Non-traditional question; after-work study - mng consultant

[vasilegogea]

Thank you for your time and consideration for my question!


In very few words, I have graduate this year from an Eastern European University and I am working full time as a management consultant. I intend to work in consulting for a few years and then pursue an MBA degree so I can leverage my experience to start and develop my own business.

In the mean time, however, I would be interested in pursuing the Masters of Liberal Arts degree from Harvard Extension School, concentrating in Government. I would like this mainly for the actual learning experience and that I am quite passionate about public policies, government etc and the program could allow me to take online classes in the evening, apart from my professional activities. (although I'll be required to spend 2 terms in campus, most likely at the Summer School for visa reasons)

My question is how would Admission Committees see this experience when I decide to apply for my MBA? Would this help? Would this hurt?

Some other background key info : GMAT 740 (although I will probably retake it, as I fell confided I can score higher), extensive student leadership experience during undergrad, teaching assistant and research experience during undergrad, 2 internships at leading industry and consulting firms during undergrad.

Any input would be more than appreciated.

Thank you for your time!

[rachel]

Hi! Something important in the business school application process is career flow. If gaining your master's is going to help your career, then it won't necessarily work against you. But you need to decide how this is going to help your career and what skills are you going to gain through that program. If there is too much overlap with some of the coursework in an MBA program, I would advise against it. But it doesn't sound like that will be the case at all. You just need to convince the AdCom of why this program was important for your career.

Best of luck,

Rachel Beck
http://www.mbamission.com

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