<p>I am a business professor and mom. I understand the OP’s concerns, but also echo other posters who stress that life cannot always be planned in a linear way.</p>
<p>It is true that the top MBA programs now have student profiles where 5-6 years of prior business experience is average. That’s not the way it was in the 1980’s. However, there are a few top MBA programs that are more willing to take on outstanding students with much less business experience–or none at all. For example, both Stanford, Harvard, and U. of Chicago admit small percentages of students straight from undergrad–but, they are amazing applicants.</p>
<p>You might think about a business career that does not require an MBA. The best example is accounting, where a CPA is the ticket. We see very few MBAs who are accountants and want to stay in the profession. </p>
<p>Good luck! Your parents are lucky to have a child who is thinking ahead and so thoughtful!</p>
<p>I am interested in pursuing an MBA. I will have my advanced degree(s) and plan to start my own business by age 30. </p>
<p>You only need at least 2-3 years of work experience after college. 5-6 years is extreme now if you’re a female. Most colleges, especially Harvard, have realized women have different social and biological needs. If you know what you really want, there’s no reason to wait.</p>
<p>I also want to add some of the best and well-known female entrepreneurs are mothers who run their own businesses. They had a solid business plan and did not let childbearing in their 20s and 30s inhibit them.</p>
<p>As others have noted…check again on that 5-6 years average experience. If you’re looking at schools that also have part-time programs…the part-time students could be scewing the work experience data</p>
<p>I am a liberal arts graduate who started a full time MBA program 3 years after getting my BA. I’m glad I have the combination of liberal arts with the MBA…but…the MBA hasn’t been critical for any of the jobs I’ve had, except the very first after that degree (corporate training program that only hired MBA’s…but program ended 1 year after I started when company was bought by a conglomerate that didn’t have a management training program!)</p>