Reddit mentions of Your MBA Game Plan, Third Edition: Proven Strategies for Getting Into the Top Business Schools

Hey all,

First time post and wanted to share my story.

School | Status
---|---
Stanford GSB | Rejected w/o interview
MIT Sloan | Rejected w/interview
HBS | Rejected w/o interview
Berkeley Haas | Rejected w/interview
Wharton | Accepted

Background:

• 25 year old Canadian male.
  
• GMAT: 740
  
• GPA: 3.86 in Information Science at an Ivy League
  
• WE: 1 year as a software developer at an SF start-up. Previously spent 3 years at a large NY financial firm.
  
• Extracurriculars: guitarist in a band, soccer player, volunteer tutor for low-income high-school students
  
• Recommendations: Had four separate people write my recommendations, including a few who let me give some input into the content of it.
  
  Application strategy:
  
  I knew I wanted to start my own company so I tailored my essays to discuss how I felt business school would help me become an entrepreneur. I used no consultants and pretty much followed Your MBA Game Plan to a T. I talked to at least one alumnus from each school (and in some cases three or more) to understand what they got out of it, and visited every single school (and attended a class) to get a feel for the culture.
  
  If people would like I can share my notes that I took at each university I applied to.
  
  Tips for R2:
  
  General tips:
  
  
• Answer the essay prompts as directly as possible. I feel like I got dinged at HBS and GSB because I either answered it not in the way they wanted (in the case of HBS) or because my answer wasn't obvious or clear (in the case of GSB).
  
• The best strategy is to put your most honest self forward in your application, shoot for your top schools, and accept that by doing so you are opening yourself up to rejection based on who you are. That's OK: this vulnerability is uncomfortable but part of the process, and by doing so you are most likely to get the best option possible.
  
  In hindsight here's what I would tell myself for each school:
  
  
• Stanford GSB: Make the connection between your start-up dreams and Stanford more explicit.
  
• MIT Sloan: Show more of your natural enthusiasm for MIT.
  
• HBS: Write the essay as if it were a conversation, not a speech.
  
• Berkeley Haas: Again, make it clear why business school is a good fit for your start-up dreams.
  
  And a question for everyone here:
  
  Should I take the Wharton offer or turn it down and re-apply next year? Here are some pros/cons to accepting the offer:
  
  Pros to declining and re-applying | Pros to accepting
  ---|---
  Very happy at current role | Wharton still holds its own in entrepreneurship and is getting better every day
  Can produce a much more solid application | My odds of getting into my higher choices won't increase (and in Wharton's case, will decrease if I re-apply)
  Confident in showing career growth by next year | Dude, it's Wharton. A top 5 school by consensus.
  Entrepreneurial scene is much weaker than at the other schools I applied to | A large class = a lot of like-minded people that I could find.
  I found aspects of Wharton's culture deeply concerning. | No better time than now to go.