Introduction

Vidya Madhvan, Batch of 2015, recently got accepted into Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB). She was a Senior Business Analyst at McKinsey, and had also worked at a startup. Outside of her profession, she does whistle covers of songs, and has even represented India at an international whistling convention. Below is her insight into a successful Stanford GSB application-

Motivation for doing an MBA

Vidya’s motivation to apply to a Business School was drawn from her desire to try new things in life. Her goal was to combine her engineering education with an MBA, thereby obtaining a good grasp on both technology and business. She had set her mind on an MBA from her first year itself. Her advice for an MBA aspirant is to find their reason to pursue an MBA as early as possible. Then aspirants should select the B-School they want to aim for depending on their goals.

According to Vidya, every B-School looks for a different kind of student. She gave an example of the distinction between Harvard – which prefers students more inclined towards becoming corporate leaders vs. Stanford – which looks for the spirit of entrepreneurship. It is important for the applicant to have their career goal in mind and apply to B-Schools accordingly.

Application

The most important component of the application, according to her, is the essay. Depending on the prompt given, one has to convey their life story and how it led to their decision of pursuing an MBA.

In her case the prompt was “What matters the most to you in life”. She drew from her experience at BITS, from whistling to starting the girls cricket team, and from her job at McKinsey and a startup, to convey that she loved trying ‘new things in life’.

The single most important trait which top B-Schools look for in an applicant is leadership potential. According to her, activities showcasing ones leadership potential need not be as grand as founding a startup. What really matters is the fact that the person took initiative to start something related to an area of his/her passion. Therefore starting a venture just for the sake of a B-School application will probably be futile. ‘It’s about taking things from zero to one’ she says. She highlighted her own experiences in whistling, wherein she went from performing at the freshers night to participating in an international convention, thus showcasing how she took something she was passionate about to the next level.

Internships, according to Vidya, make a significant difference only if they are really unique.

Job Experience

Job experience, though a big part of the application, likely isn’t the deciding factor. Most Schools look at the applicant’s entire life experience, and not just what they have done in the past 1-2 years.

Gen advice for BITSians

Her most important advice to BITSians is that they find a compelling reason to pursue an MBA. This reason should guide them in their selection of B-Schools (in India or abroad), and help them in aligning their college life in line with their future goals.