Mr. Founder

Hello Mr. Founder, I’m Lisa Cummings of Stratus Admissions. You have an interesting profile but your writeup leaves me with a few questions on timing and other things. Are you planning to apply for grad school right after your college graduation? Your internship and extracurricular work certainly are interesting and extensive- that will resonate strongly with schools. However, most MBA programs do not count internships and work done while in college as full time work experience and rarely accept candidates to begin a program directly from undergrad. Are you thinking of a deferred program? In terms of working on your startup while in school, MBA programs are rigorous with a lot of activities outside the classroom – clubs, conferences and networking. These can take up a lot of time making FT or extensive work on a startup difficult but not impossible- you need to be realistic in your expectations . You will also want to lay out a clear path for your schools as to why you need the degree to grow your startup when you have beens successful to date. Given that your timing and actual GMAT score are not definitive, it is difficult to come up with your odds for acceptance. Stanford’s acceptance rate hovers around 10%, with the uncertainty here I will have to place your odds below that. If you do indeed score a 750 and are planning to wait a few years or apply for Stanford’s deferred program, your odds will be higher. Best of luck!

Hi Mr. Founder, Melisa from Stratus Admissions. My big question is whether you are hoping to start an MBA program right out of Penn State? Or as a deferred applicant? You’ve chosen a great school in GSB as you can actually do both. Stanford is the one program that openly says you can apply to attend right out of college. They do caveat that they may offer you a spot with a deferral if they think you need some work experience. So if you haven’t already you may want to consider applying deferred, which would give you a couple years to work on your start up with a guaranteed spot in 2-4 years. You are actually the target for deferred programs so that you can take a risk, follow your dreams and then plan for an MBA down the road. Your GPA is lower than the GSB average, but if you hit your expected GMAT, that should help alleviate any concern there. Normally, I would not suggest that you need to explain a 3.4, but applying to Stanford in their deferred program, if there is a story or reason – you might consider including it in an optional essay. Was there an upward trajectory throughout your undergrad? What helps overcome the GPA as well would be the strong impact you have had as an undergrad with the club that you have started – really demonstrating your leadership potential. To me this is the must have as a deferred candidate – to be able to really show a strong leadership experience. One area that is not clear in your profile is what you want to do aspirationally. Clearly you have an entrepreneurial inclination – but Stanford is going to want to know how you want to make a big impact through your venture or as a VC. How do you want to change the world? Especially going straight to MBA or as a deferred candidate, you want to make sure it is clear you’ve thought this through. Really wish you the best of luck!