Mr. Big Brother

Hi Mr. Big Brother! This is JP, Senior Consultant at The MBA Exchange. In addition to a well-rounded profile, it looks to me like you’re taking concrete steps towards your career goals (second bachelor’s, etc.). It shows that unlike many applicants, you’re committed to doing what is necessary to carry out your vision. That’s the most important ingredient to achieve admissions success, especially when targeting a school like GSB! The other important key will be to take the right steps and know where to put your energy and limited time. That’s where expert guidance can make a world of difference – not just for MBA admissions but to map out your full, long-term career vision. If you’re keen to have a chat, just reach out to us via The MBA Exchange website and ask to be put in touch with ‘JP’, indicating that you posted your profile here. I’d be happy to tell you more.

Hi Mr. Big Brother, thanks for sharing your profile. This is Kate Richardson, Senior Admissions Consultant. You obviously have an interesting and less traditional work background, which can be both a plus and a challenge in my experience. On the plus side, your profile will immediately stand out and be hard to forget (I’ve not come across too many applicants who’ve attended seminary) and from what I’ve seen GSB really likes candidates with diverse backgrounds who succeed across disciplines. That said, the challenge is tying these experiences together and showing why you pursued them, how they’ve helped make you who you are today, and how they motivate your goals going forward. GSB’s WMM essay is the perfect opportunity for you to do just that, so you really need to knock that essay out of the park and do some deep reflection and brainstorming before writing. Your lower GPA could be a bit of a challenge, but you’ve got an excellent GRE score, and the Air Force Officer experience should give your odds a nice boost too. With your tech related goals, you’ve narrowed in on a good list of schools. GSB is of course the most selective of the three, so I’d rate your odds a bit higher for the other two. Good luck!

Hi Mr. Big Brother, this is Donna Bauman, Senior MBA Admissions Counselor at Stratus Admissions weighing in on your profile. I love that you were so influenced by your Big Brother volunteer work that you identify by this role. For GSB you are being asked no less than to change lives, change organizations and change the world. I encourage you to reflect upon the impact you may have had within Big Brother/Big Sister and perhaps some of those experiences will end up in your What Matters Most essay or in one of your proud accomplishments in the application. Obviously you have an interesting story to tell—attending seminary, pharmacy technician and Air Force. Your profile as written leaves me with more questions than answers so your challenge – in my opinion—is to connect the dots so GSB understands how the pieces of your background fit together and why that fits into your goal to work in tech for a FAANG company (Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Netflix (NFLX); and Alphabet (GOOG) (formerly known as Google)). I think the GSB essay of what matters most is the most difficult question anyone has to answer in the MBA admissions process—but one that everyone should ask themselves! I think you could benefit from a structured introspection process now – months before R1 2020 becomes a thing—so that you can get some guidance on how to best weave these pieces together. I’m already intrigued about how someone would have done all these experiences—and mostly want to know more about why! So whatever you do—I encourage you to spend some time now thinking about your goals and the motivation for these goals. I also think that anyone who applies to GSB should also apply to at least a few other programs given the low odds for everyone. With the little I know about you here I think that Haas could be a strong fit for the culture of service (beyond yourself) and for the strong connections to tech. But I can also see Sloan as a good fit especially if you can convey how you are a “doer.” You might also consider some of the Tech MBA programs such as Cornell Tech MBA or Stern Tech MBA or even the Kellogg MMM program, which is a favorite for FAANG recruiters. Please don’t hate me for saying your odds at GSB are 10%– that’s actually above the average there! I think you have a lot of potential and that there is absolutely an MBA program out there for you!