age will be an important issue, especially in asia. even in the u.s. there is discrimination though implicit one, towards older people. i am not talking about the age itself, i am talking about age-related factors that will keep you from working ass-off...to tell a true story of a friend, who went to top school for college and another top school for mba. he worked in london with big MNC before pursuing his mba in the U.S. He interviewed with a top bank for the summer internship, but was not called back after the first round. the feedback he got from an alum with the bank was that the interviewer saw his wedding ring...this sounds really ridiculous, but it happens all the time.
I would totally agree with vitamic. Sales &Trading is fine, but for IBD, the age issue is very important, especially for Asian positions. If you are old (or even looks old), then you will have hard time to pass the face-to-face interview. Of course there is always exception, here I gave what I saw in my school...