Impressive Bunch... sure makes me nervous!

Question

Congrats to all the admits, some of the profiles on here blow me away.

Makes me nervous to apply for Fall '09...

Anybody on here with some atypical entrepenurial experience that has applied/been admitted to top schools? I am just having trouble realistically trimming down to a realistic list of schools!

Quick about me - 
- Ran my own business throughout college - did about 100k revenue a year for three years with 10-15 college employees.
- Post graduation - ran my own business with a partner for 8 months - 550k revenue, sold share, now I work for an incentive and rewards company as a program manager.
- 710 GMAT (may retake... )

Want to apply to Yale SOM, Chicago GSB, also interested in Michigan, Duke, and Harvard.

I do volunteer work at the Y, avid runner, hiker, climber, and reader.

I just don't know if the list is realistic, or if I should take a look at some other schools.

Contrats again to everyone! If this post is in the wrong forum, please feel free to move it to the correct one! I am a little new here.

Thanks!

~Sam

bherronp · Answer

So far your profile sounds fantastic. Schools are really keen on entrepreneurs right now.

sudden · Answer

your profile sounds pretty awesome, i'm not sure what you're worried about.

keep in mind that the schools want diverse student groups. when you apply, you aren't directly competing against the 6000 other applicants, but against people similar to yourself. i doubt that the schools set aside a certain number of chairs for engineers, a certain number for bankers, etc., but they clearly do have some soft of balance in mind. a lot of people with really uber stats and stellar applications get rejected each year because the schools already have enough people from their background and don't want to imbalance their classes.

entrepreneurship is kind of an oddball category because anything is possible. with consulting, for example, it's pretty easy to compare yourself to any number of other consultants -- are you outpacing the group? do you have higher stats? did you go to a better undergrad? etc. with entrep. it's pretty tough though -- how do they compare one business against another? how do you measure someone's entrep. talents? and anyway, how many people are even going to apply with this background? very few, i would guess, so you chances may actually be above average, though it's impossible to tell.

you seem like you are on the right track. i would recommend filling out at least one application and writing a set of essays this year even though you aren't going to apply. that sounds crazy i guess, but you will know where you weaknesses are and can address them in the coming year to maximize your chances.

riverripper · Answer

I think one of the keys for everyone is to find the schools where they fit the best. Not only the school that fits your needs but the school that desires people like you. Yes every school wants the kid that started facebook or whatever but the applicant with a business that is successful on a smaller scale needs to figure out where they compete the best. Yes places like Stanford are known for loving entrepreneurs but they also attract them in droves. Much like Chicago gets more banker applicants than Kellogg, while many more marketing folks choose Kellogg over Columbia. Its the nature of the applicant pool. So you will competing against a lot of other folks who started companies and some may have been companies with 10-20times the size of yours, which is tough competition but not anything to discourage you since yours may have much great growth potential and the adcoms may realize that.

Also, some schools are much more likely to admit the odd ball applicant. While all schools like diversity, some schools make a point of trying to find that. Kellogg has a question specific to what makes you unique...basically what are you going to bring to that school that is something few if any other applicants will bring. If you bring something no one else has in terms of background/experience its going to be a huge selling point over that kid who is just like 100 other applicants.

Also, some schools are much more likely to admit the odd ball applicant. While all schools like diversity, some schools make a point of trying to find that. Kellogg has a question specific to what makes you unique...basically what are you going to bring to that school that is something few if any other applicants will bring. If you bring something no one else has in terms of background/experience its going to be a huge selling point over that kid who is just like 100 other applicants.

sam77sam7 · Answer

Thanks for the input guys, it is definately encouraging. I have really enjoyed this forum, and have mostly lurked for the last 3-4 months, but the discussions going on as of late have really interested me.

I am going to be working with an admission consultant on my applications for Fall '09. Does anyone around here have much experience with this? I would like to have some first hand accounts and maybe some general do's and don'ts when it comes to these...

Thanks! BTW, I am going to be using MBA Exchange.

Thanks again!

~Sam

riverripper · Answer

Personally I think consultants are a complete ripoff for what they charge. I could not justify spending 1500 per application when I could just as easily figure out an approach. That said if they were reasonably priced I may have considered it but come on 1500 is insane. I gave very detailed reviews to a bunch of people on here (they can vouch for how detailed most of them were), and in reality it did not take more than several hours. The more essays you read and see how people have success the quicker you should do it. I figure that as long as you only care about content paying 300 would be reasonable since that probably would work out to $75 an hour for a couple reviews...obviously if they are reading for grammar thats going to take a lot longer but schools care more about content than perfect punctuation anyways since you arent applying for a Phd in English Comp.

You wanna pay 1500 bucks to someone I will review every set of essays you write next year, not just for a single school. Thats a good offer haha.

You wanna pay 1500 bucks to someone I will review every set of essays you write next year, not just for a single school. Thats a good offer haha.

kwam · Answer

Believe me you have here a good deal!

If I had known before I'd have paid River to review my essays....

sam77sam7 · Answer

Hahaha.. River, I really appreciate the offer! However, I would like help beyond just the essays. I only applied to one college, and one job after selling my business, so I am not drastically familiar with the interview/selection/etc process.

Thanks for the replies guys, I appreciate the input. So does this forum slow down a lot during the Spring?

~Sam

Thanks for the replies guys, I appreciate the input. So does this forum slow down a lot during the Spring?

~Sam

togafoot · Answer

Also, don`t worry about the people here. Everyone is friendly and helpful, and you sure won`t need a consultant because the people here can give you multi-dimensional perspectives. As for people being impressive here. Look at my profile. I probably have the worst stats and preparation :-D

probably lowest GMAT and highest age, and only had 2 months to research, study for GMAT and apply.... so not everyone here is impressive. Oh, and my poor stats didn`t stop me applying to some of the elite schools. Afterall, if i`m gong to b-school next year, i may as well go for it. If you are still young, i highly recommend you take your time over the app. I didn`t have that choice because of my age.

riverripper · Answer

You can still pay me :lol:

...then again if you get in to Stanford you are gonna be hiring me some day, so it will work out in the end. I thank you for your kind words though Kwam and if I ever need money reviewing essays I am gonna use you as a reference. Seriously I only applied to a single college too...I was so far above their averages I wasnt worried at all about getting in. B-school is a different beast than undergrad anyways so just because someone managed to get into Princeton doesnt mean they are going to get into a top B-school. Honestly you have so long before you apply if you start thinking about it now that you really can figure out this process very well on your own with just a little effort. This board contains pretty much everything you need to know. Spend enough time here and you will learn more than you imagine about the whole thing.

togafoot · Answer

Seriously though, the key is networking. The advantages of a UE, imo, is the opportunity more than anything else, however if your networking skills are poor, then being at an UE or E won't make much difference to the individual. It's the same principle in the corporate world, if you have the network, you can get positions that other people can't. Therefore, this messageboard in itself, is a potential network source. Things like facebook and linkedin etc. are excellent tools for building networks and if you utilise them well, it can open many more doors.

riverripper · Answer

I started the Kellogg class of 2010 facebook group...go me haha

kwam · Answer

Well, I think you started the Kellogg class of 2010, hehehehehehe

True about networking toga

riverripper · Answer

Someone on here needs to start the GSB, Wharton, HBS, and Ross. We have folks heading all of them I bet. Gmatclub can rule the world haha.

togafoot · Answer

That's the thing i think about.. The schools bang on about how strong their alumni are, how much helps it bring. However if you have a person who is alumni of school X, but also has strong links to alumni of other schools, it's a doorway into another network and a host of opportunities. That's way a forum like this and the GMAT club facebook group are potentially, highly useful. The Corporate world are in the process of adopting web 2.0 as a business tool. It's not just a revenue earner, but a potential method for increasing efficient business processes. Likewise, the type of tools and the systems that the current generation of workers are using needs to be improved to systems which can be easily associated with. For Example :- https://www.seriosity.com/ is a start up which is applying Massive Multiplayer Online Gaming methodologies to corporate e-mail systems. There is seriously a lot of scope in this field. (If i ever went into entrepreneurship, i have some serious ideas about MMO, corporate tools, Wireless and web 2.0 integration)

hbs.aspirant · Answer

LOL, for once I thought you are talking about someone from here starting a B-School like GSB, Wharton, HBS and Ross.

kryzak · Answer

I'm late to the discussion, but one thing I would like to add is as an entrepreneur, you NEED to have a very coherent and believable story on why you would want to apply to b-school, spend 2 years of your life not earning money (spending $100+K) when you already have 2-3 successful startup stories? You have to CONVINCE the admissions committee that you have a real need for the MBA, whether it's because you want to do something else, you felt that you need to learn how not to make mistakes, or something. Spend the time to think that over. You got a LOT of time (compared to some of us who only started in July of 07) and a LOT of resources here at GMATClub. So get on it!

Speaking of resources, river, kwam, toga, and others are right, you can probably get ALL the support you need from the folks on here. Just look around! Your profile (on paper) is probably better than most of ours, yet many of us already got into the GSBs, the Whartons, the Columbias, the Kelloggs, etc... If we can do it WITHOUT a consultant (especially if it costs $1500!!! :shock:

), you can definitely do it. It might take some time to read through some posts, ask some detailed questions, and get some help from us, but in the end, YOU CAN DO IT! (just ask helg

) Anyway, River and I and other mods are going to start populating a new forum (to be revealed by Praetorian soon) where we will comb the forums and put all the links that are useful and relate to the application process (Interviews, Essays, Financial Aid, etc...). That will tie us over until we get stuff into the wikis. For someone like you applying in '09, you'll have ALL the resources you need to be successful without a consultant. Heck, you'll even have some "Admitted Student Essays" and tons of MBA profiles to compare and learn from. It's something that us '08 folks could only dream about, and the '07 folks didn't even have. Therefore, hold off on the consultant for now. Do some searches here (or wait for river and I to do the work) and read over the threads. I learned so much from digging through all the 2006-7 posts and getting help from rhyme and folks. As for essay reviews, like river, I definitely did a few (hopefully I can get some good references

) and will probably do some once all the admit decisions are done and I quit my job. Ya know, like rhyme, us poor prospective students may need some beer $$ sometime down the road

Alright, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Sorry about the long winded response (can you sense my "passion" for this form?

) EDIT: BTW, don't forget Haas and Anderson (I'll leave Stanford to grad_mba, terry12, or kwam :wink:

)

sam77sam7 · Answer

Kryzak,

Thanks for the advice! I do really enjoy this forum, and it has already served the duel purpose of both educating me, and motivating me to get my MBA!