back in because my GPA is embarrassing.
I am thinking about this situation in two ways:
1. I start working after college and if I can find a job, that would make it easier to get future jobs that only care about whether or not I have had a job before. Maybe I can build a resume good enough to get into better Masters programs 5 years from now?
2. I get this MBA from a not so top tier university (still accredited though) and it helps me find better job opportunities for the future.
I'm guessing your initial plans with your biology degree was to go to med school or be a lab tech/biologist. That is still an option.
The thing with getting a MBA you have to know what you want to do with it and you are required to have experience for that job. You could be a R&D manager with a biology degree + a MBA but those aren't entry level jobs and require several years of experience managing a lab.
I suggest going to work first as a lab tech or Jr. Biologist to get some experience in an industrial lab. Stay away from those pesky temp/staffing agencies. They are nothing more than used car salesman putting you in crappy science jobs paying $15-20 an hour with no benefits. I worked for a lousy company that I started off as a temp for $17 bucks an hour and was the most miserable 9 months of my life working for that company. I just recently obtained a chemist position with a pharmaceutical company with a great base salary but I had to relocate for this job.
Get your resume written up and start applying for permanent/full time lab tech, microbiology, or biologist positions now. Do not limit your job search just to your local area, apply to every single job you see that only requires 0-2 years of experience across the nation and you will be surprised who will get back with you.
These companies in the research and development private sector don't care about your GPA. They are looking for candidates who can prove that they are eager to learn, get along well with coworkers, and can show a lot of personality in the interview. Look up STAR behavioral interview questions and study them and make sure you have concrete real life examples when you answer these questions to prove your self. Brief generic answers won't cut it.
Once you land your full time/permanent lab tech/biologist job work it for at least two years then apply to MBA schools, get excellent scores on the GMAT, and have your employer give excellent letters of recommendation letters of your work ethics. The grad schools might overlook your GPA after those solid credentials then you can go to MBA school part time while working and when you graduate you can apply to R&D management positions where you can use your R&D industry lab experience and leadership skills to land that position.
You will be fine. Work hard and play hard and you will get to were you want to be.
I'm guessing your initial plans with your biology degree was to go to med school or be a lab tech/biologist. That is still an option.
Agreed with your advice, but there’s almost no chance he will get into med school, even if he wanted to. He should strike that off his list to make his options clearer.
I'm guessing your initial plans with your biology degree was to go to med school or be a lab tech/biologist. That is still an option.
The thing with getting a MBA you have to know what you want to do with it and you are required to have experience for that job. You could be a R&D manager with a biology degree + a MBA but those aren't entry level jobs and require several years of experience managing a lab.
I suggest going to work first as a lab tech or Jr. Biologist to get some experience in an industrial lab. Stay away from those pesky temp/staffing agencies. They are nothing more than used car salesman putting you in crappy science jobs paying $15-20 an hour with no benefits. I worked for a lousy company that I started off as a temp for $17 bucks an hour and was the most miserable 9 months of my life working for that company. I just recently obtained a chemist position with a pharmaceutical company with a great base salary but I had to relocate for this job.
Get your resume written up and start applying for permanent/full time lab tech, microbiology, or biologist positions now. Do not limit your job search just to your local area, apply to every single job you see that only requires 0-2 years of experience across the nation and you will be surprised who will get back with you.
These companies in the research and development private sector don't care about your GPA. They are looking for candidates who can prove that they are eager to learn, get along well with coworkers, and can show a lot of personality in the interview. Look up STAR behavioral interview questions and study them and make sure you have concrete real life examples when you answer these questions to prove your self. Brief generic answers won't cut it.
Once you land your full time/permanent lab tech/biologist job work it for at least two years then apply to MBA schools, get excellent scores on the GMAT, and have your employer give excellent letters of recommendation letters of your work ethics. The grad schools might overlook your GPA after those solid credentials then you can go to MBA school part time while working and when you graduate you can apply to R&D management positions where you can use your R&D industry lab experience and leadership skills to land that position.
You will be fine. Work hard and play hard and you will get to were you want to be.
It's not an option at any med school in the US that I've ever heard of. Oh, some of them might say that on their websites, but reality is, you need way higher than a 2.0-2.5. (My guess is that it's on the lower end of that range.)
Unless your bachelor's degree is from Harvard, it's probably not going to get you anywhere very quickly. Lab technicians don't make a lot of money, and it's really hard to move up even with a lot of experience unless you have a master's degree.
Jump into the MBA program, work a lot harder than you did as an undergraduate, and look for new opportunities while you are there.
You're probably not going to work in biology. Just get used to that idea. You're probably stuck working in business, so it's best to find a business that you like, learn everything you can about it, get an MBA, and start climbing the ladder. If you push yourself, you can probably become a manager eventually, and then you'll live a very comfortable life.
If you stick with just a bachelor's, you're going to be poor your whole life, and you're going to have a hard time going back to school later.
Edit: Oh, and not to be too much of a cynic, but check the accreditation on the MBA program. I don't know which accrediting bodies are legitimate for those, but I know that in some fields, there are places with fake accreditation. Don't fall into a trap. I realize you've probably already done your homework on this, so this warning isn't needed, but it's worth mentioning. I don't know what the MBA equivalent of University of Phoenix is, but you'll want to avoid it.
I did not have much interest in Biology or being a pre-med, just kinda got pushed into it by my parents and by the time I developed an interest for something else I was so far along that I was better off just graduating. Business and math classes have always been my strong point as they have come naturally to me. C's and a few D's in upper level science classes completely hammered my GPA.
Plan after college was to try and find some work, build a resume with work experience, and years later maybe go for a better Masters program. Find out in those years what I want to do, take the relevant exams, and then see where I can go. I have heard of people building up a resume to get into a decent MBA program after years of hard work so I was thinking about that being a possibility for me. I've grown a lot from being the kid who did poorly in school.
The MBA my parents want me to go to is accredited but it is not really a brand name school, it is not even ranked in the top 100.
I have been told that it is hard to get back into education once you leave but I want to hear expert opinions on this. This is a big decision for me guys.
On one hand, I feel like it can benefit me a lot to be out in the working world and build my resume. I can go back for a Masters and do things to make up for lost ground in the process, right?
On the other hand, my parents have also claimed that once you're out of education/university for a few years, it is very difficult to get back in. So here I am wondering if I am making a big mistake by passing up this opportunity.
Why were your grades so low in college? What makes you think you can go for the MBA and get a higher GPA?
I just wasn't meant for the sciences, no other way to put it. I made A's and B's like political science (A), calculus (B), economics(A), history(A), english (A), and most electives (As, which were easy anyways) but I made D's and C's in upper level science classes that were worth more credit hours.
On the other hand, my parents have also claimed that once you're out of education/university for a few years, it is very difficult to get back in. So here I am wondering if I am making a big mistake by passing up this opportunity.
This is somewhat true, but not because of the education so much as once you get settled in a job and life (spouse, kids, Little League, etc) it's just very hard to find the time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stanhattan
The MBA my parents want me to go to is accredited but it is not really a brand name school, it is not even ranked in the top 100.
.
This is not about your parents; it's about you. What do you want to do after school?
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