3rd attempt 680 Q47 V36

Hi there,
To be honest I do think you need to identify your career plans first of all! The career plans/goals are what drive most MBA (and even a large% of MiM) applicants to GO to b-school in the first place, and admissions also likes to hear a well thought-out career plan. That is also a reason to consider working a few years first, as that often helps you identify your career goals. You don't want to regret anything about this in the future right.... and if you realize that you wish you'd worked some first then applied to an MBA from a top school, or done an MBA instead of MiM, or even identify an entirely new path... well then it will be a bit late for that. Just saying, do a lot of research and put a lot of thought into your choices!

And generally yes a higher GMAT WOULD still help at any point in the future, sure.

Here are a couple of articles about MBA vs MiM:

https://www.economist.com/whichmba/mast ... e-required

JenK was very cordial with her last reply. Frankly, if you do not have firm long term career goals, you will get eaten alive in an admissions interview and likely within your application responses at any solid MBA program. Respectfully, you should consider working for a year minimum, 2-3 better, in order to not only gain industry experience but also gain an understanding of what you want to pursue professionally down the road.

Much of the MBA experience is about networking and learning from others' professional work experiences in team settings (hence, you do a lot of case methods and most schools place you in diversified study groups for part or all of the program). This is precisely why schools have work experience requirements. Food for thought-- What could you bring to the table professionally if you do not have full time, post undergrad experience?

If you are dead set on grad school immediately after undergrad, do another program then go get your MBA few years down the road.

Hello vaceag2016

Thank you for posting. I guess I needed to hear what you said. I could really use some help here; I am extremely confused. I dont have a stellar GMAT score, but I am going to give it another try shortly. That leaves me with very very little time to start preparing on my application.

Also, although I dont have any full time work experience, I have been working in my family business for 4 years now. Does that count?

As for my career goal, I am not sure HOW to decide on that. I am in my final year, and I dont have much idea what kind of career after this would be suitable for me.

I have been doing some thinking, and I think that MiM might be more suitable for me. But then I am not sure whether an MiM degree will do much good.
Also, I am planning on applying to some of the Australian b-schools, I hear they're willing to accept students who have no professional work experience.

Can you share some thoughts on this?

Hi dn20,

What I was getting at, and not sure who vanceag2016 is, side note , is that in order to decide what sort of graduate program you even want to pursue, you should FIRST determine your career goals and/or path. It doesn't make sense to apply to a grad program, ESPECIALLY one like an MBA or other management type degree, without any idea of what you want to do. The MBA in particular is designed such that you learn as much from your classmates, in discussions, case studies, team projects, etc, as you do through lessons or curriculum... SO yes from an admissions point of view, the school is looking for full-time post-undergrad work experience to ensure that you'll be able to contribute to the learning of your classmates and add value to the class.

To some applicants who write in without a career plan, we may tell them you need to work on that asap and determine what your goals are, in order to have a chance in the admissions process. For you, that is still true, but I see it as one step earlier even than that for you... my advice is that you need to determine your next career steps in order to even DECIDE what type of grad program you'd like to aim for, step 1... even before we talk about admissions processes etc.

Now I agree-- how the heck do we decide what we want to pursue right??!! Big decisions.. but all you can do is try... think about options, consider what during your studies has interested you more..... what you excel at... are there career services or counselors that provide help to those doing your degree you could speak with? Are you interested in various types of engineering roles? If you just picture yourself in 5 years let's say... what sorts of jobs or paths seem to make more sense? Obviously there are a LOT of considerations here and you would benefit from some career related research and guidance. I'd also suggest speaking with people who do various jobs you may consider. If you stay stuck on the management idea.... as we are all saying, consider working first, in engineering or project management or again whatever you feel you're interested in and qualified for. And then try out a role and see what you think! You will learn more about your desired career BY working for a while, that is a key element to the work experience requirement too.

We do offer a 30 minute free career consultation, though it's more often utilized by those who do have more experience and are seeking advice on next steps, but you could consider it now or down the road, https://www.mbamission.com/consult/?dis ... r-coaching.

You could try for some local MBA programs that you know take people without experience, lower-ranked etc, but a) you'll still need a career plan to describe to admissions, b) you should really make sure that program is what you most need/want GIVEN whatever you want to try and achieve for your career, and c) just look at their employment stats and placements to ensure you feel it will give you the step you need... again even if you did that, you need to start thinking about applying for internships and/or post-MBA jobs quickly after getting to campus.... so no matter what way you look at it, figuring out a career plan is a first necessary step!! Good luck and keep us posted on how we can help!