Don’t Quit Your Day Job!

MBA applications take up a TON of time!! Studying for the GMAT, visiting schools, writing essays, and prepping recommenders all take effort. We estimate the average applicant spends 150–250 hours applying to business school, depending on the number of schools. That’s essentially a serious part-time job on top of your day job.

Every year, I speak with a handful of people who decide to leave their jobs early to apply to business school.

Don’t do it (please).

Here’s why. For top MBA programs, work work experience is a critical part of your application. Schools want to see what experience you bring to the classroom. They also want evidence that you will continue progressing in your career. If you quit before applying, admissions teams know you are giving up valuable experience. Other applicants will continue gaining experience until they start school the following year.

Another concern is the message it sends about your ability to manage and prioritize your responsibilities. Most people cannot quit their jobs to apply. As a result, most applicants work full-time while dedicating significant time to their applications. If you quit, it may appear that you cannot manage competing priorities as well as other applicants. Top schools train future business leaders. Those leaders must balance demanding careers and personal responsibilities. Show admissions teams that you already know how to manage both.

Here is some advice for how to manage while keeping your job:

• If possible, talk to your manager about it early. Share your application timeline with your manager. This gives them advance notice that you will be balancing another major commitment.
• Many teams and managers are great about offering a more flexible situation while you’re applying. I’ve heard of companies that will let people leave early to take a GMAT class in exchange for managing a special project that might require weekend work or some other way to make it up. For people who work in travel heavy roles like consulting, I’ve seen teams focus on a local case for someone who’s applying. It’s not a requirement that they do this for you, but for the most part, if you ask, I find that many managers are receptive to finding a solution that works for everyone
• Don’t procrastinate. Start early (right now), so that you can pace yourself. If you end-up on a crazy project that monopolizes two weeks, that’s not a big deal if you are pacing yourself and know you can make it up later.

And if you have already quit your job to apply, my advice is to find another job asap and volunteer in the meantime. There are some really cool organizations like Taproot out there that will match your talent with the needs of a local non-profit and that could give you great experience while you’re on the search.

If you want to discuss how we leverage strategies like these and others to help applicants get into the top schools at a 3.0x higher rate than the average, you can request an initial consultation with our team of top MBA admissions consultants at www.vantagepointmba.com/free-consultation/.