Ms. Designer Turned Founder

Hi, it’s Nisha with mbaMission. I really admire your passion for sustainability, and your recognition that the fashion industry has a large area of opportunity to reduce waste.

It’s great that you’ve already started the R&D process of your venture. I did want to caution you that schools generally are risk-averse when it comes to post-MBA goals, and they recognize the difficulty of launching a business right after graduation. Therefore, what you might want to think about is: if you’re unable to get your business off the ground immediately post-MBA, what is a role that you could take that would give you the business skills you need to be an even more effective entrepreneur a bit later on? What are the gaps you can focus on filling based on your experience as a designed and a founder to date? You can frame your venture as a longer-term goal, while still highlighting each school’s entrepreneurship resources that will enable you to begin laying the groundwork for your venture while you’re in the MBA program.

In addition to the programs you have listed, I’d recommend UVA Darden given its excellent entrepreneurship focus (and, its use of the case method, just like HBS). Hope that helps a bit – best of luck!

Hi Ms. Designer turned Founder, This is Donna Bauman with Stratus Admissions and it is an honor to weigh in on your profile. You have a great background to be able to make an impact in sustainable business. Your experience in fashion and retail gives you a great lens to see some of the challenges in these industries. I love Sloan for your background because of your startup interests. But I also think Wharton, Anderson, Stern and CBS could be great choices too because of their strong retail/fashion and startup connections. I even like Booth for you as well. I think that GSB, and Haas could also be good fits for you. When you share the “detrimental impacts” of the industry that you mentioned in your profile, be as specific as possible when you write about these in your essay as this will add a lot of credibility to your story. I like to work with my clients on building stories with interesting and surprising openings and then have them follow up with the challenges they faced before reaching a satisfying conclusion. In your case a satisfying conclusion helps the admissions team see why an MBA at their program is the perfect next step for you to reach your career goals! Please reach out for a free consult if you have any other questions.