MBA Handicapping: An MBA For This Concert Pianist? by: Sandy Kreisberg & John A. Byrne on February 14, 2020 | 1,610 Views February 14, 2020 Copy Link Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email Share on LinkedIn Share on WhatsApp Share on Reddit There are nontraditional MBA students and then there are really nontraditional MBAs. Samuel Deason falls in the latter category. He’s a 31-year-old prize-winning concert pianist who has performed in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Austria, Armenia, Spain, Canada, and Italy. You can hear him play Rachmaninoff’s Etude-Tableaux Op.39 No.6. He’s never really held a business job in his life. His favorite work to play because, he reveals, he is a “little bit of a masochist, is Beethoven’s challenging Diabelli Variations. He’s currently an instructor at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University where he earned his Doctor of Musical Arts last year. It is his third degree after a master’s in piano performance from Johns Hopkins University in 2017 and a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from the School at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto in 2014. He’s co-founded three concert series in Canada and the U.S., served as a judge in music festivals across Canada and is part-owner of a 35-acre commercial development adjacent to Saskatoon in Canada. He is also a host of Classical and Beyond for a Chicago radio station. What in the world will he do with an MBA? Samuel is keenly interested in entrepreneurship, arts management, and real estate. With a GRE of 319 and graduate GPAs of 3.9 and 3.8, he’s applying to the Kellogg School of Management, HEC Paris and Sungkyunkwan University’s Graduate School of Business in South Korea (his girlfriend is Korean). In this episode of Friday’s With Sandy, HBSGuru. com Founder Sandy Kreisberg handicaps his odds and suggests at least one other school to which Samuel should apply. If you would like to participate in a future Friday’s With Sandy webinar, you can contact Sandy and P&Q Founder John A Byrne here. DON’T MISS PREVIOUS FRIDAYS WITH SANDY EPISODES SWIMMER, TECH FOUNDER, BANKER, COMEDIAN TRIES FOR H/S/W BAINIE, BYU ATHLETE = H/S/W? INTERVIEW ADVICE FOR MILITARY CANDIDATES — AND OTHERS A 770 GMAT & A 4.O FROM LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS — WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED FOR HARVARD’S 2+2 FAANG APPLICANTS TO STANFORD & HBS ARE OFTEN SUCCESSFUL. THIS GUY SHOWS WHY GROUPON TO HBS? THIS GUY MIGHT DO IT WHAT IT TAKES FOR A NON-IIT FROM INDIA TO GET INTO HBS 2+2 OLD, WHITE MALES WITH A CHANCE AT HBS? MBA MOCK INTERVIEW: A MORGAN STANLEY STAFFER GETS A DRILLING GRE FOR 2+2 SUPERSTARS: HOW LOW CAN IT GO? SAY ‘YES’ TO SILVER OR ‘HOLD OUT’ FOR GOLD? WHEN WHITE MALES SHOULD RETAKE THE GMAT 3.4 GPA, 700 GMAT & HISPANIC: CAN HE GET INTO HARVARD, MIT, KELLOGG? CAN THIS LIFE SCIENCE CONSULTANT GET INTO COLUMBIA & KELLOGG? DO FEMALE INDIAN TECHIES HAVE AN EASIER TIME WITH THE HBS ADCOM? CAN THIS INDIAN IT MALE GET INTO HBS WITH A 3.4 GPA BUT A 750 GMAT? WHERE RETAIL BUYERS & BRAND SPECIALISTS GET MBAs CAN THIS EX-AIR FORCE OFFICER-TURNED-SOFTWARE-ENGINEER CRACK THE MBA CODE? CAN THIS TARGET STAFFER GET INTO HARVARD OR STANFORD? HOW PETRO ENGINEERS CAN GET INTO A TOP MBA PROGRAM LONG DISTANCE CALL: HOW DOES AN AUSSIE TELECOM GUY GET INTO STANFORD? IS THIS 30-YEAR-OLD ENERGY GUY HEADED FOR HBS? GETTING IN IF YOUR STATS ARE BELOW THE MEDIAN WHAT GMAT DOES THIS LATINA GOVERNMENT ANALYST NEED? REAL GOOD ODDS FOR THIS INDIAN DO-GOODER. HERE’S WHY MILITARY-BANKER-HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL? HOW TO AVOID LANDMINES IN YOUR 2+2 INTERVIEW THE REAL HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL 2+2 INTERVIEW