The sequence of events is that you first need to get a bachelor’s degree (4 years), then you should have at least 3 years of post-bacalaureate work experience, followed by an MBA program which will take two years if you do it full time.

Since everyone is offering MBAs these days, and it can make a huge difference where you get your MBA, this gives you plenty of time to think about how to do it. For example, don’t just major in business and continue for a quick degree right afterwards; that kind of an MBA isn’t likely to help you much. You often hear people complain that the MBA is worthless, and then you find out that they got one from a lesser school, right out of college. If they had gone to Wharton or Harvard or one of the top-20 schools, they would not be saying that.

First of all, go to the best undergraduate school you can get into. For some people that doesn’t matter; for you, it will make a difference. If you are looking at competitive MBA programs, and they have one application from a Yale grad and another from you, who went to Northeast Western Podunk University, the Yale grad will win out, even if you had straight A’s and she did not.

One thing you need to think about is what you will major in in college. Since you already know you want an MBA, I would avoid business and major in something related to the kind of business you want to get into, whether that is something in the sciences, a technology field, film, or psychology. The MBA assumes no prior knowledge of business, so you have just as much of a chance of getting into a program with a degree in anything as you do if you major in business or economics. Economics is a good start if you are looking at a Wall Street job, but won’t help you much if what you want is to be CEO of a biotech firm in the long run. I’m a business professor, and most of my best MBA students were NOT business undergrads. If you are planning ahead, therefore, my advice would be to major in something other than business in college.

Then, you need to go out and get some significant work experience, to bring a new level of understanding to what you learn. An internship or two is not enough, and there is a reason why many of the better schools absolutely require a minimum of three years, and prefer five years, of full-time work experience after getting your bachelor’s degree.

Then there’s the GMAT, which is an admissions test very much like the SAT for business school. I would advise taking it near the time you graduate from your undergraduate program, because you are more likely to remember details like math formulae, which will help you a lot. Once you have been out working fo a few years, that becomes more difficult.

Again, the school you go to matters. The top schools are very competitive. You may need to do an interview, and they will look at lots of things other than your grades. In particular, they will want to see your leadership potential. Someone who has organized events and been in charge, whether as an undergrad for their Greek organization or in their office, is seen as preferable to someone who meekly followed and just joined lots of existing things.

Good luck!

And about the MBA, it depends. Some degrees take 5yrs, while some take 4yrs. After the degree, then you get to decide if you’ll get an MBA. But as I most often heard, social skills are a great addition to your resume.

They will help you to take the required classes and courses to increase the chance of you becoming qualified in the area you want to persue.