We are a small, but growing network of young MBA students. We share our experiences at business school for the benefit of the greater good, and to further encourage prospective YoungMBAs.
YoungMBA School List
As young MBA students who have made the challenging transition into MBA programs straight out of college, we recognize that most college seniors try to find schools that actually DO admit a significant amount of applicants right out of undergrad. We have done a considerable amount of research and came up with the following list of schools that are more “friendly” to outstanding young MBA applicants. Please note that this is by no means a comprehensive list, but rather a set of b-schools that have a tendency of admitting students right out of college every year.
- Harvard Business School: Avg GMAT ~ 707
- There are 15-20 straight-through MBAs at HBS every year. Check out this article.
- University of Chicago GSB: Avg GMAT ~ 710
- Chicago is targeting young MBA applicants with its Early Career Candidates program.
- University of Rochester (Simon): Avg GMAT ~ 673
- University of Rochester is one of the true pioneers for pursuing young MBA applicants. Check out this BusinessWeek article about Simon.
- Yale School of Management: Avg GMAT ~ 700
- Yale offers a tremendous Silver Scholars program for prospective MBAs right out of college.
- Ohio State University (Fisher): Avg GMAT ~ 661
- 14% of the last incoming class has less than 1 year of work experience.
- University of Iowa (Tippie): Avg GMAT ~ 652
- This is a small program that consistently ranks in the top 50 MBA programs worldwide.
- Stanford University GSB: Avg GMAT ~ 720
- Stanford specifically goes after exceptional college students. Don’t believe us? Check out this message from Stanford to college seniors.
- University of Pittsburgh (Katz): Avg GMAT ~ 620
- About 25% of each incoming class has less than 1 year of work experience.
Moreover, schools like Cornell University (Johnson), Boston University, Vanderbilt University (Owen), Boston College (Carroll), Notre Dame (Mendoza), Penn State (Smeal), Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) will consider MBA applications from college students given that you have a strong academic profile - which means above average GMAT & GPA.
However, these schools listed below are NOT so friendly towards younger applicants for various reasons (mostly for recruiting and career placement). Please check with their respective admissions offices before applying.
Special Thanks to Jimmy and Jason for their on-going contributions for this list. We will keep updating the list based on new research and findings; hence we would greatly appreciate your help. If you find new information on these MBA programs (or others) based on your research, please write your comments below. Thank you.
9 Responses to “YoungMBA School List”
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Although I completed my MBA 15 years ago, I did go straight through to USC’s Marshall School from my undergrad at UCLA, and I found the experience to be very rewarding. I’m glad you started this blog for young MBAs.
One more addition to the list of schools that “encourage” younger applicants to apply, if they have exceptional academic credentials and GMAT scores and ‘considerable exposure to business through entrepreneurship etc’ is the University of San Diego.
Another update, the Tippie School, University of Iowa, probably is changing its policy of admitting younger applicants, mostly because of difficulties faced by such students in securing a competitive job post-graduation.
Somesh-
I just interviewed at Tippie this week. They are not changing their policy on admitting undergraduates (at least not for domestic students). The Assistant Dean of the MBA program (who interviewed me) told me that they always require work experience for international students…since it is too hard to find jobs for them post-graduation. They still accept 1 to 2 domestic undergrads a year however. She also told me that they usually see about 20 applications from undergrads each year…so roughly 10 percent are admitted.
Rwrangler-
Yeah, right. I guess that’s one of the reasons I dropped TIppie from my list. FYI: Olin is a good option to apply to if you are lacking on formal work ex, but are great on other areas.
And about GSB Chicago, one of the factors they look at is if you have acheived significant responsiblity early in your career. And notwithstanding what they say, I learn from other sources the percentage of students with about a year of work ex isn’t really more than 2-3% - am unable to officially confirm it though.
Hello there. I just saw this website and found it very interesting. I wanted to express my current situation and see what kind of advice you guys could give me. Although I am not directly out of college, I would say that I am youthful in experience. I graduated from the University of Texas in Sport Management with honors and a 3.6 GPA. I have two years of professional experience in two different jobs and participated in three internships each a semester long in school all in the sports field. I am currently studying for the GMAT. I really want to do my MBA in marketing (not sports specific though). I wondered if this is considered a low level of experience and what kind of schools I should be looking at as potential schools assuming I will receive a quality score on the GMAT?
Thank you!
Hey Casey,
If you’re looking strictly for top marketing programs I would apply to a couple of schools from US News list for my reach schools. I’d also find some ideal fit schools and some safety schools.
One quality program not listed in the top ten that I would consider when applying is Indiana University.
There are quite a few candidates returning to get their MBA’s with 2-3 years of work experience, so I don’t believe it should be any major hindrance. Just be able to answer the “why now”, “why here”, “what do you want from this experience” questions you’ll be asked in interviews.
When I say reach schools, US News does a “Top 10″ in Marketing, along with other business functions.. three or four of those would be my reach applications.
J:
Thanks man. I’ve actually been looking at Indiana. They have the Sports and Entertainment Academy there and the ranking is pretty good according to Business Week.
I like how you split up the categories like that (reach, ideal fit, and safety).
I really appreciate you giving me some help.
Thanks again!