MBA at 35

Question

Hi there everyone!

I'm 34 years of age, soon to be 35 come September!. I am currently consulting as a Luxury & Special Events Consultant.

With total work experience spanning 15 years, I have spent the past 12 years in the events industry in India. Having worked on both the agency as well as brand side, my collective experiences across event and brand marketing along with producing events luxury and experiential events has been an enriching experience. My last permanent role and as part of a large marketing team was with a publishing company as their Head-Events.

Moving forward, I have decided to up the ante and expand my skill set. After a lot of research I decided to pursue an MBA. There is so many conflicting opinions though, on a full time one year MBA or an executive mba and I am thoroughly confused! I ideally would prefer a one year full time. A elective in luxury brand management/marketing will be a plus.

Any thoughts on what schools may work best for this and of course given that I'm a much older candidate?

Thanks in advance,
Neha

GyanOne · Answer

Hi Neha
- Generally, an Executive MBA is more useful in moving up within your company/industry, and a full-time MBA is more useful in switching functions/moving to more business-facing roles within your company or industry. 
- As you wish to stay in your own industry, an Executive MBA could very well be useful. Besides, at your level of experience, most full-time MBA programs may consider you too experienced for their classes. Exceptions are the Sloan Fellows MBA programs (MIT Sloan, LBS, and Stanford MSx) that look at mid-career applicants.

You might want to go through  this link  and  this link  to get more insight on these topics.

Hope this helps. Feel free to come back with more queries as needed.

Mo2men · Answer

While you will see different view, I advise to take your chance but with good planning. You need to show to adcom clear vision that they expect from someone in your age. Your vision should fit with what the school offers. You can pursue 1 Year MBA too either in Europe or in the US (CBS -J term, Cornell, Kellogg, Emory....others in lower ranking) P.S. take a look into Vanderbilt class profile. You will find someone with 47 years old. I confirmed the info with current school in Vandy. He told me that they have some older ages but 47 was the most strange https://business.vanderbilt.edu/mba/class-profile/

nehamishra09 · Answer

Hi Everyone!

Thanks much for your thoughts! I've been researching options and having received multiple opinions, I wanted your thoughts on the following:

- So I'm 34 years old with 12 years of work experience in luxury events, event marketing and some but limited experience in brand marketing 
- I wanted to pursue a degree to expand my skill set, better future job prospects and move from events to a marketing/brand management role

The people I've spoken to ( experts in the MBA world) all recommended I go for a one year full time mba. Now here are my questions:

1. A one year full timeMBA is not an option given responsibilities and the fact that I will not be able to work for a full year and a huge student loan just doesn't make sense.

2. Does a master's degree make sense ? Especially when they cost almost the same as an exec programme, from the good schools? I don't think it does as an EMBA will still be a more rounded and overall management and function concentrated programme.

3. I've been contemplating an Executive MBA - on the lines of the the 1) PGP Pro by ISB 2) the UCLA PGPX programme between LA and India , and still exploring more that have an India/International exposure and will yet let me work on the side and manage that student loan better. Are there any other options I can explore under this vertical?

Really appreciate all the help!

Thanks Much, 
Neha

JDF · Answer

Look into NYU’s Luxury and Fashion MBA. It’s a 1 year program that specializes in your area and NYU is older applicant friendly.

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bhallaayushman · Answer

Nearly everyone assumes that a student has the financial backing to pursue an executive MBA. However, contrary to most people, I don't think the course will make much sense for you if you have to go into a mountain of debt or aren't able to meet your financial obligations for it.

JDF · Answer

It’s unclear to me why you want an MBA. The problem older folks have (speaking as one myself) is it is often unclear why we need an MBA now. Be clear about that an you’re in the game if your stats measure up.

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MBA at 35

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