Online MBA questions from 51 YO prospective student

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Greetings - I could use some assistance - I am 51 years old, living in the upper Hudson Valley N.Y., and regret deeply having turned down Ivy opportunities to get an MBA in my mid 20's. Years later, after having worked in both banking and a successful start-up in the 90's, I have a dot-com business of my own that's finally taking off (after 10 years of blood, sweat and tears) and the kids are in college. I sense that there is time now to explore an online MBA, but the schools at which I was looking respectfully will not accept my GMAT score from "5+ years ago"; they require I retake the GMAT. I find this inconvenient, but that's the drill, and there are few exceptions. I received a mid 600's score years ago and would probably be happy to do a repeat, but it's over 20 years later now... should I be looking at non-GMAT requirement MBA programs? [For online schools, I was looking at Clarkson and Marist, mostly due to proximity and family ties, but really I'm not sure what the best option is.] I have a lot of start-up business exposure, and yet am concerned to be placed in online classes full of kids with zero real world experience. Another wrench: to complicate things, I also teach online (not business), so my own proclivities towards effective teaching are likely to get in the way. All this said, at the office, we often intern to-be-newly-minted MBAs out of the S.U.N.Y. system (no GMAT requirement) and I am occasionally aghast at the lack of experience, polish and command of the English language. 1 to 2 years in rooms full of that? No thank you. So, I'm open to suggestions - what would you, any of you, do if you were me?

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by Donna@Stratus » Tue Mar 21, 2017 10:36 am
Hi @Tillsonloka, I think you might like to look at an online program at UNC Kenan-Flagler which is very good and might be a great fit for your stage of life. Also there are some executive MBA programs at Fuqua (Duke) that I think you would like also. Links for them are here:
https://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/admissions/online-mba
https://www.fuqua.duke.edu/programs/duke ... ekend-mba/
https://www.fuqua.duke.edu/programs/duke ... continent/

Hope this helps! And if you really want to shoot high and have an amazing experience- look at the Stanford MSx program or the Sloan Fellows program
ote="Tillsonloka"]Greetings - I could use some assistance - I am 51 years old, living in the upper Hudson Valley N.Y., and regret deeply having turned down Ivy opportunities to get an MBA in my mid 20's. Years later, after having worked in both banking and a successful start-up in the 90's, I have a dot-com business of my own that's finally taking off (after 10 years of blood, sweat and tears) and the kids are in college. I sense that there is time now to explore an online MBA, but the schools at which I was looking respectfully will not accept my GMAT score from "5+ years ago"; they require I retake the GMAT. I find this inconvenient, but that's the drill, and there are few exceptions. I received a mid 600's score years ago and would probably be happy to do a repeat, but it's over 20 years later now... should I be looking at non-GMAT requirement MBA programs? [For online schools, I was looking at Clarkson and Marist, mostly due to proximity and family ties, but really I'm not sure what the best option is.] I have a lot of start-up business exposure, and yet am concerned to be placed in online classes full of kids with zero real world experience. Another wrench: to complicate things, I also teach online (not business), so my own proclivities towards effective teaching are likely to get in the way. All this said, at the office, we often intern to-be-newly-minted MBAs out of the S.U.N.Y. system (no GMAT requirement) and I am occasionally aghast at the lack of experience, polish and command of the English language. 1 to 2 years in rooms full of that? No thank you. So, I'm open to suggestions - what would you, any of you, do if you were me? [/quote]