Brandon Strand 09-10-2006, 04:01 AM I've been reading through this message board, and started realizing that I need advice about applying to MBA school regarding my age. Should I apply sooner or later?
I'm currently 28 years old, and graduating from USC with an accounting degree (undergrad). Prior to this, I was a Marine for 5 years, and attended community college. I have not been very active in leadership positions at my school, but I've done quite a bit of community service, including voluntary income tax assistance for the poor and a consulting project this semester for new businesses in the LA area (involving both the Clinton Foundation and USC).
I expect my graduating GPA to be 3.6-3.7, and I already took the GMAT last summer. I scored a 760. (99% V, 81% Q).
Work experience:
2 years with a small local S Corporation as an Accounting Manager (not as impressive as it might sound, but gained a wide range of experience)
Summer internship with a Big 4 Accounting firm, with an accepted job offer to start full time in Jan as an auditor
I already know from experience that I do not want to be an accountant my whole life. I do not hate the profession, but I don't think I would be happy doing this the rest of my life. My original plan was to do 2-3 years as an auditor at the accounting firm, and get my CPA certification. Then, apply for MBA school.
However, looking at some of the posts, it seems as if the average age of applicants is in their late 20's. I would be about 32 years old at time of the application period if I stick with my original plan.
What is your best advice? Should I stick it out with the accounting firm for a few years as originally planned, or should I scrap those plans and start applying to business schools now? I know my GMAT scores are good for 5 years, but I'm not sure if my military and work experience would be strong enough to apply now. I'm looking at top ten schools, with Stanford as my No.1 pick. I also plan to apply to Harvard, UCLA, and UCB. The situation is further complicated by the fact that I recently bought a condo here (SoCal) with my brother.
I really don't know exactly what I want to do in the long run, but right now starting my own consulting practice or being a CEO/Pres. of a company is sounding good to me.
ImJustMatt 09-10-2006, 12:02 PM We're in almost identical shoes, except I'm a year ahead of you. I graduated last december with an accounting degree, at the age of 28. I'm currently working in a big4 firm; I decided to take an extra year to nail down my CPA and get a year of big4 experience under my belt. I'm in the thick of my applications now.
Its hard to give broad advice given the limited information you presented, but it sounds like you're asking 'will the perceived value of my big4 work experience offset the perceived disadvantage of my age?'. Here is my input: Your stats are excellent, you're going to get into school somewhere; now make the best choices for your future instead of for your application. In the end, you're going to have to write about your career choices in your essays very frankly. I think your story will be more compelling and clear if you have made the choices that best suit your career instead of making choices to game the system and then spinng them. You'll also thrive more in a situation where you don't have to constantly remind yourself that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Be advised that big4 accountants apparently flood B-schools with applications; if you're white/male (I am) then you will likely need a little more to stand out.
Now, I think you could still hang a few applications out this year, expecting dings, but on the premise that you would at least get some feedback on where you stand. I think you might be surprised at how they are received - you have 5 years of military experience and 2 years accounting experience in a rubber-hits-the-road role in what sounds like an entrepreneurial setting. Common sense still applies: don't apply somewhere you don't want to get accepted.
I'm having some issues with the site. So we can leave it at that. But I do want to say that I would suggest you NOT using professors for your recommendations - get 1 from your big4 and 1 from your small firm. I can expand on this if you'd like. Also, military experience IS experience.
I'll let you know how things go for me.
ma
Brandon Strand 09-11-2006, 06:50 AM This response may seem a little naive, but what do you mean by dings? Do the schools actually tell you why they reject you? I've got a ton of MBA books lying around (B-School Confidential, Getting the MBA Admissions Edge, How to Get Into the Top MBA Programs, WSJ Top Business Schools 2006). Unfortunately, I havent found time to read them all yet.
ImJustMatt 09-11-2006, 10:26 AM Sorry,
Ding is message board vernacular for rejection. No school proactively advises on your rejection (that I know of) but many will allow you to ask after the fact, as a prospective re-applicant. Some (Dartmouth & Columbia off hand) even have some formal mechanism for feedback in place. Others (Harvard for one) are tight-fisted and impossible. The idea was - why wait another year, if you can put together a successful app this year? I regret having waited. At least I'm burned out enough to know that I don't anything to do with consulting. Anyway, I think you'll find that you won't be dramatically more qualified to go next year than you are this year.
If you just want feedback, you can probably put an application together and then send it to the clear admit guys for the same price as sending to the actual school. The downside is that your application is inevitably going to be worse than you think and you're going to feel defeated. The upside is that you can probably do that and still get out some solid applications by the second round.
There are a few other places you can dig up info:
http://www.mbabuzz.com
http://www.admissions411.com
http://www.businessweek.com (then look for MBA forums)
Of course, I'm happy to share my experience after I nail down where I'm going, if you consider me to be a good proxy. But I think that will only make you feel like you were just as qualified.
m
Brandon Strand 09-11-2006, 11:43 PM ImJustMatt,
Please check your private messages.
Brandon
andrew marina 11-19-2006, 10:19 AM You may find interesting stories in the forum :
www.jobstories.com.au (http://www.jobstories.com.au)
Cheers
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