Mr. Fitness Biz

Hi, it’s Nisha from mbaMission. Your story is such an inspiration – being a professional athlete, starting your own successful business, overcoming addiction and helping others do the same. On top of that, your academics are quite impressive.

What I’d love to understand better (and schools will as well) is: why do you need an MBA at this point in your career? To make a strong case in your applications (AND to ensure that this is in fact the right next step for you, given the heavy investment in money and time required) you’ll want to do some reflection on your goals. Do you want to keep growing your business, or are you thinking of moving on? What draws you to healthcare consulting – what type of impact do you wish to make in this role? Regarding private equity: PE is very competitive to enter post-MBA, and these candidates typically have prior PE experience or at the least, investment banking experience.

I should also note that the average # of years of work experience for full-time MBA programs is 4-6 years. Given that you have 8 years and that your age is also above the average, it might give the admissions committees pause. If you think you might want to grow your startup in the short term, you might look into part-time or executive MBA programs, which are quite receptive to older students. But first, I’d reflect on your goals and narrow down what you want to do in the short and long term so that you can determine if an MBA is the right path and if so, which type. Hope that helps – best of luck!

Hi Mr. Fitness Biz, this is Donna Bauman with Stratus Admissions and as the famous movie line goes… You had me at hello! Your story sounds so interesting already—professional baseball player, fitness company entrepreneur and addict survivor. I think in showing your vulnerability you can also show your strength and it sounds like you have lived a few lifetimes already. While you are going to be outside of the normal bell curve in terms of your experience, you have the potential to bring quite a bit to the classroom and to your fellow students. If I were working with you, I’d encourage you to do more research so that you can confidently state a path forward—whether it is PE or healthcare or addiction recovery. While you can change your mind in the program, and it is ok to be unsure, I think that given your age schools may want to at least see a path laid out for the admissions process. Other questions that come to mind are what happened to the fitness startup – are there more skills you seek from an MBA to help this company grow? Are you looking to exit? It sounds like the resources any school has around entrepreneurship could be very helpful to you. You could bring inside knowledge in the fitness space to VCs when evaluating early stage startups in this space. Our Stratus process can be very helpful in exploring the pros and cons of several post MBA career goals and also we can help you develop how to tell your story in a way that is most effective for your goal of admission to top programs. You also could consider some of the executive programs or even a program like Stanford MSx. For HBS be sure to capture the leadership that is clearly there in your entrepreneurial but also personal life. Please reach out for a free consult as I would be glad to talk to you about your MBA aspirations. You have done so much already—compared to the successes you have already had—I think the MBA admissions process may not be nearly as stressful for you as it might be for others. Wishing you the best!