Applying at age 40

Question

I have 17 years experience in management consulting, finance and banking and currently hold an upper/mid level (Director) management job at a large bank. Given my experience, I was not initially planning to get an MBA. Also, with two kids and a mortgage in a single income household, I have significant time constraints and responsibilities. However, I have just won a scholarship from my company that will provide up to $115K in funding towards business school. Needless to say, this has changed the math.

My questions:
1. How will a typical b school admissions department view and review a candidate like myself? What's my best pitch? I will be working with my company's HR department to formulate an application strategy, but I'd appreciate any real world examples people could offer.
2. How relevant is my undergraduate record at this point? I was a fairly terrible college student, but that was a while ago.
3. I believe I should concentrate on only the top level schools as I'm not certain that a more mid-level school will add much to my resume, is this a reasonable assumption?

I'd appreciate any comments from people applying at a similar age and experience level.

kingfalcon · Answer

What type of program are you looking at? I think people with your level of experience tend to gravitate towards EMBA programs. Also, are you located within the US?

aerien · Answer

I'm certainly not the right age group of someone you want to hear from, but I'd suggest you take a look at the Sloan Fellows program at Sloan, Stanford, and LBS. There are definitely some Stanford admits here on GC you could reach out to for more information.

Posted from my mobile device

Posted from my mobile device

Posted from my mobile device

hiro11 · Answer

I'm considering both. I would say I gravitate towards an EMBA program, I have a meeting to discuss both possibilities with my company sponsor soon. I'm located in Chicago.

ManhattanReview · Answer

Congratulations on the scholarship - quite an accomplishment at any age.

It would be naive to say that there was no ageism in the business school admissions process. Also, many schools with EMBA programs will try to convince you that this is a better route as your peer group will be closer in age and experience. However, if you are committed to attending a full-time program, there are schools out there that value mature candidates. These include: Wharton, Stanford, Sloan, Tuck, Booth and Anderson. Over the past three years, we have worked with candidates who are over 35 and were admitted to their full-time program. The one thing that we emphasized in our applications was the reason why a graduate business degree at this stage of your personal and professional development. Also, we developed a personal pre-marketing strategy for each candidate to judge the receptiveness at each target school.

Good luck in this process. Just to let you know, that the oldest person in my Wharton cohort was 46 -- she attended business school after selling her company for over $50 MM.

Kimberly Plaga
Senior Admissions Consultant
Manhattan Review

Call for a free candidacy assessment.

hiro11 · Answer

Sorry, should have been clear, I will be pursuing part time programs only.

theK · Answer

In that case, you can skip the Stanford Sloan and MIT Sloan programs since those are full-time programs for those with years of experience such as yours.

CobraKai · Answer

In light of this information and your Chicago location. Booth and Kellogg seem to make the most sense. Your work experience falls in line with the EMBA (vice PT - demographically speaking evening programs have less work expereince), and both are top flight MBA programs. Age shouldn't be an issue at all when developing your pitch for EMBA, since most candidates will have double-digit years of work experience.

AmyCope · Answer

Its sounds like you would be a great candidate for an EMBA program. They usually attract people with significant work experience, like yourself. There are also many great programs that take place on weekends so you can continue to work while pursing your degree.

JCSanders · Answer

EMBA programs seem perfect for you. I think Booth would be worth checking out for sure given that you are located in Chicago. I think that would definitely be my first preference. But you could also explore around and see what else is available. I assume you would not want to travel far seeing as you have a family and want to do this part time.

MBAbot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club MBAbot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

 This post was generated automatically.

Applying at age 40

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards