I am 25 and work in IT for a fortune 100 company. I graduated with a Master's degree in IT Management last year. I plan to get my MBA from top 5 business schools after a few years of experience. What should I do?

Let's start with the basics - to apply for an MBA you should have at least 3-4 years work experience in the bag. You can apply at 30, even 31-33. It IS a bit on the older side, but is nonetheless feasible. Now an MBA is certainly ONE way for you to move away from IT, but in the meanwhile you should not be sitting on your thumbs. Meaning, even in your IT position, you will find opportunities to shine and to take leadership roles, and if you are serious about management (whether it be though an MBA or otherwise) you should be actively seeking these out from now on. Also, once you are comfortable enough with management, it's probably not a bad idea to make your desires clear - that you have managerial ambitious, and to ask for some sort of leadership opportunity. Even if you do decide to get an MBA later on, this experience will be invaluable for you to strengthen your application. But it's a little bit of a catch-22. MBA programs like IT candidates who already have leadership, and you want to do an MBA program to get leadership opportunities. My advice: as you consider your next steps forward over the coming years, make sure you do not neglect the "here and now." Doing amazingly well in your current job is the best way to get leadership opportunities, new job offers, and quick promotions. So don't count just on "that MBA in your future" but focus on the NOW.

Thanks for the A2A. The top B-schools get students with an average experience of 4-5 years at matriculation (i.e. starting the program). Here's http://www.mbacrystalball.com/blog/2011/08/21/work-experience-why-is-it-important-for-international-mba-applications/ Your best bet would be to control the urge to move on to another degree, when you've just graduated from one. Spend some time picking up technical, managerial and leadership skills - at work and outside. Apply only when you think you are competitive for the top schools. Waiting for too long isn't advisable either. For American schools, moving to the other side of 30 would put you in the outliers category (though you'd find several 30+ year old students in the class, their number is small). You could explore the shorter 1-year programs outside the US, where the age tends to be higher. Good luck! Sameer | http://www.mbacrystalball.com/beyond-the-mba-hype

You don't need to have a green card to apply to business school. You can get a student visa. 30 is at the far end of the age range for MBA applicants to top MBAs. Not sure why but that's it. To be a strong candidate you must grow significantly within your company, become a leader within your department, and enact real change at your job. You may find that you can be  a better leader at a small company. You may want to change jobs at some point if you are frustrated art the large firm. You may also find you have better opportunities to do interesting things in your home country. You can always go back, do great things, then go back to the US for school. You should also be very active outside of work - have interests beyond the professional and pursue them actively. Good leadership experience in school is good but it's still training day. Now that you have a job you have an opportunity to be a real leader, so focus on that. Finally, the MBA isn't your only avenue to managerial position. Especially in Silicon Valley were managers often have technical expertise and no academic business training. The differentiating factor between a manager and non-manager is that the manager is able to lead a group. MBA doesn't automatically make that happen. TL;DR: If you want an MBA from a good school, start working hard at your company to be an effective collaborator, seize opportunities for leaderhsip within the organization and enact change. Do you really need an MBA? If you like IT and want to be a manager, do good work, show initiative and enact change where needed. What's the MBA going to add to that?

It is not too late to start an MBA program at 30, but you would be on the older side. At that point in time you will need to explain why you need an MBA and how the degree when combined with your work experience to date is necessary to make the career move that you want to make. As the other posters have indicated, the more relevant your work experience is to your post-MBA goal the easier it will be for you to get accepted and to get hired post-MBA. To the extent you can get more business-oriented and client facing roles, you should do so. Both will enhance your chances of acceptance as well as the chance you will make the move you want to make. Please see: http://www.accepted.com/mba/careerchanger.aspx http://www.accepted.com/mba/mbacareerchange.aspx http://www.accepted.com/mba/older.aspx Best, Linda Abraham