Quitting my job early pre-mba

Question

I have been admitted to 2 of my target programs and plan to submit my deposit by this weekend.

My plan is to quit my current job by April and travel for a couple months pre-mba. Does anyone think this will put my acceptance in jeopardy? When I applied in round one, I said I would have 67Months of full time experience before matriculation on my application. If I were to leave my job in April, I would have 64 Months and the schools are likely to catch this with the background check.

Should I ask admissions before I do this? or is this pretty common? I'm really excited about school and want to ensure no hiccups during the wait period.

kple12 · Answer

I've heard it's pretty common. When I was visiting schools, a lot of the current students with jobs lined up said they quit their jobs early to enjoy some time off before grad school. One individual who now works with Mckinsey said they took off 6 months to explore the world.

I think it's fine as long as you tell your admissions just so there are no surprises.

johnkim410 · Answer

Wouldn't this be a problem though? Years of work experience is a key statistic listed on all bschool websites and I'm assuming admissions wouldn't want a ton of incoming students doing this.

Admissionado · Answer

No. It won't matter at all. You gave them a number based on what you projected giving the info you had. And anyhow, you are in! (congrats!) They are happy to have you! And finally, as kple wrote, lots and lots of people take 1-3 months off to prepare themselves and their move. It's pretty normal.

fergsonfire · Answer

I wish I could do this, but I will be working up until the week before I move up for school. I will just have to do all my traveling at school.

johnkim410 · Answer

Anyone have thoughts on if i should tell admissions if it's say 3months?

Or it's immaterial and I shouldn't bother them with small stuff like this?

missxmelon · Answer

Though I think taking time off to travel is immaterial news, it doesn't hurt to let your school know. I would just drop them a short note about your travel plans.

jlgdr · Answer

Kind of in a similar situation here,

Is there any issue if you quit working after receiving the admission decision? I plan to work until Jan 4th and my decisions will come on the week of Dec 15th. I already know that if I'm dinged by both school I'll be heading to CBS, but I was wondering it there would be an issue when the guys from the BG check call and HR tells them that I no longer work there because I left in Jan 4th. (I'll try to do the BG check as quick as possible after admission but these guys take their time). The reason I'm leaving soon is b/c I want to start a Pre-MBA internship asap.

I think it would look a bit awkward to send a note to my school of choice telling them I decided to do other stuff for a couple of months so early. Not sure if its necessary or what's the best approach here.

Thanks

Cheers
J

Admissionado · Answer

Well, why would it a problem for BG check? I mean, the BG check will check your BG, and you wrote the truth up until the moment you applied that you were at firm X, and you were. And decided to do something else once you knew you were accepted. All is well and good.

Best,
JF

CriticalSquare · Answer

It really won't be a problem - a lot of folks take sabbaticals prior to bschool and they don't tell their programs. It isn't that you're trying to hide it but if you want to be ultra transparent, just drop them a note. But you'll already have signed and paid them money. You'll be good to go!

Bhavik

Bhavik

Quitting my job early pre-mba

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