Just as a note though: Graduating from a top school will not guarantee a great job. You’d be just another person who wasted money on an overrated university.

Now the bad news — you have to make sure that everything is perfect.

Let me tell you what I have seen. I have an MBA from Duke, a PhD in Finance from Berkeley and have taught at three ranked MBA programs (MIT, Wharton and Maryland).

Top MBA programs care about your GPA, your GMAT, your work experience, your essays, your letters of recommendation and the quality of your undergraduate university. I’ve seen a lot of people who were weak in one area — but none that were weak in two areas. CSU schools are not very selective — and I saw very few CSU graduates at these schools. There was one Cal Poly grad in my MBA class — but that was it from the CSU system. There were several graduates from UC schools.

The students at these schools who went to less selective schools were perfect in nearly everything else. That means you can’t have any other weaknesses beyond going to a less selective school.

You will need a higher GPA than typical students, a GMAT score in the 700s, at least four years of good or unusual work experience and a great essay in order to get into a top MBA program.

This may not be what you want to hear — but is the truth. Keep working hard & you can make it. Good Luck