Getting into a top-notch business school is a key part of succeeding in the business world. You can teach yourself about economics, management and marketing, but if you come out of a top business program, you can look forward to a significant salary increase and other benefits of a high-quality education. You'll need to take a standardized test and complete an essay, but your efforts will pay off in the long run.

Most students want to develop their understanding of the business world as well as get an interesting, demanding, well-paying job from their experience. Here are some things to consider when planning your business future:

* B-school usually lasts two years (full-time programs, at least). Are you willing to spend that kind of time on school?
* B-school will be expensive unless you get a company to pay for it (if you're already with a company, they'll often pay your tuition costs). 
* B-school is as much about making connections and learning how to work with people as learning the fundamentals of business. Almost every single assignment will involve group work. In fact, you'll be assigned to a group right at the beginning and will likely study with that group for your entire tenure.

Having previous business experience serves two functions: It assures the schools that you already have a certain amount of baseline knowledge, so classes won't need to be elementary; and it assures the schools that you already know what you're getting yourself into.

All top business schools require (or in their language, "strongly encourage") that you have at least 2 to 4 years of experience prior to being accepted. This means that if you're a senior in college and you'd like to get an MBA, you should be focusing on getting an entry-level business job and taking the GMAT exam. B-schools want applicants who already have some understanding of the real world and are interested in learning to manage that world.

Even those applicants with sterling academic credentials need 3 years in the corporate environment before graduate business schools will seriously consider them. The quality of that experience, the degree of responsibility, and job performance including the impact (if any) on the bottom line are absolutely critical. After you have gained this work experience, you can then begin the rest of the application process.