BusinessWeek Online has just published an article on the youth movement in MBA admissions, interviewing admissions directors from leading schools like Wharton and Stanford and highlighting what would appear to be the latest trend: younger b-school students. According to the article, top MBA programs are increasingly considering candidates who apply directly from college/university or with 1-3 years of experience.
Needless to say, this trend often inspires heated debate. Some argue that expanding the applicant pool to include young or ‘early career’ applicants allows the schools to build a more diverse class while snatching up the true superstars earlier in the process. At the same time, current MBA students and professors often complain that younger students with limited work experience have very little to offer in the classroom. Of course, the admissions teams point out that the students who are admitted straight from college are truly exceptional and have worked part-time jobs, held leadership posts, etc. Brit Dewey (of Harvard Business School) has often said that “it’s all about what an applicant has done with his or her time on the planet” – whether that’s 21 years or 28 years. Then again, there are programs that still insist on full-time work experience (such as Tuck and Kellogg).
In any event, before our readers in the 26-35 age group begin to panic, we should remind you that interest in ‘early career’ applicants seems to have emerged around the same time that application volume dipped in 2003 and that such students typically comprise less than 5% of the student body at leading programs.
Here are a handful of articles to help our readers follow this trend:
Last year’s BusinessWeek article: The MBA Youth Movement
This year’s BusinessWeek article: You Don’t Have to Wait
Clear Admit Analysis (April 05): Youth Movement: Exhibit A
Clear Admit Analysis (April 05): Youth Movement: Redux
