Hi All,

Please advise me if you think I should do an MBA. My profile and goals are below -

I am 31 yrs old. I will be 33 yrs old at graduation if I take a 1 yr full time MBA in Sept 2010. I currently work in Corporate Communications in the oil industry and have 5 yrs experience full time. I already have a Masters in Comms from an Ivy League school. I am currently based in the UK.

I am looking at 3 options for a post MBA career:

1, Enegy Trader: I am hoping to use the knowledge I have of the oil biz through my work ex to make a case to become an energy trader complimented with an MBA. I am afraid though that at 33 yrs I might be too old to be a trader. Will I be too old?

2, Interactive Multimedia Producer: I work alongside adertising agencies and love the creative side of things. I would love to be managing creatives in a company like Saathi etc. My ultimate goal would be to work as an MD for a company like ITN that produces content for media companies. I think an MBA would give me a well respected management qual. and an edge over the competition. I have a certificate in Multimedia too.

3, Corporate Comms: I am a manager right now, but most corp comms people in Europe do not have MBA's. This might progress my career even further to a more senior position like Director. Again it will give me an edge.

My dream is to work in Media (Films, Music, TV) but in a managerial position managing creative production. But working in the oil industry has got me interested in oil / energy and I think a better saslary as a trader might await if I go the MBA / trader route.

What do you guys think? I am confused.

Thank you in advance,
boy - for - biz

anyone have comments? specifically:

1, at 33 yrs will I be too old to be a trader?

2, In the creative industries how is an MBA viewed?

3, will my career aspirations be viewed by admissions committees negatively as they are not 'typical' MBA routes?

answer to any of the two questions would be great......your responses are greatly appreciated.

sorry..your response to any of the 3 questions would be great. thanks.

anyone ???

Hi,

I offer some of my thoughts and please ignore if they dont sound very helpful.

You are obviously very career-oriented and have pretty good post MBA career aims.

You probably know that MBA even from top schools would not open your doors to distinctly new career changes, aside from that, with your age and experience, it would be a bit difficult for companies to out you in a good position unless they have a specific posts for MBA candidates.

Career change and by that i mean the technical nature of the work even in the same industry does not come easy especially at this stage.

With your money, and your aspiration, an EMBA would be more suitable. The content is more geared towards managers rather than to be managers in a MBa class. It offers the flexibility so you can work a bit , study a bit and see it works out or really help you.

BTW, a starting point is to take GMAT, the minimum is 600, once you have that then you can work on other things.

Some american universities have their sattelite campuses in the UK so you wouldnt worry, else local colleges are excellent. Henley or Ashridge for example are more typical mature students like you

Hi Dunno - thanks for your reply. I really appreciate your thoughts.

I did look into the option of an EMBA because at the end of the day, technically no job is guranteed even with a full time program. I know some full time MBA's from ther likes of Cambridge, Oxford and even Wharton who are still unemployed.

The reason I wanted to pursue a full time program was that I wanted the option to get into trading if I could.

Do you have any thoughts on whether my age at graduation (33yrs) would be a problem for me to get into a trading position...?