Can I get into a school for MBA without business experience?

[Diamond League]

I've been a science guy all my life. I have two engineering degrees. Thinking of doing an MBA in Canada or US and I don't really have any business experience.  I'm kind of skeptical. Do I still have a chance of gaining admission into good schools without that? or do schools focus more on GMAT scores?

[Catria]

Do you have work experience in engineering? That will have to do at this point...

[Diamond League]

Yes I do. But just about three years.

[grad_wannabe]

I work at an MBA program and the overwhelming majority come in with work experience. You said you have three years' worth - if you can tailor your description of your experience to emphasize your assessment of the business aspects of the work (like an interest in strategy, innovation, management, organizational behavior, etc.), that will help.

Edited January 1, 2015 by grad_wannabe

[jahall05]

Tons of MBA programs accept students without work experience. Those programs usually want to see high grades in undergraduate studies and good GRE/GMATs cores in exchange for the limited experience.

[Applemiu]

I've been a science guy all my life. I have two engineering degrees. Thinking of doing an MBA in Canada or US and I don't really have any business experience.  I'm kind of skeptical. Do I still have a chance of gaining admission into good schools without that? or do schools focus more on GMAT scores?

 

Once I was chatting with a MBA student at my school (one of the top 10). The student told me: "I've never done business before."

[Catria]

Tons of MBA programs accept students without work experience. Those programs usually want to see high grades in undergraduate studies and good GRE/GMATs cores in exchange for the limited experience.

 

However, the job market for MBAs is highly hierarchical. Top-7 programs (or sometimes called the Magic 7; Harvard, Stanford, MIT Sloan, Columbia, NWU Kellogg, Chicago Booth, UPenn Wharton) grant you access to contacts and opportunities even, say, Brown Prime (Brown Prime isn't AACSB-accredited, however) or Berkeley Haas won't.

 

And getting into a top-7 program requires not simply having post-graduation work experience but also that said work experience has had impressive progression.

Edited January 2, 2015 by Catria

[BGPCEliza]

I think the important thing is to tailor you application to emphasize why you need a business degree and how your science background will enhance the experience of others at the school.  Lots of people go into business school with specific, non business, backgrounds so that they can take management positions within their field.  Business schools also seek to have diverse experience among their classes, so a purely science background isn't necessarily a bad thing.