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Question

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AlexMBAApply · Answer

What are you looking to do post-MBA?

Remember that a lot of recruiters value pre-MBA work experience. Keep in mind that a lot of b-school students already have strong pre-MBA resumes and work experience, which is a big reason why they are so employable post-MBA. It's easy to give the "MBA" (which is just one line item on a resume) so much credit for what happens in the recruiting process, but again it's the folks who already have solid work experience in the first place who will have access to the most jobs.

mbaprep998 · Answer

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AlexMBAApply · Answer

The adcoms will really only consider your post-college full-time experience. What you did during school may be valuable life experience, and even valid business experience (i.e. Home Depot wants all its corporate staff to work retail during their first few years), but for b-school admissions, they are really looking for "office job" type corporate experience whether it's a big company or small one. So-called field experience like what you have at a major electronics store (I'm guessing you were a manager at a Best Buy or something like that?) is not going to be seen in the same light.

Again, life experiences like what you have can certainly make you a more mature person overall, but remember that b-school applications are still focused on who you are as a corporate professional, and that your personal situation and competence as a career professional are two separate things (not mutually exclusive, but not as much overlap as you may wish it to be seen in a b-school app). If it were a "life experience / school of hard knocks" contest, there would be plenty of single mothers, cancer/leukemia survivors, paraplegics, etc in school.

If you're looking at public sector / nonprofit, what I suggest is to start building up volunteer experience now. That will not only position you for a full-time position down the road in this world, but also give you experience for what it's like before committing yourself to a full-time career (because you may end up feeling that volunteering is where you'd be happiest, and not making it your sole job - again, that is something only you will know by getting more experience in it).

And while you're volunteering, continue working for a few years - gain some more corporate experience like you have now, and then consider applying to b-schools down the road. If you really want to apply now, go for it, but keep in mind that you'll have a tougher time in the job market post-MBA compared to your classmates (at any decent b-school) because of their perceived "quality of work experience".

mbaprep998 · Answer

Thanks for the input Alex. I did forget to mention the EC's a bit

2hrs a week at a homeless shelter (about 6months so far)
Contribute to a successful online blog that explores altruism from a scientific standpoint (sounds odd until you read it i guess haha)
Professional mentor program with my undergrad helping 2 freshman hoping to pursue a similar academic and career path as myself
Most recently - raised ~5k dollars so far for victims of the tornado in Alabama (I have a close friend who lost everything b/c of it)

Sorry I forgot to mention those.

But regardless, thanks for the insight!

AlexMBAApply · Answer

Sounds good -- continue to stay involved (or even up your level of involvement if you have the time) -- and see where that takes you. And through your involvement you may meet more professionals who work full-time in nonprofit, and it's through them where you'll really get a sense for whether you want to stay in public service as a lifelong thing (but on a volunteer basis), or to make it your full-time job. It may truly be your calling, or not (and no problem if it's not, because you can still make a huge impact even if it's not your full-time career).

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