The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or grad school search.
Most MBA students arrive at business school with several years of work experience. But some MBA programs cater to early-career students.
[Find out the typical traits of MBA students at ranked programs.]
At the 10 business schools with the lowest average total number of years and months of work experience among full-time MBA students, early-career students make up a significant chunk of the student population, with nearly 14 months of work experience on average.
In contrast, among the 126 ranked business schools that reported work experience data to U.S. News in an annual survey, the average full-time MBA student has four years and two months of work experience.
The business school where full-time MBA students have the least work experience is the Massey Graduate School of Business at Belmont University, where the average student has no post-college work experience, U.S. News data show.
[Consider going directly from college to an MBA program.]
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts has the highest average amount of work experience among its full-time MBA students: seven years and 10 months.
Below is a list of the 10 business schools with the lowest average amount of work experience among full-time MBA students who enrolled in fall 2016. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.
| School (name) (state) | Average amount of post-college work experience among full-time students | Percentage of full-time students with post-college work experience | U.S. News b-school rank |
| Belmont University (Massey) (TN) | None | 0% | RNP* |
| University of Kentucky (Gatton) | 8 months | 20.9% | 86 (tie) |
| George Mason University (VA) | 10 months | 42.1% | RNP |
| Willamette University (Atkinson) (OR) | 13 months | 42.6% | RNP |
| University of Mississippi | 14 months | 55.2% | RNP |
| University at Buffalo–SUNY | 15 months | 58.7% | 73 (tie) |
| Binghamton University–SUNY | 18 months | 41.3% | 77 (tie) |
| Northern Arizona University (Franke) | 19 months | 19.4% | RNP |
| University of Cincinnati (Lindner) | 21 months | 61.9% | 79 (tie) |
| University of Oklahoma (Price) | 21 months | 55.6% | 83 (tie) |
* RNP denotes an institution that is ranked in the bottom one-fourth of its ranking category. U.S. News calculates a rank for the school but has decided not to publish it.
Don’t see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News Business School Compass to find work experience data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.
U.S. News surveyed 471 schools for our 2016 survey of business programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News’ data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Business Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data comes from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News’ rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The work experience data above are correct as of May 9, 2017.
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10 MBA Programs Where Early-Career Students Are Common originally appeared on usnews.com
