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.
Should I bother Applying to B-school given my age?
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- Jim@StratusPrep
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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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- xaniaphl
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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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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
Thanks again.
Amy