Advice needed for B-school plan.

[jyoti_nanda]

Hi, I was hoping someone could advise me in regards to solving my dilemma.

A little bit about myself,

I am a 22 year old female born and raised in Canada (Toronto), and am of Indian descent. I have just graduated from McMaster University with a BScN, with an undergraduate GPA of 8.1/12, which I believe is a 3.0. My GPA is poor as a result of my first and second year marks, whereas my third and fourth year marks all range from a B+ to an A (I matured and realized I wanted to pursue graduate studies). Some Canadian Business schools told me they look at courses done following graduation, so I took two summer classes and scored an A and A+ in each.

My postgraduate working experience is 0 as I have taken some time off to devote my time to the GMAT (class starts next week and I plan to study for 3 months). During my undergrad, I did over 1,000 hours in the hospital setting as a student nurse, and worked for a summer in a Nursing home.

My ultimate goal is to pursue an MBA focused in Health Administration/Management, and achieve my Certified Health Executive (CHE) designation, however I am conflicted on when and how to pursue this. McMaster University offers a co-op MBA that admits students with no prior work experience, and has a Health Administration specialization option. However, McMaster is not considered "Ivey", in comparison to Queens, University of Toronto (Rotman), and University of Western (Richard Ivey). My issue is that these "top" schools require strong applications with a minimum of 2 years of experience (and typically admit students with more than that).

Do i pursue an MBA in an "okay" university, or wait and work for a few years while strengthening my application to get into a "top" business school?

My GPA is poor, but some of these schools look at the final 2 years instead, whereas I have 9.2/12, which is about a 3.3

I apologize for the lengthy explanation, and will appreciate any advice. Thanks!

[mbamission]

Hi jyoti_nanda,

Thanks for writing in. While I am not too familiar with these Canadian programs I can appreciate the quandary you are facing. Traditionally MBA programs want a few years of work experience before beginning the program, and will make a few spots in each class for people with zero to two years of experience.

Additionally, if you apply to top programs a few years from now you will face the hurdle of overcoming your GPA. This is a very feasible thing to do, but it will still be a weakness in your application.

Based on the limited amount I know about you, I think you need to consider what your post-MBA goals are and if McMaster can help you reach them. If McMaster MBA students specializing Health Administration are getting jobs at the types of places you want to go to, then you may not need the brand recognition of the other schools you mention.

I hope this answer provides some clarity and good luck!

Daniel Richards
http://www.mbamission.com

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