Abhi,

Your age is a very moderate negative at most top schools--the operative word being "moderate." You will just need to account for why you waited until now to apply. In terms of top U.S. programs that view older applicants, consider Tuck, Wharton, UCLA, Duke, CMU, and of course many of the European schools. You may be interested in Accepted.com's advice for older applicants.

The difference between a 730 and a 750 is insignificant. Focus your energy on other aspects of your application and don't mention the ADD stuff -- it probably will not help you.

--Paul

Hi,

I took GMAT last year and scored 730. Verbal - 41/92%, Quant - 49/87%, Total 730/96%, Analytical writing 5.0/56%. I did not (could not) apply anywhere for 2010 because of some financial responsibilities. I am planning to apply for 2011 session. My brief profile is as follows:
Age: 29 (born in Feb, 1981).
Ethnicity: Indian
Undergrad - from one of the IITs in India, GPA 3.7
Grad - one of schools (not high ranked) in U.S., GPA - 3.95
Work experience - I have been working in U.S. since 2005 (I will have 6 years of full time work ex at the end of 2010). I work in high end technical consulting. 2 years in a big five company, past 3 years in a blue chip company.

As I mentioned, I am planning to apply for 2011 session. I will be 30 in Feb 2011. I have a couple of questions:

1. Would I have had a much better chance had I scored 750 instead of 730? I am asking this question because I screwed up the exam a little bit. I have mild ADD and I forgot to hit 'submit' on the last Quant question. I think I made a couple of other stupid mistakes on Quant and could have easily got 750.

2. Is my age going to be a hindrance when applying to top 5 schools - specially Harvard, Stanford and Wharton? If yes, are there any schools in top 10 that are friendlier to applicants with 30 years of age?


Thanks,

Abhi
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