Work Experience?

[mdavis]

What exactly constitutes work experience for business schools? I served a 2 year mission for my Church, which involved a lot of leadership qualities.

In my current job, at a law firm, I am not over a group of people anymore in the sense of management. I do work with people and have responsibilities that are my own. Will this be frowned upon or do all GMAT candidates have management experience in a job setting?

My hope was to play off of the strengths in both of my experiences since graduating from college. Is this possible?

[Lisa Anderson]

Dear mdavis,

Not all students enter business school with experience managing people. Ideally, you should have exposure/experience managing projects, people and/or budgets--but none of these are a requirement. Your mission experience is important and is something you can use in your essays, but it is not professional work experience that should be reported in your years of work experience.

Good luck,
Lisa