PRIOR ACTIVITIES AND PROGRESS IN MBA PROGRAMS

Many graduate business programs encourage, and even require, postbacca laureate work experience as a criterion for program admission. In this research we use data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 to examine the extent to which MBA students actu ally experience a hiatus in their educational careers, and whether the ir work/education profiles differ from those of other graduate student s in the United States. We also address whether this emphasis on educa tional discontinuity in the formal sense has any effect on how the stu dent progresses through the MBA program. Our results suggest that inte rrupting school between the BA and MBA leads to a higher likelihood of part-time enrollment, and a consequent lower probability of completin g the degree program in a timely fashion.