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Planning to quit job and apply for MBA Program

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Planning to quit job and apply for MBA Program

by vasaka » Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:09 pm
I am an IT Indian Male with 6 yrs experience, 2.5 yrs in US. Have performed well in lead roles and executed many successful projects. I took GMAT early this year and got 710 (50,36) AWA 6/6.

But now I am not satisfied with my current role and want to take a break from work for one year before I join any B-School in Aug/Sept 2010. I plan to give GMAT again to score 750+ and then use rest of my time in learning new things like financial subjects, Project Management and Leadership concepts ( PMP certification) and improve my English vocab etc. In nutshell, I want to do self learning and studies to prepare myself before I join any B-School. I also want to learn other things like Cooking, yoga and meditation and even fitness training etc during this time to enhance the quality of my life. With my current job profile, I would never get time to do all this. But one thing I might lose is professional recommendations. I want to spend this time staying with my parents and really do some community service that I realized as something I have not done much yet.

My question is that can these plans have any negative impact on my application process? Will the adcoms look at this gap negatively or some kind of weakness. ( I resigned in Jan 2009 before I gave GMAT but took my resignation back after looking at the recession going so bad) I am also aiming for a full scholarship and thats why planning to take GMAT again. My target Bschool are among top 15 US B-schools and I am still working on shortlisting the final list.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions !
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by Graham » Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:01 pm
Dear Vasaka,

Thanks for your post!

The short answer to your question is that you should NOT quit your job until after you've applied (and ideally been admitted) to business school. There are many reasons for this:

1) Applying to business school while unemployed raises all kinds of questions in terms of explaining the gap in employment - e.g. it will add an unnecessary layer of complexity to your file.

2) If you attempt to tell the whole truth - e.g. that you needed the time off to work on the GMAT, apply to school, take business courses, etc. the adcom will wonder why so many other applicants are perfectly capable of juggling work and MBA applications whereas you've needed to halt your professional career in order to do so. This will reflect poorly on you.

3) Imagine a scenario where you quit your job and apply to top-15 schools this fall and do not end up with an offer. This is certainly possible in light of the level of competition in the applicant pool (and the fact that you are in an over-represented group as an Indian IT male). If that were to happen, you've then 'lost a year' in the workforce - making you less attractive to potential employers (since it's always easiest to find work when you already have work). You've also then created an uphill path to MBA reapplication (since you won't have any new professional experience to point to in the following year's applications, etc.).

If you are truly anxious to leave work and prepare for business school while pursuing hobbies and spending time with family, my advice is that you apply to a number of programs in the very first round (October). If you do this, you will have the vast majority of your results before Christmas, at which point you can then quit your job and take the time from January-August to explore your passions and prepare for school. You might even want to take note of Columbia's ED admissions round, for which you could submit an application in August and have the results by October...

It's never easy juggling work, GMAT prep, essay-writing, etc, but trust me when I say that quitting your job to create time to apply to b-school is a dangerous plan. Feel free to contact Clear Admit (by sending your resume to [email protected]) if you'd like to spend 30 minutes on the phone with one of our counselors to assess your odds and talk strategy. The call is 100% free.

Best of luck,

Graham
Graham Richmond
Clear Admit, LLC
[email protected]
215 568 2590

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by AppReview » Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:10 pm
Hi,

Your plans would not affect your prospects negatively, atleast not too much if we take a worst case scenario. You have a good amount of work experience behind you, with 2.5 years in the US itself. The adcom would be happy to know that you took time off to devote it to recreational activities (something that you really wanted to do), worked hard on improving your GMAT and also gave back to the society (community work). Your GMAT score is good anyways and can get you some scholarship in some chool (of course this also depends on overall profile) but yes, if you are looking at substantial scholarships, a 750+ would be really helpful.

Try and do some activities where you learn about business related activites as well. Such as seminars/lectures/talks/clubs etc. Of course, do this only if you would like to do this, otherwise your whole purpose of taking a year of gets negated :)

The only worrying aspect, if there is, is that you are a typical Indian candidate. IT work ex., some of it in the USA, Engineer etc. So you would be competing against a very well represented and competitive group. This gap year would differentiate you from the crowd, as this is a very focussed and 'American' thing to do and requires lots of courage (After 6 years of working and taking back a resignation, you must be quite senior) and meticulous planning. So the adcom will notice this.

All the best with your GMAT and applications. Hope this helps.

Regards,
Ankit
Founder, AppReview
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