Andy, a US Army Officer, made it to Haas

Andy joined the Army straight out of college and did two tours in Afghanistan. Now that Andy wanted to transition into the corporate world, we helped him translate his military experience into a cohesive MBA application that showcased why he would be a strong candidate even with no business background.

Highly differentiated life incidents driven by true leadership

‍The top business schools look for candidates that are going to portray strong leadership skills as they drive their future organizations through change and innovation. In order to determine who will be a good leader in the future, they look for examples of leadership in each application and try to find applicants that can lead teams even in stressful environments.

When we started working with Andy, we encouraged him to stop trying to be the standard applicant with a finance or consulting background and embrace the experiences that made him different. We helped him reframe his military background leading soldiers, making difficult decisions in life-or-death scenarios, and maintaining group morale in face of hardship as the perfect examples of his unique leadership capabilities and strengths. Our essay strategists helped him choose the right stories and frame them in a way that presented a compelling picture of his personality.

Honest Aspirations for the Future

‍Our team of former admission team members from Haas worked with Andy to map out his learnings from the Army and how he can connect those lessons to corporate life. Haas focuses a lot on its core values, so we reviewed Andy’s essays and ensured that each of his stories demonstrates those values while also clearly identifying why a Haas MBA will help Andy achieve his long-term goals.

Andy had applied to Haas School of Business, Wharton School, NYU Stern, and Tepper School of Business. He got admits from Haas, NYU Stern, and Tepper. He was also offered a merit-based scholarship by Tepper. He chose to go with Haas.