Things You'll Need:
- Bachelor's degree in any field
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Step 1
Have at least 2 years of progressive management and supervisory work experience. This can even be from a self employed basis if you have evidence of success. At highly competitive schools, admitted MBA students often have 5 years of great work experience with lofty titles such as director or vice president. The best managers often have hundreds of employees underneath them with millions of dollars in budget responsibility.
As you gain work experience, keep in mind that you will need to have substantial achievements in the workplace as well as supervisors willing to write you a recommendation for the MBA program. -
Step 2
Take a GMAT preparation course and take the GMAT test.
If you are applying for a top-25 school, you need a GMAT score above 700 with no scores below the 90th percentile. If you're applying to a lesser, but still selective school, you may need scores above 500-630 depending on the school and your previous work experience.
Many people blow off the GMAT AWA (Analytical Writing Assessment) but don't do that. A poor GMAT AWA score gives the admissions committee an extra reason to reject you. At some schools, a 5.0+ AWA score can be used to waive the MBA program's writing proficiency requirement. -
Step 3
Have at least a 2.5 undergraduate GPA. Do not count graduate course work in this GPA calculations, as most schools know that graduate school courses have inflated GPA standards. In selective programs, you'll need a 3.0-3.2 GPA at a minimum. In the top MBA programs, admitted students have at least a 3.3 and possibly a lot more if they don't have outstanding work experience.
If your undergraduate GPA is too low, take additional easy undergraduate (not graduate) courses to boost your GPA at a community college, online school, or other private school.
Keep in mind that all graduate schools require at least a 3.0 GPA to avoid academic probation. You will also need a 3.0 GPA to graduate. -
Step 4
Take courses typically required in MBA business foundation requirements, especially if you don't have a bachelor's degree in business administration within the last seven years. Some courses typically required include:
- Financial and Managerial Accounting
- Statistics
- Principles of Management
- Principles of Marketing
- Calculus
- Micro and Macro Economics
- Computer Applications and Management Information Systems
These courses could be used as part of a GPA boosting program for the previous step as well as fulfill MBA business foundation requirements. -
Step 5
Apply for the MBA after all of the above has been completed. As part of the application process, you will write essays that detail how your managerial work experience and academic experience makes you a great candidate for getting admitted to the MBA program.
