High work experience for 1 year MBA / PGP course

Hi Kanika,

Apologies that we somehow missed your post in our forum earlier!

Generally, AdComs for regular full-time MBA programs stick to a fairly tight band of years of work experience around the average that they publish on their websites (e.g. 4.7 years for HBS, 4.6 years for Stanford, etc.). The idea is that business school is designed to be a leverage point for early-career professionals who have a bit of work experience under their belts but who have long, hopefully successful careers ahead of them as business leaders.

Typically, we at Admissionado advise candidates who have more than 6 or 7 years of work experience to consider executive or part-time MBA programs instead. Not only do these candidates fit better with what those AdComs are looking for, but they're also more likely to find common ground with their classmates in these programs once admitted (for example, Wharton's executive MBA program has an average work experience statistic of 12 years). These programs are designed more for mid-career professionals who are less likely to switch industries at that stage of their lives, and more likely to rise within their current employers' corporate structure or within the same field that they've already built experience in. A candidate with 10+ years of work experience is unlikely to find much in common with full-time MBA classmates who are often 2 or 3 levels more junior than them and who may also be career-switchers. That being said, there are always exceptions -- Stanford publishes the range of work experience for their entering MBA class as 0-14 years! -- so we're happy to discuss your particular case with you in more detail if you'd like!

Hope that helps!

Best,

Doris