The Q: I am currently a junior pursuing my bachelor's degree and I am highly interested in going into an M.B.A. program after I graduate. My grades are great and I've completed some internships, but I don't have a whole lot of work experience. I know a lot of the business schools ask for recommendation letters from supervisors, but since my hope is to go straight from completing my undergraduate studies to an M.B.A. program, how would my chances of getting accepted effect me? Generally, do students like me get accepted to business schools like USC's Marshall School of Business? Or is it mainly experienced business executives with tons of work experience?

The A: Well, I'll put it this way: If you're looking to head straight into biz school with no real-world experience under your belt, it's gonna be one heck of an uphill climb. The average student accepted to Marshall -- just the *average* -- has logged five years of work time, and *every* single one of the students who started there last fall could lay claim to at least a little bit of work experience.

So I think it's a pretty safe bet that, if you want to find your way into one of the country's better M.B.A. programs, you're going to need to strike out on your own for a while first. But don't think of this as purgatory: It's an opportunity for you to put to practical use everything you've learned in college, and -- more importantly -- to discover your professional niche, your greater purpose, the motivations and passions that make you tick and drive you to succeed.

Much like any graduate degree, an M.B.A. is not something a person should earn just because they feel it's the next logical step in their life, or because it'll generally increase their odds of getting a good job. The reason business schools tend to require a healthy dose of work experience -- besides the fact that admissions is awfully competitive, with hundreds of bright, talented people vying for spots at each b-school every year -- is that work experience helps people hone their skills, strengthen their weaknesses, explore their interests and discover precisely why they want an M.B.A., as well as what specific subject areas they'd like to focus on when they enter b-school. Work experience tends to mature you, give you a better sense of perspective, and help you develop a more focused idea of where you want to be in the future. And that, in turn, is what business schools are looking for: focused, motivated, energetic students who have the proven experience to back up their book smarts, and who know exactly what they want to do with their M.B.A. once they've gotten it.

All that having been said, if you truly have your heart set on entering business school straight from college, I recommend you start doing some research and making some phone calls to see which schools accept students with no work experience. usnews.com's "Best Graduate Schools" section has an area that provides buckets of info on b-schools (though it costs 15 bucks to access), and BusinessWeek (www.businessweek.com/bschools/) offers an excellent selection of articles and resources as well. You can also scope out b-school guides (like Peterson's 'MBA Programs') at a local bookstore, or stop in at your campus career center, which likely has a few helpful reference books on hand.

And finally, never allow yourself to slip into a narrow view about how a person should develop a career track or find success. We all have our own paths to follow, and we each need to do so in our own way and on our own schedule. You don't have to be a 21-year-old prodigy whizzing your way through school in order to become a fabulously wealthy, ridiculously happy person. Give yourself some room to explore, experiment, travel and get a sense for the different possibilities life (and work) has to offer. Don't be afraid to spend some time off the beaten trail; what you find there may be well worth the trip.

Best wishes,

—Myles Helfand, General Advisor

This response was written on July 5, 2006.

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