MBA, High GMAT, Very Poor Work Expirience

[AZ679]

Hi,

Here is my profile:

Undergrad: Engineering
GPA: 3.2/4
GMAT:720
Work Experience: 2 months

How are my chances for getting admission (and possibly some funding) from top 30 schools?

A general question: does applying for MBA without work experience make sense?

Thanks

[mbamissionjenK]

Hi there,

Thanks for your post, though the info we have is quite limited. Overall though it can be challenging to gain admission to business school, and likely more so at the higher-ranked programs, without solid work experience. The reason for this makes sense... much of your learning at b-school happens from your classmates... so schools want to make sure that every student brings some work experience and perspective/insight to share in classroom discussions, team projects, case studies etc. Without that experience to draw from, the lessons learned also may not quite resonate as well. The average admitted applicant at top programs has 5 years of full-time work experience post-undergrad, fyi. There are some programs aimed at VERY top undergrads (such as HBS 2+2, Yale Silver Scholars etc), and most schools don't officially REQUIRE a certain amount of work experience, but it's just quite difficult to get admitted without it. At some schools outside the top 30-50, that can be a different story. But depending upon your overall career goals, it may benefit you to get some work experience first anyway, which will also help you to better determine and refine your own future career plan.

Good luck making your decisions! Let us know how we can help further.

[AZ679]

Thanks Jenifer,

So MBA is not a program in which students ONLY learn some theoretic or practical knowledge from course instructors, right?

I have heard that even MBA course instructors (typically professors) also might benefit and learn from the work experiences of their MBA students. Is this correct?

[mbaMissionKate]

Hi there,
What Jen said is absolutely right...there is a lot of learning from your peers in MBA programs. I'm not aware of any schools that use a strict lecture method only about theory...most use a mix of lectures, case studies, team projects, hands-on consulting work, etc. Of course it varies by course (e.g., Accounting may be more theoretical than a Leadership course) and there are some exceptions, like Harvard or Virginia which only use the case method.

Your second question is interesting...I suppose it's possible that a student could have work experience in a particular industry or with a particular company that might be enlightening to a professor but for the most part the reason for schools wanting that work experience is for peer-to-peer learning.

Hope this helps!

[AZ679]

Hi there,
What Jen said is absolutely right...there is a lot of learning from your peers in MBA programs. I'm not aware of any schools that use a strict lecture method only about theory...most use a mix of lectures, case studies, team projects, hands-on consulting work, etc. Of course it varies by course (e.g., Accounting may be more theoretical than a Leadership course) and there are some exceptions, like Harvard or Virginia which only use the case method.

Your second question is interesting...I suppose it's possible that a student could have work experience in a particular industry or with a particular company that might be enlightening to a professor but for the most part the reason for schools wanting that work experience is for peer-to-peer learning.

Hope this helps!

Thanks Kate, great help

Yes, indeed I didn't mean that they require work experience so that the course instructors could learn from students, but when someone has spent several years, for example, in the marketing section of a successful company/startup, he/she might have some interesting insights for instructors as well.

As my last question: Does any kind of work experience count, e.g. working as an English or math teacher for a few years?
Or MBA programs are mostly interested in positions of business function, e.g. marketing, accounting, analyst, etc.?

Thanks,

[mbamissionjenK]

Most b-schools will accept candidates with a wide range of pre-MBA work experience. Again getting some professional experience under your belt is still important, and yes large number of incoming students will have experience in business-related fields, namely finance, consulting, general management, accounting, marketing. There's a growing number of engineers going back to b-school, but there are also small numbers of teachers, lawyers, doctors, you name it. In general having some people & project management skills helps; leadership is very important especially at top programs; some quantitative and analytical skill and experience is pretty important. And overall no matter where someone comes from, the 'story' they share of why they are applying must make sense... your past + the MBA should lead to your future career goals in a fairly logical way. Hope that helps and good luck!