I saw the other thread about age to apply, and was wondering if there's like a golden rule of the years of experience you must have before applying. Let me share my thoughts, I'm a banker/investment analyst and if I have to make a judgement call on which year to apply, I'd say the 3rd year would be most appropriate because we associates start to take some project managing responsibilities in year 2, and the 3rd year and 4th year would look like pretty much the same, so why not apply early. I'm curious about what you guys think on this subject?
The most appropriate amount of WE has two folds, it must make sense to yourself, and it must must sense (or at least looks reasonable in your essay) to admission committees. And of course, it might differ among industries. I guess banking and consulting applicants usually have fewer years of experience than others, things like that.
What do you guys think?
Putting aside the admissions considerations, potentially having an employer pay for it, and using the MBA as an opportunity to change career paths, I don't think the benefits of working for a few years then going back to school are worth it.
You come out of school, going from probably being broke to making respectable money. You spend 1-4 years in one job, maybe two. Then, as you hit your stride, you stop making money and go back to school. The downside of having to go from full-time paychecks to no income and forking over money for school doesn't make sense to me.
We don't tell law students go out and work for a few years before law school and we don't tell med students to go out and work a few years before med school. But we tell business schools to go out and work before business school.
Now, if it makes you a more attractive candidate, you use it to change career paths, or your employer will pay for it, I think it makes sense. I just think the, "go work so you'll have relevant experience" bit is very exaggeratted. Especially if you've been working/interning throughout school.
Excuse my tangent, OP. If there's a certain school you want, I'd take a look at admissions data if available. All else being equal, I think it's generally better to go sooner rather than later.