Beat The GMAT Invited To The White House
This has been a summer of surprises for the Beat The GMAT teamall because of MBA Watch, the new service that we released in July to make it easier for MBA applicants to research business schools.
Our first surprise happened the day that we launched this service, when the editor of TechCrunch decided to feature MBA Watch on the popular TechCrunch news site.
The second surprise has been happening (its ongoing) since our launch. Our team is floored by how popular MBA Watch has become with applicantssome events weve held for schools featured in MBA Watch have attracted over 1000 attendees!
And finally, our third surprise happened last Friday. Apparently, prominent members of the US government have taken notice of MBA Watch in the last few weeks. The White House invited the Beat The GMAT team to visit Washington D.C. to help their staff brainstorm new ideas and technology to allow students to make better choices about college.
We had a great 3 hour meeting at the White House. I counted about 40 attendees, including:
- Aneesh Chopra Americas CTO/Head of the Office of Science & Technology Policy
- James Kvaal Deputy Undersecretary of the Department of Education
- Zakiya Smith Senior Policy Advisor for the White House Domestic Policy Council
- as well as a number of prominent think tanks, non-profits, and education entrepreneurs
[caption id="attachment_40722" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Aneesh Chopra (America's CTO) seen on the far right of this picture. To the right of Aneesh is James Kvaal (Deputy Undersecretary of Education). And in the foreground, Eric and David's fancy name cards."]
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A couple of key takeaways from the session:
- The policymakers we met are really smart and very serious about trying to figure out ways to get more students into college, and help these students complete college. They are also serious about figuring out how to effectively collaborate with education entrepreneurs.
- The government collects an amazing volume of data on students, financial aid and enrollment. If these data were better delivered to prospective students, it could really help make the college selection and application process easier. Much of these data are already available for public consumption, but no one seems to know about it.
- Aneesh Chopra is incredibly charismatic. This guy has so much infectious energy and he talks/acts like a Silicon Valley 20-year old CEOwith unnatural optimism, energy, and conviction. Im glad hes our nations CTO. He actually might be able to make the government get stuff done.
All attendees walked away from this session energized. David and I also picked up a lot of great suggestions from the government and other attendees on how to improve MBA Watch for followers/applicants in our system.
Youll be seeing those improvements in the coming weeks. More to comevery soon!