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October 21, 2022 9:30pm ET
Applying: Stanford GSB
Intake Year: 2023
Pre-MBA Career: IB for two years, then moved to a hybrid investing / business development role in the video game space
Post-MBA Target Industry: Technology
GMAT: 740
GPA: 3.5
Years of Work Experience: 5
Notes:

I'm a white male, moved from my first job in IB to the video game industry, where I was hired at a large video game conglomerate to have initially a more corp dev role (number crunching to decide if we should invest or acquire a game studio at all stages), but that role has evolved over time to be a mix of that and also being on the frontline where I meet studios and source and pitch opportunities for my company. My extracurriculars are around advising non-profits and game development schools that make more indie and creative games on how to pitch their ideas and negotiate deals with publishers or investors so that these students or part time developers can pursue game development full time and be able to commercially release their own creations. I want to stay in the industry forever, but transition to a PM in the short term (to actually understand how products are being made) and start my own game studio in the long term. I only applied to GSB for now because I know I could accomplish my goals without an MBA, but an MBA from Stanford seemed like it would be one potential path that would get me there and also add a lot of value to my life in other ways. I don't feel that level of conviction with other schools that have far less alumni and student representation in this somewhat niche industry. To my surprise, I already got an interview (applied R1) and am waiting for the outcome, but am just curious to get any extra input, especially around whether you've seen candidates that represent a less popular industry in the same way that I do, and if it makes sense to apply to other schools. I just don't know how appealing my case is from a school perspective, which is "I am really passionate about this niche but growing industry that I currently work in, and I want to learn more skills that will set me up to be a leader in the space 10 or 20 years from now."