Seeking advice - should I even try?

[karenquinn]

I've searched the boards looking for somebody similar to myself, but have come up empty handed.

I graduated from CU-Boulder way back in 1988 with a BS in Business Administration. Although I had originally planned on getting my MBA within 5 years of graduating, I never did it.

Fast forward 25 years, and I'd like to go ahead with pursuing an MBA. My reason for looking at this now is two-fold: to gain business knowledge (to be able to add more value in my current position) and to qualify to move up the corporate ladder at the large multi-national company I work for now.

Immediately after graduating I took the GMAT, scoring 680. Obviously the score is no longer valid.

So my question to you. As a 46 year old female (white American if that makes a difference), do I stand a chance at getting accepted into an MBA program?

I initially looked at online MBA programs, but it sounds like those still don't have a good reputation unless they are top-tier schools. So I looked at University of Georgia and saw a Professional MBA program (I live just outside of Atlanta). Is this the type of program that might be interested in somebody as old as me?

Or should I stop thinking about getting an MBA and simply pursue learning the subject matter elsewhere? I'm a tough girl - I can take the honesty if that's really what the situation is.

Thank you for any advice you have for me.

[Jon@Admissionado]

Hey there,
Let me say that you are in a pretty unique position. We don't see many 46 year old candidates. But I have seen a few! (And I've even heard of a 50-year old candidate). So is it possible? Yes. It will depend on lots of things beyond your GMAT, not least of which is what you have done in these last 25 years!

Now as a 46-year-old, your application is gonna be tougher than if you applied 20 years ago, that's for sure! I would say that top 20 programs are pretty much out because they already have the take of their pick.... but for other schools why not? Like I wrote, your actual chances will end up depending a lot on what you have done in the meanwhile, so I wouldn't want to evaluate this at this stage.

What I CAN say though is that your biggest job will be to SHOW the AdCom why this makes sense for you to do. They might fear that you are too old to benefit from an MBA at this stage in your life, so you will need to correct their opinion by showing how it does fit into your needs in regards to your goals.

Hope this helps!

[karenquinn]

Thank you for your response. I'll continue my quest, concentrating on the "why now" question.

Kind regards,
Karen

[Jon@Admissionado]

You got it! Happy to help. And if you got any other questions, just drop a line.