Is Now the Best Time for Your MBA?
Time is the wisest counselor of all.
– Pericles
Once you decide to go to business school, timing becomes a crucial consideration. How do you know whether now is the best time for your MBA? For some candidates, particularly those on the younger or older side of the applicant pool, addressing the timing question in their materials is especially critical. As we stressed in B-Schooled podcast #70, you’ll need to convince the AdCom that applying during this upcoming application season makes the most sense for your career goals.
This thought experiment will get you thinking about why you want or need to get an MBA right now. First, consider what would happen if you didn’t get an MBA. What would your career path look like? How would you achieve your long-term goals? The result: Your career would likely look like X, and it would take Y number of years to reach your goals without the degree.
Next, imagine getting your MBA. What exactly would it do for your career? Would it accelerate your trajectory at your current firm or industry? Or might it allow you to pivot into an entirely different industry or role? Business school could also help you gain the skills and network you need to feel confident starting your own company. Another common reason is that you’ve plateaued in your current field.
While that isn’t an exhaustive list of reasons, it can help you project what these two distinct career tracks—the non-MBA path vs. B-school—might look like. Doing this exercise should help you more clearly articulate why you need an MBA overall and why it makes sense to get one at this point in your life and career.
Curious about your chances of getting into a top B-school? Contact us to talk strategy with a free 15-minute advising session with an SBC Principal Consultant.
Avoid Giving This Reason (Even if it’s the Truth)
In industries such as banking and consulting, people are often expected to go for their MBA at a specific time. Your current firm may not offer significant growth opportunities even if you want to stay. Yet even if that’s true, you can’t tell the AdCom that now is the best time for your MBA because everyone you know in banking got an MBA after two years. Or because it’s the norm in your industry.
Don’t follow someone else’s pre-determined career timeline. If you feel some external pressure to apply now, take the time and space to ensure it makes sense for your hopes and dreams.
So, Is This the Best Time for Your MBA?
There’s no one best time to go back to B-school. In the past, elite programs required five to seven years of work experience before applying. Several top schools have deferred admissions programs explicitly geared to attract college seniors. Once admitted, these candidates work for two years and then start their MBA studies.
The question at hand for everyone else is whether waiting for another year or two before applying will significantly boost your admissions odds. Would that extra time give you more leadership opportunities, career advancement, or an international assignment?
For applicants who skew much younger or older than the target program’s average age, it will be crucial to show what you bring to the classroom that no one else can. A considerable part of the MBA experience is sharing your unique anecdotes during classroom discussions. Think of it from the AdCom’s point of view. They want to admit applicants who will come to the table with many life stories their peers will benefit from.
If you’re older, what else can you bring to the table? More time experience doesn’t necessarily mean more value for your MBA classmates. So, think about what’s unique about your long career and its relevance to classroom discussions.
For younger applicants, if you’ve never gotten promoted or had an appreciable increase in responsibilities, that’s a red flag telling you it doesn’t make sense to apply just yet.
Explaining Your Reasoning
Once you decide that now is the best time for your MBA, you’ll need to use diplomacy in your reasoning to the AdCom. If you’re returning to school because you’ve hit a wall, that’s a valid and common situation. Explain that you’ve realized your learning has slowed and that you need X, Y, and Z from their MBA program to progress. Then, transition to discussing how specific courses, clubs, conferences, professors, etc., from that program would support your career goals.
No matter what, make sure to sound grateful and upbeat about everything you’ve learned so far on the job. You never want to come across as negative about your past employers or career to date. That will give the admissions committee an easy justification to ding you.
Because from their perspective, you won’t be excited to share stories and lessons from your past role with your classmates if you aren’t happy about any of it! Think carefully about what you’ve learned that you can still apply to your future career.
If you’ve been on autopilot until now, you owe it to yourself to do some serious introspection. Too many people have regrets later in life for merely going through the motions in their careers. Maybe they did what others thought they should or followed a career timeline deemed successful by somebody else. Ensure the reasons for pursuing the MBA support your goals and dreams—no one else’s.
***
Stacy Blackman Consulting offers multiple services to meet your MBA application needs, from our All-In Partnership and Interview Prep to hourly help with essay editing, resume review, and much more! Contact us today for a free 15-minute advising session to talk strategy with a Principal SBC consultant.
Here’s a snapshot of the caliber of expertise on our SBC team.
Ashley
Ashley is a former MBA Admissions Board Member for Harvard Business School (HBS), where she interviewed and evaluated thousands of business school applicants for over a six year tenure. Ashley holds an MBA from HBS. During her HBS years, Ashley was the Sports Editor for the Harbus and a member of the B-School Blades Ice Hockey Team. After HBS, she worked in Marketing at the Gillette Company on Male and Female shaving ...
×Kerry
Kerry is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS). During her 5+ year tenure at HBS, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a wide range of backgrounds across the globe. She also led marketing and outreach efforts focused on increasing diversity and inclusion, ran the Summer Venture in Management Program (SVMP), and launched the 2+2 Program during her time in Admissions. Kerry holds a B.A. from Bates College and ...
×Pauline
A former associate director of admissions at Harvard Business School, Pauline served on the HBS MBA Admissions Board full-time for four years. She evaluated and interviewed HBS applicants, both on-campus and globally. Pauline's career has included sales and marketing management roles with Coca-Cola, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, and IBM. For over 10 years, Pauline has expertly guided MBA applicants, and her clients h ...
×Geri
Geri is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS). In her 7 year tenure in HBS Admissions, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a diverse set of academic, geographic, and employment backgrounds. Geri also traveled globally representing the school at outreach events in order to raise awareness for women and international students. In additio ...
×Laura
Laura comes from the MBA Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS) and is an HBS MBA alumnus. In her HBS Admissions role, she evaluated and interviewed hundreds of business school candidates, including internationals, women, military and other applicant pools, for five years. Prior to her time as a student at HBS, Laura began her career in advertising and marketing in Chicago at Leo Burnett where she worked on th ...
×Andrea
Andrea served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Harvard Business School (HBS) for over five years. In this role, she provided strategic direction for student yield-management activities and also served as a full member of the admissions committee. In 2007, Andrea launched the new 2+2 Program at Harvard Business School – a program targeted at college junior applicants to Harvard Business School. Andrea has also served as a Career Coach for Harvard Business School for both cu ...
×Jennifer
Jennifer served as Admissions Officer at the Stanford (GSB) for five years. She holds an MBA from Stanford (GSB) and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Jennifer has over 15 years experience in guiding applicants through the increasingly competitive admissions process into top MBA programs. Having read thousands and thousands of essays and applications while at Stanford (GSB) Admiss ...
×Erin K.
Erin served in key roles in MBA Admissions--as Director at Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and Assistant Director at Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB). Erin served on the admissions committee at each school and has read thousands of applications in her career. At Haas, she served for seven years in roles that encompassed evaluation, outreach, and diversity and inclusion. During her tenure in Admissions at GSB, she was responsible for candidate evaluation, applicant outreach, ...
×Susie
Susie comes from the Admissions Office of the Stanford Graduate School of Business where she reviewed and evaluated hundreds of prospective students’ applications. She holds an MBA from Stanford’s GSB and a BA from Stanford in Economics. Prior to advising MBA applicants, Susie held a variety of roles over a 15-year period in capital markets, finance, and real estate, including as partner in one of the nation’s most innovative finance and real estate investment organizations. In that r ...
×Dione
Dione holds an MBA degree from Stanford Business School (GSB) and a BA degree from Stanford University, where she double majored in Economics and Communication with concentrations in journalism and sociology. Dione has served as an Admissions reader and member of the Minority Admissions Advisory Committee at Stanford. Dione is an accomplished and respected advocate and thought leader on education and diversity. She is ...
×Anthony
Anthony served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he dedicated over 10 years of expertise. During his time as a Wharton Admissions Officer, he read and reviewed thousands of applications and helped bring in a class of 800+ students a year. Anthony has traveled both domestically and internationally to recruit a ...
×Meghan
Meghan served as the Associate Director of Admissions and Marketing at the Wharton MBA’s Lauder Institute, a joint degree program combining the Wharton MBA with an MA in International Studies. In her role on the Wharton MBA admissions committee, Meghan advised domestic and international applicants; conducted interviews and information sessions domestically and overseas in Asia, Central and South America, and Europe; and evaluated applicants for admission to the program. Meghan also managed ...
×Amy
Amy comes from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where she was Associate Director. Amy devoted 12 years at the Wharton School, working closely with MBA students and supporting the admissions team. During her tenure at Wharton, Amy served as a trusted adviser to prospective applicants as well as admitted and matriculated students. She conducted admissions chats with applicants early in the admissions ...
×Ally
Ally brings six years of admissions experience to the SBC team, most recently as an Assistant Director of Admission for the full-time MBA program at Columbia Business School (CBS). During her time at Columbia, Ally was responsible for reviewing applications, planning recruitment events, and interviewing candidates for both the full-time MBA program and the Executive MBA program. She traveled both internationally and dome ...
×Erin B.
Erin has over seven years of experience working across major institutions, including University of Pennsylvania, Columbia Business School, and NYU's Stern School of Business. At Columbia Business School, Erin was an Assistant Director of Admissions where she evaluated applications for both the full time and executive MBA programs, sat on the admissions and merit scholarship committees and advised applicants on which program might be the best fit for them based on their work experience and pro ...
×Emma
Emma comes from the MBA Admissions Office at Columbia Business School (CBS), where she was Associate Director. Emma conducted dozens of interviews each cycle for the MBA and EMBA programs, as well as coordinating the alumni ambassador interview program. She read and evaluated hundreds of applications each cycle, delivered information sessions to audiences across the globe, and advised countless waitlisted applicants. ×