How much will non-business work experience hurt your application? A friend of mine is currently applying to B-schools with teaching experience in the U.S. and Japan, a 3.6 from UPenn (concentrating in English and Physics), and a GMAT over 700. What can he do to demonstrate he is interested in a career change or help himself in the admissions process? He would ideally like to attend MIT Sloan.

Considering the number of engineers, scientists, health professionals, lawyers, nonprofit workers, etc. at b-schools, having non-business work experience isn't an issue - it's about the quality of work experience ("quality" being a subjective thing of course).

However, how your teaching experience will be viewed depends on the nature of the experience. If it's a "teaching English overseas" sort of thing, it'll be seen as a working vacation and not as a real career-oriented position. In any case, what will matter is how you execute your application and what else you have in your history -- extracurriculars, etc. that will show you to be an accomplished young person since graduating from Penn.

Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com