Are there any circumstances where the a 10 MBA program would admit somebody with lower than average work experience? I only have 2 years of work experience, in Hong Kong and in the UK, but for personal reasons I need to do my MBA ASAP. I would like to go to a top 10 American school: Stanford/Harvard/Wharton/Booth/MIT Sloan... something in this range.

I have taken some practice GMAT tests and am confident that I could easily score 780, is this enough?

The odds are very much against it. You'd have to be a really inspiring leader, not just someone with a high GMAT. I think Darden would be the place I'd suggest. Stanford or Carnegie Mellon might be open, but you'd really need to be stellar.

If your work experience is with one of the firms that hire from those schools, I think it's worth trying.

That's the advice I was looking for. Short of waiting another couple of years to apply, Is there anything else I could do to make myself more attractive to a school like Stanford?

Work for a company that hires from Stanford GSB. Take an executive education course at Stanford GSB. Visit. Make friends with alumni. Take up a leadership role in an NGO. Get a relative to donate $1m plus to Stanford and ask you to drop off the check.

Thanks for the advice, it's funny but I was just looking at Stanford's "Design Thinking Bootcamp" program, and thought it would be really interesting to take. Maybe I'll jump on this.

Get a relative to donate $1m plus to Stanford and ask you to drop off the check.

Does Stanford really accept people with low work experience? It looks like they usually recruit folks with 4 years or more, no?

Yes, and the students with less _volume_ of work experience have correspondingly outstandingly _higher-quality_ experience, academics and connections to Stanford. If you're s Stanford grad with one or two years work experience at one of its major recruiters, then it's worth discussing.

There are circumstances where these programs recruit people with little or no work experience. You need to do some research yourself though.

Harvard will defer admission for promising candidates with no work experience:

The HBS MBA Program is designed for students who have full-time work experience before matriculation. College seniors are encouraged to apply in the expectation that they will be offered "deferred admission", i.e. an offer of admission to a future class conditional upon acquiring full-time work experience, as a positive outcome. It is important for candidates to assess their own readiness when deciding to apply: there is no universal "right" time.

Work experience is not required for entry to the Stanford MBA Program. We welcome applications from college seniors and recent college graduates, as well as those with all levels of work experience.

The number of such candidates who are successful is extremely small. You have to be totally atypical candidate with substantial leadership accomplishments, like an Olympian.

Agreed, you'd be hard-pressed to get into those top schools with 2 years of experience or less. It's interesting though, to look at the Stanford current class profile:

https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/programs/mba/admission/evaluation-criteria/class-profile

The work experience ranges from 0-15 years, but the average is 4 years. Also, the lowest GMAT score they allowed was 550. I'd be interested to know who that was!

There are circumstances where these programs recruit people with little or no work experience. You need to do some research yourself though.

Harvard will defer admission for promising candidates with no work experience:

The HBS MBA Program is designed for students who have full-time work experience before matriculation. College seniors are encouraged to apply in the expectation that they will be offered "deferred admission", i.e. an offer of admission to a future class conditional upon acquiring full-time work experience, as a positive outcome. It is important for candidates to assess their own readiness when deciding to apply: there is no universal "right" time.

http://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/Pages/who-are-we-looking-for.aspx

Stanford doesn't even require work experience to apply:

Work experience is not required for entry to the Stanford MBA Program. We welcome applications from college seniors and recent college graduates, as well as those with all levels of work experience.

https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/programs/mba/admission/application-materials/career

It does happen. I think many are people who have done their undergrad there, or whose parents are alumni. The odds are so much against it, since you'd need to show that you'd be a better candidate now than when you had work experience, that I think you'd be better off taking a masters in management.