Ask an MBA Admissions Consultant

Hi,

First of all I want to thank you for helping all the MBA aspirants. I have already learnt so much from the forum.

Here is my profile to introduce myself:

Total years of full-time career experience: 7

Current industry/field of employment: Software Development

Current title, function and duties: Lead Developer. Leader of a team of 5 developers.

Advanced Degree: MS Computer Science, University of Denver, Denver, CO USA (3.87 GPA)

Undergrad Degree: BE/BS Computer Science , India (75%)

GMAT: 750 (Verbal 40, Quantitative 51, AWA 5.0)

Extra Curricular: Decent

Schools interested in: Harvard, Wharton, Chicago, London Business School, Insead for FALL 2010

Age by FALL 2010: 33

Questions:
1. Do you think the choice of schools is right?

2. Am I too old for such good universities?

3. GPA for undergrad - I looked at services like World Evaluation Services but they seem to have a generic way of evaluating your GPA. Whereas GPA is always relative. 75% might evaluate to something around 3 GPA but it means a lot more if the topper of the class had 78% (which is true in my case).
Also how much value does my undergrad GPA holds after my Masters?

Thanks again for all your help.

Hello,

Thank you for your kind words.

First, regarding the undergrad GPA – the b-schools work with a lot of Indian applicants and understand well the relative grading systems, so you should not worry about that.

From the information you provided you seem to be a viable applicant for top programs, but your age will limit that to some extent. You should focus on programs that are relatively welcoming to older applicants. HBS and Wharton tend to favor younger applicants, HBS especially. Chicago, Insead, and LBS mention make sense, and there are other programs to consider as well, e.g., Kellogg, Tuck, MIT, among others.

Although you’re a fundamentally viable applicant, your challenge will be to differentiate yourself within a high-achieving industry/demographic group that is over-represented in the applicant pool to top programs. It’s definitely doable, but it takes some planning and strategizing, so it’s great that you’re starting the process now.

Best regards,
Cindy Tokumitsu
Senior Editor, Accepted.com
www.Accepted.com

Thanks for taking time to answer my questions.

You never know until you try bro.

I think you should apply to all of them. You will be considered for sure with your GMAT score.

Age might be a problem at Harvard but 33 next year is not vastly older than the average of all the programs (Maybe 4 years or so older) For sure Insead has an average age like 31. Anyways I don't see age being a big issue.

I think for you, the way to get in is through your essays. You have to wow them with the essays and present a clear, coherent, and well reasoned argument as to why you deserve to be in their school.

Everything else looks thumbs up dawg.

Thanks Skang357.

Do you think part-time MBA from a reputed university (Kellogg, Booth, Stern, Haas) is a better option for a person with my profile?

Given the economic conditions, I think leaving one's job might not be a wise thing to do. So I wanted to explore part-time and executive MBA programs. What are your views on these programs as opposed to full-time MBA? How do they compare to full-time in terms of value and post MBA career? Is it easier to get into them than full-time?

Do they have separate career centers for different programs?

futureMBA wrote:Do you think part-time MBA from a reputed university (Kellogg, Booth, Stern, Haas) is a better option for a person with my profile?

Given the economic conditions, I think leaving one's job might not be a wise thing to do. So I wanted to explore part-time and executive MBA programs. What are your views on these programs as opposed to full-time MBA? How do they compare to full-time in terms of value and post MBA career? Is it easier to get into them than full-time?

Do they have separate career centers for different programs?

You're asking good questions. For several views on the pros and cons of part-time vs full-time programs, please see "Part-Time vs Full-Time MBA Programs". IN general part-time programs are good if you want to stay with your company or within the same field. They are less effective for career changers. It is easier to gain acceptance to the part-time programs than the full-time programs.

Usually the full-time and the part-time programs share the career center, but access may be different. You have to check that policy school by school.

You may also be interested in "Ace the EMBA." and "EMBA".

Best,
Linda