Admissionado
Joined: 30 Nov 2009
Posts: 9211
Location: Chicago, IL
Schools:Brown University, Harvard Business School
Question from Taiwan about...AGE.
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04 Jul 2011, 10:48
What is up folks. A great question about AGE just came in from a friend in Taiwan. Thought I'd share...
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I am male, I joined military service after graduating from college, has retired from army for seven years, I am now 33 years old
I finished the TOEFL last week, and took GMAT two years ago and the score is still within the time limit.
Even if everything goes well, I d be 34 when I go to school next year in July or August, then I d be 36 years old when I finish school
Is that too old?
Thanks very much for your advice!
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Hello my friend. Happy to offer up some advice here. Yes, you will for sure be on the older side. This means that for US programs, you will need to do some research to see which programs are most open to older candidates. HBS for example is not, whereas Tuck, Ross, and Duke are.
From there, you should also consider European programs. There, the average age tends to be even 5 years OLDER than the range in the US. IMD, for example, is known for finding its graduates GREAT jobs (highest salaries) after graduation, and they specialize in older candidates. And yes, you will be able to find a job; the trick will be to convince the adcom that you are NOT at a dead end in your current career. That’s not what they wanna see—they wanna know that for unusual reasons, you are just a bit older than most. You are still very eager and willing and able to roll up your sleeves alongside the younger folks, and work hard! Military service is a GREAT reason you are a few years behind. They are accustomed to this.
When I was in HBS we had one girl in my class who was 37—she was from China. : ) So provided that you account for this carefully in your app, and apply to the right schools, you should be just fine this year my friend!