Should I bother Applying to B-school given my age?

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Greetings:

I have quite a dilemma on my hands. I am a 39-year-old lawyer looking to change careers. I would like to go back to school to get either an international MBA or an MBA specializing in finance, as I am interested in studying value investing, but am wondering if I should give up on my MBA dreams, especially given my age.

Just to give you a little background on me, I have a 10 Year work history in the legal field; I have a Masters in Law (LL.M.) and a J.D., in addition to my undergraduate degree, and my grades were all decent (3.8 GPA in my LL.M program; 3.4 GPA in my J.D. Program; and a 3.7 in my Undergrad program, which was in Music Performance). Despite all this, I know my background is not the usual one for an MBA applicant, I know my age is well above that of the average applicant, and I only scored a 620 on the GMAT. I would really like to go back to school to change careers, but have been told I am too old to apply for a full-time program. My question is this, I know I would definitely need to retake the GMAT in order to be considered at a top b-school, but given my age, should I bother to retake the GMAT?

I really could use some advice on whether I should put forth more time and effort into pursuing my MBA dreams, or if I should give up and move on to something else. While others have advised I look into Executive MBA programs, I have already found out that I am not eligible for any of those given my background, so again, any advice any one could give me on this would be most appreciated.

Thanks so much.

Sincerely,

Amy L.

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by Jim@StratusPrep » Tue Nov 13, 2012 7:28 pm
Look at some executive programs. They are built for people in your situation. Why do you say you are not eligible?
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by xaniaphl » Tue Nov 13, 2012 7:53 pm
Also with your additional degrees I believe for executive programs you might not need the GMAT. They waive it for advanced professional degrees, medical doctor, I would think yours could count too. Each program is different, but definitely look into the executive programs and read up on the requirements. You could probably be a teaching assistant for law classes and get reduced tuition as well if you needed it.

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by amylamendola » Wed Nov 14, 2012 9:17 am
Thank you for your replies Jim and xaniaphl. I assumed that I didn't qualify for executive programs because I thought you had to have a business background already to apply to such programs. In fact, I think I inquired about Columbia Univ.'s executive MBA and they specifically told me I didn't qualify because I had a background purely in law. Perhaps I will take another look.

Thanks again.

Amy