Hi earlycareer,
We actually work with a lot of early applicants. We take a theme-based approach to helping people put together applicants and we've found that doing so helps clarify things quite a bit. Your concerns are going to be:
- Will schools consider me coming straight out of school? (As in, will they give me a legitimate read?) My feeling is that a few - Stanford and Texas especially - will. Some others won't.
- Will there be concerns about my career path? One of the big reasons that young applicants get dinged is that they can't possibly land a post-MBA job, so it puts too much strain on the school. In your case, you are seeking knowledge and network rather than access to the recruiting pipeline, so the career concerns aren't going to be there. The fact that the company is legit only helps further your case.
- Will there be concerns about my ability to contribute within my class, cohort, and individual groups? If you get the fair read, you get past the job concerns, that leaves fit and assimilation. This is where a theme-based approach to your profile is going to be critical. Different schools care about different things and you will want to highlight strengths in those areas and mitigate weaknesses. Maturity, leadership, teamwork, intellectual capacity .. all critical, but the priority of what gets the most airtime will depend on the program.
You want to progress your way to question #3 and then you want to do everything you can to give them the answer of "yes" when they read your essays. I know, no pressure.
I hope that helps. Thanks for reaching out.
Respectfully,
Paul Lanzillotti
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