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Lost. Can you please give me some advice?

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Lost. Can you please give me some advice?

by HaasStudent » Mon Feb 14, 2011 8:27 pm
Hello,

Can you please give me some advice?

I'm a senior at the Haas School of Business finishing my undergraduate business degree. I have a 3.58 cumulative GPA and I'm heading into a strategy advisory role with PricewaterhouseCoopers this fall. I plan on applying to the top 10 business schools somewhere down the line to advance my career and sharpen what I've learned as an undergrad.

How many years of work experience should I get before applying to business school?
What kind of GMAT score should I be aiming for given my background?
Given a choice between taking the GMAT this summer and picking up another summer internship, what should I do?

Thank you for reading.
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by paulsbodine » Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:45 pm
HaasStudent,

Most business schools prefer applicants with three or more years of work experience, and four to five is still the norm in the U.S. So unless you have a compelling reason to be in a hurry for an MBA, I would recommend that you wait for a few years, so go for the summer internship. For a top 10 school you should aim for a 720 or higher. Your GPA is right on the money.

If you really want to apply within the next two years or so, the following schools are probably the most youth friendly: HBS,
Stanford, MIT, Cornell, CMU, IE, IESE, and Oxford. For these schools, the lower edge of their middle 80% in work experience is 24 months (meaning 10% of admitted applicants have less than that). The typical lower edge for most schools is 36 months.

You are smart to start thinking about business school now. I recommend that, aside from pursuing a fast-track career pace and leadership opportunities at work, you find one extracurricular or community activity that you can develop a leadership role in over time.

Good luck,
Paul Bodine
Author, "Great Applications for Business School," "Perfect Phrases for Business School Acceptance," "Perfect Phrases for Letters of Recommendation"
https://www.paulsbodine.com/
[email protected]
(858) 869-1959
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