MBA LiveWire

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)

I'm an Indian origin Chemical Engineering student from BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus. I have half a year thesis internship experience in Prague, in R&D work. However, post graduation, I have digressed to management consultancy after a brief stint in an Oil & Gas company and intend to pursue consultancy post MBA. I have a promotion due in some time so that could show progression in my career.
I have led a TEDx club during my time in college, and I have some volunteering experience as a freelancer where I have supported volunteer groups during the pandemic, and have conducted a tree plantation drive (plated 400 trees) to rehabilitate cyclone affected regions.
I am not sure how much it would impact my application, but I am also a French citizen. I am planning to take another try at my GMAT and apply for M7 colleges in R2, while focus on the other colleges in R1 to bolster my safe position.

Those who have a GMAT waiver cover all tuition and stipends for international students.