kguo7

i think it would be wise to have some business experience before receiving your Master of Business Administration.

Harro5

The students likely to be qualified are the sort of people who are candidates that the b-schools know will likely just be delayng an inevitable admission with three years work experience. You must essentially be the ideal candidate and it must be obvious that you have the leadership, academics and personality which will make you a success no matter what. The schools want to mould you and ensure that you represent them well, and they won't make silly bets on people coming straight out of undergrad.

For example, the only person I've seen profiled on a business education website who came stright out of undergrad (on the UK'S Financial Times site I believe) was an Oxford student with perfect grades and internships at the cream-of-the-crop I-banks in London. He got into Harvard. These aren't kids with 3.5 GPAs and a half-decent application who get in as 21-year-olds at the very best schools.

As for the OP, I would say that as a NW law grad, if you're the complete package then consulting firms and I-Banks would hire you without hesitation no matter your background. See the thread "Law school v. business school" in this section.

JimBob

Damn. I guess I shall sign up for Active Duty in the Army after I graduate from college. I suppose four years as an officer will do.

karan89

I'm not sure if this is relevent or not, but back in the mid-80s, after my uncle graduated from a university in India, he applied to a bunch of schools and ended up getting into Wharton without any work experience.

I'm guessing this has completely changed now?

dpa38d2u

Two friends of mine graduated #1 and #3 in their class from a state school, and they were accepted to HBS in their senior year. They still had to work for 2 years before enrolling though, although they did have summer work experience.

bluedevilmike

Am I correct in assuming that attendance at another graduate/professional school does not make up for lack of work experience?

Mr Payne

It will help you, but it certainly doesn't replace work experience.

Alexandre

There is no substitute for work experience. MBA programs expect applicants to have paid their dues in the real world. It is very difficult to gain the necessary maturity required for management without having worked...and lest we forget, MBA programs aim to produce business leaders. There are exceptions (roughly 1% of successful applicants), but by and large, there is no way around it.

VectorWega

It's just very rare. I'm sure it's especially rare for someone who went to school in India (given the large number of applicants from there).

If you graduated top of your class at Harvard, scored an 800 on the GMAT, or your father is Donald Trump, you might have a shot of getting in to a top business school without work experience.

jetski217

I'm new here, and I've been following this thread a bit. I will have my law degree at the end of this semester. I concentrated my course load around my passion: international law.

I was just accepted into Pepperdine's MBA program, which I plan to attend in the Fall. My work experience is very non traditional. Since graduating from college I went to work for my family's business to help develop their IT side of things (it's a small agricultural business that needed to get with the 21st century). I've worked there mostly full time since college graduation and all throughout my full time law school career. It's been tough and when finals come around, its inevitable that I take a month or so off from work.

Being that my work experience is non-traditional in the sense that I worked in IT (and I don't want to really work in IT any longer), I was wondering what finding a job will be like post-MBA. As I love law but hate the thought of being a lawyer, ideally I would like to work in some form of International Business (i.e. consulting, shipping companies, foreign trade). For anyone with knowledge, how difficult will finding a job (any decent job) be after graduation?

Also, what types of jobs would be available?

hedoya

yES AT LEAST 2 YRS

TheOneZ

I was about to make a thread like this, but luckily this was already created. I know I just got into college (still choosing between UCSD and UCBerkeley, personal reasons why I would match UCSD with Berkeley) this year, but I very much would like to attend a good business grad school. I won't undermine the idea that I need at least 2 - 5 years of work experience. However, will working full time while I'm at school be sufficient enough to enroll? It's not something random like McDonalds. I have two cousin's that are managers at two different Wells Fargo's, and I have a lot of connections. Either that or I could work with my mom who is the Chief Accountant and Financial Adviser of California's Health Services. Or dad who is the Senior/Top Accountant of Waxie. Either way I have a lot of choices. But, I remember reading on CC, that work experience obtained during college does not count as "work experience". Is that because people assume that most college students don't work full time or what? And I'm planning on graduating in 3 years. Which should give me about 2.5 to 3 years of work experience. First year might not be much, but I'm sure I can cook something up in a few years right? Also, would you say my plan is a bad idea or not? =/

Alexandre

Generally speaking, good MBA programs (by good I mean top 30) want to see "legitimate" work experience. In other words, a full time position with a professional title in a recognized company AFTER graduating from college. In other words, jobs that require a college graduate's maturity and analytical ability.

Besides, how can anybody work full time and be a full time student? Classes take 4 hours a day, studying takes another 4 hours a day and full time work takes roughly 10 hours a day. Are you saying you are not going to eat or sleep for the next 4 years? Helping mom or cousin cruntching numbers will definitely help and look good on your CV, but it will not give you the kind of experience MBA programs are looking for.

Trust me, we all want to be important and rich by the time we are 25, but unfortunately, MBA programs require a certain level of maturity and experience. There is a good reason why the average MBA student at top 30 programs is 28 years old.

VectorWega

I believe that business schools want applicants to have post-graduate work experience. ie. jobs that generally require degrees. Aside from that, I don't know how one could pull off working a full time job (without doing school work at the job) and graduate within 3 years with outstanding grades. You must consider that many of the people working full time jobs are working 50 to 60+ hours a week. I'm not sure how you are going to do that, and do your college work and line up internships/employment/MBA Apps/GMAT/etc.

Aside from that, your focus won't be (and shouldn't be) the job you have in college. It will be school. Just having that frame of mind will put you at a disadvantage.

Finally, I would hate to be going to business school with some 21-22 yr old that really knows jack@#$ about life and hasn't even used the undergraduate degree that he has.

I recommend busting your ass, getting internships, working during school if you want (while focussing more on school and fun rather than work), graduating from college early, and working a few years at a real job so that you can really discover what you like. You may discover that you don't need an MBA at all. Regardless, you will put yourself in a much better position than if you try to rush things.

TheOneZ

yeah.. you guys are probably right. Im glad I have people like you guys to look up to on these forums. Sometimes, thinks look so easy when written down on paper =/ ...

Oh well XD It was worth a shot.

Alexandre: What would you call "legitimate" work if one were to work at a banking facility?

VectorWega: Sorry if I sounded a little cocky =/ , I kinda forgot the fun part of college >.<;;. Thanks for reminding me ^__^