In the email below, one of the current group of Freshmen in the KLLC has reached out to ask about whether he should get some professional work experience before applying to business school. Given that he’s in his first year in an undergrad business program, this question is especially timely as it will allow him to plan out his next 3 years of studies in a certain direction. Read on below to see the perspective that I shared with him…
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ZB wrote:
Mr. Parker,I am a student in the Kelley Living Learning Center at Indiana University and I am very excited to hear you speak on Monday. I understand that you have extensive expertise in the realm of the admissions process for business graduate degree programs. As a student who just survived the lengthy undergraduate admission process and as a prospective business professional, I am somewhat eager to immerse myself into a hands on working experience in industry rather than diving right into a few more years of school. My question would be do you think it is advantageous to gain experience working for a company and then apply to business school; or is it ideal to apply to business school right out of an undergraduate program? Which of these do you think would be better in the long run? Thank you and I look forward to meeting you on Monday.
Sincerely,
ZB
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My response:
ZB,
I hope this message finds you well. I know that I said I’d cover this topic in person at my KLLC talk, but I’ve got some time during my commute and figured that I can send you an email response ahead of time.
Now on to your question… For someone like you who is a Freshman and knows that B-school is in your future, I highly recommend that you look ahead to getting professional experience before moving on to business school. Pre-MBA work experience offer several benefits, including:
- Opportunity to earn money to defray the costs of graduate studies (i.e., less student loans needed)
- Development of tangible skills in a “grown up” environment that were likely birthed in an academic environment in college
- Opportunity to learn from colleagues with a variety of educational and professional experience
- Practice at networking, career development, relationship building, and influencing “real adults” across different age categories
- Environment where one’s leadership acumen can be developed, nurtured, and demonstrated
While there are some people who apply to business school right out of college, it isn’t the norm, especially at top MBA programs. Business school is different from law school in that a major part of the classroom experience an learning involves the students talking about their pre-MBA work experiences and relating them to the concepts taught in class. If an MBA student goes straight to B-school after college, he or she will likely lack the prior work experience to make that contribution.
In some cases, a college student may have developed him- or herself so much during the undergrad years that he/she might not think work experience is needed before B-school. For those folks, I would never say that they made a bad choice by going straight into an MBA program. In fact, there were around 10 people in my class at Stanford GSB who did that. Just know that, if you go that route, you may face challenges, including:
- Scrutiny or skepticism from potential post-MBA employers
- Difficulty making value-added contributions to classroom discussions
- Issues with convincing classmates that you have just as much to offer in a study group or project team as others who might have work experience
- Lack of financial resources (from not having earned money to save up prior to matriculation)
Of course, these challenges aren’t impossible to handle, but you should definitely be mindful of them before making the plunge right into business school.
I hope this response covers all of the bases that you were seeking. If not, feel free to follow up with me in person when I get to Bloomington.
Take care and have a great day.
Marquis
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