a couple of further points. i've re-read the thread and the information looks credible. several follow up points and then i leave the thread forever: 1) again, the gmat score is very high. b-schools do like that a lot, despite what they may be saying (it's not important, it's not key, etc) 2) master's in finance is narrow focus, sounds like concerntration on financial engineering, more or less. too narrow, unless this is really what you want to do. crunch numbers all day 3) you're a mid-career professional and should build upon what you have. that's, for example, what well qualified engineers, or other professionals, do when they want to move to more general management functions, up the ladder you should not shift focus, you should build upon what you have 4) get a general mba from a top school, whatever people say, an mba degree from harvord or stanferd, is, more than anything, an entitlement. although, a good set of skills too disatvantages: takes too much time, too expensive 5) alternatives: insead in europe, one year course. think about harvard's kennedy school of gov't, broader focus, could be a better idea these days. very good chances with your gmat, application should always be hard copy 6) there are a lot of interesting things happening at the intersection of information technology/trading, something to think about. read 'how i became a quant' if you haven't yet. good luck! varima