How old is too old?

Question

Dear Stacy,

Im a 27 year old, Indian male, from a family business background in Apparel Manufacturing & Retail. I have nearly 6 years of work ex at present. 2 years in Operations, 1 year in Micro finance (product of idealism) and nearly 3 years in Apparel Retail Operations. My career goal is to diversify the family business into a supply chain solution provider to industry. However, my 3 GMAT attempts - 560, 570, 580 - stopped me from applying to more than 3 schools. The problem is that studying for 5 months (second attempt) and not studying (3rd attempt) did not have any impact on my final score. I have decided to spend another 2 years working with a supply chain solution provider in India. My question to you is how old is too old for an MBA ? I will be 29 before i apply again & secondly any thoughts on figuring out the path to acing the GMAT??

Waiting to hear from you.

Regards, 
Vidyuth

StacyBlackman · Answer

Hi Vid14,

Thanks for your post. About your age, I do not recommend you be concerned. As an example, the average age of incoming students for Harvard Business School is 29, and there are many individuals attending who are older.

If you'd like, we have a free case study here of a candidate who was accepted into a top MBA program: https://www.stacyblackman.com/2011/05/12 ... applicant/

We also provide free 30 minute phone consultations here: https://www.stacyblackman.com/contact/

Cheers,
Conrad and the Stacy Blackman Team

hollaback · Answer

This is completely untrue.

Silviax · Answer

You are most definitely NOT too old for an MBA. Geesh! I am 44 and currently pursuing my MBA and yes I may be a little bit "too old" but I am truly enjoying academia and I am thinking about applying for a PhD program.

So let me tell you this. 
I am not at a top10 university... my university is somewhere in the middle... so nothing "special" but the program is still awesome and the tuition rates acceptable.

There are students in my class who are 23 years old because they went straight from their undergraduate to their MBA.

Many of my professors have said (and I have always had excellent relationships with professors so they really do tell me a lot) that getting your MBA this early will do almost nothing for your career. There will not be a significant boost because you haven't had a career yet.

23 year olds are still at the very bottom of the corporate ladder without much work and life experience. How can they expect that a MBA will all of a sudden get them promoted to a top executive. IMPOSSIBLE. You still need the life and work experience.

So no I think you are absolutely on the right track to gain experience and then get your MBA. You are NOT too old for an MBA. I am absolutely sure about that. 
There are many 30+ year olds who get an MBA and I would even say that late 20s is the perfect time to start. Not sooner.

The only "small" problem that I see here is your GMAT score. I mean I didn't score much higher than you but like I said I also never applied to a top program. If you want to get into a program at a high level university you need to be well above 600.

StacyBlackman · Answer

Hi Vid14,

Thanks for your post. In regards to your question, 29 is absolutely not too old. In fact, many programs have average ages very similar to that age.

I hope the above is of help.

Cheers,
Conrad and the Stacy Blackman Team

How old is too old?

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