Hello everyone. First off I want to say thank you in advance for taking the time to read about my concerns of getting into graduate school. I graduated from Louisiana State University with a Bachelor in International Trade & Finance. I started off as a Biology major in college and had no passion for it (did poorly GPA wise). Then I switched to engineering and had no passion for it either (did poorly GPA wise again) mostly because of my parents. I switched my major a third time to International Trade & Finance and it consisted of the subject material that I was truly passionate about. Because of all of these other majors I had attempted and not done well in - my GPA is low. I graduated with a 2.6 GPA. I supported myself throughout college and spent most of my time working with business start-ups (one successful one) , rather than focusing on my classes like I should have. I worked for an investment firm for 5 months, and then decided to stop doing that and work with the tech start-up because helping with the growth and strategy of a start up company was my biggest interest. The experience I gained working with the tech start up was valuable to me. I want to go to graduate school now for my MBA and I am concerned because of my low GPA. Given a shot in graduate school, I am fully confident that I could perform better. I have not taken the GMAT yet but I have been studying very hard for it including training courses. What do you think my chances are of getting into business grad school? Could you recommend me some MBA programs within U.S. or Canada that I would be able to get into with a decent GMAT score and my 2.6 GPA? The schools I would ideally like to get into are:
1. University of Florida - Hough Graduate School of Business
2. University of Miami School of Business
3. Florida State University - Graduate School of Business
4. University of Dallas - College of Business
5.University of Texas at San Antonio - College of Business
6. Texas A&M University - Mays Business School
7. University of Colorado at Boulder - Leeds School of Business
8. University of Colorado Denver Business School
9. Mcgill or University of Toronto

Basically, I am looking for a decent graduate school that would accept me into an MBA program with a concentration in Finance in 4 states: Florida, Texas, California, and Colorado. I would consider all decent mba programs you could recommend to me. I will also consider other programs you can recommend me that are located generally in the US or Canada. Thank you so much for your time and help. I appreciate it greatly.

Using this approach: Shortcut to find the best US MBA www.find-mba.com/board/36065 you can compare the GPAs of those schools. You will need to be well over the average GMATs at those schools to make up for a low GPA unless you have something else which shows are you are able to apply your interests to a course.

I think that it will depend on two factors: your GMAT score and how successfully you'll be able to explain your low GPA. In your essays, you'll have to argue why you have poor academic performance, and hopefully you will be able to point to a GPA increase during the time you were studying finance. You'll also want to score strongly on the GMAT - this will further convince the schools that you are capable of dealing with the quantitative issues that you will encounter in finance.

Your post-graduation work experience will also be important here; ideally you'll have enough experience to be competitive with the averages at the schools: at Hough cohorts have roughly five years of experience; cohorts at most of these schools will range from 4-5 years, in general.

Thank you very much for your advice. Let's say my GMAT score is a 550 and my undergrad gpa is a 2.6. There are 3 main universities I am looking at now, and I am having trouble attaining information about them online.

University of South Florida School of business - (Tampa)
University of Tampa Sykes School of business
Florida State University

These are the three MBA programs I am aiming to reach. What do you think my chances are given the scores I have just provided? How competitive is it to get into these schools?

Thanks for your time. Really great website with good information

You're most competitive at Sykes, since the average gmat there is around 560 - but without something that sets you apart from other candidates, like more work experience than the average, I'd say that you'd be a hard sell at the other two.

You can usually contact the schools' admissions departments directly; they'll often give you a candid view of your competitiveness, as well as what you can do to improve your chances.

You're not a competitive candidate at any of those schools. Your GMAT needs to be well above the average -- as far above as your GMAT is below. That probably means one or two standard deviations, just to be back at average.

I suggest you take a class at a great university, online or on campus, to get a higher grade on a transcript.

Thank you very much for the advice Ezra. I understand that my low GPA is not helping me get into grad school and that I need to score much higher than the average on the GMAT to make up for this aspect. But - are there some mediocre schools that I could get into? Where admissions are a bit more lenient? These schools I listed from Florida are not top notch schools or anything. I figured I would at least have a shot at the lower ranked schools...Any schools in Texas, Colorado, or Cali that you could recommend to me? Any schools in general? Thank you for your time.

I think you would have a chance at Sykes if you were an early applicant. Barry and FAU are the safe schools for you in Florida. Do take a look at the post I suggested earlier: http://www.find-mba.com/board/36065

If you have low gpa 2.6 can you still apply and get in with waiving the gmat and gre?

Not at the schools this person was asking about. Read the post.

If you have low gpa 2.6 can you still apply and get in with waiving the gmat and gre?

You're not a competitive candidate at any of those schools. Your GMAT needs to be well above the average -- as far above as your GMAT is below. That probably means one or two standard deviations, just to be back at average.

I suggest you take a class at a great university, online or on campus, to get a higher grade on a transcript.

You're not a competitive candidate at any of those schools. Your GMAT needs to be well above the average -- as far above as your GMAT is below. That probably means one or two standard deviations, just to be back at average.

I suggest you take a class at a great university, online or on campus, to get a higher grade on a transcript.

[Edited by ifemy on Jul 29, 2017]

Read this post and https://find-mba.com/board/usa/shortcut-to-find-the-best-us-mba-30765

Any for credit course from a real uni will do. Try the UOLIP graduate diploma from the LSE, for example.