I am considering going straight for my MBA after graduating from college. I am American and go to a top 20 school in the US.

I do have work experience from internships and some unique experience as a market/trend researcher in Tokyo for more than one year (9 months part time, 3 months full time), but I have always been a student while doing these things. I would say overall I've had 6 months of full time experience and 1 year of part time experience - besides having a job in Tokyo, I've done one business internship and one consulting internship.

My major is in linguistics - I've done no formal coursework in business - which is part of the reason I want to get an MBA straight out of school. My other goal is an international experience. I would like the chance to live somewhere in Europe for a year or two. I'm fairly fluent in Japanese (after studying it for years and years) but I don't have any European languages under my belt yet.

My questions are:

--What are the best schools for an MBA with a marketing focus? I'm particularly interested in programs in Europe.

--What are the best schools for younger students like myself, especially those coming straight from university?

--What are schools with an international focus? I've looked at the double-degree program HEC offers, and something like that where I can spend time in two places (UK and France or US and France) sounds appealing. But I would like to spend most or all of my time abroad for my degree.

--Finally, what does everyone think about my chances of getting into a highly ranked MBA program without formal work experience - but a unique, fairly long-term marketing job in Tokyo?

Any thoughts and comments would be appreciated!

Hi Marina,

HEC would be a good choice for a marketing focus. Generally, the other top marketing programs in Europe are LBS, INSEAD, and IMD, SDA Bocconi.

Your Tokyo job will be a benefit to your profile. A lot of the programs in Europe will offer admission to recent graduates, but under rare circumstances. For instance, LBS on their website says that they'll take somebody straight out of college, but the candidate must demonstrate:

"superior academic credentials and truly outstanding evidence of leadership"

It's not exactly clear what you did in Tokyo, but if you can demonstrate that you performed with distinction, you'll have an opportunity. It will most likely come down to your essays and references, so make sure you spend a lot of time on your applications.