The message below came in at the end of August and, because I’ve been so busy, I’m just now seeing it a few days before the start of 2010. As such, I wonder whether my response will arrive in time to be useful to this recipient. The reader has been following my site for a while and had one of his other emails answered by me about a year ago. He’s an IT professional with 10 years of work experience who is targeting Stanford and Harvard for his MBA. His question is about whether his age and amount of work experience would disqualify him for admission to either of these schools. He also asked about the possibility of going with a one-year Executive MBA, so I gave him my thoughts on that too.

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AR wrote:

“Hi Marquis,

Got a long time back with a concern on MBA. Mail attached for ref below.

Need your help. I am 33 yrs old with almost 10yr work exp and working for one of the largest IT company in India. My role is that of principal architect and is across sales (Consulting on Technology, Business Proposal, Pricing etc) and delivery for end to end Telecom IT.

I was planning to apply for 2 year MBA to Harvard/Stanford. Needed your advice whether Stanford/Harvard takes techies with more 30 yrs and work ex 10 yrs. Or 1 Yr EMBA is feasible. In that case can I look at Stanford’s Sloan Business Program. Is it equally good.

Please help

Thanks and Regards, AR”

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My response:

AR,

I hope this message finds you doing well. I’m sorry that it’s taken me a while to get back to you, but I’m sure you can imagine how busy things are on my end, especially as it pertains to responding to the mountain of reader emails that I receive. I hope this response is getting to you early enough to be of use to you as you approach your applications.

Your email asked two sets of questions, so I’ll attack them separately:

1. Do top B-schools take techies over the age of 30 with 10 years of work experience? –> My quick answer to this question is YES, as evidenced by several people that I know with that sort of profile who have been accepted into top B-schools. I understand your concerns about being above the average age for students at your target schools, but, by definition, half of the students are above and the other half are below that age. It seems that you’re focusing on the perception that you could be too old for a top-MBA program and, with that mindset, you’ll defeat yourself before the Admissions team even have a chance to see your application. Instead, I’d encourage you to think about the great contributions that you could bring to the classroom by virtue of your extensive experience in IT, sales, and delivery. As I’ve mentioned in past blog entries, the best thing you can do for your candidacy is to develop a strong MBA positioning and convince yourself that you have a legitimate shot at gaining admission to one of these schools.

2. Is a one-year EMBA an option for you? –> Given your level of experience, a one-year EMBA could be a good option because you’d probably benefit from earning your MBA and putting it to use faster. Several top schools, including Stanford, Kellogg, Booth, and Sloan, offer one-year programs that could give you a strong but focused graduate business education. Regarding the Stanford GSB Sloan program, the degree you’d get is actually a M.S. in Management, not an MBA. That said, it is still a tremendous program and the education that you’ll receive is similar to what the students in the MBA program get. The main differences are that the Sloan program is shorter and the Sloan students go through their program in a separate student cohort. From what i’ve heard, Sloan students go through the same core MBA courses, but at a different time with only their fellow Sloan students in the classes with them. Following their core courses, the Sloan students can take their choice of electives along side students from the MBA program. So, from what I know of the program, you defintely wouldn’t regret it if you apply to the Sloan program and decide to go that route.

Take care and good luck with your applications to Stanford and Harvard’s MBA programs. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you on both fronts.

Marquis

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