Freelancing and Travel

Question

Hoping I'm not duplicating any recent threads on here.

I'm currently in the process of preparing for MBA applications this fall (sitting GMAT in a few weeks). I won't go into much detail on my profile, other than to say:

Me: male, 28 years old, 4 years' experience in boutique corporate finance and private equity.

My query is as follows. I have been doing freelance / independent consultancy work outside of my day job for the past 12 months and this freelance work has now grown to a scale where I could support myself independently. In terms of income, I would be taking a reduction on the salary of my day job,   but  , it would allow me to take an extended period of leave and embark on some much needed travel and reflection.

To any admissions consultants reading this: what are your thoughts? Is this application suicide? Do you have any experience of similar situations?

VeritasPrepDozie · Answer

Honestly I would get into school then take this leave / travel. If you can score a R1 admit you will have tons of time for travel. For example I scored my first admit in December and did not have to formally come to campus until August. That's a lot of time to do whatever you want to do. It just would be a shame for you to field all of those questions or distract from your application. Now if your independant consulting aligns with a future career path then maybe this makes more sense for you

AugustAcademy · Answer

This is perfectly ok. Make sure the recommenders are not unhappy that you've left work. And make sure that you can show something tangible for the time you spend freelancing. You can show some valuable skills as a freelancer - marketing yourself, client interactions, negotiations, etc.

Wish you the best,
Karthik

Wish you the best,
Karthik

ARINGO · Answer

I would say that highly depends on what accomplishments (if any) you can count on during this freelancing period. You would want to have something tangible to show the adcoms, otherwise this could be quite a risky move.

It would also depend on why you feel you need to travel and your reasoning for travel and not something else being the solution to this situation. So feel free to reach out to us at ARINGO directly in order to discuss that if you want. You can reach us at  https://aringo.com/mba-process-registration/

JL

Admissionado · Answer

Basically sounds cool

As for how it would impact you and whether it is worth it, there's no "rules of thumb". You're gonna have to get into specifics. Often with freelancing, if you have a decent amount of work, it can be enough to "fill" a resume, and a trip around the world to explore can make for a far more interesting story than another year in the office. But once again, it depends on what you do, what you plan to do, etc. etc. etc. Feel free to hook up with us and chat your ideas out with someone: https://admissionado.com/free-consultati ... n=mba_blog Best, JF

Freelancing and Travel

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