ad_girl25 wrote:
Hello, longtime lurker, first time poster.
Recently wrote GMAT - did very well. Have high GPA, good work and extracurricular experience, can prob get excellent recommendations. Confident about my b-school chances. I'm thinking of applying to an MBA next year (2007).
But here's the thing: I'm totally, completely burnt out at my job. I'm thinking of quitting (on good terms of course) and taking some time - several months, maybe even a year - to travel around the world.
The way I look at it is, after going to business school and then hopefully getting recruited and starting the next stages of my career, I won't have any more opportunities like this one. And hey, you're only young once, right? I love to travel and if I have one regret in life, it's not doing more of it when I was younger (in undergrad and before).
But by doing that, would I totally kill my chances for admission into a top business school? Would adcomms look at this big gap in my resume and dismiss me out of hand?
They wouldn't dismiss you out of hand. And it would also depend how you portray this year. If you spend it on exotic beaches, I don't see it is as being very helpful to your admission efforts. If you portray as a year of growth, interaction with different cultures, adventure, perhaps some volunteering in a needy corner of the world, it could add to your profile, especially if you have a lot of work experience to date and little int'l exposure.
Here is a less risky possibility (especially valuable if lying on the beaches is what you had in mind), although one that would not provide the short-term satisfication of quitting quickly: Apply first round next year and then leave on your round-the-world trek. The disadvantage of this approach is that you would have to make some arrangements ahead of time for interviews. Think about it.
Good luck!
close
03 Nov 2005, 19:58
