MBA News: More Students Going Straight from College to B-School

As reported yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, more MBA students are moving straight from undergrad to business school. According to the Graduate Management Admission Council, the under-24 age-group is the fastest growing among those taking the GMAT, with roughly 40% of full-time MBA applicants having less than three years of work experience. In response to this trend, many business schools have created special programs for talented younger applicants, such as Harvard Business School’s 2+2 Program and the Stanford Graduate School of Business’s deferment program, wherein students are accepted while they are in college for admission after completing a few years of work experience. Of course, many skeptics feel that these students lack the real-world experiences necessary to fully contribute to an MBA program and that employers in this economy want graduates with more experience. Because these programs are in their infancy, only time will tell if the experiment pays off.