Excelsior BS in General Business get me into Cal State Fullerton's MBA program?

Discussion in 'Business and MBA degrees' started by joikd, Apr 1, 2011.

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  1. joikd

    joikd New Member

    If anyone has any knowledge of Cal State schools, I would like to know my chances of getting into Cal State Fullerton's MBA program. I went to their informational session, but I have no idea how my Excelsior transcript is going to be received, since the majority of the requirements were fulfilled with CLEP and Dantes tests. I only took eight real classes (only four of those at a B&M school).

    My other stats:
    38 years old (negative)
    15 years supervisory experience (positive)
    3 good letters of recommendations from past and present bosses (probably doesn't matter very much)
    GPA of 3.4 (have an F from a class 16 years ago--how will this affect me?)
    GMAT should come in around 700

    I would appreciate any insight.
     
  2. major56

    major56 Active Member

    No direct knowledge as regards CSUF, however, nowhere on their website can I find any information that an Excelsior degree would not be acceptable as the bachelor degree requirement as regards admissions. Your 700 GMAT score should also be okay (The average GMAT score of an M.B.A. student is 586 re FEMBA program at Irvine). And you shouldn’t be too concerned about the failed class 16-years back.

    Did you ask during the information session? If not, why not just call them?

    Recruitment Specialist - MBA Programs
    [email protected]
    (657) 278-1020
     
  3. jayncali73

    jayncali73 New Member

    I think the Cal State campuses will accept any bachelor's degree conferred by a regionally accredited college for admission. There may be other reasons for not being accepted...........
     
  4. atrox79

    atrox79 Member

    You should be fine getting into any CSU. If it was a UC, they would tell you that you could still get in but they try to pretend they're Ivy League with their admissions so most people don't end up getting in. I don't think your 16 year old F will make much of a difference. If you score 700 on the GMAT like you're expecting, you will easily get into CSUF (a high enough GMAT will likely get you in anywhere).
     
  5. AUTiger00

    AUTiger00 New Member

    You'll be fine. I got into Vanderbilt with a D in my capstone course in undergrad a GMAT well below 700. Your GMAT score and LoRs alone will get you into Cal State Fullerton.
    I have to ask though, with all of your experience why don't you look into some EMBA programs? Less time, you'll be in courses with your peers (closer to your age with similar experience). Just a thought.
     
  6. joikd

    joikd New Member

    Thanks for the replies.

    I didn't want to ask them about the Excelsior degree because I didn't want to get any momentum going in the wrong direction. I thought that if they saw my LOR's, resumé, and GMAT at the same time as my transcripts, they would be less inclined to reject me because of my transcripts. I admit that this psychological strategy might be unnecessary, but I just wanted to avoid any anchoring if possible. I'm already at a disadvantage because of my age (no matter what anybody says--I believe it's a negative).

    Glad to hear that the F isn't a showstopper.

    The reason I'm not going with an EMBA or FEMBA is that I might get my CPA eventually, and the standard MBA program has an accounting concentration option that will take care of some of the accounting credit requirements. Plus, I live five minutes from CSUF, and their FEMBA program is 30 minutes away in Irvine.
     
  7. foobar

    foobar Member

    ANY RA bachelors degree should work at all but the top tier and high second tier MBA programs with a 700 GMAT. Believe it or not, that GMAT can get you into quite a few PhD programs.
     
  8. Lerner

    Lerner Well-Known Member

    BTW you mentioned 38 as negative , why?

    38 today is not bad age to get in to MBA, there is no age requirement and Universities prefer mature adult students.

    My friend is 62 and he is graduating Med school this year.
     
  9. joel66

    joel66 New Member

    Your age, GPA and GMAT would be positives, and especially the 15 years of supervisory experience. These alone should overcome the amount of CLEP/Dantes you took. The only negative side is that some AACSB schools will not consider CLEP or Non-AACSB courses to meet certain prerequisites, and would have to take additional foundation courses.
     
  10. AUTiger00

    AUTiger00 New Member

    Age certaintly is a factor in MBA admissions at top tier programs, their is a bias against students over 30, but that is for full time programs, I believe that bias dissipates for part-time programs. Good luck.
     
  11. SurfDoctor

    SurfDoctor Moderator

    I agree. In fact, I understand that Harvard only requires a 720. So a 700 can't be that bad.


    http://www.gmatcat.com/Score.html
     
  12. AUTiger00

    AUTiger00 New Member

    Harvard Doesnt "require" a 720. I know students who got in with scores as low as 680. Anything 700 or above would make you competitive at any top program (at least in the GMAT category), there really is a lot more to it than undergrad GPA and GMAT scores.
     
  13. Ian Anderson

    Ian Anderson Active Member

    I can't speak for CSUF but I was accepted into the CSUDH MSQA program with my Excelsior BS degree (only 3 or 6 CLEP units). CSUDH did waive some prerequisites based on my work experience (computer programming and physics).
     
  14. Interesting - do you have specifics?

    My story back in 2005 - 4.0 GPA from Excelsior, 100% via testing. 700 GMAT. 15 years work experience, probably 10 years supervisory. No problem getting into Indiana's Kelley Direct (i.e. mostly DL) program. IU's AACSB and as long as I had the credits to tick the pre-req boxes it wasn't an issue.
     
  15. joel66

    joel66 New Member

    Every school is different even non-AACSB programs. When I did my research, I found a lot of programs had this requirement when I was looking for a program. For now, I will only list two because once I read the section about that, I quickly closed the page and went to another school.

    Sacramento State's MS in Accounting:
    "Courses taken at AACSB-INTERNATIONAL accredited colleges of business will be accepted for transfer credit if the course is regarded as equivalent to the course for which credit is requested. Business Foundation courses and Core courses will not be accepted for transfer credit from programs that are not AACSB-INTERNATIONAL accredited unless taken at institutions that have national or international reputations of high quality programs." - When I sent them my transcript, they would not accept some courses I completed at a community college or CLEP.

    UOM-Dearborn: "Admitted applicants may request a course waiver based on previous undergraduate or graduate coursework from non-AACSB accredited schools on a case-by-case basis by completing a petition form." This is not a guarantee they will accept CLEP.

    Even when I initially submitted my transcripts to American Public University. I was told I had to take all three of their foundation courses because they were not ACBSP or higher. Since them, they have made those three courses are part of their core.
     
  16. Assuming these are MS in Accounting programs it makes sense I suppose. For MBAs it is less likely that the undergrad would be AACSB - a lot of non-business majors go for a MBA.
     
  17. foobar

    foobar Member

    I don't know what they're trying to prove. The foundation courses listed are the precise courses that a student is most likely to transfer from a community college or CLEP to ANY business program. I've seen school restrict transfers of upper-level courses to AACSB, but never the first-year accounting courses, b-law and econ which are typically sophomore-level courses.

    This policy is likely targeted toward a particular local community college that they deem substandard.
     
  18. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    Got to love this line, "...unless taken at institutions that have national or international reputations of high quality programs."
     

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