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Working for a year or 2 as an engineer isn't going to be good enough work experience for getting into a top MBA program, try 5 or 6
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<p>Oh, I don't know about that. I know a number of engineers at HBS, Stanford, and MIT Sloan who have only 1-2 years of experience as an engineer. This is especially so at MIT Sloan, which seems to be club central for engineers who want their MBA's, including a significant number of engineers with only 1-2 years of experience. I don't think anybody would dispute the notion that HBS, Stanford and Sloan are top MBA programs. </p>
<p>I would also shy away from any words like 'need'. The fact is, there are a small handful of students at the top MBA programs who don't have ANY work experience. There are people who get their MBA right after undergrad. There are people who get their MBA right after getting a master's degree in some other subject, or after their PhD. Some schools even have special programs that allow you to do this. For example, Wharton allows a few of its undergrads to 'submatriculate' into the MBA program, hence getting a BS+MBA in 5 years. Most of these submatriculants will obviously have very little full-time work experience apart from perhaps summer internships. The MIT chemical engineering department has a special program, the so-called "Chemical Engineering Practice School Program", in which students not only receive the PhD, but can also work to receive a joint MBA from the Sloan School if they fulfill certain requirements and spend an extra year at MIT. Most PhD students don't have any work experience (studying for your PhD does not count as work experience).</p>
<p><a href="http://undergrad.wharton.upenn.edu/policies/submatric.cfm%5B/url%5D">http://undergrad.wharton.upenn.edu/policies/submatric.cfm</a>
<a href="http://web.mit.edu/cheme/graduate/phdcep.html%5B/url%5D">http://web.mit.edu/cheme/graduate/phdcep.html</a></p>
<p>Nevertheless, I agree that it is extremely difficult to get into a top MBA program with no work experience. Not impossible, but very difficult. Most admittees will have significant experience.</p>
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What do Ibankers do?
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