[Iterated]

Any MBA program worth it's salt doesn't let people in unless they have work experience.

[throwaway1979]

That said, you may want to check out the average age at entry in the top-10 MBA programs. I was surprised how low it was.

[hkmurakami]

For those wondering, average age is usually around 26-28, iirc. 4 years of experience is the average, with about 50% of the student body having 3'ish years of experience in a finance or consulting firm.

[eigenvector]

Yes, and you can bet that most of the 26-28 year olds have been on the track to an MBA since their undergrad, pausing only to gain just enough experience to make it into a top B-school.

[hga]

And it's questionable if that satisfies my "significant experience" criteria.

They will have a grounding in the real world; whether they have enough of one will of course depend on the individual.

For that matter, if they grew up helping run the family business(es) as I sort of did, they could potentially go straight to B school with little to no harm.