Ok, so here’s my situation: For a variety of reasons, I greatly underachieved in my UG, but I’ve fortunately climbed the corporate finance ladder fairly quickly, landing a F500 FP&A managerial position with only 4 years exp. My fear, however, is that my UG performance and “prestige” will stifle future promotion opportunities, given other candidates will come from top regional or national-recognized programs.
My question is: assuming a top-20 MBA program is currently off the table, should I pursue a MSF from the like of Georgetown/ JHU/ Indiana (online) to “reset” the education portion on my resume? This would not be a financial burden, as my company has a decent tuition reimbursement program.
Background: -3.0 GPA in Accounting & Finance, non-target -720 GMAT -CPA designation with no actual public accounting experience -4 years of FP&A experience -Career goals are centered on further development within corporate finance. I’d love to eventually get involved with M&A due diligence and technical financial modeling outside of the normal FP&A role.
Am I justified in my prestige paranoia or should I focus my efforts elsewhere?
I appreciate any help on this!
Unless you're ok with near zero probability of switching company,
MBA is your fit
Thanks for your input! Luckily, DC has a few choices, with UMD, GT, JHU, GW. Do you think any of those would suffice or should I focus on GT and UMD?
aim higher. Darden is nice and GU/UMd cant really light a candle against it. who knows when the top 15 benefits become useful if you're paying about same anyway
I'm struggling to see why T20 school is off the table - though if you want to stay in the DC area I would focus on Georgetown or Darden. I don't see why you wouldn't get in to either of those
Appreciate the insight little-monkey I assumed a FP&A background coupled with a low GPA from a non-target would be insufficient specs for T20 candidates, even with an above average GMAT (relative to the top programs averages).
Your GPA isn't THAT low, and I guess I'd need to know how non-target your non-target is. Are we talking about flagship state school or like a CC? If we were talking like a 2.5 or something it'd be a different story. Also would help to know a little bit more about the makeup of your grades - if you have an upward trajectory, or if it's mostly good grades with a few bombs. If you take a class or two at a local university I think you're golden, especially coupled with the high GMAT.
I think at least a PT MBA makes the most sense for you. MSF is more suited for early career professionals (like 2 years WE) who want to be in a pure finance role
little-monkey lower-tier state school with flat trajectory, unfortunately. Long story short: as a first-generation college student, I did not fully understand the repercussions that mediocre performance at a non-target institution would have on my career or graduate opportunities. I worked FT throughout UG as a back room associate at Wal-Mart, which is probably the dumbest thing I did, because it stretched me so thin. Luckily, I've been able to bypass this and prove myself professionally, but proving myself as a competitive MSF/ MBA candidate is another story.
I do like your idea about taking a few courses at a local university to show tenacity. I'm assuming quantitative courses would be best?
I actually have a really similar story as to why I had a low GPA (similar to yours). I was at a target school, though, but I really don't think it'll be perceived all THAT different. I was just basically a B student in college, was working 25-30 hours a week. I just didn't get it - I just wanted that degree. You can pretty much write what you wrote here verbatim on your optional essay. Working FT in undergrad is no joke, and MBAs try to normalize for stuff like with an otherwise good profile.
Quant courses are best, and going for any individual bad grade (like if you got a C in anything sort of basic) I would retake that. Taking a few classes to mitigate a low GPA or poor quant performance is a pretty well known and typical MBA application strategy. When your profile basically shows "smart kid who didn't put the time in in college" you're basically signaling "I recognize this is a weakness and I'm going to put the time in now" more than showing that your intelligence. Though, I think you only need to do this if you FT. For PT, your work experience and trajectory is FAR more important, and like I said, 3.0 is fine. Would it be better if it were a 3.5? sure. But you were a B/B+ student, not a complete failure. Seriously, don't be so hard on yourself.
I have a similar profile. Also interested in what others have to say @TNA"
If your goal is to move up within your current job, not leave and do a FT MBA, then a PT program (whether MBA or MSF) would be a nice resume builder assuming you think your current employer wants this for upper level people.
IMO, the Georgetown Online MSF is the best of the online crop. You can attend classes in person as well as online, they have an on campus two week experience as well as an international component. You really get a good mix of online and in person with this program.
If you are in Chicago, doing a PT MBA might be better. It all depends on what role you are in within the Company, how much tuition reimbursement, do you want to stay in finance or change roles, etc.
Thanks for the help @TNA" Do you believe the JHU/ IU Kelley programs to be just as effective, in terms of resume building and promotion potential with the F500 corporate finance space? I ask because the programs mentioned are 25-30K less expensive than the GT program, and while my company does provide a decent annual tuition reimbursement (10k/ year), it's not enough to offset the costs of the GT program.
I would think a part-time MBA would be the most ideal situation. I don't believe you'd have any trouble getting into a top-20 part-time MBA program. I actually have a friend with similar stats who was able to get into one no problem - they often aren't as stats oriented (although your GMAT is well above what a part-time program would look for) and are more focused on career trajectory/real experience. I also think an MBA would be a greater asset to you than an MSF. Granted, I do not have any corp dev/corp fp&a experience, but from what I've heard it sounds like an MBA is highly sought after.
have you pursued moving laterally into your company's corp dev team? if you're a top performing fp&a member, then you should get a look.
@td12" I haven't but that's a sound strategy once I prove myself as an effective manager.
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