How He Decided Among HBS, Stanford, Wharton & Booth

The Harvard Business School campus

Justin: My advice would be to find as many differentiators as you can.  I had an HBS alumni who told me that when I was starting on my application, he said, make a list of five things about yourself that are very unique, that most other applicants don’t possess. And that could be anything from family background to work experience to school.  For me, at least being somebody from the southeast, from a state school, maybe not as many applicants from a company—maybe a big brand, but not as many MBA applicants as you would expect from Coke; also I had talked about some obstacles I had overcome, some family challenges. So find things that are unique about you, and then describe those in your essays.  I think there’s this increasing importance of essays at most schools. Especially at the top schools, they really do seem to take those very seriously.  Spend a lot of time on your essays, do multiple rough drafts, edit them, and that will be a big factor.

John: Justin, you’re not a first-gen college student, right?

Justin: No, I’m not a first generation college student. I am a first generation going to grad school but not undergraduate.

Betsy: We are so thrilled for you. I hope you do take a break. I hope you enjoy and drink adult beverages in honor of your success. We don’t want to lose touch; we’re going to be bothering you all along, finding out how the whole process is going for you. So stay in touch with us; I’m sure a lot of the people listening will want to hear more about your journey.  Thank you very much from me, John?

John: Justin, from Day 1, I knew you couldn’t make a wrong decision. Frankly, if you went to Chicago Booth or Wharton, those are not wrong decisions, depending on what you found there and what you felt about the schools. Certainly Harvard/Stanford can’t go wrong there either. I think you’re going to have an amazing time. I feel really happy for you and excited as well. Because you’re going to have one of the most unique and most memorable of all the higher education experiences in the world. And I’m talking about everything from law to medicine. And you’re going to have it at one of the best institutions in the world, bar none. I’m just so excited that you’re going to be going off to Boston, even if you’re going to trudge through snow. Even if you’re going to have to dress in a scarf and boots.

Betsy: Some of us managed, just in case you’re wondering.

John: Hey, I’m from New York! I like cold weather. I used to it, anyway.

Betsy: Harvard’s got that tunnel system down, so don’t worry about it.

John: Good luck to you Justin, and thank you so much for sharing your story.

DON’T MISS: HE GOT INTO HBS, STANFORD GSB, WHARTON AND BOOTH. NOW HE HAS TO DECIDE WHERE TO GO or RARE PRIVILEGE: DECIDING BETWEEN HARVARD AND STANFORD