Mr. Healthcare Entrepreneur

Hi, it’s Nisha from mbaMission. Competition for top bschools is fierce for Indian applicants, but there’s a lot about your profile I like – a top GRE score, high impact on your family business and on a national and global scale, and your authorship/thought leadership in the healthcare space. I think that the outcome of your application will come down to execution: outstanding and detailed recommendations that attest to your exceptional potential, performance, and growth vs. peers, very thoughtful essays that explain to admissions committees the decisions and values that led you where you are today, and a strong demonstration of fit with each target program based on its culture and resources.

I would do some more extensive thinking about your career goals – PE and especially VC are very difficult to enter post-MBA , and in any case require prior finance experience. If you’re serious about entering PE or impact investing in the long term centered in the healthcare space, I would think about investment banking post-MBA. And as you explain your goals in your application, be sure to detail the underlying motivations behind them – why is healthcare so important to you, how did it become so, and what is the type of impact you want to make in the future based on what you’ve done and observed so far? Hope that helps – best of luck!

Hi Mr. Healthcare Engineer, Melisa here from Stratus Admissions. You have a strong global profile that will help back up your candidacy: strong GRE, experience in both established and start up healthcare company, and pattern of deep involvement across healthcare in India. Stanford is looking for leaders who want to change the world – and based on what you have submitted here – I am not seeing that visionary component to your goals. Clients I have worked with who are successful at Stanford have a deep and intimate knowledge of where they are going – have made steps to show they know an opportunity that exists that can improve the world they live in. Things to think about would be: Why VC/Impact Investing – and is this short term post-MBA or after another step? What can you do to impact the world in this role? Where do you want to be post-MBA – back in India to further the healthcare industry? Or here in the US? Aspirationally – where will this take you at the pinnacle of your career? VC/PE are tough roles to get straight out of MBA – you will need to convince admissions that you know how to land one of these coveted positions. You have a very competitive list of schools – and will need to further back up your transition to VC or consider alternative goals post MBA for any of these schools. Your success will come down to your ability to tell your story through the application. I think your chances are slightly higher than the average at Stanford (7%) – and your chances would go up commensurate with admit rates at the other schools – again sticking a bit above average. If you are interested in non-US programs – consider adding LBS to your list – lots of finance offerings in London as well.