Positioning

Question

Removed because the OP is paranoid. You'll get the gist from Alex's responses.

AlexMBAApply · Answer

Wharton not as much -- they like them young, but as long as you're under 30 at matriculation, it shouldn't be an issue (although they could be going younger as time goes by, since they have been getting gradually younger - from one of the oldest classes to somewhere in the middle now from what I've heard).

HBS and Stanford are likely going to be stretches or long shots. Their bread and butter are folks with strong blue chip backgrounds within a pretty narrow age range. Yes, there's outliers and those with unusual stories (homeless single mother who starts her own biz), but for the most part it's pretty narrow.

You never mentioned where you went to school, which firm you work at or your overall career other than in vague generalities. As such, it's hard to say. However, if you didn't go to an Ivy/equivalent and your current boutique firm isn't exclusive (KKR, Blackstone, TPG, Lazard, Evercore, blah blah blah), then you're likely a stretch as it is even if you were 25. So to add age on top of that, it could be too many strikes (i.e. there's plenty other folks they would likely take over you - not that there's anything "wrong" with you, but because there's enough other people out there that fit a very specific profile that they covet).

dogon · Answer

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AlexMBAApply · Answer

To be blunt, it won't really matter if you apply this year or next at this point for any of the b-schools. For H/S/W your level of experience will be a hurdle no matter what (yes, they will "count" your family experience as solid experience, but nothing more or less).

dogon · Answer

No problem man, bluntness is fine. You gave me an idea about the age thing: great. I don't  need  an MBA to be successful. For me, it is going to be H/S/W (maybe even just H/S) or no b-school. I also don't expect you to be able to fully assess my candidacy over a message board so, honestly, no foul there. I think everyone here values candor.

Would you please answer my final question from the previous post? Here it is again.

"Lastly, what would you consider the age limit for a true non-traditional (army, music, etc.) at H/S/W? I have read some of your other posts that infer age is not really factored into these kind of decisions but I imagine there is still a cutoff of some kind. Anything below 35 at matriculation?"

AlexMBAApply · Answer

There's no hard cutoff, but you're right once you get past 35 or so it becomes a much harder sell even for non-traditionals (and for traditionals, it becomes a much harder sell over 30 for schools outside H/S; for H/S it's around 27/28).

Positioning

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