再问关于年龄问题

robertchu

Top 20 中，

有哪些学校喜欢年轻学生(<30岁)，因此大龄(>30岁）申请者有名显劣势。

有哪些学校喜欢有较长工作经验的，因此大龄(>30岁）申请者无名显劣势?

这两天看了一些资料(BW, Economist, US News)，and become pretty concerned of the "age discrimination" of some schools，想请教高人指点一下，以caliborate我对此的印象。多谢！

tsljz

一般来说，除了个别学校，其他学校都没有特别对年纪大的申请人特别好或者不好，而且对于中国申请人来说，30真的不是大，今年CD上很多申请成功的朋友都是30以上了。只是从整体Profile看，Stanford和HBS会比较倾向于年轻的，Wharton、Tuck等比较愿意工作经验多的，但是都不是绝对的，今年被Wharton录取的一个朋友申请的时候就只有2年工作经验，所以不必特别在意。

盈袖舞月

同意tsljz的观点， 多数学校都没有明显的倾向， 录取的学生也是从20出头到近40岁不等。 我个人认为学校绝不会在年龄上卡你， 只会从申请材料中择优录取。 不要被RUMOR误导而丧失了信心。

CHEERS

robertchu

tsljz and 盈袖舞月, thanks!  I appreciate it!

But, according to some data I gathered (not rumors):

Harvard: average age 26 (source: economist) or 27 (source: BW), age range: 24-29 (source: economist, full range)
Stanford: average age 27 (economist) or 28 (BW), age range: 25-30 (BW, mid 80%)

Are these data indicative of their preference of young applicants?

And, see this comment:

Those with twenty years of experience need to think carefully about whether they should do a part-time or executive MBA program rather than a full-time one.  Do they really want to sit in a classroom with 26-year-olds waxing on, pontificating on the basis of their "vast" experience? -- Sharon Hoffman, Admission Director, Stanford (source: How to Get Into the Ttop MBA Programs, P.131)

Isn't this a pretty clear signal discouraging old folks from applying?

So, is it fair to say that somebody in his early 30s will be disadvantaged, when applying these two schools?

robertchu

Is there anybody out there from HBS or Stanford could shed some insights on the age issue?

Do you see / know / have folks in their early 30s (at the time of admission) in class?  This kind of insider information will greatly clarify this confusing question.  Many thanks in advance!

tsljz

As I said, HBS and Stanford do favor young applicants to some extent. But there are a few things that I would like to point out.

1. The description "Stanford: average age 27 (economist) or 28 (BW), age range: 25-30 (BW, mid 80%)" says for itself. mid 80% range is from 25-30, which mean on the average there could be 10% admits age 30 or above.

2. The statistic data is based on admits from all countries, and as I said, Chinese admits tend to be a little bit "older" than American.

3. Yes, if you have 20 years w/e, you should carefully think about whether you should go for MBA as mentioned in the article. However, I don't think you have that much w/e, right? At your early 30s, you may have, say, 10 years w/e, which is in the long side of the w/e range, but still acceptable, though you might need to explain in your essays why you want MBA NOW.

[此贴子已经被作者于2004-8-24 16:17:37编辑过]

robertchu

tsljz, thanks a lot!

It seems that, from these data, HBS has pretty apparent preference of younger folks.  Unless I can find evidence to the contrary, I would assume so for now.  BTW, I may get to talk to a current HBS student later this week to see what's the reality on the ground.

Stanford looks a little better in this regard (BTW, I did notice that the BW data is of mid-80% range).  But, Sharon Hoffman's quote can be subject to interpretation.  Does she really mean literally 20 years of W/E, or is that simply a rhetoric phrase referring all folks older than the typical young applicants?  It's a little difficult to tell IMO.  Luckly I work pretty close to Stanford, maybe I should visit it to get better understandings of this and a whole range of other issues.

Thanks again and will report my findings, whatever they are.