Digging Deep with Your MBA Program Research: Anecdotes & Advocates
Communicating with insiders (current students, alumni, and faculty members) can be beneficial to your MBA applications for a number of reasons. In addition to learning about a given school and your potential fit, you’ll also generate material for your essays, demonstrate your interest in the program, and perhaps even make an ally or two.
As you aim to go beyond the schools’ websites and promotional materials, we specifically recommend reaching out to individuals in a few key groups:
Current Students
People who are currently enrolled in a given program can obviously provide the clearest picture of the present state of the school community. They are often able to describe their school’s overall culture more vividly than brochures put out by the admissions offices. Current students can also help you understand the ins and outs of academic and extracurricular options.
So how do you get in touch with MBA students at your target schools? One strategy is to reach out to friends and acquaintances who are studying at a given school (or who know someone who is). It’s also helpful to get in touch with the leaders of clubs and programs in which you are interested; their contact information is generally available through the club website. This will help you to understand the club’s needs and priorities, as well as the impact you could make while on campus. Students can also provide a sounding board on this topic as you work to demonstrate your potential contribution during the admissions process.
Alumni
While students offer a great view of the program itself, a school’s graduates can often provide the best perspective on just how far an MBA from a given program can get you in a certain field. Meeting with alumni working in your target post-MBA industry (tracking them down either through your own network or school-sponsored events) may help you anticipate the program’s strengths and weaknesses in setting you on the right professional course. You might also gain some valuable insight that will help you to refine your career goals and better understand what short-term position would best prepare you for your long-term plan.
Faculty
Professors at business school tend to be a bit less accessible than students and alumni, but if you’ve identified someone whose research interests match yours or if you’ve sat in on a class that you found particularly intriguing, there’s no harm in sending a note to let the faculty member know and to ask them for a brief call or meeting. The individuals responsible for designing and delivering the MBA curriculum can offer great insight into the specific skills and lessons you would learn from one class to the next, and improve your understanding of the ways that an MBA would bridge the gap between your current skills and those you will need to achieve your goals.
So if you’re working on a business school application, consider reaching out! These folks are often happy to discuss their experiences with prospective students, and admissions committees also like thoroughly informed applicants (of course in all cases, patience and manners are of great importance). You might also gain advocates from your target b-schools, who you can later tap for unofficial ‘letters of support’ after you have submitted an application.
MBA Admissions Academy
Episode 1: How to choose target schools for application
MBA Applywire
Hi,
I would appreciate your honest opinion on my profile and whether I would be a competitive applicant for top MBA programs.
My short-term goal is to transition into Investment Banking, ideally in M&A, and eventually move into Impact Investing. Although I don't have direct experience in either field, I have a strong finance background, and pursuing an MBA is an important step for me to make this career pivot.
In my current role, I have led several finance-related projects, including managing the financial tracking and payments for a USD 1 million edtech project supporting the education of underprivileged children. I also persuaded management to implement a new expense-tracking system, which helped reduce costs by approximately USD 50,000, along with several other initiatives.
Outside of work, I served in the Teach For India program for two years, teaching underprivileged children. I am currently a United Nations volunteer, where I lead volunteers from different countries in fundraising initiatives for education and other social causes. I am also a member of the Indian Red Cross Society, supporting fundraising and relief efforts during floods and other natural disasters.
Additionally, I have earned the CFI Financial Modeling & Valuation Analyst (FMVA) certification and the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification to strengthen my finance knowledge and support my career goals.
Since I come from an overrepresented applicant pool, I know the competition is intense. I also come from a small local company rather than a well-known multinational, and my undergraduate GPA is average from a Tier 2 university.
In your opinion, would my GRE score, work experience, leadership, volunteer activities, and professional certifications help offset those factors? Do you think I would be a competitive applicant for top MBA programs?
Interested in clean energy/advanced materials manufacturing post mba
Hi! I have 8 years of professional experience broken down to internships, community work, full-time and part time roles.
I have worked briefly in the public sector, but mostly private followed by development sector.
Hi all, finalizing my applications for 7 schools - worked with a great consultant for essays. Just wanted some overall thoughts on my profile.
BACKGROUND & STATS
- Demographics: 26M, Asian, Bay Area CA
- Education: B.S. Computer Science, Minor in Entrepreneurship from a Top 15 US Public University (Top 40 overall)
- GPA: 3.73
- GMAT: 675 Focus Edition (Q86 / V85 / DI79)
- Years of Experience: Will have 5 YOE at matriculation
WORK EXPERIENCE
- Current Role (2+ years): Marketing Data Analyst (functioning as Marketing Operations Lead) at a PE-backed home services portfolio company. Originally joined as a Social Media Specialist and pivoted into a heavy data/ops role.
- Corporate Impact: Optimize an $8M annual marketing budget. Built granular attribution models that successfully convinced PE leadership to override generalized portfolio benchmarks and reallocate spend. Negotiated with PE parent's CTO on attribution methodology adopted across 26 portfolio companies.
- Entrepreneurial Venture (4+ years): Founder & Executive Producer of a digital media business. Scaled to 500K+ subscribers and 350M+ views, generating $170K+ in cumulative net profit at 80% margins. Built an autonomous content pipeline using Python and AI APIs, and negotiated promotional partnerships with major record labels (Sony, Capitol, etc.). Manage a remote team of 4.
EXTRACURRICULARS
- Volunteer Consulting: Act as an AI Advisor for an education nonprofit (training staff on AI workflows for grant writing) and a Marketing Automations Consultant for an environmental nonprofit (audited their CRM/email programs to cut SaaS costs by 36%).
- Eagle Scout: Led a team to build and donate computers to a local youth club to provide after-school tech access.
- Podcasting: Hosted and produced a video podcast focusing on sports and culture; managed a 5-person team and scaled the audience to 15K followers.
- Undergrad: Intramural sports captain (Basketball, Flag Football).
MBA GOALS & TARGET SCHOOLS
- Short-Term Goal: Pivot into a Product Marketing Manager role at a major payments/fintech company (Visa, Mastercard, Amex). I want to combine my CS background with my marketing ops experience and apply that to the payments space.
- Long-Term Goal: Build a vertical SaaS company that fixes payment infrastructure for home services businesses, which is an industry I know from the inside and one that's still running on tools built for somebody else.
- Target Schools: Stern is my top choice, along with CBS, also applying to Wharton, Ross, Fuqua, Anderson, and McDonough.
ESSAY DIRECTION
- Core arc: I came in with a CS degree, got hired to run social media, and ended up in the data seat because I kept finding money leaking out of stuff nobody was tracking. That's how I got interested in payments.
- Throughline: I learn a tool and then teach it to everyone around me. Automating my venture's content pipeline, training nonprofit staff on AI workflows, bringing up my direct report.
- Why MBA: I've picked up the operator skills by doing them. I want the finance and strategy foundation, plus the network, to go from running marketing to actually owning product decisions.
*Pakistani National, M, 37, single.
*Planning to apply in R1 2027 to Tuck, Darden, Ross, Rice, Emory and Georgetown with Test Waivers if granted.
*Scheduled for GRE in Dec'26 to be able to apply in R2 to Consortium and other universities that do not offer test waivers.
*Short-Term Goal: Operations, Program Management or Strategy Roles at Amazon, Tesla or likes. Pivot from Oil & Gas into Manufacturing, healthcare or Tech Industries.
*Long-Term Goal: Reach C-suit level at a Corporate or be a Consultant. Start a Food business and launch a Non Profit for Stray animals.
*Wish to pursue MBA to pivot from Oil Gas industry and land USA job market.
Professional Timeline:
Graduation Year: 2012 (7 months Internship with General Electric)
First Employer: May-June 2013 as Application Engineer with a Firm in UAE. (Resigned duration probation)
Second Employer: Dec 2014 to Sep 2024 with a Fortune 500 Oil & Gas Service Company in Pakistan. Roles Served: Trainee Field Engineer, Engineer-1, Engineer-2, General Field Engineer and finally Product & Resources coordinator in Planning & supply chain function before Termination. Then went on a career break while being actively involved in Stray animal welfare as volunteer. Currently working as a freelancer in 3 different areas. 1. Setting up a education consultancy firm along with a foreign friend. 2. Involved in family outdoor advertising business and 3. consultant with a private environmental agency.
Please do comment on my extensive work experience and above average age, career break and Pivot as justification into a MBA program.
MBA LiveWire
Applied 7/13, decision received 7/20.
I am waiting the Decision
16th June Applied/2nd July Invite/12th July Interview/22nd July Admit Letter