Applying for an MBA Program: Experience Matters

For those applying for MBA programs at leading business schools, professional experience has never been more heavily scrutinized. Richard Burns asks MBA admissions directors at top business schools why all eyes are now on experience.

Experience matters. Whether applying for a job, or graduate education such as an MBA program, you’ll always be assessed on your experience, and how it can be applied to your chosen program or career.

“Employers are looking for well-rounded MBAs,” explains Shadi Kelly, MBA careers director at Ashridge Business School in the UK.

“Work experience prior to an MBA provides the student with a platform to build on during their studies. Students benefit from being able to refer to their own experience during classroom discussions and apply management theory to their existing practical knowledge.

“As the job market becomes more competitive and employers have graduates from a wide variety of schools to choose from, organizations are looking very closely at MBAs’ work experience.”

Growth of experienced applicants

According to the latest QS TopMBA.com Applicant Survey, global MBA applicants are gradually increasing their levels of work experience prior to applying to programs.
Across all regions, the ratio of applicants with five or more years of work experience has increased. Furthermore, the age of MBA applicants has increased by 0.7 years in 2012, to a global average of 28.3 years.

As Kelly points out, for those enrolling in an MBA program, an increased in the average amount of work experience possessed by their cohort is certainly a good thing.
The opportunity for MBA students to learn from each other’s prior experiences is one of the primary reasons for the degree being considered so valuable to an individual’s career.

An experienced and knowledgeable class allows for the sharing of ideas from multiple industries and backgrounds. As a result, in order to ensure high-quality learning for all, MBA admissions teams are particularly careful about whom they admit to their programs.

MBA experience: quality over quantity

“From an admissions perspective, when we look at how ‘place-able’ applicants are, we tend to look at the whole picture: the company where they worked, their tenure at the company, the type of work performed there, their progression along with their leadership and team management,” explains Regina Regazzi, executive director of corporate relations at UCLA Anderson’s Parker Career Management Center.

Regazzi emphasizes that in her experience, both recruiters and MBA admissions teams prefer quality over quantity. Quoting the number of years of experience in an industry might be impressive, but it’s what an applicant has done in those years that really matters.

At UC Berkley’s Haas School of Business, Lisa Feldman, executive director of the MBA Career Management Group, says that she has seen the most successful MBA recruiters genuinely making an effort to understand their potential new recruits.

“A smart employer will look not only at the quality and quantity of a candidate’s work experience but also at his or her character,” Feldman says.

“Gone are the days of ‘placement’, when how a student looks on paper and the requirements of a job were aligned for a successful match. Employers who hire our MBAs are looking for high potentials, and to do that they have to go beyond the resume to see the candidate’s real talent.

“Communication skills, curiosity, strategic thinking, and fit are critical for success in today’s organizations, and that can only be demonstrated through direct interaction.”