Deferred enrollment MBAs offer students a unique opportunity: to secure a spot in a prestigious MBA program with no work experience.
If successful in their deferred applications, students will go on to gain two to five years of professional experience before matriculating alongside the traditional MBA cohort. These programs, which offer both the security of an MBA place and the freedom to explore meaningful, sometimes unconventional career paths, are highly competitive. Acceptance on the Harvard Business School deferred MBA, for example, was just under 9% in 2025, compared to 12% on the traditional application route.
This is because of the freedom, security, and resources that a deferred enrolment MBA bestows. With an MBA spot guaranteed, deferred enrollment grads opt for exploratory and unusual work experiences, following what genuinely interests them over what looks good on a resume. And, not only are they able to seek more unusual opportunities, they can leverage the schools’ resources to do so – accessing alumni networks, campus events, regional meetups and even career workshops during their deferral period.
Should you apply for a deferred MBA right after undergrad?
The time period in which you can apply for a deferred enrolment MBA is fairly limited. Applicants must not:
- Have completed their studies
- Have held a full-time job
This answers our titular question: you should not apply for a deferred MBA right after your undergraduate experience. Instead, you must be a “current student” in your final year of study at the point of application.
Is it ever possible to apply after your undergraduate?
Aside from the final year of undergraduate, there is one other position from which candidates may apply for deferred enrolment MBAs: from within a graduate program.
Students in graduate programs – PhDs, medical, law, or master’s degrees – are also eligible for deferred admission. However, the zero-work-experience stipulation still stands, requiring candidates to have moved directly into their graduate program from their undergrad, with no professional experience in between.
Should you apply as an undergraduate, or do a masters first?
There are three primary reasons behind why a candidate may opt to pursue a graduate program before they apply for a deferred MBA.
The first is the certainty with which they have chosen an MBA. Or rather, how long they have been certain for. For some, choosing to apply from within a masters may simply be because an MBA was not in their sights during their undergraduate program.
The second is experience. Some candidates may feel that they can build – or improve – upon the quality of their research, coursework, and extra-curricular experience if they complete a masters, making them a more attractive candidate.
And the third is specializations. Some applicants may be dead set on specializing in finance, for example, and enroll in a related masters to both bolster their application and deepen their knowledge.
However, candidates should note that deferred enrollment MBAs are generally geared towards undergraduate students. These programs are structured to allow for experimentation and exploration in one’s career, and so the specialization of a masters is not guaranteed to be seen as an advantage. Some deferred MBA programs, such as UCLA Anderson, even limit eligibility to those currently enrolled in undergraduate studies.
