After being a professional for 10 years, if you are looking forward to taking that formidable leap in your career with an MBA degree, you’d most probably be aware of the benefits of going for a full-time program. Easy career switches, greater opportunities, better networking, good intellectual experience — the list goes on!
Getting into that top B-school gets so much easier with a good work experience. So, while everything seems perfect for a person with a decade worth of industrial expertise, where’s the catch?
Well! Unlike what most MBA enthusiasts would want to believe, the admission committee of a good B-school will always prefer someone with 3.5–6 years of experience. Anything more than that convinces them that their course will not be able to make value additions, since the applicant already comes with the baggage of spending too many years in the industry. You must have molded an outlook, too rigid to alter or modify.
You might pause and consider going for an Executive MBA or a part-time program instead, which sounds great too, but doing a full-time course just gives you that little extra mileage over others, and undoubtedly gets you additional preference in the professional world.
So, as an applicant, if you have 10 years’ experience, how exactly would you prove to the admission committee of a full-time MBA program, that you are a worthy candidate?
Highlight your flexibility to learn the new: The idea is to show that you haven’t become rigid in your outlook. So, portray how, during your 10-year career, you have learnt and unlearnt things, taking up a host of new, challenging initiatives. In short, you adopt new ideas and theories with open arms!
Focus on your compatibility with others: If you have a work-exp of more than a decade, you must have inevitably worked with people who are way more senior than you, and also those who are much junior. This will be your mantra to showcase how you can easily adjust in a multicultural and demographically varied environment.
Your leadership experience will be key: Needless to say, thanks to your experience, you can contribute a lot to the cohort. And what will you bring to the table? Real-life experiences that can prove valuable to people younger to you in terms of years spent in the industry. For instance, say you have been in a company that went through an acquisition or a merger. This means you have witnessed a change in the management and been a part of it. You have formed a fresh bond with the new team or ensured that the collaboration between your new and old team members flowed smoothly. Such real-life experiences, spanning your career journey, fortify your case as an applicant to a top global B-school. Prove that you have aged like a fine wine and your best is yet to come J
Show your enthusiasm: Convincing the admission committee that after working for 10 years in an organization, you haven’t lost your academic grit, is a must! You have not become complacent and are ready to slog it out, come whatever may. You are ready to go through the academic rigor the program expects of you, and can support your point with certifications or proof of online examinations that you have appeared for, even while working full-time. Nothing works better in your favor than an honest enthusiasm and a keen interest to study!
If you want to take the plunge and do a full-time MBA course from a top global B-School, go ahead. However, keep in mind the cons. Doing a full-fledged course would mean quitting a stable, well-paying job for a substantial amount of time. If you have a family, you could also be compelled to live away from your near and dear ones during the course of the program. Moreover, when you return to the industry after 1–2 years, rest assured the world would have changed. So, be mentally prepared that you’ll have to toil really hard!
However, if you manage to swim across to the other end of the river, there’ll be no looking back, and success will come knocking on your door, sooner than you expect! So, weigh your situation and let us know when you are ready to join a suitable MBA program of your choice, in a top global B-school. Full-time or part-time, we at Crack Admission will always be happy to help!