MBA Admissions Consultant
Joined: 26 Dec 2008
Posts: 2457
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Re: My profile evaluation required
[#permalink]
29 Aug 2010, 10:46
There's a lot going against you unfortunately when it comes to applying to the top schools.
First, your GMAT is going to be an issue. As someone who has been out of school for a while (you've been out for 7 years), the GMAT is going to be what they look very closely at, especially as an international (GMATs are looked at more closely than college grades for internationals). Also, as an aside, while it seems to be customary to reference your high school grades in India, outside of India and especially in the west, no one cares, especially for someone who is more than a decade removed from high school.
Secondly, you work in banking -- and there is a "best before" date. Adcoms become VERY skeptical about the need for an MBA beyond the associate level. If you're already a VP level (or senior associate), it makes it very hard to convince an adcom that you need a full-time MBA now (no matter what your story is). The sweet spot for investment bankers is 2-4 years post college. Beyond that, it becomes very hard at the top schools and out of reach at others (HBS, Stanford, Wharton). Schools like LBS and INSEAD are more forgiving of age, but in your case it will still be difficult for them to overlook the fact that you're at a point in your career where your peers at your level already have 3-4 years post-MBA experience (and if you don't have much international experience especially years living full-time abroad, it's going to be even tougher for these Euro schools that put a premium on international experience and where you're competing against a lot of other jet-setting young expats from around the world).
I know this puts you in a tough spot, because it seems like what you're trying to do is to move to the US or Europe, and you feel that the MBA allows you to do that. I get that. From a practical standpoint, I don't think you have a choice but to apply if that's what you want to do -- however, you're going to find it difficult to get into the top schools. You may want to look at schools such as Oxford and Cambridge, or maybe at Stern, Cornell or Yale in the US.