Recently I have seen a number of Business Schools offering MBA programs to recent undergraduates with little or no work experience post graduation.

Heading towards graduation with out a graduate program lined up I am considering post graduate studies. I have always being interested in doing a MBA, and have seriously started GMAT training.

Due to my aim of working in China in the future, I am looking at the IMBA program offered by Tsinghua university.

Though I would like opinions whether doing a MBA straight out of grad school is a good idea? I have the drive, and a MBA seems just a good program to get into as any other Masters program, such as accounting and finance. What would be some of the difficulties with a MBA compared to say masters of finance?

I also see in the curriculum that MBA programs incorporate alot more industrial and hand on skills, which is something I like, instead of doing pure course work.

Please provide me with some opinions or advice. Thanks.

Dear Orin

In Europe many candidates doing an MBA are asked for work experience because a General MBA is for people who have been working for at least 3 years and now feel that they need to excel in their careers with some candidates aiming to go into management but lack more knowledge in many areas and tools that one requires to get the job done.

If you do an MBA without work experience then good luck if that is your choice but do not be surprised if you interview for positions and get rejected because some not all but some companies feel and sense that having an MBA brings at least 3-7 years work experience on average.

Also some companies if they hire you as a manager may put you in charge of a team, imagine being 22 years of age or around that age with hardly any work experience with an MBA in charge of a team of 10 people ages from 21-65, hope you see the point I am making.

A master's in Finance is more financially focused than a General MBA that is much broader. My advice to you is, start working and enjoy your life for a few years, get the experience and re assess your feelings and career plans in about 3 years time. Don't run before you can walk steadily. Live a little you have plenty of time.

Regards
Saint

Thanks for your advice:)

Another reason I am looking at graduate schools is because even though I am also done with my undergrad, I do not have the aspiration yet to go into the workforce. At the same time not getting into a graduate programs, working outside a company without a graduate program wouldn't help me develop much (This is what I think).

Therefore I am looking at further education, and but even before that I am interested in further studies. Though comparing say a masters of finance, the curriculum seems much similar to my undergraduate studies. I have taken on the point that to get the most out of a MBA program work experience is required.

Because now universities are offering MBAs to new graduate I thought there is a change in trend and learning objectives. Is anyone here enrolled in a MBA program straight out of college? Or have seem recent graduates study in MBA classes? How are they doing?

dear Orin,

All best B-schools have always accepted a limited number of high potential graduates with limited or no experience. It seems that over the past 5 years, the trend has exploded, especially as the applicants' age range is getting younger and EMBA programmes are fierce competitors. An EMBA programme is really the best of both worlds, as participants don't need to give up their jobs and as many companies (in Europe) will pay for tuition fees.
If you don't feel like joining up the workforce yet it might be a good move to apply for a pre-experience MBA. But you need to choose carefully the school & programme which are going to give you excellent corporate exposure. At the end of the day you want to be confident when you apply for a managerial position, don't you?
Cheers

I largely agree with what has been said earlier.

To add a bit more extra explanation.

Yes the MBA was originally designed to give you managerial skills that you need to become a successful manager. So it should be for ppl with some experience at least 2 years and about 5 6 years. If you are too old, a lot of the material is too familiar with you if you are too young, you dont have the sense as older colleageus.

The trend however changed slowly especially since the last 20 years.

In Europe, the MBA is 3 semester and 12 month long as opposed to the 4 semester 21 month long in North America.
And Europe and America can both learn from each other.

US business schools start to realise that the first year cirriculum is a bit of waste time for people already in the managerial position which accounts for about 30% of MBA class and the fact that about 30-50% of ppl doing an MBA already have a relevant ( finance/accounting/marketing) undergraduate degree. So what they do?

They re-design the curriculum so that MBA is for career changer with an internship as a crucial part between 2 academic years. And the second year is more concentrated into the area you want to leap into.

They condense the 2 year MBA into 3 semester 12 month long like in Europe for ppl who want to be managers and students on 1 year MBA tend to be a bit older and dont want to be out of work for too long

EMBA was another course for fairly senior managers in the mid or late 30s who want to keep their jobs and still can advance their career with an advanced degree.