dnatraj 05-01-2006, 09:54 PM I come from a different background. I mean a scientist by profession.
I am taking GMAT this fall and planing to get into a good B school in 2007. What are my chances of getting into a top B school ? One of my concerns is age. I am 41 now
My profile is as follows.
I have a PhD in Computational Biology
I have about 3 years experience in academic institutions.
About 5 years industry experience (the last one was as a VP in a start up biotech company)
I have worked in different countries like, US, Germany, India and Malaysia.
I am not sure about my GPA (we have percentage system) Undergrad 73%, post grad(physics) 63%. And PhD from a premier Institute.
I have not taken GMAT yet, but in practice test its around 680.
Career Goals: I want to start a Data mining company and some groundwork is already in place
Clear Admit 05-04-2006, 08:10 PM Dear dnatraj,
The academic section of your application looks solid. The fact that you went on to get a PhD and did so from a prestigious institution should demonstrate both your intellectual curiosity and your work ethic to the admissions committee.
Please make sure that in your application, you’re fully explaining your academic background. By American standards, a 63% GPA would mean that you’d earned failing grades in a majority of your classes. It certainly doesn’t sound like this was the case, so you’ll have to make sure you explain your unconventional academic statistics to the adcom and point out that these might not translate directly to an American or European grading system. It will also be extremely important for you to score well on the GMAT, ideally upwards of 80% on both the verbal and quantitative sections.
It sounds as though the work experience portion of your application will be strong. The fact that you were a VP at a start-up will show the admissions committee that you had a great deal of responsibility in your company. You should have plenty of experiences to draw on in the essay section of your application. You can also speak about what you learned from your work overseas in terms of cultural sensitivity and collaborating with and leading cross-cultural teams.
As you’ve pointed out, one disadvantage of applying to a full-time program will be your age. In fact, I think this will be a significant disadvantage. Because you’ll be 42-3 by the time you attend business school, I strongly suggest you consider applying to Executive MBA (EMBA) programs.
These programs are designed for a slightly older group of students with more years of work experience than those students entering full-time MBA programs. As an example, 8% of Wharton’s EMBA class of 2004 were over 39 years of age and only 26% were below 30. The average age of students attending the regular Wharton MBA program in the class of 2007, however, was 28 and only 17% of students had more than 9 years of work experience. These programs last slightly longer than MBA programs and meet only on weekends.
You might also consider looking into IMD in Switzerland because it tends to attract older students, with the majority having gained 7 years of work experience before starting the full-time MBA program. However, the average GMAT score is 680 so you’ll have to score fairly well to be considered for admission. You could also look into IMD’s EMBA program, which has an average age of 38.
Regards,
Chelsea Ferrell
Clear Admit, LLC
dnatraj 05-05-2006, 12:34 AM Hi Chelsea Ferrell ,
Thank you very much for your detailed reply. I was thinking, I will get a generic reply here. But you really went through what I said, analysed and addressed all I wanted to know.
Such replies will really help people know where they stand what is to be improved.
Thank you very much.
-nataraj
roopkhanna 06-04-2006, 12:12 AM Hi,
can i have your contact address so that i get in touch with you personally.
i am sure i have some thing of interest for you
roop khanna
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