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Yes, ideally you'll have at least 3 years of experience before you enter b-school (so, at least 2 years when you aplpy). Re: knowing what you want to do, schools will expect you to be fairly focused and to have a reasonable plan. You don't need to have a 10-year career plan mapped out, but will need to be able to talk intelligently about what kinds of opportunities you will want to puruse post-MBA.

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quixx23 wrote:
Yes, ideally you'll have at least 3 years of experience before you enter b-school (so, at least 2 years when you aplpy). Re: knowing what you want to do, schools will expect you to be fairly focused and to have a reasonable plan. You don't need to have a 10-year career plan mapped out, but will need to be able to talk intelligently about what kinds of opportunities you will want to puruse post-MBA.

Scott


Hi Scott,
Does 3 years of experience give leverage on school admissions or is it a matter of what you learn in those three years helping with your business school success, and ultimately post business school success?

I'm currently working as a software engineer, should I be continuing with that or should I be looking into more managerial positions?
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Quality definitely matters more than quantity, but most applicants can't get good leadership experience in less than three years. Definitely try to take on leadership roles at work as much as you can.

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quixx23 wrote:
Quality definitely matters more than quantity, but most applicants can't get good leadership experience in less than three years. Definitely try to take on leadership roles at work as much as you can.

Scott


Ah so leadership roles are very important! And I guess those learned at work are the most important. At my current job I don't think I'll be able to have much leadership role opportunities, I may need to find a new job in things such as R&D where I can lead a whole project.

I am thinking of joining the Kiwanis in my area, since I have been in Circle K. This may give me the opportunity to volunteer and take on more leadership roles as well.

I have also read a bit about letters of recommendation. For my law school applications, I have 3 letters from professors from undergrad, but for business school I will need letters from employers? I know the C.E.O. and Vice President of my company, but I never really directly work with them. I have a supervisor who is our "software architect" who manages everyone and is actually pretty darn brilliant. I work very closely with him, but I don't think he has an M.B.A. (a ph.d and a P.E. yes). What qualities am I looking for in a person who I will ask for a letter of recommendation from?

Also, how weird is it for a software engineer to ask for letters of recommendation for business school. Is it often that engineers to want to go that route? I know for law school very few computer science b.s. majors ever applied. What is the range for business schools lately?

Thank you for all of your help so far!
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Not weird at all for you to ask for letters of reco for b-school. Engineers go to b-school all the time. As for who writes your recos, b-schools definitely prefer people you worked with over professors. And try to make it peopel who know you well, not people with fancy titles. It's most important that they be able to give specific examples about why you're great.

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quixx23 wrote:
Not weird at all for you to ask for letters of reco for b-school. Engineers go to b-school all the time. As for who writes your recos, b-schools definitely prefer people you worked with over professors. And try to make it peopel who know you well, not people with fancy titles. It's most important that they be able to give specific examples about why you're great.

Scott


Hi Scott,
Thank you so much! You've definately given me a good foothold on what to do from here on out.

I was wondering if you may have any collegues or friends who were engineers who then went to Business School for the M.B.A. who I may be able to ask more specific questions to?

thank you!!!
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