I have 12 years experience in IT . Majority of my working experience is in India for IT services majors like Oracle Financial Services , TCS, Infosys .Currently I work as IT Business analyst for a bank via infosys on a corporate banking e-channel.

I have substantial experience in SWIFT , cross border Transactions ,Payments and On a Funds Transfer application (Global PayPlus -A payment engine ).I mention my experience as I think it could be useful for FinTech Careers in Payments Domain.So below is my profile :

Age:34 Work ex : 12 years . Education :Bachelor of Technology in IT 
Industry :IT (IT services)

GMAT (given in 2016) : 540

GRE. (Given in 2018) : 305

Planning to give GRE again .i believe I could stretch score to 315-320.



I am looking for a Full-Time one year MBA ,preferably in UK (or Canada)due to the recent student visa changes ,which enables students to work in UK for 2Years after studies.



Post - MBA career goals :

-Change function to Strategy i.e.to work in a strategy role .Organisation like Accenture Strategy for example .

- OR to work in Payments Consulting firms like celent

- OR To work in a FinTech or a Bank leveraging my payments or Banking (IT)experience.

-OR To work in Product Management role in an e-commerce form like Amazon .

-AND to change geography of work location to UK.



I believe above are the only reasonable Post- MBA career options that I can expect due to higher work experience and my previous experience in IT .I realise that no one is going to grant me VC ,PE Consulting or IB role at this stage of my career now .

I am not considering US due to the hassle and uncertainty with post study work visa and change of location is one of the primary Goal of doing MBA.I can consider Canada as a location as well .



I am not considering Sloan programmes as placement assistance is not provided in there .



Please advise me schools in UK (orCanada)for MBA programme to achieve above goals .( I can consider Masters programme as well if it can help in achieving above POST-MBA career goals .)

Also advise if my higher work-ex (12 years) and age (34) could be a serious handicap in securing a job aligned to my goals post -mba as average class experience is around 6 years is most B -schools in UK.

[Edited by Dreamer on Aug 11, 2020]

I can only speak for Canada.  It will be tough to achieve your goals (e.g. top MBA then strategy/consulting) based on your GMAT and job profile.  If I was in your situation, I would consider applying for immigration to Canada as a skilled immigrant.  Your current profile will likely be enough to get you considered for an IT business analyst role in Canada.   

Best of luck to you.  

Hi
Canada immigration : I did apply for Canada PR, however I don’t have enough cut off points .The only way I can increase points is either I acquire a masters degree OR I gain a one year work experience in Canada .i have below ielts score : Listening :9 Reading :9 Writing :7 Speaking :7.5 .This is almost the Ielts score that gathers maximum number of points for Canada PR.So I can’t gather more points w.r.t ielts test .My score currently is 413 and cutoff points are usually around 455.So , no chance there .

GRE score : I gave GRE in 2018 , although I scored a disappointing 305 in actual test , I used to score around 315 in mock tests. So I guess I can improve a bit there .

My biggest concern is : will my age or experience will make me employer averse ie will it affect my employability w.r.t. to my post mba goals and therefore MBA colleges might not admit me in the first place ?
Among my post mba goals : FinTech career most closely resemble with my current IT experience , so I zoomed into UK ,which is the FinTech Hub and I thought after MBA in UK  some Bank or a FinTech form might find me fit for them .

Any thoughts ?

Agree with above, at this stage of your career with 12 years experience and being at a Business Analyst level, strategy consulting may have passed you by.

Many of the top tech firms like Amazon are recruiting MBAs for Product Management roles. Just like top tier strategy consulting though, it is incredibly competitive to get one of these roles and you would be competing against people already with significantly better experience than you with a top MBA, most likely younger than you. Some of the tech firms are now looking at B schools below the top tier for these types of role but with your GMAT score and profile it may be very difficult for you to get into one of those schools.

Of your goals, I'd say Payments Consulting may be your best bet. There has been a big shake up of payments with lots of new regulations coming along in the EU over the last few years. Fintech could be an option but again, a lot of the very best talent is attracted to this sector, especially in London which is arguably in the top 3 Fintech hubs in the world.

Thanks for reply .
with my current experience and a bit  elevated GRE score (say around 319) , which schools can I realistically target in UK ?

Almost all bschools in Canada require a minimum 550 GMAT.  I suggest you retake the GMAT and at least bump it up to 550+.  That will be the biggest improvement you can make to your MBA application.  My bet is you will get into at least one program - they might not be top tier but good enough to find IT-related employment in Canada.  The bulk of post-MBA jobs in Canada, particularly Toronto, are in financial institutions/banks and there are so many business intelligence/IT roles available in those banks which you might qualify for. 


I agree about the UK and fintech.  That is definitely another option.    Also, I think UK bschools put less emphasis on GMAT/GRE than those in North America.   Lastly, studying in the UK and working there a few years is a good experience before moving to Canada.  In Canada, employers usually require "Canadian experience" although what they really mean is western experience, so UK/US/Australia experience is a good substitute. 

Thanks for reply .
yes Definitely can raise GRE by 10 points.

Can you suggest some B-schools .
While reading  other Threads , I am informed that colleges like Imperial,London  do not entertain older guys like me .Oldest candidate is 31 there .
Also in masters ,class is quite young -in mid 20s.

Assuming my GRE score is 320 and rest of my profile and Career goal remain same ,how are below schools for my profile :
Alliance Manchester, Cass ,Warwick , imperial .

Firstly ,Will they accept a 12 year exp (34 age )?
secondly , will they be able to provide placement opportunities for me in FinTechor Banks or Payment consulting?

Hi ,
I checked with below Canada and UK colleges regarding my fit with MBA application :
Canada :
ivey
Rotman
Mcgill
Schulich

UK : Imperial and Manchester.

All these schools have advised me that My profile is not fit (due to 12 year experience)for their MBA profile.

It essentially means that there is hardly any college left in Canada which I can consider .
I want to shift my focus to UK now .

I want to remain in IT or IT consulting in Payments after MBA.Can you advise which other UK colleges I can consider and which UK colleges are better (among the choices I have now) with regard to employability of international students .

I don't understand why you are taking an MBA if you don't want to change career. 

Hi Duncan ,
Thanks for replying .
Broadly to move into Business Role .

Post - MBA career goals :

-Change function to Strategy i.e.to work in a strategy role .Organisation like Accenture Strategy for example .

- OR to work in Payments Consulting firms like celent 

- OR To work in a FinTech or a Bank leveraging my payments or Banking (IT)experience.

-OR To work in Product Management role in an e-commerce form like Amazon .

-AND to change geography of work location to UK

Cranfield comes to mind as a school with older students. Have you considered an MSc more focussed on digital business or systems design? Newcastle and Lancaster come to mind for the former, LSE and City for the latter. Maybe a data science or analytics course would be less selective on age?

Hi Duncan,
I did check with Cranfield and they said they can consider me if I give a formal application .Need to check with them how many they do place in Technology /IT or Product management or consulting (In IT or Tech)

I was not looking for Masters in Information systems because of below reasons :
1 . Class profile is usually with zero or minimal experience, which means class will be a  decade younger than me .
2 Some schools have specifically mentioned they are looking for recent graduates only .
3. I believe these could this could hamper my employability in eyes of prospective employers ,who typically recruit Freshers from Msc Programs .It will be hard for them to consider 12 years experienced.


Also MBA gives me a chance to give a shot at product management role (in e-commerce) or Consulting in Tech (specifically FinTech payments space),which would otherwise not be available for a Masters degree graduate .

As per my earlier reply, I think payments consulting is likely to be the career option with the best chance of success. I just don't see why you need an MBA though. Do a search on LinkedIn for people at Celent for example, and I don't think you'll find many with an MBA.

Agree with above, at this stage of your career with 12 years experience and being at a Business Analyst level, strategy consulting may have passed you by.

Many of the top tech firms like Amazon are recruiting MBAs for Product Management roles. Just like top tier strategy consulting though, it is incredibly competitive to get one of these roles and you would be competing against people already with significantly better experience than you with a top MBA, most likely younger than you. Some of the tech firms are now looking at B schools below the top tier for these types of role but with your GMAT score and profile it may be very difficult for you to get into one of those schools.

Of your goals, I'd say Payments Consulting may be your best bet. There has been a big shake up of payments with lots of new regulations coming along in the EU over the last few years. Fintech could be an option but again, a lot of the very best talent is attracted to this sector, especially in London which is arguably in the top 3 Fintech hubs in the world.

Ross, maybe? What regions are you looking at? 

Hi Aslamo,
Which tier 2 schools is Amazon recruiting from ?


In the US they used to recruit from about the top 15-20 schools, especially MIT Sloan, Haas, Northwestern Kellogg and NYU Stern. Now they've widened that to several dozen MBA programmes. Look at the US rankings and that will give you a guide.

In Europe, their favoured schools used to be LBS, INSEAD, HEC Paris, IESE and Lisbon. Again, looking at the next tier below might give you a guide but I've read that Cambridge, Manchester and Warwick are some of the schools Amazon hire from in the UK.