Mr. Family Biz From Chile

Hi Mr. Family Biz From Chile,
This is Debbie Choy, GSB alum and Senior Consultant at mbaMission. I think you have a lot of strengths in your profile – from solid work experience in consulting and your family business, and solid academics. It looks like you did well in your undergrad and this should offset your GMAT which is a shade below the average at GSB. This is not a deal-breaker though as I think AdCom will appreciate that your role in your family business would bring a unique perspective to the classroom. That said, be sure to explain clearly in your apps why you are pursuing an MBA. What skills and knowledge do you hope to learn at GSB? Consider how you can connect this to your future career goals, and describe how the resources at Stanford can help you. One more thought – in the Extracurriculars, will you have an opportunity to get involved with any community organizations even if it’s for a short while? I think this is one area where it would be good to beef up. If you can address the above compellingly, I think you’d have a good shot at GSB. Wishing you the best in your MBA journey!

Hi Mr. Family Biz from Chile, Melisa here from Stratus Admissions. There is a lot that I like in your profile – and specifically for Stanford, a desire to make large changes with your future. I really like for you that you have the consulting experience and will also have ‘boots on the ground’ experience within your family business. This is hopefully helping you identify what you need from an MBA to help you be successful in becoming a leader in the food industry. This will be important to articulate – first to show admissions you know what you need, but the 2 years of business school go so fast – you need to have a good plan of what you want to take advantage of at GSB to get all you can out of the experience. As mentioned, your biggest gap seems to be involvement in your community. There are a number of ways that you can reflect on your experiences – think about involvement outside of your role in consulting – were you involved in any affinity groups or company-wide initiatives? And it sounds like you are interested in wellness with your goal of leading healthy eating through your family’s company. Have you (or could you) get involved with groups that are leading in this way – if a group is not in Chile – could you start a chapter? Are there initiatives that you could start to educate people through your family’s company? While you’ve got a great list of schools – for ties to the larger food industry I would add Kellogg and the start up food industry Haas. I think you have a really unique story – and pulling these pieces together will make you a strong candidate. Keep in mind that my rating is based on the relative school’s acceptance rate (GSB is 5%) in general I think you’d be 5-10% higher than the average at a given school – maybe more for UCLA. Best of luck through the process.