Aiming high, and getting in

Coming from a tech giant that produces many B-school applicants, Greg stood out for his unique approach to tech marketing.

The Challenge

Greg was a strong candidate. He had a decent GMAT score, had founded a company, and done well at a big name tech giant. Shouldn’t be too hard, right? Except that Greg was aiming for the hardest schools (top three U.S.) and ALL of his coworkers at that tech giant were applying too. Greg realized that he was not a particularly “diverse” candidate and would need some help to stand out from the herd of tech bros knocking at the adcom’s door. Yeah, we’ll take that challenge.

Possible Approaches

One thought was to focus on Greg’s Australian nationality. Greg had spent some time in the U.S., but unlike many Aussie tech industry applicants, he had not attended a U.S. university or worked there for an extended period. Greg’s first instinct was to emphasize that fact, describing how he would use his marketing knowledge to help interested peers navigate the Australian market. The problem with this approach is that it just isn’t that hard for an American to do business in Australia (or vice versa). The cultural and regulatory differences are real—but with the common language, they can be researched and overcome relatively quickly.

The Admissionado Approach

We advised Greg to instead focus on his passion for marketing, and more specifically, the ART of brand development. Unlike many applicants from his big name employer, Greg’s work was not really very technical at all. In fact, it was profoundly creative. Greg had demonstrated an ability to read and predict cultural trends, to empathize with previously overlooked customers, to tell a compelling story about his brands. By emphasizing this aspect of Greg’s work, we helped him stand out from a sea of data analysts, computer scientists, and people who managed data analysts and computer scientists. Greg then connected this to his goals, declaring an intent to become a CMO at a brand-focused company where he could synthesize both his natural aesthetic sensibilities and the data-driven approach he gained working in tech.

The Result

Greg was admitted to HBS, Stanford GSB, and CBS. Nice.

Personal Shoutout

“I’m grateful for your spot-on feedback in supporting me through countless rounds of edits and your patience dealing with my long emails. I’ve learned so much from you for both my admission essays (I couldn’t recognize my first generic draft from my last) and for how to structure my thoughts, write more succinctly, and ace interviews in general.”