When I was first starting the MBA application process I spent a great deal of time on these boards trying to get advice and peace of mind, so I thought it was my responsibility to share my experience with anyone who may be in a similar situation to mine several months back.
I am 30-year-old (31 at matriculation) entrepreneur based in China. While I am an American citizen, all of my work experience has been abroad. After college, I did a teaching fellowship, then worked as a journalist and finally started my own company managing international education programs at Chinese high schools. With the exception of "MBA" and "GMAT", I knew none of the acronyms bandied about on these boards when I started this process (MBB, BB, HWS etc.). Additionally, though my undergrad GPA was not bad enough to require a letter explaining myself, it certainly wasn't winning me any points. My GMAT score was high, but I scored better on the Verbal section (48) than I did on the Quant (46).
I sought the advice of a number of admission consultants on the message boards. Some of them thought my story was interesting enough that some schools might be willing to bite, but that it was odd enough that I should apply to a lot of schools to hedge my bets. Others thought that my chances at top schools were slim and none on the theory that only truly impressive entrepreneurial projects earn people entrance to b-school and that if mine was truly impressive that I wouldn't be applying in the first place.
Out of some vague sense of stubbornness and pride, I did all my applications without the assistance of a consultant. Out of poor planning and sheer stupidity, I did them all within three weeks of the Round 2 deadline.
In the end, I was dinged by HBS and Stanford, but that was not much of a surprise since they seem to place more emphasis on both youth and GPA than other top programs. The pleasant surprise was that I got in everywhere else I applied - Wharton, Booth, Yale, Fuqua, and Stern (and with large scholarship offers from the last two).
I am not sure how much can be extrapolated from my experience, but I will offer three comments that I hope are helpful.
The first is the whole process ended up going significantly better than those around me had predicted and I am glad I didn't listen to the "words of wisdom" that would have kept me from applying or had me apply to less competitive programs.
The second is that, if you are older applicant, you probably know a ton of people from every top program, who might be willing to send a note to the dean or admissions people about you. This was not something I intended to do, but I ended up having people offer, and I am sure that had a significant effect on my chances. Schools do seem to really value opinions from their own, and they seem very willing to throw those extra pieces of info into your file.
The third is that if you are a non-traditional applicant, don't try to compete with the kids coming out of Mckinsey and Goldman Sachs. As a group, they are ridiculously impressive. That said, there are other ways to be impressive. I made no excuses for straying from the beaten blue chip path, and that seemed to work. My American friends in China who tried to make their jobs fit a more conventional narrative were less successful, which I would bet is a result of their seeming like third-rate McKinsey as opposed to something new and entirely different.
Anyway, that is about all I have got. I wish you all the best.
I am 30-year-old (31 at matriculation) entrepreneur based in China. While I am an American citizen, all of my work experience has been abroad. After college, I did a teaching fellowship, then worked as a journalist and finally started my own company managing international education programs at Chinese high schools. With the exception of "MBA" and "GMAT", I knew none of the acronyms bandied about on these boards when I started this process (MBB, BB, HWS etc.). Additionally, though my undergrad GPA was not bad enough to require a letter explaining myself, it certainly wasn't winning me any points. My GMAT score was high, but I scored better on the Verbal section (48) than I did on the Quant (46).
I sought the advice of a number of admission consultants on the message boards. Some of them thought my story was interesting enough that some schools might be willing to bite, but that it was odd enough that I should apply to a lot of schools to hedge my bets. Others thought that my chances at top schools were slim and none on the theory that only truly impressive entrepreneurial projects earn people entrance to b-school and that if mine was truly impressive that I wouldn't be applying in the first place.
Out of some vague sense of stubbornness and pride, I did all my applications without the assistance of a consultant. Out of poor planning and sheer stupidity, I did them all within three weeks of the Round 2 deadline.
In the end, I was dinged by HBS and Stanford, but that was not much of a surprise since they seem to place more emphasis on both youth and GPA than other top programs. The pleasant surprise was that I got in everywhere else I applied - Wharton, Booth, Yale, Fuqua, and Stern (and with large scholarship offers from the last two).
I am not sure how much can be extrapolated from my experience, but I will offer three comments that I hope are helpful.
The first is the whole process ended up going significantly better than those around me had predicted and I am glad I didn't listen to the "words of wisdom" that would have kept me from applying or had me apply to less competitive programs.
The second is that, if you are older applicant, you probably know a ton of people from every top program, who might be willing to send a note to the dean or admissions people about you. This was not something I intended to do, but I ended up having people offer, and I am sure that had a significant effect on my chances. Schools do seem to really value opinions from their own, and they seem very willing to throw those extra pieces of info into your file.
The third is that if you are a non-traditional applicant, don't try to compete with the kids coming out of Mckinsey and Goldman Sachs. As a group, they are ridiculously impressive. That said, there are other ways to be impressive. I made no excuses for straying from the beaten blue chip path, and that seemed to work. My American friends in China who tried to make their jobs fit a more conventional narrative were less successful, which I would bet is a result of their seeming like third-rate McKinsey as opposed to something new and entirely different.
Anyway, that is about all I have got. I wish you all the best.
