Apply out of college?

The first factor to consider is whether your target schools will even consider applicants straight out of college. Most schools do require at least one year of work experience. I recently spoke with the Director of Admissions at Kellogg, who emphatically stated that they will not consider an applicant straight out of college. Two schools that are known for taking applicants out of undergrad are HBS and Stanford. I recently published an article in my blog, where Stanford's Dean Joss addresses the issue of age and experience and Stanford's interest in what they call "early career applicants".

https://blog.stacyblackman.com/2006/05/1 ... applicant/

If you do decide to apply to a program that will accept you straight out of college, there are several factors to consider as you develop your application. You will have to prove that you are on par with your older, more experienced peers in the following ways:
- maturity
- career focus
- confidence in contributing to classroom discussion and extracurricular life of school
- experiences to share with peers and enrich their experience
- evidence of leadership

Only a small percentage of individuals are accepted so early on in their career. This is partially because it is hard to prove all of the above when you have not developed any sort of professional track record. Your essays, recs and interview will have to work very hard for you to get the appropriate messages across. That said, if you truly believe you are ready, you may be successful in conveying that readiness to the admissions commitee.