Mr. Financial Controller

Hi, this is Deepak Punwani from MBA Exchange. Good to see a BHU alum. To be fair to you, have to offer you some “tough love”. You have a few hurdles to cross before you start becoming a competitive profile at schools on your list. This may seem like a bitter pill to swallow but you are not a typical profile at any of the schools on your list. Hurdle one is your age. You are 4 years older than the median age for schools on your list. Schools will admit a few seasoned applicants (33+ year olds) but they need to see some “gold dust” on your resume. in your case, there doesn’t seem to be much of that. Hurdle two is your role. Financial Controller of a MNC is pretty solid experience but schools won’t fall for you because of this role. Also haven’t seen anything noteworthy in terms of ‘out of work’ roles. and your acads are weak. Therefore you become an easy applicant to ding. Knowing what I know, if I were you and I had my heart set on a business masters from a top program, I would “invest” 2 years to enhance the profile. Maybe make a move to a PE fund or an I bank as a controller or a risk professional. Take the GMAT (instead of GRE) if possible and aim for score that at median or higher for the schools on your list. That would be around 720. Additionally develop your profile outside of work by working with a organisation that adcom would have heard of and also try to get an international assignment on work. This investment will open up doors at certain top schools who look favourably at older candidates. Good luck !

Hi Mr. Financial Controller! This is Julie-Anne Heafey with mbaMission. I agree with the other experts that your odds look poor at Stanford. Look, virtually everyone faces lottery-like odds at GSB, but your GPA, age and vague goals all pose significant hurdles to a successful application there. To be honest, though, I don’t even think Stanford makes a lot of sense for you. Why is Stanford the top name on the list of someone who’s been working as a financial controller and wants to go into financial consulting? Without a GRE (and honestly I’d actually like to see a GMAT above your target schools’ average by 20-40 pts given your weaknesses), it’s tough to compose a list of schools. In the US, I’d start by looking at schools below the top 10 if you want a 2 year program, but it won’t be easy. I think Cornell is the best option for you of the ones you’ve named, they are friendly to older candidates and the program makes sense with your finance track. Have you considered European or Asian schools? Where are you planning to live? Finally – what about EMBAs? Anytime you hit 10 years of experience, the 2 year programs become a tougher and tougher sell so I’d look into those as well. Good luck!!

Hi, this is Melisa from Stratus Admissions. Based on your years of experience and overall profile, you may want to consider programs that cater to students with more experience. It is difficult to say how competitive you would be without a test score, but I would definitely suggest taking the GMAT vs GRE if you are able. A high quant score can help overcome your mediocre GPA. These programs tend to be shorter in length, without giving up experiential learning. Take a look at Stanford’s MsX program, Stern and Cornell’s Tech MBA’s based in NYC or even LBS or INSEAD. You may find that your years of experience are more valued in these programs. Also, in your essays, you will need to be clear about why now is the right time for you to do an MBA. My odds assessment is based on your list of schools – but I think it could go up if you shift your targets. Best of luck!