Elected as class president or lead an expedition for charity, that’s how some young MBA candidates are successfully showing leadership potential to business schools. Top programs are reaching out to applicants with little work experience and those accepted have showed they’re ready to take on the MBA. If you’re younger than the average business school student but still want to get a MBA now you may have just what it takes. This time we’ll find out what you can do to compensate for a lack of work experience, what the admissions committee will be looking for in young candidates and what it’s actually like to be younger than your peers in business school. We’ll talk to the director of admissions at a top MBA program, an admissions consultant and a young MBA student.

Top schools like Harvard, Stanford and Wharton have been getting the word out that they want younger applicants, even those who are recent college graduates or college juniors and seniors. Paul Bodine is Senior Editor at Accepted.com and author of Great Application Essay’s for Business School. He also writes a blog called the Admissions Insider. Bodine says while schools are showing interest in young candidates, not too many schools are admitting them. “I think what it means is that you know they have a genuine interest in dispelling the myth that you have to have a certain number of years to be qualified for business school cause you know they’re losing potentially strong applicants because people think that so they’re trying to break down that barrier and create more diverse process. But still, you know you have to be able to pass a certain bar or level of quality and that’s you know just frankly tougher for younger applicants to do. So I think the translation of that open door policy toward young people into actual numbers at many schools is not, is still actually not happening.” According to the Admissions Insider, Bodine writes that business schools aren’t embracing young applicants in significantly large numbers. Students at Business Week’s top 30 schools that had a year or less of work experience made up on average only four percent of this years in coming class. Bodine writes that 12 top programs admitted none and Stanford, a school that’s known for reaching out to younger candidates reported only three percent. But at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, young MBA’s make up a tenth of the class. On top of admitting those with little work experience Tepper has a five year program that accepts students directly from undergrad. They spend three years to complete a bachelor’s degree then another two for a MBA. Laurie Stewart is Tepper’s Executive Director of MBA Admissions, “Over our history we have had students join our program early in their professional life and we have had a number of students that have done quite well. And we have identified through our admissions process some exceptional candidates that really present a compelling application for admission even without not as much professional experience, they have very clear goals and they’ve thought through professional path that they want to follow and their academically very strong and we can see that they would fit in to the MBA learning environment in terms of a learner and as a contributor and so we really want to have those exceptional candidates in the class.” Stewart says Tepper believes in having a diverse student population and level of experience, she says is a dimension of diversity. However, less experience will mean that you must other extraordinary qualities says Paul Bodine, “I think in some sense you know if you are one of those applicants who does have a chance because you basically are going to be sort of already demonstrating in your college and early career if you’ve started your career that you are sort of a fast track person and that I think is the key you know you’re not going to schools, schools are not going to be comparing you to people with five or six years of experience, they’re going to, you know because you just won’t have that kind of resume. But they will want to be seeing that there’s something atypical about your potential and that can be demonstrated in a number of different ways. I mean I think at a minimum you’ve got to be meeting the school’s numbers in terms of average GPA and average GMAT and you want to be exceeding it or at least exceeding your peers in terms of you know like leadership and impact and again that can be impact in you know in classes, in community, in extracurricular. So I think you have to be fairly confident that you are sort of an achiever you know frankly that you are an unusual applicant.”

Because the main issue for young candidates is lack of professional experience, Laurie Stewart says the other components of the application should be emphasized. “As one example, if someone has less experience then their academic profile really needs to be strong. Their essays need to really make sense for why their interested in a MBA degree. And I think a candidate as they have an opportunity for an interview has to also really present themselves in a way that shows us that they can sell themselves and it’s obvious that they’re going to contribute and participate in the learning environment.”

Presenting a strong case in your application means you’ll have to have very clear goals. Bodine says this could be one challenge for young applicants. “You won’t have had the work experience that helps you decide what your goals are and why you need the MBA. I mean a lot of people use the MBA to make a career change because they’ve discovered that in the career track they chose in college, it wasn’t for them. So if you’re applying right out of college, you haven’t had the work experience that’s helped you decide that that’s not what you want to do and figure out what you really want to do. So maybe they’re going into the MBA not really knowing why they want that MBA. Maybe they’re goal choice is not as you know tested yet.”

Leadership potential is a crucial quality for young applicants and it can be a bit more challenging to show when you haven’t had a lot of experiences but it can be done says Laurie Stewart, “There are other ways that students with less experience can show leadership. One obvious place is in their involvement on the campus or within the community. And we see great examples of the aptitude for leadership and the impact that less experienced candidates are making and that’s a really good indicator for those kinds of skills over the long term.”

Joining clubs or community organizations can be a good place to find experiences but Paul Bodine says make sure you do more than just be involved. “There has to be some sort of sense that you are demonstrating unusual leadership and by that I mean you know you’re not just for example involved heavily in extracurricular but you are in leadership roles. You know, you’re the class president or you’re the editor and chief of the school newspaper or you know maybe you started a business of your own during the summer you know painting houses or IT consulting or something, I mean those would be indications that you are not a typical applicant, that you’re getting out of the gate fast as it were. And there are other you know less dramatic ways of demonstrating that a typical lesson, you know one could be for example during a summer internship you were given responsibilities kind of above your pay grade as it were and you can talk about those but I think leadership is really the key word there and you can’t just say you are an officer in a club or something like that, you’ve also kind of got to show that that leadership translated into impact so you’ve got to have some stories showing how you’ve changed things. But you’ve got to have that kind of material there I think to have a chance.”

Mbwana Ali was just 23 years old when he was accepted to Stanford Business School. He grew up in Tanzania in East Africa and got much of his education in the UK. Ali found a unique way to demonstrate leadership. “One of the things I did do was lead an expedition in Tanzania with 24 employees in my company. It was a fundraising expedition to raise money for charity for a science lab in Tanzania.” Ali’s atypical background on top of his leadership experience is just the kind of thing that schools like to see. Bodine says admissions committees want to know you’ll add diversity to the class. “By that I mean that you have sort of an unusual set of themes or attributes that they you know would remember and want to bring you into the class. And you can do that through you know international experiences, so maybe you don’t start your career right out of school, you take a year off and you live in Tibet or something. And if you have something out of that experience that can help set you apart. You know even like a volunteer experience Peace Corp for a year or something like that, it’s going to help you stand out. It may give you opportunities to get leadership and then maybe start your career a year out of college. Those kind of things can help you overcome the problem of showing leadership and the problem of trying to stand out.”

Life on campus as a young MBA can pose a few challenges. Ali who is now a second year student says he didn’t always fit in with his classmates. “One of the things that I immediately noticed which I think it was kind of partly my fault for revealing that I was you know 23, 24 at the time was that in conversations sometimes you get discounted because you feel like you’re not really in the loop. And so I noticed that I was getting cut out a lot and I think people were connecting to more with their peers you know around their age and so I found that really frustrating. Also in the classroom it’s not so much you get discounted but your lack of experience does show up when you try to make comments in class. Some times and professors may not call on you especially if you make the mistake and say a really terrible comment in the beginning. So I noticed that it’s really important to obviously back up anything that you have to say with your experiences and if you lack experience it’s really tough. But generally I found it a little bit frustrating, personally especially out of the classroom.” Did you know that this might be an issue before you had applied? “Not necessarily, I thought that my sort of all around experience in this relation program where I worked would be enough but in the end I realized how narrow it was as far as that’s only one company and one industry while MBA’s who are a little bit older typically worked maybe in two different companies some times two different industries where they worked in a start up as well. So I think I had enough matter sort of different functional experience. So I had seen the different areas of management but I hadn’t experienced anything else outside my own industry which is aerospace technology.” Do you face any other challenges in school being young? “I think some times in recruiting situations I find that if I had more experience I probably would have more of a chance of getting more jobs. So being a young MBA can actually hinder you as far as recruiting opportunities so for instance I couldn’t pretty much do anything with venture capital or private equity which at least at Stanford it seems to be a very popular career choice at the moment but because I lack experience I feel I can’t really go for those positions.” And is that what you want to do? “Not necessarily, I actually realized that I don’t want to do it now, but I would like to do it later. Just kind of humbling to know that I’d need more experience before I’d even think about going there. But I kind of feel a little bit left out as far as opportunities. So I really thought career business school I’d be open to every career possible, but of course you realize that some doors are closed for some reasons of course age is one of them and experience. So it’s not a bad thing, it’s just that I originally thought that I’d be able to go try everything. Of course management consulting and investment banking, they don’t mind if you’re young or not. In fact, they almost like it if you’re young because they can get more out of you.” Ali’s experience in job search may be common among young MBA students, Laurie Stewart says part of the problem could be that not all recruiters are sure where young MBA’s fit in. “I know that our career services staff really likes to begin working with the less experienced students early on to focus on the internship and developing a strategy for that permanent position after the degree. I think in some cases our services director has told me that there are companies that really love these candidates but bring them into a slightly different position with an opportunity to grow a little bit later.”

Salaries of young MBA graduates tend to be less than graduates with more experience. But Bodine says that’s not the case for all. “You know the University of Rochester has a program called Early Leaders Program which is comprised of 18-20% younger students. It’s a new program but they said that their class, their recent class of early leaders was actually out performing previous classes in terms of placement and job offers and that their salaries were competitive. I mean that’s only one indication, I mean as a general rule, most people use that MBA to go on to investment banking or consulting and those are careers where you know you have to put in the 80 hour work week so those employers are looking for people who have the energy and freedom to commit to that kind of work and those are generally younger people. So I think particularly if you’re coming out of a strong MBA program, you know the recruiters will kind of consider that the school has sort of done a selection process on these younger MBA’s and that they sort of passed and that they’re ready. I think that the employers are probably figuring if you’ve got you know a Wharton MBA, or a Harvard MBA that you’re fine and that the age is not going to be an issue and so you know but probably their not going to get maybe the managerial roles, their going to be put maybe in analyst positions because if they don’t have any prior managerial experience before the MBA their probably not going to be given a line position managing people right out of school. So that could affect the salary. Paul Bodine says but in the long run young MBA graduates can end up making more money. And he says there are other benefits too. “You know for younger people who aren’t married or don’t have children that’s sort of one less sort of distraction as it were so they can give the MBA maybe a little bit more energy. I think for women who are contemplating you know possibly starting a family down the road; they can get the MBA out of the way. And I think also you know if you’re sort of a fast track person who is thinking about a MBA early on, you’re going to have to get used to being the young person in the corporation and you know one way of getting use to that is business school where you’re going to be the young person in your class so it’s kind of good preparation for what they’re going to find in the work force.”

If you’re still an undergrad and want to get that MBA soon after you graduate, Bodine says here are some tips to prepare, “One thing that they probably will not have much control over is you know the opportunities for leadership and impact, you know right out of college. That’s going to probably be the one area where they can do the least frankly. So I think they need to be showing that leadership and impact outside of work, of course if they can do it at work that’s great but this can be again leadership things in community getting involved in your community and not just involved but trying to find ways, opportunities to organize events or to lead people or you know if you’re really ambitious maybe you start an organization, you start some community activity. It doesn’t have to be community it could be extracurricular again as long as it’s showing this ability to lead people. Because younger applicants don’t have the work experience that’s a key part of the, one of the key components of a strong application their essays are going to be scrutinized very closely and so are their recommendation letters and their interview is going to be really important. So I’m not saying that you need to start to writing your essays after you graduate but you need to probably start thinking about what the MBA is going to give you, why you need it and why you need it now. And sort of, I mean begin the process of being able to articulate that. And in terms of recommenders, you know if you’re applying right out of school or close to graduation one of your recommenders at least will probably be a professor so you want to be kind of cultivating a relationships and making sure you have some strong recommenders.”

Mbwana Ali says if you’re a young applicant you may want to look into whether you’ll be with others your age. “Find the schools that value young MBA’s because culture in a school is really important. Although I found it difficult in the first couple of months even up to now, it actually when you have these ten young MBA’s it makes a really big difference. I really couldn’t imagine being at a school where I was youngest, the only youngest person. I’m not the youngest here but it would terrible if I was the youngest and I was the only one. So I think visting the school is really important you know visiting it, seeing what the young MBA’s are like, you know how they cope is really important and I certainly did that before I went to Stanford.”

For more information, advice and to register for your weekly MBA podcast visit MBAPodcaster.com. I’m Janet Nakano and this is MBA Podcaster. Thanks for listening. And next time we’ll give you the low down on how to have a successful first year in business school.

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Harvard's 2+2 program targeted to undergraduate students is a way to secure an early admission to Harvard Business School. The 2+2 Program is for rising and current college seniors. It is comprised of two years of professional work experience followed by two years in the HBS MBA Program. Upon graduating from college, admitted 2+2 students spend two years working in a professional, HBS-approved position in the public, private, or nonprofit sector. The 2+2 Program attracts accomplished college seniors from all fields of study. They're looking for innovative thinkers who have demonstrated leadership and analytical skills and want to apply their knowledge and passion to make a difference in the world.

Yale SOM has a "Silver Scholars" program aimed at undergrads as well. Each year Yale SOM admits a select handful of college seniors to a three-year MBA Silver Scholars Program. The program provides the unique opportunity to enter an MBA program immediately after your undergraduate education and move more quickly toward your career goals.

The Simon School at The University of Rochester actively recruits grads with 0 - 3 years work experience. For years, the accepted wisdom from top-tier MBA programs suggested that candidates must acquire four to six years of post-baccalaureate work experience to be competitive for full-time admission. The Simon School is leading the way among top MBA programs in an initiative to attract the best and the brightest students, regardless of whether you have a lengthy résumé. They actively recruit candidates with zero to three years work experience through their Early Leaders initiative.

Stanford MBA Program has specifically stated its applicants do not need to have any work experience to apply. You think you're ready to make an impact right after college? Well, go ahead and apply! College seniors, Stanford has a lot of information for you on their website http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/admission/college_seniors.html

Listen to a similar podcast we produced on this topic, "The Best Age to Go for Your MBA: Are Younger MBA Applicants Better Than Older Ones?"

http://mbapodcaster.com/podcast/the-best-time-to-go-for-your-mba/

Featuring:

• Thomas Caleel, Director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid, The Wharton School
• Brit Dewey, Managing Director of Admissions at Harvard Business School
• Robert Fuchs, VP of Human Resources at EchoStar
• Mark Rice, Dean at The Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College