Age

I'm sure you know your stuff, but there appear to be many people who disagree with you on this, including other well respected admissions consultants. Why do you disagree with these people?

Don't get me wrong, I know people of all ages GET INTO all schools, but that isn't the same thing as "age makes no difference," so I'm curious about the disagreement.

I mean, after all there is this graph, taken from Harvard's admissions blog:



It's possible that there were very few people who applied as older applicants, but that's a little hard to believe given that (a) it's harvard (b) no emba and (c) it's hard to believe that THAT few older people applied.

Tough to say overall, but just looking through some of the app threads w/spreadsheets, almost everyone fits between 3 and 7 years of WE. Small sample, but without a good dataset, who knows. If people want to apply to HBS, they should and see what happens.

Sure. I agree. But it makes me go "whoa" when an admissions consultant is saying that age is irrelevant as that's pretty far from the common wisdom. Common wisdom can be faulty, of course.

I'd just hate to give some 32-year-old investment banker hope of getting into HBS. For one, false hope isn't a great thing. And depending on how cynical I feel, I might think that an admissions consultant who wants someone to hire them might be giving false hope to have an older person hire them.

Jeanette, I think as far as HBS is concerned age probably does play a role. The question is if all schools look down upon older applicants. Surely the older applicant pool is smaller, much smaller - personal, family considerations etc. But I feel if you can prove that you bring something unique to the table you can get in. Plus I am sure if you belong to some well known business family - those things matter too...

I don't think anyone is disagreeing to the fact that all kinds of people get into b-school, including those 22-year-olds and 50-year-olds. I truly believe that if you have something different to bring to the table, by all means, apply and I hope to be sitting next to someone who's both wise and experienced, regardless of age.

However, I have to admit one thing though: when I read what the admission consultant said in his reply that age is irrelevant, I twitched a bit as well. That's a pretty strong statement.

Bryant is just trying to tap the very fertile geriatric market.

I agree. Age is not at all "irrelevant" in business school admissions, or in getting a job afterwards. That being said, no one should let their age keep them from applying.

even i am a older applicant...hence i want to be sure abt the average experience of the present batch before i apply to any schools ...
one thing is for sure is that age should not demotivate u from applying to B school..
but in mba schools u learn from fellow pears rather than just from books. it would be great to have fellows with work ex whose thinking process is different from me..

I have learned few points related to age from different forums and by talking to few current students at B-schools:

1. If you have exceptional profile (in terms of work, education or extra curricular activities)- forget the age.
2. If your profile is similar to the mass applicants of a particular school but your age is way below or above the average age - then you would have show that you have an edge over the others. Additionally, you have to tell adcom 'Why MBA Now' (and why not earlier or later). This becomes very-very important if you do not fall near to avg. age (or experience).
3. Most people agree that H/S/W are more hesitant in taking older applicants. One of the reasons for this trend could be this - these schools already get top candidates with excellent profiles. so there is no reason for them to admit older applicant unless they believe that this candidate is far better than other younger applicants.
4. You can not change your age, anyways. So, don't be discouraged and give it a shot. For better results, prepare excellent application. Your story (why MBA, why now and why this school) should make sense to adcom. While selecting the schools, try to find schools that have higher avg. age. In addition, make sure that your career goals (and why now) fits to the school you are applying to.

These are my opinions that I have formed based on my research. I am an older candidate too and hence did some research to find out where do I have better chances. No one for sure knows about it but as there is a practical limitation on the number of schools one can apply for, it is better to select the schools wisely.

I'm curious to know how old is too old? Is being 28 at the time of application too old?

Nah. 29 at matriculation is going to be tougher to overcome at Harvard, Stanford and Wharton , but it's barely over the average at other top schools such as Columbia, Ross, Tuck, and Haas.

What about W ? I hear it's friendly towards older applicant. Is that right? What about MIT?

Posted from my mobile device

4 years of WE average, so the same as Stanford's.

https://www.wharton.upenn.edu/mba/studen ... rofile.cfm

to clarify, wharton's median WE is 4 years, not the average. the median doesn't really tell you much by itself, but combined with the % of class with 3 or less years of WE (which is 26%), you can assume that at least half the class has 4 years or less of WE. i'm not sure how that compares to other schools, though.

at the end of the day, people are going to apply wherever they want (as they should), regardless of how old they are. you shouldnt try to game the system by looking at odds or statistics. just apply to whatever school you feel a strong connection to, and make sure that you highlight this strong connection in your essays.

Thanks! Replies on this forum are almost instantaneous. You guys are awesome!

I currently have 4 years of WE, 5 at the time of application. I got a Masters degree; hence didn't start working until I was 24. Even though my WE is average for most schools, I'm older. Not sure how schools look at it and whether they would relax the age for someone like me.

Posted from my mobile device

Definitely not "too old" for any of the programs. Welcome to GMAT Club

that's a good point.

although the median actually is a type of average.