Advice
Been thinking more and more about an MBA… Don’t have the “ideal” candidate profile however. Would it be a bad idea to apply even with about 1 yoe or wait it out a little longer?
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How could someone give you advice with such little information..... We don't even know your profile or post-MBA goals.
Apologies, work in a client services role, 1 year out of undergrad, mid 3 gpa wanted to do ib out of undergrad but never broke in so that would be the goal post mba if possible
Are you an Olympic athlete? Invented the next big thing? The next motivational person (As some people consider Malala Yousafzai/Greta Thurnberg?) Were you drafted into the NFL and became an MVP? Joined a company and somehow became a manager and above in less than a year?
If the answer to the above silly(extreme) questions are No - than you do not have a "unique" background to apply to an MBA program with only 1 YOE.
But it also depends which MBA programs you are aiming for. Top 30 will require average of 4-5 years of work experience. After top 35-40 I think it really falls out and MBA programs don't have much of stringent requirements. If you want an MBA with 1 YOE and none of the above questions apply to you, aim for a non-target shitty school.
Also - per your above response to the Associate. If you want to break into IB with limited experience - you are better off pursuing an MSF (MIT/Vandy//etc.. in USA) (LBS/LSE/HEC/Oxbridge/Bocconi/etc... in Europe).
looks at the evaluations of candidates on poets and quants
So I traveled across the US to find my ideal PhD or MBA, discussing both topics with professors, advisors, peers, and the web. After several months of driving, flying and hours of interviews - I decided not to pursue either.
However, it was a decent discussion and I gained valuable knowledge through this process.
While the top business schools are quite strict, they also have a lot of leeway in what type they are looking for. 1 year of experience is not high, but by the time you have prepared/researched, submitted and have your documents reviewed by admissions, this might as well be 2-3 years of experience. It's not like you are sending off your app and start the week after.
While the work experience isn't on your side, there might be other aspects you can use to sell yourself. This board is full with great ideas and, as mentioned above, poets and quants is a good source also.
You can still advance if you don't go to HBS, many good schools out there.
Thank you for this, really helps me put the situation into perspective
If you can afford to do it, drive to the schools (or fly) and take a look before going ahead with the entire scenario. Even the top-tier colleges had something about them in some locations that I really didn't like. Sometimes I didn't like the professors, or the other students, or the attitude of the school towards certain topics, or something else. It is important that you feel at home for the time you are there.
Also, speak to as many people as you can. This can be through WSO, discord, LinkedIn, your existing network, through college admissions, etc. - just speak to them and interview them for what they liked and what wasn't so great. WSO is a good source of data, but it is only one view.
I found huge problems when I asked certain people at the college f2f what they didn't like about the school or what they expected to be different. They went into the scenario just like me.
At the end of the day I didn't go for my MBA, but at least I really researched this and made an educated judgement call.
To give you an idea of the importance of work experience to your application: in my class at Booth, there was only 1 person who had fewer than 2 years of work experience upon matriculation. That person had a lot of internships and work during their undergrad years. Furthermore, that person had difficulty in recruiting compared to peers (but ended up in a good spot) because the companies that came to interview didn’t view them as experienced enough for many post-MBA roles.
So — be careful about putting yourself in a bad position. You only have one shot to do your MBA, don’t rush it if you don’t feel it is absolutely necessary.
I appreciate the perspective, it helps a lot. I should’ve prefaces by saying that I have 1 yoe in finance, I have over 4 years of full time work experience in an irrelevant field during undergrad. I left it out though as I thought that information isn’t relevant or won’t provide much substance
Can you explain exactly what you mean by full time experience in an irrelevant field during undergrad? From the perspective of admissions, I don’t think any full time work experience is viewed as irrelevant. Did you spend 4 years working full time in a manual labor job in order to pay for school? Was this a full time office job with the same responsibilities as a graduate? Something else? I think the nature of this work could be the difference between your work experience viewed as ‘too underdeveloped’ versus ‘not a concern.’
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