Profile evaluation for Ross (Michigan), Tepper, Foster, Other background, from Canada

gmatclub

Comments 8 comments

2 years ago

Welcome to GMAT Club.
I feel the Sub-33 age is just fine and sub-35 is doable. The key is whether you can demonstrate success and opportunity to leverage the school's recruiting pathways. It starts getting a bit tricky at some point, e.g. if your current position is Director or something senior and you would be recruiting into a PM which would be considered a step down. Maybe you did not get promoted to a certain level but then AdCom will see that as a slow career progression. It is more the experience rather than age since some folks out of military or PhD may not have as much experience/promotions/etc.

P.S. I like your program choices. Fingers crossed for interviews!

dreamer14

Thank you so much for those insights, I agree what you mean. Luckily I feel I have been able to show progression at each job while showing that PM would be a good jump for me post MBA. I think moving to new countries and starting from scratch twice and building myself up to each career progression helped me in that case.

And yes I tried to apply to only the programs which I know can definitely help me in PM roles, very clear what I want so didn't want to be distracted by other biggies!

Sorry about the Foster Ding.

It is tough without a score - that's one more data point that's missing. Sorry. What's your R2 plan?

Yes I thought so too, but well I tried. Waiting to see how Tepper goes, if not planning to take GMAT and get a significant score to probably negate the Age (If that really does hinder my application) Also thinking to change strategy, probably aim for European and Indian schools where my above average age might not be such a big issue. Any feedback? Do you think starting MBA at 32/33 European/ Indian schools is a better option?

The work experience is a combination of factors, so you can't just say, hey I am 33 and therefore too old for example. It depends on what you will be recruiting for, what your former role was, experience, and your story and energy. If you are like me, not very outgoing, and quiet and boring, then we are in trouble

Europe can be an option but recruiting in the US sucks if you go to school there - definitely you will be a more attractive applicant there, not only because of age but also location, as someone from Canada. Your other option would be MSx or Sloan Fellows for folks with 8+ years of work experience. These are 1-year programs but they are competitive and selective.

You may benefit from getting a consultant for a few hours and help you figure things out since every year ads more pressure and you have 2 months until R2, so still have ability to effect change. Hiring a consultant in Dec will be much less valuable...

Thank you so much for the genuine response, really appreciate it. And for recruiting i am open to come back to Canada or Europe so feel European schools might not be a bad idea.

And I already have one consultant so need to discuss this new route as I feel given your feedback and other threads on here each round or year and it gets tougher for me in US programs but as you said might be a stronger candidate in European schools.

But first need to ace GMAT, how i wish I had started earlier on that. Probably underestimated it’s value given the waivers these days.

I totally understand applying with a waiver. If someone told you you did not have to jump into a pool of razor blades, I would totally sign up for a waiver. However, it’s a double edge sword. I don’t think I’ve seen a whole lot of stats about it but when Darden made Gmail optional back in 2020 and allowed anyone to apply with the waiver, they denied 90% of applicants without a score. Likely that was because applicants were not serious and applied on a very short notice but still the number of dings is staggering…. I don’t know what the latest statistics are these days. I feel your consultant should be pretty straightforward and honest with you about your candidacy and chances since they have quite a few historical examples.

Woah! Those are staggering numbers and I feel an eye opener for others as well. I did feel it was 50/50 as there isn’t much data online be it here or reddit about waiver admits. It’s some saying we got in while other just dinged without an interview. I do feel sometimes that it’s another way to encourage people to apply without a score but as you said probably majority of them are dinged while some with an exceptional profile might get in without a gmat. And yes I am going to discuss that and only apply to programs where I am not fighting against all odds, as there are already too many 😂