| Topic Name: |
Old enough to MBA? |
| Message Name: |
women and MBAs and age |
| Date Posted: |
08/06/2000 |
| In Reply To: |
I am forty one and I start at the University of Chicago in six weeks. Like yourself, I had always thought about getting a MBA and I finally decided to make the effort.
Now I am an outlier in many senses of the word. I have an extremely unusual career in an industry that is underrepresented in the typical b-school student body, so my perceptions may be skewed.
However, my sense of things is that if you are attempting to compete with the 28 year old for on-campus recruiting you will be at a disadvantage. Recruiters will fear that you won't work the 80 hour workweeks, that you won't be flexible, that you won't be able to report to someone younger than yourself.
The schools themselves will require some convincing, too. It's a survey sample of one, but I got more positive responses from the very top institutions than I did from ones ranked lower. The second tier schools couldn't seem to get past the fact I was 41 and in the restaurant industry. ("What, at applicant who is not 26, an analyst at Goldman, from Princeton? Oh the horror of it!") I think that the schools confident in their position in the b-school universe are more willing to look beyond the stats and try to add diversity in backgrounds to their student bodies.
You will get some pressure to enter the executive MBA programs. The advantages of these programs is that the students are typically mid career executives in their 30s and 40s. However, with top tier execMBA programs, the school expects the employer to pick up the check. This may or maynot be a possibilty for you. Secondly, in many cases, exec MBA programs are in lockstep, with few electives available, if any.
However, if you make your own path you can leverage your experience and your MBA. It also depends greatly on what you hope to achieve with an MBA. Are you attempting to change careers, or simply improve your positioning within your current industry?
At any rate, those are my thoughts, such as they are. I would encourage you to apply; you never know unless you try. |
| Message: |
Any comments on the issue of age when pursuing an MBA (and post-MBA employment) for women?
I am in my mid-30s and strongly considering pursuing an MBA -- probably in a European program due to the shorter program lengths and older average student age.
What concerns me greatly is how employers will perceive me after I graduate. Worried about the perception that I am too old for a company to make a new investment.
My gut feeling (sorry if I offend anyone) is that ageismin business begins earlier for women. Would be glad to to receive feedback.
Thanks.
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