Stanford GSB - 05-04-2024 | Clear Admit ApplyWire

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May 4, 2024 5:39am ET

Applying: Stanford GSB

Pre-MBA Career: EdTech

Post-MBA Target Industry: Technology, Entrepreneurship, Non Profit/SI

GRE: 325

GPA: 3.6

Years of Work Experience: 6

Notes:

Stanford GSB is my dream MBA program for multiple reasons (entrepreneurship focus, location, size, social impact) to the point where I'm considering doing a 'Stanford or bust' approach to MBA applications. With that in mind, I want to think about how to bring my best application forward when I apply Round 1 in 2025 (for a 2026 intake) and/or if I should be rethinking my app strategy.

Age: 27

Nationality: American

Race: Mixed (Asian/Pacific Islander/White)

Gender: Female

Current Title:

Senior Program Manager at a B-Corp, public edtech company; trying to pivot to a Senior Product Marketing role right now

Also an educational content creator with ~200k followers on YouTube; will likely have at least 500k by the time of applying (I approach building this channel as a full business, and while I own the creative production and strategy, I also collaborate with others including freelance editors, brand teams, and a management team)

Undergrad: Top 10 Undergrad in US

GPA: 3.6 (majors were media & business - little to no quant background)

Extracurriculars:

- YouTube channel (a job and extracurricular, I guess)
- Volunteer admissions interviewer for my undergrad for past 4 years
- Volunteer alumni mentorship program
- Digital nomad - past 4 years I've spend 25% of the year traveling, mostly abroad, while working
- Hobbies include improv comedy, yoga, and tennis but not sure if any of those would be captured in an application?

GRE: 325 (Verbal 162; Quant 163) (I think I'm going to take these again to try and get those scores up)

Post-MBA Goals: Starting a larger media brand/company that would create digital education content; or working at a very early-stage startup in a marketing leadership role (ideally at a social-impact focused startup)

Misc:
- I started a video marketing company in undergrad that I ran for 3 years; had lots of large hospital clients
- I was a part-time professional voiceover artist for 2 years (side business I started during COVID when I was bored)
- My Youtube content has been featured/I've been interviewed on multiple national news sites

(PS. I actually submitted one of these entries back in 2020 when I was first thinking of doing an MBA! At the time you all told me that if I didn't get into my top programs that I should hold off for a future intake, and I'm glad I have! I think my career has grown a lot since then; I've gotten to work on really interesting projects at my company; I've grown a business outside of work; etc. and now I'm feeling like it might be close to making sense for an MBA)

Like (2)

Show Comments (6) Last: May 13, 2024

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1676 What is your long term goal? Be good to hear more about your goals, post MBA.

Pushing the GRE score up, even a little, may well have impact. Showing impact and growth at the Ed tech will be great. Your YouTube creator work may well be an excellent differentiator, so keeping that on an upward trajectory will be very smart. Will be curious to see how this ties to your goals.

Stanford or bust can be very challenging. I’m assuming you have good geographic flexibility? Might be worth looking at some top programs on the east coast, too?

(0)

random_username Likes Earned: 8 Post-MBA, I’m interested in diving deepen into entrepreneurship - either by starting a larger media brand/company that would create digital education content. This would be an expansion of my YouTube business while blending my edtech startup experience, essentially - building my channel beyond just me to become a full production and media company like Crash Course or Kurzgesagt. I am also open to / interested in working at a very early-stage startup in a marketing leadership role (ideally at a social-impact focused startup). Overall long-term, I really want to be in entrepreneurship in some form. I’d want an MBA in part to explore these two routes as well as equip me with the business & entrepreneurship skills to excel at both. I’m also deeply interested in the network aspect of an MBA. That being said, if the MBA doesn’t have a heavy entrepreneurship focus, I don’t think it’d ultimately be worth the money and opportunity cost, which is why I’d been thinking Stanford or bust. Do you have any recs for east coast? (1)

random_username Likes Earned: 8 Oops , had some typos there as I was writing on my phone - apologies! Also thanks for the advice on GRE and showing impact/growth in edtech :) (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1676 For an entrepreneurship focus, Stanford is an obvious choice. Id also look at Harvard and Wharton. Basically, the very best programs provide the best resources and networks for entrepreneurship. (0)

alexbr4 Verified User. Likes Earned: 1676 More details on this candidacy in this episode of Wire Taps: https://www.clearadmit.com/2024/05/mba-wire-taps-352/ (0)

globetrotnomad Likes Earned: 3 @random_username Cool background! I have a similar background and looking to do something similar post MBA. From my research MIT and Berkeley could be a good fit as well for entrepreneurship, size, and focus on tech. I feel like you've got a good profile and curious to see your results! If you want you can dm and we can connect. Also a fellow digital nomad so am curious to hear about that experience as well! (1)