Message from a younger MBA aspirant planning to apply with no work experience

Hey there, everyone. I hope you’ve all had a nice weekend and are ready to tackle another week on the grind at work. Some of you may have noticed that my frequency of posting entries has slowed in recent weeks. I apologize for that, but I guess that’s what happens when work gets busy and the summer starts getting fun. I’m going to try to ramp up my posting going forward because my Inbox is filling up, but we’ll see how that goes as the summertime activities keep me busy. Gotta love having time for a real life, huh? 🙂

The message below is from an MBA aspirant who is planning to apply to business school with no work experience. As I’ve written on here before, this is no small feat, but it isn’t an impossible task. It just takes a well-thought out approach and a killer application. I’ve written several entries on this topic before, so I refer the reader to my archives. I hope the combination between my response below and my responses to others is helpful to this applicant.

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KP wrote:

“Hello Marquis,

I just started reading your blog. It’s very interesting. Hey, can you please help me to solve few of my confusions or questions? I am just 23 now. I graduated with a Bachelor in Pharmacy from India. Currently, I am in a 2nd year of PhD in Pharmacology in USA.
I want to go for an MBA from a good university. However, I have no work experience or business background. So do you think that I have no chances of getting into top MBA school in United States even though I get a very good score in GMAT? How tough would it be for me to get into Stanford GSB? I can get a very high score in GMAT. That’s what is in my hand. Other than that, I can produce any work experience.

I would appreciate your reply on this email.

Thanks
KP”

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My response:

KP,

I hope this message finds you doing well. I’m glad that you found my blog and see me as a resource for your questions. I won’t call myself an expert, but I hope that my words help to clear things up for you as you approach your MBA application process. It looks like you’ve got two questions, so I’ll address them in order.

First, it sounds like you’re wondering whether you have no chances at gaining admission to a top MBA program in the US with your profile. Nothing that you’ve shared in your email would make me think that you have “no chance” at admission, but it’ll be a challenge because you’d be a young applicant with no work experience. But, just because it’s a challenge, it doesn’t that you CAN’T get into a good US school. You’ll just have to do your part to find the right school for yourself and put together as strong an application as possible. Getting a very high GMAT score would certainly improve your chances of admission into a top program, but don’t underestimate the challenge presented by that test. It is no small roadblock to make it through that test, but, if you can perform well on it, you’ll be able to present a much stronger case to gain admission. As I’ve mentioned before on my blog, I believe the most important part of the MBA application is the candidate’s position (i.e. the MBA story). In your case, you’ll have to convince the admissions teams that it makes sense for you to pursue an MBA following your PhD in Pharmacology. I’m guessing that this sort of transition makes sense in your own mind, but you’ll have to figure out a way to articulate that story and have it be believable. Check out the archived entries on my blog for advice on developing your MBA positioning. I’d recommend that you focus on this part of your profile for the immediate future until you’re sure that MBA story is as tight as possible.

Your last question was about how tough it would be to get into Stanford GSB and my short answer is that it would be VERY tough…but that’s not because of your application profile. Frankly, it would be difficult for anyone to get into the GSB because of its small class size and low acceptance rate. With that said, it will be even harder for you due to your lack of work professional experience. You would have to make a hell of a case for why you should be accepted over other applicants who may have as much as 5-10 years of work experience backing them up. This is a common concern for younger applicants and you should be mindful of it for every school you’re targeting. I’ve written several blog entries offering advice for yonger applicants in the past, so I’d suggest reading through my archives to see if you can pull any insights from them.

Good luck on your MBA applications. As I mentioned above, Stanford GSB is an incredibly difficult school to get into, so set your expectations correctly going in…I truly do wish you luck on that GSB application though. Take care.

Marquis