Client Case Study: Maureen B.
Maureen was a re-applicant, having applied to several top ten schools the year before. At 31, she was leaving the traditional age range for full time business school applicants. Her challenge would be to explain “Why MBA?, Why now?” without signaling to the admissions committee that she may be looking for an “escape hatch” from her current career. She had switched from outside consulting roles to several management positions at clients while eventually transitioning back to a management consulting start-up. The bipolar nature of her work experience would also call into question her ability to discern a specific career path. Additionally, as a management consultant with 80-hour work weeks, she had spent only a limited amount of time in traditional philanthropic activities.
Maureen worked with her consultant to draw out her extracurricular activities given the depth of her work experiences. While she had great business acumen and polished subject matter expertise, she addressed the zig and zag of her career progression by telling a story of being pulled (unexpectedly) into a entrepreneurial venture. This needed to be specific as it would be assumed that she had not liked her former-client, product management job and had elected to use an “escape hatch.” Additionally, Maureen worked to explain her six years as an undergraduate in her values, norms and beliefs essay. Her explanation of transitioning from pre-law to business was based on her having to leave school to address a critical family issue.
Maureen elected to be conservative in her school choices and applied to only Haas and UCLA Anderson. She was accepted to both and is now a Bruin.