To start, I am an undergrad business admin major (concentrations not offered at my school) Wich was Coker College of Hartsville, SC. I have to choose from 2 "local" evening MBA programs, one school is Wingate University and servers the Charlotte, NC area. It is 1hr 5min from my house. Wingate offers their MBA with Finance concentration, which is a good fit because I work as a personal banker now. I would like to move into a credit/financial position be it credit analyst, underwriter, loan officer, budget analyst, biz analyst, or later financial analyst. Wingate is ACBSP accredited. The catch: The area my g/f wants to live around as do I, is Florence, SC. Francis Marion University servers the FLO area and offers a MBA program without concentration. AACSB accreditited. 1hr 20min from home Since having the general undergrad I am really hoping to concentrate with the MBA. Neither school is prestigious but each is well known by locals. How important is networking with graduate school for employment in immediate area? Would I be considered for the position type i want with general BS and general MBA and bank experience? Wingate and FMU are about 3 hours driving time apart, would you think that either school would be considered local for the areas? FMU cost of program is 15k where WU is 17K (not a big deal) Charlotte has way more opportunites but I wouldn't want my g/f (future wife) to live in a place she wouldn't be happy. Thoughts welcome...
I lived in Charlotee and I Wingate was pretty known but I would give Francis Marion University the edge. Have you considered USC or UNC if you are going to do a local program?
Both have weekend programs. UNC is much more expensive. If you're willing to travel to Columbia nearly every weekend I'd say it's a viable option. What about ECU?
I've thought about USC as Moore School is well known in SC. It is doable on weekend. I live within 2 hrs of Columbia. What made you say FMU over Wingate? Even the general BS and General MBA would be more valuable from FMU than a MBA/finance from Wingate? ECU, & UNC are all Charlotte area and are further away than Wingate. I know they are great school but kinda out my range/area right now. To be honest I need to do very well on the GMAT for consideration by USC. My Cumulative GPA was 2.8 undergrad and I've only been a personal banker/teller for about 2yrs now. USC has a crappy website as far as info goes, well at least what I've seen of it. I need to contact someone about their weekend programs. Thank you for replying
Getting admitted to a good executive MBA with a 2.8 undergrad GPA is going to be an uphill climb. Were your last 60 hours a lot better? You need to start thinking about how you'll address this deficiency in your application. Like you already mentioned, one way to do that is to knock the GMAT out of the park. You might also consider building an "alternative transcript" of post-graduation coursework in business and quant related courses that either don't duplicate your undergrad work or allow you to earn "A" grades in classes you pulled "D" grades in on the first try. I'm of the belief that at your stage in life (I'm putting you at 24/25), earning an MBA is less about filling a checkbox for a promotion, and more about really accelerating your career. Even with the restriction on where you want to live, my basic rules about choosing your b-school apply: you should choose the best school that you can get into and afford without tying yourself to a mountain of debt. A degree from USC's Moore School will open more doors, for not much more money (~$30K vs ~$20K for the other schools), than a degree from either FMU or Wingate. The question is, can you get in? If you can, I would seriously recommend you go to USC.
What I would have said... Fortunato said it better. You may need to take a graduate level class or two (with grades of A or A-) in addition to a good GMAT in order to gain admission to a competitive program. Some programs offer "conditional" admission to students with lower undergrad GPAs. I've seen it done with that level of GPA but it's not a slam-dunk. Are you looking at only online programs or in-person? I was confused by your post. A long commute plus a job limits time for studying and personal time. In addition to teaching on the side, I've been in banking for 25 years and have supervised credit analysts and underwriters for the last 20 or so. Yes, an MBA would be helpful to get you to the next level above PB. An MBA w/finance concentration is not as necessary as it would be for a CFO candidate but is helpful if you find the right program. Being a dedicated employee and asking for challenging work can't hurt either. Just being in an MBA program may open doors before you finish. I think USC would be good for connections. If you try UNC-Charlotte (online?), I think those networking opportunities would be good even in SC. But unless you have full employer-paid tuition, I'd look at the highest ROI for lowest cost. Leveraging an MBA program and contacts (online or in-person classes either way) involves meeting in-person when possible, getting on LinkedIn and getting in contact with other alums to learn about job opportunities. Email works - I'm still in contact with my online profs and classmates from 7+ years ago. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
