Hey dilbert,

Sorry for the delay on this. I didn't realize that a whole host of inquiries had been pushed down to a second page.

The long and short of it is: yes, you can be a really competitive candidate. "I've hit a ceiling" is one of THE best reasons to apply. Just make sure you articulate that either through your essays or your actions. Essays: hammer the point that you are ready (you can do this by just saying it over and over, but that is pretty weak - better is to tell stories about stepping into leadership roles, making lasting impacts, taking over new roles all the time, management telling you you are ready, etc.). Actions: make plans to leave and then write about it. The candidate that most effectively took 3 yrs of WE and made it seem like more than enough was a guy we worked with last year who literally walked away from a pretty elite job and moved to another country to start a community organization. His message of "I feel like I've maxed out in this job" was pretty convincing when coupled with "so I left." It's a way to really hammer that point home. Also, what you do with something like that is you take "well, he can always coast for a while and then reapply" out of the admissions officer's toolkit. I know this sounds weird/cynical/backward, but adcoms are often looking for a way to deny people as humanely as possible. And it's easier to sleep at night when you kicked a 25-year old with plenty of years ahead of him to the curb. Harder to tell that 31-year old to come back next year. So you have to make sure to put the heat on. Make them feel like "damn, if I deny this dude, he's going to be in a pickle." Most candidates are afraid to shake things up and they want to play it safe, but that has the perverse effect of making the reader feel like you will BE safe. And then they stamp deny and sleep like a baby. So the rule of thumb is "make 'em squirm a bit."

Of course, that has to be balanced out with practical thinking in terms of your career arc, a full display of the needed skills and traits that both b-schools and recruiters (in your line of work) are looking for, etc.

I think if you can put enough pressure on, really hammer WHY AN MBA RIGHT NOW, and get the school fit just right (the X Factor for any "really solid on paper, alas not super diverse" candidate is to just crush the fit aspect), I think you will do well.

Hit us up if you want to have a consult. If you've already had one since your original post, sorry about getting things out of order.

Hopefully this helps and is better late than never.

Respectfully,
Paul Lanzillotti
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