Jul 05: Everything you wanted to know about MBA Admissions

Hi Everyone! I’m Jen T, CEO of ARINGO MBA Admissions Consulting. I’m here to answer all your questions about MBA’s - admissions, applications, and anything else you may want to know!

Welcome Everyone! To the live chat

Question .............. Age 34
BE Computer Science (2009 pass out)
MBA Finance from a top tier bschool in India (2013 passout)

Experience
10 years of post MBA experience in corporate banking credit analysis and relationship management. Countries worked include India (4 years), UAE (1.5 years), Kuwait (4 years), Oman (0.5 years). Current position Relationship Manager Large Corporates in an Omani bank.

Looking to move to US, UK with an MBA from an Ivy League College. Looking to specialise in Finance/Banking. Preferably 1 year full time mba.

Yet to take GMAT. Is it necessary given my experience. Request your inputs on target b schools/courses and GMAT score (if necessary). Would my age be an entry barrier:?

Thanks
Ashwin

Wow - great profile and lots of experience. Getting a 2nd MBA is typically very difficult, but there are some full-time senior MBA programs that would be open to this - LBS Sloan Fellows, MIT Sloan Fellows, Stanford MSx, Foster GEMBA and USC IBEAR are all mid-career programs that are looking to capitalize on your strong work experience, leadership and growth and help groom candidates for higher level roles, typically in or near the C-suite. https://aringo.com/full-time-senior-emba-programs/

Here are some other stats to help compare work ex/experience to these programs https://aringo.com/mba-over-30/

Question by a member ................... An Aspirant who can’t afford fee of MBA at all should he or she consider applying for MBA hoping full scholarship, please comment.

Great question - many people apply for MBA’s that cannot currently afford them - actually sponsored candidates are really the only people that can immediately afford it! So if you have the experience, goals and drive, you should apply. There are many scholarships out there to assist in a % of the cost and many avenues for financing through loans. Your top priority should be to ensure that the school that you choose should be able to help you with employment that will provide ROI on the invest of time and money (look at the employment report of the schools you are exploring).

Great Reply

Question ........ what should be the order of preference to apply for the below mentioned colleges : Stanford MsX LBS 1 year MBA Full-time , Kellogg’s 1 year. Cornell 1 year , Duke 1 year , USC IBEAR MBA 1 year .

Same question for me

Thank you for this question. I am also interested in the group’s thoughts on the latter parts of the question, which have not been answered ie. - -- "Yet to take GMAT. Is it necessary given my experience. Request your inputs on target b schools/courses and GMAT score (if necessary). Would my age (34+) be an entry barrier:?"

I think it all depends on what your career goals are -
If you are a mid-career and looking to pivot or move more quickly to higher-level management, then the 1-year programs, USC IBEAR and Foster GEMBA are great options - they will have more robust career services as part of the program. If you have entrepreneurial goals, MSx is the best.

A few caveats:
Cornell only has the 1-year Tech MBA now.
Duke’s requirements are a little narrow (Fuqua alum).
LBS Sloan typically requires more years of leadership/management experience.

Some of the programs do not require the GMAT or offer a waiver. I might start with these schools first - IBEAR, Foster GEMBA, Ross GMBA (likely Emory will offer waiver too). If you absolutely want to apply to Kellogg or Stanford... then take the GMAT/GRE

Everyone, we have around 10 minutes left in this chat session. Ask your questions quickly

"There are many scholarships out there to assist in a % of the cost" ---- In your experience, for a great international candidate, what % of the cost have you seen being covered (obviously it may vary, just wondering a ball park) e.g. might it be high at a less competitive school?

$30-40K is pretty typical

It is now July. Is there sufficient time to begin studying for the GMAT for next applicatoin round? Or should we be planning for the two rounds ahead

Complete chat can accessed at: jul-05-everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-mba-admissions-414663.html

I think there is enough time to study and be ready for Round 2

We are closing this chat session. Thank you ARINGO for your time and inputs. We greatly appreciate it.

Thank you everyone for joining us, This chat is officially over

Thanks everyone, please feel free to reach out if you have additional questions at jenifert@aringo.com Thanks Sajjad1994,