Top MBA programs w/ little or no working experience?

Question

Has any1 here gotten into a top MBA program with little or no working experience? I am a recent college graduate and interested in going to B-school next year, and thus I wont have any work experience.

Ludacrispat26 · Answer

Also curious as to this

strikethree · Answer

Another post about it here:
is-experience-needed-95475.html

As I posted there, it would be a significant handicap for you if you apply with zero working experience. In fact, some schools like Tuck prohibit those with less than 2 years of working experience from applying.

Even top business schools that are known to be more lenient towards younger applicants have average WE of 4 or more years.

If you really want to apply early, then I suggest you find a job (that somehow relates to business) and stick with it for at least 2 years.

If you have the time and money to waste, came from a top undergrad, perfect GPA (3.8 at the very least), perfect GMAT plus endless awards and connections then maybe you can try applying now. (I believe it also helps if you were successful in making your own start up company) Again, this is for the top business programs. There are probably programs out there that don't rely heavily on WE but that's not the case for the top tier schools.

peppermuncher · Answer

There's the Harvard 2+2 program, and Stanford admits college seniors as well.

krussell · Answer

I disagree.

I know some will just write you off with little work experience, but if you have too much they might not want you. You're there to learn, not share your expertise with the teachers.

When I applied, I only had 2.5 years total, and I don't think it hindered my application anywhere.

strikethree · Answer

Harvard's 2+2 is for juniors and they will still need to log 2 years of work.

Stanford is known to accept younger applicants but I still don't think the number is even noticeable. (I've read that the top schools accept literally handfuls, 1-10 each school, of straight from undergrad students) They say they'll look at applicants -- that does not mean the applicants are going to be accepted. If the chance of going to a top school is 10%, what would the chance be for those with no experience? Much less I'd imagine -- would it even be worth the time, effort and money?

Does anyone have any anecdotal evidence of the contrary? I've heard of those who quit undergrad, got jobs/joined the army, went back to undergrad and then straight to b-school but never heard of anyone going to b-school straight from undergrad alone.

strikethree · Answer

I agree with you're second statement. 2 years seems to be the minimum for applicants (for those who want to stand a good chance of getting accepted).

But, the question is  zero/little  work experience. (Little as in less than 2 years) Especially in the OP's case of no experience at all. The MBA is supposed to train your managerial skills (How can you lead when you've never had a job before?). Yes, too much experience might be a bad thing because the MBA won't help much but I think the opposite is true too: Too little experience means you bring nothing to the table. A lot of schools use the case method and have students learn in groups where they can share their experiences in their respective fields.

What's more important is that schools will definitely scrutinize the rest of your application more than they would if you were an experienced applicant.

Work experience also gives you time and reasons to access your career and life goals. You would have more to say in your interviews and apps. Maybe you might change your mind about getting an MBA...

I'd also imagine it could adversely affect your recruitment process. MBAs with no job experience don't look too attractive compared to those with experience.

shadow · Answer

it's going to be tough anywhere with 0 full time work experience. if you look at the admission statistics for most of the top schools, inevitably they will list the age range and work experience range, and you'll usually find at least 1 student with 0 work experience. this doesn't mean that they are necessarily receptive to them, however.

i think the most notable top school that accepts younger applicants is HBS. when i visited their campus last fall, you could see in the classes and around the campus that the ratio of younger (aged 24-25) to older students was much higher than at other schools. there have also been a few articles and threads about this phenomenon as well. however, applying out of undergrad is generally not recommended for top schools; smaller regional schools may accept you straight out of undergrad, but the types of job opportunities between those schools and a top national school will be markedly different

novanative · Answer

I just don't see how someone with no full time work experience of any kind can be a great help in the business school classroom. I think someone who worked full time or close to it while in college and then went straight to b school can be a big plus however.

Either way, I am certainly in the camp that it's in someone's best interest to work a number of years before going to professional graduate school.

If there is a professional graduate school for people (without hard science degrees) with no full time experience, it's law school. At most of the Top 50 law schools, at least 2/3 (if not even more) of the student body is either right out of college or at most a couple years out of school.

vbooqueen · Answer

I have just one year of work experience but I want to do my masters right now. I know that most of the colleges accept students with more than 3 years of work experience but due to some personal reasons I would prefer doing my masters at this stage itself. Is there any course which is offered for students like me? Most of the good colleges I came across demands more than 3 years of experience.

mayurvakil · Answer

Yes there are many good colleges abroad which offer courses to people with less work experience such as S P Jain school of global management, LCA business school etc.

vbooqueen · Answer

Where are these two colleges which you mentioned?

mayurvakil · Answer

I guess LCA business school is in London and S P Jain School of global management has their campuses in Dubai, Singapore and some other city as well.

vbooqueen · Answer

Thank you so much for helping me out.

Ahstrombone · Answer

I already have a BBA in Financial Analysis(GPA 4.0). I am working on a Second Bachelors in Music Education. I have 8 months of work experience in the corporate world. I am legally blind and I spent two months in a rehab program for the blind. The way things are going i could score upwards of 740 on the GMAT. My story is more interesting than you could imagine. Do I have a shot at a top Business School?

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Admissionado · Answer

Hello hello!

Well, you have a few options here:

1. Specialized MBA programs like HBS 2+2, Yale Silver Scholars, Stanford Deferred (they are all quite different, so have a look at those first)

2. MiM programs (Mostly in Europe and Asia) like LBS, HEC... they are Management programs designed for people with no to little experience.

3. Wait two years.

Personally, unless you have a really good reason to rush, I'd say choice three is the best because I think an MBA serves you best after a few years of experience, and if you ABSOLUTELY must go to school now, you have a lot of other Masters that don't require experience (Masters in Finance or Psychology or Computers of whatever) which might also be able to boost your career.

Best,
Jon

Top MBA programs w/ little or no working experience?

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