An MIT Sloan Admit Reflects on His Admissions Journey

This interview is the latest in an Accepted.com blog series featuring  interviews with MBA applicant bloggers, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at  the MBA application process. And now†¦introducing our anonymous blogger, â€Å"John Thunder†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Accepted: Wed like to get to know you! Where are you from? Where and what did you study as an undergrad? What is your current job? John: Im from the midwest and went to an Ivy League to study economics and mathematics. I was a former investment banker and currently work in investment management. Accepted: Congrats on your recent acceptance! Can you tell us where you applied and where you got accepted/rejected/waitlisted? John: I got accepted at Sloan. Waitlisted at Wharton and Booth. Rejected at Kellogg/HBS/Stanford GSB. Accepted: And if you get more acceptances from the waitlists, how will you decide where to go? John: Im fortunate to receive an acceptance to one of my preferred schools. If I get off the waitlist at other schools, maybe I will reconsider. Accepted: Can you share some admissions tips as an overrepresented minority? How would you advise others who are trying to stand out from the crowd? John: This is the tough question. If I had to re-do my 2-3 year plan for MBA, I would do 1 year of international development in the motherland and/or get involved with organizations in those countries. I did not do anything different to standout, except I demonstrated that sure I have similar stats and background to others but coworkers ranked me as the top analyst each year out of the whole class. Instead of thinking about other Asians, I saw my application  holistically  with the applicant group. Accepted: Do you have any other admissions advice for our applicant readers?   John: This is a stressful process. I took my GMAT in Fall 2013 to apply for Class of 2017. Get started early and have set goals. If you are targeting HBS/Stanford only, I recommend applying to only one of those round 1 and the other round 2 and go all-out to visit and hustle. Ive seen success from those who did that. Accepted: What is your post-MBA plan?   John: Finance has lost its luster. Please hire me Google. Accepted: Can you tell us about your blog? When and why did you start blogging? What have you gained from the experience?   John: Kudos to the community created at GMATClub. I used it religiously to study for my GMATs. I just wanted to give back to that community. I was stressed out throughout the whole application process and it was helpful to see other applicants experiences. Its important to pay-it-forward, and thats what its about in business school. For one-on-one guidance on your b-school application, please see our MBA Application Packages. You can read more about John Thunder’s b-school journey by checking out his blog, John Thunder MBA.  Thank you for sharing your story with us – we wish you loads of luck! Related Resources: †¢ Navigate the MBA Maze †¢ GMAT 101 †¢ Waitlisted! What Now