Too young to apply to a top MBA program?

I know I want to go to business school and I feel the need to attend it now. Am I too young to apply? Do I have to wait until a certain age or until I gain 3-5 years of work experience in order to apply to a global MBA program?

A common myth that I have come across is that there has to be a prescribed amount of work experience or that candidates have to be at least 24-25 years of age to be able to apply to business school. This could not be farther from the truth. Yes, schools do provide their averages and also data around the middle 80%. However, those are just indicative of when other people choose to come to business school. Please remember that there is no fixed formula or recipe which has to be followed in your own career path. Everyone is free to follow their own course and if you feel now is the right time for you to apply to business school, then go for it!

The reason why your typical candidate would work for 3-5 years before coming to business school in global MBA programs is because they go to school for mainly three reasons:

1. To advance further in their careers after being passed up for promotions due to not having a business school degree. Often times, companies will overlook candidates who may otherwise be due for promotion stating that they lack a graduate degree and hence a candidate with an MBA would get promoted over them. Hence, some candidates absolutely need to obtain an MBA degree in order to progress in their jobs.

2. As a way to fill time and add something they feel may boost their career. In competitive Analyst programs at Investment Banks in U.S. for example, some analysts may get directly promoted to an Associate level whereas others may be let go at which point, those candidates may consider coming to business school as their best bet to provide steam to their careers

3. To change careers. After having worked for a few years, a candidate may realize that they do not like what they are doing and hence may decide to switch careers. A business degree enables them to make the career switch while at the same time ensuring it does not put them behind in their career path. So, a business degree is taken as a fast track for career progression (if you will).

So, just looking at the above three reasons, it should be evident that the above pool of candidates would be largely determining the average age. Now, there would be outliers on either end of the spectrum which don’t get factored into the statistics. In fact, when I was at business school, there was someone who was 18 who attended the program with me. Is that atypical? You bet it is. However, it goes to show that it is achievable and happened only because this person believed they could do it. My limited point here is that the first person that needs to be convinced before your dream of attending a business school can be realized, is YOU. If you have strong reasons to want an MBA degree and it helps you achieve your goal in getting from point A to point B, apply now and Crack The MBA!