I’m trying to get into an elite MBA school. I just concluded my junior year in my Business Analytics (Information Technology Concentration) BBA major at the University of North Texas. Note, this is NOT a standard MIS degree (those are a joke IMO); it’s more of a business-oriented quantitative analysis degree with an emphasis in computer science. My 4.0 GPA (all classes, ever) is still intact. I have 30 hours remaining after my 6 hours this summer. I want to be a business analyst, data miner, or systems developer upon graduation next May (2016). In addition, I am a tutor and TA for Business Statistics (the youngest one in the college of business) and am set to be the president of the UNT Eagle Pharmacy Association (pre-med/pre-pharmacy club of over 40 members) next year after standing as the vice president and president-elect this year. I can take the GRE or GMAT whenever I want.
How many years do I have to work full time in industry before applying to those elite graduate MBA schools?
(i.e., I have expertise in Java, COBOL/mainframes, object-oriented language, next year will cover CSS and HTML, in addition to my decision science plan which covers SAS, R, SQL, BI modeling, linear programming, and a few other odds and ends like that)
I was hoping more like 2-3 years, 3 maximum; I don’t want to be the old geezer there and I’d want the MBA and I’d like to have the 6 figure job for a couple years so I can save up to fulfill my long-time goal of buying (not mortgaging) a custom designed mini-mansion when I’m 29½ years old.
By the way, I will be graduating next May at 22 years, almost 2 months old.
The average age of most MBA programs is ~27. Of course that’s an average so I have had colleagues that have gone immediately after undergrad (typically had stellar internship experiences and academic performance from top tier institutions).
I went to a large public state university, not a top tier academic undergrad college. At worst, I want to be GRADUATING MBA school at 27 (May/June 2021). Also, that age you posted is an average; therefore, a mean, not a median or 50th percentile. Average implies mean which implies skewness. Just like you can say, the average graduation age for undergrad is probably 25-26 these days with all of the “non-traditional” (old as heck) ones that “went back to college” after getting married and having kids and working manual labor for 15-20 years. The same applies for MBAs, but you don’t have any party kids under 22 and you’re more likely to see oldies in their 40s get MBAs for a seniority based job promotion (i.e. central ______ officer) that requires an MBA as per company policy. These, of course, skew the average vastly. I’m more likely to be interested if I’m not older than the 50th percentile student, not the average.
You are making a lot of assumptions about your “calendar” and insulting people who are trying to help you on this forum.
What if you become ill? Are in a major accident, or can’t get the class you need to graduate? What if you can’t find a job when you graduate?
Saying that you will have your mini mansion at 29 ½ is really naive because you are making assumptions about a plan and on something that may not happen. Life is rough and unpredictable; you can make your plans, but that doesn’t mean that
Guess what? some geezer employers don’t trust people under 30.
Not counting chickens before they're hatched; just planning and preparing here.
Insulting, how?
If I become ill with a cold or flu, I'll take some azithromycin. If I become ill with a stomach flu, I'll take a few zantac (ranitidine) and suck it up there; no big deal, really. I hardly get sick anymore anyway, at least since I've been in college, because my immune system fought through 28 colds through 4 years in high school and is stronger now. And guess what? I was still the valedictorian of my class of 600+ in high school.
I don't drive, I don't even have a car; I walk to campus since I chose to rent a flat 2 blocks from the union circle. I only ride in a car like 3 times a year when visiting my parents or going back up to school.
I have all the classes planned that I need to graduate at the right time all set up perfectly. A close departmental advisor has confirmed this, even though I have pretty much self-advised myself throughout college. FYI, the chances I flunk a class are smaller than Texas getting snowed out on Memorial Day.
The professors and career advisors I am close to will set me up with a job at a nice corporation with a nice starting salary. I was easily the top student in all of my classes that are pertinent to my major and concentration (IT/programming, stats and the other quantitative classes), and the professors are senior lecturers with Ph.D's that speak to high-level companies in the area on a weekly basis.
I'm not naive. It's either going to work or I'm going to find an alternate way to work, perhaps through starting my own business. It's going to work and I'm going to achieve my goals. I just need help in figuring out the best way to get there.
Well, they are stupid. Seniority is absolutely the worst and most outdated means of promoting and hiring people for great job positions. Younger people, in spite of their outstanding achievements, accolades, expertise and amazing stress tested problem-solving skills, are neglected by some companies in favor of those that "have more experience" which is truly horrifying. I have news for them, all "experience" is not created equal, and those that didn't get promoted in the first place were probably failures at what they tried to do. The despicable retrospective criteria garbage needs to be federally eradicated, with a congressional legislation or an executive order or something. It's plain stupid.
@unthurricane2013 Do you even read what you write? You are being antagonistic to everyone that tries to help you. Take the advise with humility and decide whether to use/agree with it. Remember YOU are the one asking for help. Not the other way around.
@unthurricane2013 is going to have one heck of a time getting through MBA interviews LOL! You ask how many years of professional experience you need before applying to an MBA school…people give you an answer…then you go on to refute the answers that were given to you? How does that even make sense? How can you argue against an answer to a question with which you didn’t have the answer to?
Disclaimer I didn’t see his ignorant post about wanting to have a mini mansion, otherwise I wouldn’t have wasted any of my time.
@unthurricane2013 You need to remember that you are asking random people for advice. If you don’t like what people are telling you then feel free to ignore the advice and do whatever you want. However, I will tell you that the advice is sound and 3-5 years is a reasonable time-frame (my H went back to Wharton after 7 years of excellent work experience). Nobody here is precluding you from putting in applications earlier…
If you posted here to confirm to yourself that you are wonderful and top grad schools will be standing in line for you to attend, then have clearly come to the wrong place. In addition to a superior undergraduate record, you will need significant and meaningful work experience, outstanding recommendations, and very high GMATs to even be considered at a top MBA program. Plus you need to mature a bit.