chicpoena said:
I've been struggling with this myself. With the economy in the shitter, and two liberal arts degrees, it's been damn near impossible to find a 'good' job. I've interviewed with several corporations, even making it to third rounds at corporate twice, but nothing panned out.
I'm leaning towards getting my MBA, since I have nothing in my educational background to prepare me for a career in business (I want to work on sustainability). So I was told by several business professors that I should get my MBA before applying to PH.D programs in business (I want to live in an ivory tower and try to make the business world more nature friendly).
First off, my credentials:
MBA, University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business
PhD candidate, Portland State University, Systems Science/Non-linear Mathematics
admitted but did not matriculate, School of Law, University of Chicago
I was admitted to the GSB at Chicago without taking the GMAT. Kind of a long story, but my undergraduate work got me in the door. However, I ended up taking the GMAT to get into my PhD program - ironic since I already had my MBA at the time.
As I get ready to finish my first PhD, I've been toying with a second program in cognitive ethology and thus took the GRE last fall. Oh, and I did take the LSATs before being admitted to law school at Chicago, though I got burned out and never formally enrolled.
Full disclosure: I didn't do any prep work for any of the standardized tests. Didn't read the books, do practice tests, or even read the little booklet they mail you. Yes, I know - bad dog. But maybe this helps to establish a baseline.
GMAT: fairly dependent on formula-based maths, i.e. trig and geometry. I can see that doing some prep work could help goose scores on the math side pretty quickly, as a few simple formulas are pretty important to the test. My scores were in the 85th percentile, with some clear problems caused by a lack of several essential formulas on the math side.
LSAT: didn't get enough sleep the night before, had no idea what to expect. Ended up with scores on the 99.3 percentile, so apparently bullshit works on the LSAT - or they mixed my test up with someone who actually prepared.
GRE: more broad-based knowledge, tougher vocabulary and verbal thinking. The maths sections were far less formula-based and more conceptual. I missed several questions because I didn't remember what a number to the negative power meant. D'oh! My scores were 720/720 with 5.5 on the written section.
As I understand it, most MBA programs are going to require the GMAT. The GRE might bolster your GMAT scores, and for a doctoral program is going to be essential.
Your plan to do your MBA before your doctoral work in business/economics is sound. Many doctoral programs, I suspect, would be unlikely to admit many candidates without an MBA already under their belt.
So, there's my $0.02.
Peace,
Fausty