shardullavande wrote:My profile
MTech IIT 1998 - 9.0 out of 10
10 yrs in IT
worked with big companies including GE, Wellpoint, Kaiser
Healthcare IT experence of 6+
was involved in starting non-profit social activities to help retirees.

I read lot of negative things - related to yr of work experience and age?
How important is that factor? I heard that with 10yrs of work exp ..chances get slim... is that true?

I am giving my GMAT on Sep25. Aiming for 700+

I was thinking of applying to
Stanford (fulltime)
Warton (fulltime) - Healthcare Mgmt
UCLA (parttime)
Berkeley (parttime)
Duke (fulltime) - Healthcare Mgmt

Can somebody suggest my chances? And/Or other universities I should focus on?

Dear Shardullavande,

Thanks for your post! Here's my take on your profile:

Academics: Graduating from one of the IITs is clearly a posititve, as these programs are highly competitive and prestigious. In addition, your grade of 9.0/10.0 is very high (most IIT graduates applying to business school fall more in the 7.0-8.0 range). Of course, as you know, there are many IIT graduates applying to business school - which means that your studies will not necessarily help you stand out. In terms of the GMAT, you should be aiming high for two reasons: 1) the GMAT will be the only recent measure of your academic ability (since you graduated from school 10 years ago), 2) the GMAT bar is very high for Indian IIT grads (often higher than the b-schools' published averages).

Work Experience: Your work experience looks solid. 10 years in IT serving major (brand name) clients and gaining a focus on healthcare is a positive. The healthcare focus will be especially key for Wharton and Duke, if you go the HCM route. One issue you will need to be aware of is the fact that there are thousands of IT-experienced applicants to the leading MBA programs, and that admissions officers often wonder to what extent this group has strong leadership/management experience and communications skills.

XCs: It sounds like you have done some things outside of work for senior citizens, which is a positive. Obviously, I'd need to know more about what you've done beyond this to fully assess your profile, but it's clearly a nice start.

Age: I presume from your post that you are at least 31 years old (if not 32). This puts you well above the average age at the full-time programs on your list (28 ). Many of the leading programs (like Stanford) have recently been vocal about their desire for more 'early career' candidates (0-2 years of experience), which puts older applicants at a bit of a disadvantage. There are a number of fears that schools have when it comes to older applicants (Will they participate in the MBA community with as much fervor as younger students?, Can they be taught new management skills after so many years of experience?, Will they be employable post-MBA if recruiters typically are hiring 29 year-olds, etc).

School Selection: While your profile might dictate that the part-time offerings are easier to get into (due to your age and the fact that their admissions criteria aren't quite as stringent as their full-time counterparts), it's much harder for me to recommend specific programs here without a full knowledge of your career goals/plans for the future. It's also very hard to say how competitive you will be without having your GMAT result or a full resume of your experience, community work and personal background. On the surface, I'd say you will face rather steep odds at Stanford and Wharton due to your status as an 'oversubscribed' part of the applicant pool (Indian, IT background) and your age - but a strong application and high GMAT result may help tilt the odds more in your favor.

Best of luck,

Graham