My journey to Harvard Business School
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Consideration
Deciding whether or not to apply was the most challenging wall I ran into. Why?
- Time investment. Good essays don’t get written out of thin air. There is a ton of research needed to know what you will be competitive for. You need to dust off the books and go back to studying for standardized testing. You have to jog the memory of your recommender. You have to prepare for interviews, potentially fly for them, and you might still not get in.
- Social capital investment. Recommendation letters means asking someone for a favor – they have to take time out of their day, they have to think about what to write, all within the timeline. It also has to be stellar. As someone who generally dreads asking for favors, this was the absolute hardest part for me.
- Professional risk. MBA programs want a recommendation letter to be from your current manager, which means you are telling your manager that you are trying to leave in <1 year.
- Financial investment. I was unaware of MBA admissions consultants until a friend mentioned them. I then realized they are very common, for good reason – especially for busy professionals who need structure. If you apply to multiple schools, the cost can reach thousands, if not tens of thousands.1
You will also keep hearing mixed things from people who attended and more from those who never went to business school. I’ll break these down further when I write about Admission & Decision later.
The Paradox
Before deciding to apply, I was probably one of the most ambivalent anti-MBA skeptics, while paradoxically being a huge proponent of higher education. Here’s how I battled daily with myself.
The Skeptic
Sounds like a huge financial investment and opportunity cost.
- Existing business foundations.
- Undergrad business program provided excellent business education (1 example: negotiations class = same curriculum & professor for MBAs and undergrads)
- Felt connected as an alum and met a ton of awesome, passionate people
- Strong name brand in California, where I want to be long-term
- Ex-IB and PM.
- Worked in investment banking and product management, two industries many MBAs aspire to exit
- Returning to PM => short-term tradeoff between MBA vs. 2 years of experience unclear compared to other industries such as in finance (i.e. private equity can require MBA for promotion)
- What were the significant career benefits that an MBA could provide that I wouldn’t be able to achieve on my own?
- Eager to add value.
- Worked in large companies, prestigious companies, niche companies, and a series A fire. Seen a lot, learned a lot
- See job openings at a few companies I would be highly interested in that I do not need an MBA for
- Confident in bringing a lot of value to the table without an MBA
The Advocate
Invest in yourself. A degree lasts a lifetime. Life is a marathon.
- Jobs are extremely fickle.
- People can get laid off at any time. Companies can shut down unexpectedly. Exciting offers can get reneged before starting
- Career lesson: You are a cog in the machine. You can be a very valuable or happy cog, but, unless it’s your company or you are in the C-suite (perhaps even then), the priority of the company will be the company, with you as a means to achieve its goals
- New priorities.
- When I was younger, I was ready to do anything for a high paying prestigious job. Now that I’m older, my primary goal is to find a job I like — I will thrive and be more valuable this way
- Regularly working late, sacrificing personal time & physical health, battling constant mental stress – when is it worthwhile if not my company/venture or insane learning?
- Lifetime degree.
- A degree is a lifetime equity investment in yourself. A standard job, no matter how fancy or prestigious, is more like rent – there is a mutual agreement where needs are satisfied, but you are investing yourself in something or someone else once you pass the learning curve
- Learnings from my immigrant background and serving underprivileged communities → power of education is truly an unstoppable, unshakable force. At the top institutions, it can be exponential
The Veneer of Prestige
One of the things that caught me off guard in my career were the surprising number of executives with an MBA. I did not know until I saw their LinkedIn profile or “About the Founders” pitchbook.
I decided to a deeper look to see who else might also be a “subtle MBA”, and was surprised to find how common they were. My seniors all across the board at J.P. Morgan and executives at Uber, and in my start-ups, my (relatively younger) CEOs, President, VP of Product, and product advisor at CommonBond and FreshCut all held MBAs.
No one really flaunted it, and correlation does not imply causation. But there was undoubtedly a positive correlation. Here’s a list of just a few tech business leaders:
- Sundar Pichai (CEO of Alphabet): MBA from Wharton
- Satya Nadella (CEO of Microsoft): MBA from Booth (Chicago)
- Susan Wojcicki (CEO of YouTube): MBA from UCLA
- Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook): MBA from Harvard
- Tim Cook (CEO of Apple): MBA from Fuqua (Duke)
- Deborah Liu (CEO of Ancestry): MBA from Stanford
- Ginni Rometty (Former CEO of IBM): MBA from Kellogg (Northwestern)
If you include finance, like Jamie Dimon, or general business leaders, like Robert Kraft, there are many, many more.
Then I ran across more empirical data in the news.
Completing an MBA degree is a typical first step for many people whose career goals include securing a leadership role. And this investment can pay off; in fact, MBA grads made up nearly 40% of C-suite executives on the 2022 Fortune 1000 list, according to proprietary research by Fortune. And executives in three roles—CEO, CFO (chief financial officer), and CTO (chief technology officer)—were more likely to have an MBA than any other advanced degree.
Source: Fortune
40% is a very impressive stat, especially when CEO’s can come from all different backgrounds.
What is a fair comparison?
An MBA to CEO is not quite like a law degree to a judge, or a computer science degree to a CTO. Those are extremely necessary. A much better analogy would be a law degree to a U.S. President. Not required, but being the executive branch in the heart of D.C. governing the country through bills and laws won’t not help. Just like a business degree probably doesn’t not help in running an actual business.
Of the 46 U.S. Presidents, 27 came from a law background. Trump proved that even in modern times, you can become president without any political or law background and only a bachelor’s degree.
However, I would actually beg to differ for minorities.
Would our first ever black president have been elected unless he went to Harvard Law School, was extremely well-spoken, and almost perfect in every other surface-level aspect? Could a woman be a presidential candidate unless she went to Yale Law and boasted one of the most tenured, impressive political resumes of any party, liberal or conservative?
In the business, tech, political, entertainment, you-name-it fields, people of color and women are held to a higher standard than others, but this inequality is rarely acknowledged. The presence of some women and minorities at senior levels can obscure the fact that they had to be exceptionally qualified to get there.
Moreover, the MBA is probably one of the most challenging degrees to quantify the value of – how can anyone quantify networking? One call can change your life, but there’s no guarantee it will.
As the daughter of immigrants, I always wondered why education was so prized by my family. Without the specs, did they ever have a seat at the table? Maybe they weren’t even invited to the room. Perhaps with a degree, they might at least receive an invite.
New Roads Taken
I also have 3 stories that shed light on some exceptional people who have shown me why a full time MBA program is not necessary for everybody.
The 3 most accomplished, high-powered, successful financiers I know around my age went through a deep consideration phase, and ultimately decided not to get an MBA. This is even in the finance industry, where MBAs are traditionally some of the most heavily favored. They’re also all minorities.
Ladder Maker
The first was able to create her own promotion track to VP at a renowned private equity firm where no one becomes a VP unless you have an MBA. But she’s that good. She’s going to take the 2 extra years of work experience to be even more ahead of the game, and will probably become one of the youngest partners or principals at her firm – if she wanted to. That’s what I tell her, anyways.
Actual Finance Lover
The second is moving to Chicago for his dream job at an elite, intimate, and extremely successful hedge fund. He’s one of the rare guys I know who actually loves finance, and he owns at it. He is happily married to an incredible wife who is also his college sweetheart, and they just gave birth to a beautiful boy. He reminds me that for people who love their industry, they always find a way.
30 Y/O Principal
My last friend is already a principal at his fund at a very young age. One sister is in law school, the other sister is a doctor, and his dad was a judge in his home country, so I can definitely relate to “go to grad school” academic pressure.
When he asked about applying, I was unsure what to recommend. On one hand, maybe it could help when going for executive promotions or sourcing clients to start his own fund down the line. On the other hand, maybe he really was overqualified for the full-time program. Where do you draw the line?
Would all 3 of the above have thrived in business school? Yes. If an HBS admissions letter plopped onto their lap for free would they have taken it? Probably. But would it be worth the grueling application process without any guarantees of getting in, especially when they carved out an incredibly unique path for themselves with their hard work and skills?
No one knows what opportunities will pan or pass in the future, but for now, I can confidently say these were the best decisions we each made.
Before, the skeptic in me was pretty frustrated that the ROI answer to getting an MBA wasn’t clear. My preferred tradeoff is usually low risk “let’s get what you put in”, especially with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line.
Turns out an MBA is a complicated and not one-size-fits-all decision. My salary might be lower than what I came in with. Maybe I’ll struggle finding the right job. My venture could fail. But maybe 5, 10, 15 years from now, my decision to attend HBS will connect me to exactly what I want to do. And that is also the beauty of this decision.
Life as you get older continues to be about uncertain tradeoffs and things out of your control. A+B doesn’t always equal C. At some point, fulfillment and value comes much more from serendipitous people, learnings, and passions. I’m glad I had this huge life decision to move intentionally towards a more balanced mindset and away from controlling tendencies I naturally gravitate towards.
Applying vs. Attending
I got to the point where I was 50/50 on attending MBA while 90% on applying. Before admission, I researched schools at a high level, but actually choosing to attend was another question.
In other words:
[Deciding to apply] short-term time, social capital, financial, professional risk
≠
[Deciding to attend] long-term comprehensive evaluation from admission events, campus visits, speaking to admits and alumni, & program deep-dives
They are related, so I touched on a few reasons here, but are still separate decisions. More to come in Admission & Decision, so make sure to subscribe by email to stay up to the date with the latest!
Don’t hesitate to leave a comment below if you are seeking advice, have questions, or want me to write more about a certain topic. I will reply to every posted comment.
1 Notable consultants: Justin Marshall, Stacey Blackman (podcast), MBAMission, Menlo Coaching, Stratus, ApplicantLab. Many also have free resources on their website. ⏎
Note: This series represents a niche perspective geared to those who may have 1) went to a business undergrad, 2) had career opportunities they were satisfied with, and/or 3) primarily considering top programs, aka my own.
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Finding Grace 
Thanks for sharing Grace! I am in the same boat as you. I am currently in Product, and trying to figure out what I am trying to do next. I wish you all the best!
P.S. – I was in the same fellowship as James when he was in Irvine 🙂
Aw thanks for being the first comment Ray!
I can definitely relate to that – if there’s anything else that might be helpful to write about, feel free to share! Best of luck in your decision!
Ooo that’s awesome – I will definitely tell James 🙂
Really appreciated the post Grace and nicely written. I can certainly attest to the same daily battle for well over 6 months now, so I am glad to hear of its universality. Not sure if it is something you would write about later or best for a separate conversation but I would love to know what your use of paid-consultant resources was (if any), at what point you decided to make the investment, what you felt it provided in excess of free resources? Like you the probability I apply is much greater than the odds I would actually attend and therefore am apprehensive about the investment at the application stage especially given the eventual cost of attendance.
Hi JP! Welcome and that’s a great question. I will only touch on admissions consultants briefly in the future since so I’ll share my 2 cents here.
All admission consultants who are paid give a free chat beforehand. This is a great way to determine your realistic candidacy for certain schools. You should come to this call prepared with questions, and if you didn’t already have to submit information about yourself (i.e. test score, jobs, etc), you should be able to briefly describe yourself, scores, and what schools you are mainly targeting for an efficient call. You should not go into this call without a test score ready or else it will be hard to accurately gauge.
I remember speaking with several because I wanted to realistically gauge my chances, figure out what I would be getting to, and also make sure what I was hearing across the board was consistent and not exaggerated. I also was not sold on working with one yet.
With the above in mind, if you are confident that if you got into your top program(s), you would likely attend, then it comes down to what you feel like would be constitute “your best shot”. Reapplying is tough. You also don’t know what kind of scholarships you’ll receive or financial aid you might get until you apply, which is why I always lean towards applying – you don’t know until decisions come out. Perhaps having a stronger application can actually lead you to receiving a larger scholarship.
I was working with free resources sifting through the Internet until someone recommended Justin Marshall to me. He was a great fit. Having someone who could be a soundboard to my ideas, provide helpful structure on what might be helpful to tackle first, make sure I didn’t leave any careless typos, and brainstorm with me about things I had forgotten about myself ended up being incredibly helpful. Even though I have fellow friends who went to MBA programs, I wrote about a lot of personal things in my essay that I felt much more comfortable sharing with a stranger, and he was able to be that person. I was also going through a very busy season and having someone to be accountable to, even just in my head, was helpful.
You only get your MBA once, and for many, you only go to grad school once. It’s likely the last time you’ll ever go to school. For me, I wanted to give my absolute best shot, and then decide from there so I would not have any regrets.
I have had friends who didn’t get in, and reapplied next year with a consultant and then got in. There are also people who just reapplied by themselves without a consultant and got in. The application process ultimately comes down to how well you package your authentic self in a short, succinct space, which is where I find they can be incredibly helpful as sounding boards.
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