Is self-employment experience eligible for MBA?
I'm self-employed in online-distibution industry. But it's a smal business and it is going down now because of war and economic collapse in my country, in Ukraine.
What are my chances to be employed after MBA and such experience? Not only online-distribution is interesting for me. I would be glad to work in consulting of finance as well.
Thank you.

Hi David

Are you a sole trader or do you have some kind of registration license etc which entitles you to make a letter hold and certify yourself as a self employed person. alternatively you can get a reference letter from couple of clients who can provide you good testimony of your work. Employability will greatly depend on your capability development during the MBA program and the country or market you want to work in. Send me a direct message if you have anymore questions or need any information.

In terms of your MBA applications, it really depends on what you actually did and how you frame that experience. Whether or not you're self-employed, business schools are generally looking for solid work experience that shows evidence of an upward career arc. If you can demonstrate that you have this with your self-employed experience, then I do not think it will be a problem.

I attended a Haas MBA online admissions chat a while back, and this question came up in terms of freelance work experience. The admissions person suggested that the applicant needed to make clear how his experience showed career progression, as well as how his experience related to his future career goals.

In terms of the kind of transition you would like to make after the MBA, that's pretty big jump but not undoable. It will depend on which MBA you do, what you do during the MBA (especially getting an internship or a consulting project in the kind of organization you'd want to work in), and networking.

[Edited by badux on Mar 05, 2015]