Criteria for applying for an MBA program

pankajl2007 wrote:Hi,
I am a software programmer. Age - 40.
I have been preparing for GMAT for more than 1 year. My score in mock tests is 540.

My question is
1. Can I apply for a full time mba program -- Yes, but your options are too limited
2. Which programs will be good for me. -- Only you can answer that, no one else.
3. Should I prepare for some more time and try to get a better score before applying -- Depends on which school and which programme you finally choose. There are many excellent full time MBA that does not require a GMAT score. Other schools have a wide requirement of 500 - 700. Select the target school/programme first and accordingly set your GMAT target.

Thanks,

Pan

Mind that, not all schools are for all. The more matured and experience you are, the very few options you have. If you pick up a mis-fit school, no matter how well ranked the school might be ... you will waste your time. 40 is not really a nice time to RESET for most of the people.

Hi Pankal2007,

It is very important for you to do some soul searching and understand why do you want to have an MBA degree at 40. How will it add value to your career and whether or not it will make you unemployable at this point in your career if at all you wish to change your career at 40 that too in these rough economic times, something highly likely.

There are very few schools worldwide which can actually offer you what you may need. Most of these good schools which accept very senior MBA candidates generally leave the job search to the candidates believing that these candidates will be able to use their extensive network to find a job, something which gets tricky these days. Ashridge & Henley are two schools in the UK famous for accepting senior level candidates into their MBA program.

My advice - If you have to go for an MBA at any cost, go for an Executive MBA without leaving your present engagement. for e.g If you are working in Dubai, you can actually do an Executive MBA from LBS and still keep your job.

Hope it helps.