Hi Ags,

I need some advice. I have a degree from A&M (Econ pols minor) and I work in a financial investigative role. I am in my early 40's, but my GPA was less than stellar. Due to personal issues, I only graduated with a 2.45. That was 20 years ago.

As I move up I am asked to do more things that involve business analytics. Obviously this is not my background. I don't want an MBA, but I really could use some education in this new world of responsibility.

I am looking at online graduate certificates, but my concern is my ridiculous GPA from 20 years ago. Just for a grad certificate, not even a degree.

Does anyone have any advice on if I should even bother with that or some other way of learning? A big book maybe lol.

Thanks.

I wish I had a book recommendation but I don't. Call one of the admissions/recruiting directors from one of the Graduate Certificate programs and talk to them. I bet they'll tell you that your undergrad grades from 20 years ago don't matter.

Depending on how broad or specific the subject matter you need is, I would suggest looking at online providers like Udemy. They have business analytics classes and all sorts of subjects, and many classes are between $10-$50. I love their stuff, if you find it there then you don't have to worry about going back to get an MBA.

You can also look at classes at your local community college.

I had a 2.5 undergrad GPA with a B.S. in Engineering. But... I also scored 99% percentile on the GMAT. I had no trouble getting into an MBA program. These days there are a lot of options out there. Executive MBA programs, online, etc. Just don't do University of Phoenix or something like that.

A friend of mine who works in the financial space was looking at MBA programs a few years ago. He came down to Austin (from San Francisco) and I showed him around UT. He really liked it but said something funny during the tour. He said - you know, "If I came to school here for my MBA, it would just be for the education". This guy was really hung up on status and perception. He was kind of a Top 10 program or forget it guy. Even though his undergrad in Econ was from Cal-Davis (the California version of Texas A&M -minus the conservatism obviously).

During my MBA program at Colorado, I had a guy in my study group who did some sort of "one-week MBA" bootcamp type program at Stanford. You didn't get anything other than a certificate, so it was basically for executives who needed to round out their business education.

Also, when I've flown American Airlines in the past, in the in-flight magazines, I've seen the University of Miami advertise some sort of online MBA with maybe two weeks in residence. That one was targeted towards Central/South America/Caribbean students and I think there might have been a bi-lingual component to it.

MIT OpenCourseWare

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-management/

I've used this before, and it's a pretty good resource. You can download the video lectures and watch on your phone during lunch at work.

Just do it the old fashioned way - take some night classes at your local community college.

If you like that, some of the schools like UH, UTSA, etc have robust MBA programs that you can do at night. They also have online delivery of some of their classes.

None of these schools are difficult to get into.

Thanks everyone!! This is all great info.

contact me... kourtney***AT***tamu.edu I may have a good option for you depending on the jobs you've had and roles you wish to have.

carano said:

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As I move up I am asked to do more things that involve business analytics. Obviously this is not my background. I don't want an MBA, but I really could use some education in this new world of responsibility.

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Do you work with SQL, Tableau, or other KPI dashboard tools? For your needs, I'm not sure an education certificate from a for-profit institution is the right play.

I agree with the poster who mentioned Udemy. Might also look into taking some SQL or Tableau online training courses on Lynda.com.

If weekends are open for you and your company is willing to help pay, I'd consider a Weekend Executive MBA (ideally not online). In addition to learning the quant skills, you'll gain a powerful network out of it.

Go through an EMBA program.