rboots
1) 37, male, American, Caucasian
2) A.A. in general business. GPA: 3.9. B.A. in journalism and mass communications from a state school. GPA: 3.84 (graduated summa cum laude). GMAT from this past March: 710 (Q44/V42, AWA 5.5).
3) I graduated in December '04, so I entered the workforce full-time in January '05. After bouncing around a few different lines of work, including broadcast journalism and general web content development, I've pursued web marketing for around four years now, specializing in search engine optimization. Thing is, I've definitely bounced around: I'm now on my sixth employer. In two of those jobs, including my prior position, I was laid off (seriously - not fired). However, I believe I can point to a steady progression over the last three to four years: web content coordinator, SEO content strategist, SEO specialist, and now Internet marketing manager.
4) I have been very active in my faith (LDS Christian - Mormon). I've served in a range of volunteer positions, including Sunday school teacher and choir director. I'm presently in a leadership position in a Spanish-language congregation. Yes, I speak fluent Spanish, along with moderate Brazilian Portuguese.
5) Either corporate marketing to apply my Internet marketing expertise, or general strategic planning, probably first as a consultant, then in-house corporate. Geography: I'd like to work abroad, especially in Latin America (natch), but domestic U.S. is fine.
6) I applied third round at Stanford in the spring. Got dinged of course, but I don't regret applying at all; I think it was a good first attempt. This time around I'm thinking Stanford, Dartmouth, Harvard and University of Texas.
Bottom line is this: if I'm going to do an MBA, I really only want to attend a top-ranked school. While I'm not trying to be elitist, I think between my grades, test scores and work experience that I have a shot at a top school. But I know it's ultra-competitive, so by all means tell me what I can do to have the strongest possible application. Thanks!
Hello,
1) Your age is a potential constraint especially for top 5 schools. We see candidates aged between 33-40 (generally considered as older group), but these candidates are mostly Ph.Ds ( having given long time to research), Military guys (having given considerable time to service) etc. I am not trying to discourage you, but i am trying to give you the reality of b-schools admissions. Even if you analyze the statistics of Harvard class for last few years (available on economist website in older student section of which MBA ? - you may google the same), you will get to understand this age game at b-schools.
2) Now good new is that this does not mean that you do not stand chance at any other schools, you can surely take a chance at top 10-15 schools, but you will have a decent chance at schools above 15th rank.
3) I can understand that you wanna pass out from the top ranked school only, but i am just trying to give you a realistic picture of what happens at b-school admissions.
4) Now what will adcom see when they evaluate profile of older candidates ? --- Generally, the adcom would like to see a candidate who is 33+ to have shown some leadership at work (except the cases of professionals such as olympic runner, painter etc). What you can do to highlight yourself is
a) Show career progression - how you grew from one position to another.
b) You have to be SUPER SHARP in communicating your Goals - short term and long term, else the adcom may feel that you are doing MBA because you are stuck in your career.
c) Highlight your unique achievements, and do not worry too much about mentioning your work experience gaps, you can always justify the same with reasons
in your optional essay.
one question for you -- have you thought of doing an MBA from Europe or you wanna do your MBA only from US. (getting a job in US after doing an MBA from Europe depends on your network )
Please take my analysis positively, and feel free to send me any question.
Thanks