We recently wrote about a shift in MBA admissions where more adcoms are loosening up and seem to be more willing to consider younger candidates for admission.
Now, before you get too excited: They still need to be convinced to admit.
If you have a lower GMAT score (for them) or a not-great GPA (for them) then it’s going to be quite difficult to get an interview invite if you also have only two years of work experience today, and nearly impossible if you only have one. They need to see the whole package.
And, that doesn’t mean that you can simply have a high GMAT or high GPA and expect that alone to be sufficient. Those datapoints need to be combined with evidence of achievement across the board, certainly in terms of the college experience (showcasing leadership and a high level of community involvement or significant internships or extensive study-abroad or perhaps a non-typical course of study). And the profile needs to offer evidence of achievement professionally in the time since you’ve graduated, which often is harder to convey, because as you well know, anyone in their first job after college is by definition kinda useless. 🙂 You’re in learning-mode, not contributing-mode, since you’re so new. If you’re in a highly constrained environment like ibanking or consulting, then often it can be tougher to find the opportunities to contribute beyond your peers — though if you are doing that, then you’re impressing your managers and you’re definitely going to be on a track for success with the adcoms as well.
That’s actually a good heuristic to use:
If you’ve done something that’s impressed a manager or supervisor or mentor, then it’s quite possible that it’s going to add value for your MBA apps too.
If you’ve done something that’s made your mom proud, well, maybe that makes you MBA material. But the Mom Factor is less likely to be a reliable yardstick to know if you’ve got the chops and, much more important, the readiness to try for a top MBA program when you don’t have as much work experience yet.
The reason that the MBA adcoms require some post-college experience in almost all of their admits is that you’re jumping off the deepend when you step foot in an MBA classroom. Not only is it sometimes overlooked that business school is grad school which is by definition not college and thereby means it’s way harder — but also you’ll be in the classroom with all these very accomplished young professionals. You’ll need to carry your own weight on a team project with someone who’s coming in from private equity and someone who’s done consulting for five years and two different international students with very different backgrounds. You need to be able to contribute to classroom discussions on business-y topics.
That’s why the programs that these schools have launched that allows college seniors to apply are all about starting in a future entering class. They’re not admitting college seniors to the next class that starts in the Fall. They’re saying, “Yeah, we’d love to have you! Just not now. Go get some experience under your belt and then you can start here later on, when you’re really ready.”
If you want to apply for an MBA with only one or two years of formal work experience today, then you an absolutely give it a shot, but some schools will be nervous that you may not hold your own in the fast-paced environment.
An even greater risk is that you simply won’t be at a place in your life where you can make the most of the opportunity. One common regret we hear from candidates applying from overseas is that they went straight to business school in their own country immediately post-college, and they got an MBA or MBA-equivalent, and they did it before working professionally at all. And then after being in the workforce for a few years, they recognize that they didn’t make the most of the business education because they didn’t have a full foundation of business experience to leverage.
It’s like getting winning a promotion of free ice cream every day for a month…. in February. While ice cream is wonderful any day of the year, you might really like that free ice cream month to happen in August.
Timing is everything.
A critical success factor if you’re trying for an MBA with less formal experience in the work world is to simply show the adcom why now is the time for you to go do it. How are you ready? What examples can you play out for them to demonstrate that you’re ahead of your peers in maturity and ability and go-getter-ed-ness? These are the facets of a strong application that will get someone outside the average profile noticed by these schools.
Got questions that we can help with? Lay ’em on us — or go for the Comprehensive Profile Review which will give detailed and personalized insights into your exact situation and the timing you’re trying for.
No matter what: Good luck, BSer! This is an exciting adventure you’re embarking upon.
Want to see more of our posts on this topic? Check out the ‘snarchive of younger applicants to MBA programs here and here’s a subsequent post: “Will applying now hurt my chances?”
Tell us what you think.