Career Success – Ask a Wharton MBA

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How to Build a Good Foundation to Get into a Top 10 MBA School

Question: I am currently a freshman at the University of Calgary, and my desire is to attend Wharton, Harvard, or Stanford for my MBA.  However, as a freshman, there are very limited opportunities for myself to build a good basis and ultimately succeed when I graduate.   My question is, what would you recommend I do over the summer to achieve that base and move forward with confidence and experience?

Answer: The short answer is anything that can give you basic business experience.  Go work as a business intern if possible anywhere – best if it’s a good brand name company.   Do it for free if you have to just to get the experience.  You are planning early which is good.   I actually worked at Denny’s as a hostess my freshman summer – not helpful in getting into Wharton but I still got in later, so no worries if you don’t get anything good after Freshman year.  Just keep trying.

There are several factors in helping you get into a top 10 business school.  This is because only about 20% of applicants get into these school so you have to somehow stand out and have a story.  Here are the factors.  Ideally, you want all of them to have the best chance.
  • good grades from college, preferably 3.5 and above
  • great work experience at least 2 -3 years after college
  • good extracurricular activities after college (how are you demonstrating leadership and contribution to community)
  • cohesive story of why you want to go to MBA school and what makes you special (how you will contribute to the student body)
  • solid recommendation preferably from alumni of the school you are applying
  • minimum GMAT score of 700
Coming back to your question – If you get valuable work experiences during the summers in college, then it can increase your chance in getting a good job after which will help your candidacy for MBA.  Hope this helps.    I am always in your corner.  Email me if you have additional questions.
Lei

Posted in: MBA

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  • Lei Han - Career Coach

     Stanford engineer and  Wharton MBA |  Business / marketing  executive with 15 years of corporate experience | Mentored 100+ professionals | Screened / interviewed hundreds of candidates | Connect with me 

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