No Work Experience Required MBAs in Los Angeles

An MBA is a great way to improve your skills and increase your job prospects. Unfortunately, at most MBA programs you only receive the benefits after earning at least two years of professional work experience. It’s a catch-22, but it serves the purpose of diversifying classes and providing more insight into discussions.

However, we know there are situations where work experience isn’t possible or desired. In those cases, the following MBA programs in Los Angeles don’t require work experience to get admitted.

California State University, Long Beach

At California State University both the Evening MBA and the Daytime Accelerated MBA programs require no work experience for admission. However, they do highly recommend that their applicants have at least a little professional experience to enhance the classroom experience. And to attend the Saturday MBA program, at least three years of work experience are required.

Also, it’s important to note that, on average, students in the Evening MBA program have seven years of experience while students in the Daytime Accelerated MBA program students do not have work experience.

Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management – Claremont Graduate University 

To apply to Drucker’s full-time or part-time MBA programs students are not required to have any work experience. However, three years is recommended. It’s also important to note that the admissions committee is most interested in quality over quantity. So, even if you only have a year of experience, as long as it was management-level or leadership-focused, it will suit the program.

One caveat is important to note. While work experience is not required, two letters of recommendation from professional sources are. So, this means that you’ll most likely need an internship or other professional college experience to apply.

Anderson School of Management – UCLA

While the majority of full-time MBA applicants for the Anderson School of Management have work experience, it is not required for admissions. Early career and college seniors are welcome to apply to the program. However, there are a few things to consider before applying with no experience:

• The admissions committee values quality over quantity.
• They look more at your impact on your career field as well as your increasing level of responsibilities over time.
• They admit very few individuals without at least a year or two of professional work experience.
• Every application requires a resume and two letters of recommendation.

As for the class profile, on average, students admitted to the program have between 3-6 years of work experience and 21 percent of the class has more than six years of experience.

Marshall School of Business – USC

At the Marshall School of Business, full-time MBA applicants do not need work experience to apply. In addition, the admissions committee neither requires nor accepts letters of recommendation as part of their admissions process. However, a one-page resume is required. As for the class profile, the average age of accepted students is 29-years old and they have an average of five years of professional work experience.

Stephen M. Ross School of Business – University of Michigan

Uniquely, the Ross School of Business EMBA program does not have a minimum work experience requirement. However, that’s not to say that students with little to no work experience will have an easy time gaining admission. On average, EMBA students have ten or more years of experience and at least five of those years have been spent in a supervisory and/or managerial role. The best applicants have deep professional backgrounds with substantial responsibility as well as demonstrated academic ability.

The Paul Merage School of Business – University of California, Irvine

While work experience is not required to apply to the Paul Merage full-time MBA program, it is recommended. The majority of applicants have at least five years of professional work experience. In addition, a resume is required, and it should detail your job title and description at each position you’ve held. Two letters of recommendation are also needed to apply, and the school recommends direct supervisors, which can be difficult without work experience.

Argyros School of Business – Chapman University

At the Argyros School of Business work experience is not a requirement for either the full-time MBA program or the Integrated MBA (4+1). In particular, the Integrated MBA program was designed for current undergraduate students who would like to earn their MBA degree within one year of finishing their undergraduate studies. However, for both programs letters of recommendations and resumes are required to apply.

regions: Los Angeles

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