Kate made it to Stanford GSB from a non-consulting/finance background

Kate had ruled out applying to Stanford GSB because of her non-finance and non-consulting based work experience. We worked with Kate to show her how to use her leadership experience running global operations and managing a team in the social sector in order to build a competitive application that would use her unique path to her advantage.

Clearly articulating Why MBA‍

Many of the applicants coming from nonfinance backgrounds often skip on emphasizing how MBA fits in their grand scheme of life. As we worked with Kate, we laid out all her work and personal experiences. We also sketched out her short term and long term career aspirations. We then crafted a story that would use the tools, network, learnings, and MBA experience to map her past experiences to future goals. The idea was to show clearly how an MBA fits rather than having it as one more item on Kate’s resume.

Making Stanford GSB as a center point of her long term plan

‍Even if you answer Why MBA question, the next big thing on AdCom’s mind is Why Us? Though an MBA is a degree offered by all business schools, each school prides itself with a unique angle to learnings. Not being able to convey the specifics for the school is a rookie mistake. In Kate’s case, she was working with someone on our team who was a former AdCom member for Stanford GSB. They helped her lay out how she plans to use various resources and connections at Stanford GSB in starting her future not-for-profit venture. May it be Stanford’s Project Redwood or the pro bono Alumni Consulting Team, we helped Kate identify exact opportunities and weave it seamlessly into her story.

Kate had applied to Stanford GSB, Harvard Business School, Wharton School, and MIT Sloan. She got admits from all. With GSB’s focus on entrepreneurship, she chose Stanford GSB.