Hi:
I don't think the situation is quite as simple as the other respondent has suggested it might be.
One of the topics covered, usually to a lesser extent, except by those majoring in human capital management, is organizational behavior. If one looks at the full-time MBA classes of the top business schools, the classes do have an age distribution. I have not undertaken a statistical analysis, but the mean is probably 27.5, with a more rapid fall off below the mean, and a slightly wobblier, less steep fall off above it.
The Admissions Committees do not simply admit an individual; they compose a class. And I do believe -- even though there is likely, for legal liability reasons, to be no explicit policy or age limit on applicants or enrolled students -- they admit classes of individuals who are at similar enough life stages so as to be recognizably 'of a cohort' --- or at most, a cohort & and half -- of each other. Diverse backgrounds -- you'll find it. Nationality, gender, targeted career path -- here too there will be a diverse range. But as a full-time MBA is an intensive experience, formed of both class-time, class-work, and socializing, there is a selection bias that will favor applicants/students who are not outliers in the life experience attribute.
If you're 53 today and 55 when you enroll, you are likely -- though not prescriptively, for I don't know you -- to be less interested in going out to get drunk with a group of 26-28 year olds after a key deadline has passed. While missing one round of drinks shouldn't be much of a problem --- the same logic would likely play out in many ways, both overt and subtle. the MBA is not just a course of study; it's a course of study that is closely tied to where a candidate has been and where' they're going, and in that regard you are certainly more accomplished than they are -- and yet, ironically, this might well work against you!
There are other executive education resources out there where your talents would likely get a fairer hearing and be appreciated for the wisdom you do, undoubtedly, possess.
Considering that AdComms basically never give away any of their right to compose a class as they see fit, to my mind it seems likely they would encourage you to apply -- after all your fee offsets that cost center -- knowing full well you'd not be admitted for these social reasons that are not even inherent in you so much as residing in the relative age difference from other admits & enrolled students.
I don't know this as policy or gospel. But it would seem to comport with the composition of classes as I have seen them over the years.
Darren Kowitt
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Darren
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