Identify U.S. Graduate Business schools that accept graduates with a C
- average from a undergraduate school.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 09 Jan 2003 09:06 PST

Information is available on the average GMAT scores of students
accepted to graduate business programs.  Would this sort of
information be useful to you?  If so, what GMAT score would serve as
an appropriate cut-off

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Clarification of Question by jim1946-ga on 09 Jan 2003 09:24 PST

The current student, my son, has a C- at Fairfield University in CT.
Has not taken grad entance exams, job market is bad, an option might
be to find a school he could get into -- that's where we are coming
from. J

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Request for Question Clarification by ragingacademic-ga on 09 Jan 2003 17:17 PST

jim1946 -

Thanks for your question.

Would an AACSB accredited online program be an acceptable option?

thanks,
ragingacademic

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Clarification of Question by jim1946-ga on 09 Jan 2003 18:10 PST

Thanks. What we really would like is a direction to schools that may
accept a student that doesn't have the best academic experience. An
on-line option really is not what we are looking for.

I don't think b schools will be advertising that they accept C
students. Also, the undergrad school makes a big difference. A C
student at Harvard is much different than a C student at Jim's
Technical Institute.  Additionally, most if not all, grad schools look
at other factors besides just grades, such as work experience and
activities.

When I was applying for graduate school, I was amazed at the reliance
placed by those schools on test scores (the LSAT for Law School, the
GMAT for Business School, the GRE for other Grad School programs,
etc.)

May I suggest that if your son is truly interested that he research
the most intensive and effective test preparation programs available -
Kaplan comes to mind as one and I'm sure that their are lots of
others.

Some schools, perhaps most, index a composite GPA and Test Score. 

The other option of course is to enroll in the best school available
though it may not be much, and then transfer after a successful first
semester/first year.  For example, some students entering a third or
fourth tier law school will bust their fannies for the first year,
then apply for a transfer to a first or second tier school.

Anyway, good luck.

weisstho-ga

Point of fact is that my son may not be so interested, but I am. The
issues is with the employment enviornment, and also his maturity level
-- buying time is my thinking. js

Jim,

You'd be happy to know that most (if not all) top (10) business
schools do accept a small percentage of students with bad grades. 
However, the student must excel in all other factors considered
important by the schools (preferably), or must be the BEST in one
factor, e.g. Olympic medalist.

[Schools consider their selection criteria a secret, but it is very
simple: grades, undergraduate reputation, GMAT, essays, interviews. 
Everything gets put into a computer program and measured.  Certain
schools will give extra points for certain achievements, depending on
the school's emphases and personalities, e.g., entrepreneurship,
management, quantitative/analytics, marketing, etc.]

Business school programs are unlike many other graduate programs,
where grades are the most important factor.  As many schools know,
there are many extremely successful business persons that did not
receive the best grades because of many reasons, including learning
impairments.  However, a student must excel at something in some
extreme way --this is very important.

Before one goes off to business school, it is important to understand
that the typical employer does ask for grades (directly or
indirectly).  Therefore, if someone has bad grades and successfully
finishes business school, he will still have another hurdle to pass,
which is not always easy in tough economic times.  In other words, it
may be relatively easy to convince a school that one is very special
despite of bad grades, but it will be much more difficult to convince
the typical employer of such thing, because employers consider grades
and test scores a high predictor of success within a typical position
within a company.

My honest recommendation is the following: If one has bad grades and
scores, and wants to do business, it is better to do practical
business practice (like be a small entrepreneur) than to go to
business school.  One needs to consider the very high costs, and the
fact that perhaps only the elite schools command a good return on
investment. --and even then, in difficult times, as now, not even the
best get what they expect.

Read the WSJ (http://online.wsj.com/home/us), the Economist
(www.economist.com), Businessweek, News & World Report, and anything
else (from reputable sources) you can get your hands on, on this
subject.

Claudietta
Google Researcher

[And just a side comment on Jonmm's comment.  All tops universities,
including Harvard, have slackers. Furthermore, Harvard has very high
grade inflation that may mean that a C student there is truly a
slacker.  Nevertheless, Harvard is a great institution.  Never assume
that you cannot get into any institution until you try and failed a
number of times. Good luck!]

As a current graduate business school student at a top-tier school, I
can attest that there are classmates of mine who did not have stellar
undergraduate GPAs.  Business schools tend to look at the following as
a package:

* GPA
* GMAT
* Essays
* Work experience (required for some programs)
* Special accomplishments, such as volunteer work, community service,
etc.

When I was in the process of applying, a college counselor suggested
that I take the GMATs first so that I can scope out a range of schools
that might be attainable for me, and then look from there.  I think
you will find that b-schools tend not to have strict criteria for
GPAs.  I hope this helps.