About
Hello, world!
Having recently emerged from the battle that was business school admissions, I thought I’d start a blog to share some of what I learned from my admissions experience, and also to chronicle all of the adventures that I know lie ahead. For all of you out there who are going through the admissions process right now, keep your head up. Though it may not seem like it, you CAN get a good GMAT score, visit campuses, write fifteen different essays about yourself, ace your interviews, work a full time job, and still manage to call your mom every so often. It’s definitely a marathon, not a sprint, so pace yourself! I can’t tell you how many times I was up at two in the morning, supposedly working on an essay but actually just googling inane things like, “What should I do with my life?”. I certainly don’t have all the answers, but I want to share what I do know in the hopes that the next time some stressed out MBA applicant googles something like, “How do I get into business school?” in the wee hours of the morning, this blog will pop up, make you smile, and maybe even give you a little bit of hope.
My admissions experience was completely spastic, because I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to apply to MBA programs in the months leading up to Round 1 deadlines. I initially had kind of mental block against business school, as I had done an undergrad business degree at UNC – Chapel Hill and only liked (didn’t love) it. Don’t get me wrong – Kenan-Flagler is one of the best undergraduate business schools out there, and the quality of the teachers and the students is unparalleled. We’re talking about a classic case of “it’s not you, it’s me”. I minored in fiction writing and always preferred sitting around a table with my writing professor and classmates discussing someone’s short story to sitting in an accounting or finance lecture. However, after talking to lots of people with MBAs, I realized that I was naively viewing all business schools as nothing but places that churn out number crunchers. What I found out was that business school students are some of the most interesting people I’ve met – everyone has different backgrounds and interests, and everyone has their own unique vision for what kind of mark they want to make on the world- the cool thing about business school is that it equips you to make that mark.
After talking to lots of alums, spending many hours on different schools’ websites, and embarking on a whirlwind of campus visits, I applied Round 1 to Tuck, Kellogg, Stanford, and Harvard, and was lucky enough to get into all of them except for Stanford. I loved all of the schools (more thoughts on each later), but unfortunately you can only go to one. I picked Harvard Business School and started this past Fall!
Nice work on Harvard Business School! Sounds like a wonderful accomplishment. Thanks for sharing your journey.
Thank you so much for your nice comment! I can’t wait to see where this adventure leads…
I am currently in GMAT hell and your blog really helped motivate me today as I read both of your posts!
(When I should be working)
Hi Mindstatements, I’m so glad that I could help to motivate you! I definitely feel your pain about the GMAT hell..been there, done that
Stick with it, you can do this!!!
I’m such a tremendous fan of your blog! Thanks so much for documenting your MBA journey (especially love the GMAT insights), and congrats on the HBS admit!
I’d love to connect with you at some point for an interview and some other stuff.
Enjoy your summer,
Eric Bahn
Founder of Beat The GMAT
Thanks !
I wanted to ask one question:-
Did you choose different recommenders for different schools or same recommenders everytime?
I guess it becomes tiring to write recommendations for each school?
Your thoughts on this issue?
Hey there – I chose a variety of recommenders so that I did not over-burden any one in particular. Rule of thumb is that three recs for any one person is a lot, and four is the absolute max you can ever expect one person to write. This also assumes that you are giving them at least a six week lead time before deadlines. Spread your recs out among several different people (as long as they know you well and are qualified to write for you) if at all possible – you’ll get a better product that way! Good luck!
Hey,
Thanks for the reply.Actually I also asked the same questions to my college senior.He got the recos for his 5 applications from the same persons but they were very close to him so it didn’t matter for him…He got 1 acceptance letter and was rejected by the other 4 univ…so finally,he is attending HBS this fall
You story inspires me. Hard work and focus are the ingredients for success. I am working on my GMAT and applying to some of these MBA Prep-programs. Its a lot of work indeed.
Hey, very nicely explained! Congrats for Harvard….Well, a silly question but, does Harvard concentrate more on niche sect of people to admit?
Hi Alay, I don’t think that HBS is looking for any one particular “sect” of people to admit. I truly think that each year the goal is to construct a unique class with people from all different sorts of backgrounds. I think if you focus on who you are and what makes you special – regardless of what “sect” you may feel you belong to – you can’t go wrong. Good luck!
Hi there!
I have been following your blog for about 2-3 months now. I find it both informative and entertaining. I really enjoyed your recent post about the Hell Week at Harvard. All those descriptions of the various HBS-types were hilarious. Though it left me wondering what category you belong to!
I wish you much joy and excitement in all your endeavors.
Cheers.
Thanks for a helpful blog. Am focusing on growing my company now but definitely writing the GMAT before end of this year and then start on my MBA next year. I am hoping it will be a non-stressful journey. I will be 28 before the end of the year and just want to be done with studies by the time I am 30! (fingers and toes crossed). One of my clients was at Harvard for 2 weeks this year on some management course and my respect for a Harvard MBA has been elevated to a 200%! I wish I could study at Harvard but reality being what it is, am going to have to stick with either Wits or UCT.
Keep blogging, great content.
Hi MBAdventure! Great blog. I’ve been reading some of your thoughts on BeatTheGMAT as well. I’m curious though: do you have any idea why you were rejected from Stanford, but accepted to those other great schools?
cool blog. cheers!! any interview advice?
Hey, you know what ? I am that stressed out MBA applicant who googled something like, “How do I get into business school?” in the wee hours of the morning(its 4:42 am where I am and i just finished studying for the GMAT) and ran into your blog. And I’m glad I did. Its amazing (atleast the stuff that I’ve read till now), in fact I have happy tears in my eyes because finally I have found a useful reference after spending innumerable hours for innumerable days in search of something like this. Thanks n God Bless You
I absolutely agree with your adcvie on putting nonprofit work on there. I think it is great to be involved and everyone should give back, but be real. If you joined a committee two weeks ago to talk about it in your application, it will not sound authentic to adcoms who read thousands of applications. Really great adcvie!