So this doesn't apply to me, but I've always been curious about this--do the top MBA programs have "special" admissions processes for exceptionally accomplished or famous individuals? To clarify, I'm not talking about applicants with prestigious resumes--I'm talking about people who have already "made" it. Examples of highly accomplished or famous people might be a person who founded a business and sold it for $100 million; the Navy Seal who shot Osama bin Laden; a former U.S. Senator; a major celebrity (e.g. Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, Brad Pitt); an accomplished/popular musician (e.g. Miley Cyrus, LeAnn Rimes). Could "highly accomplished people" call up Stanford GSB or HBS and pretty much (successfully) request to be admitted without going through the pain of taking the GMAT and partaking in the whole admissions process?
The obvious question is "why"? Well, I'm sure it's happened before and I'm sure people have had their reasons.
How about former NFL player Domonique Foxworth? I would definitely consider him to be a "highly accomplished" person even though he was not a superstar in the NFL. Just making an NFL roster and playing for multiple seasons is an accomplishment by itself. I'm sure there are plenty of former athletes on this forum who would trade their current jobs for a career as a professional athlete (For me personally, I would much rather be Stephen Curry draining threes from downtown every day instead of cranking out Excel models from downtown every day).
Yeah, I would put him there. Although, I'm not super interested in debating who is in the list of "highly accomplished people". I'm more interested to know how the top MBA programs would handle their admission application.
I think "highly accomplished people" may just simply fall into the category of "development candidates" (e.g. applicants with the potential to donate significant amounts of money to the university). Look at Jamie Dimon. All three of his daughters attended Harvard Business School. Are all three of his daughters brilliant individuals who have accomplished amazing things in their lives? It's possible... but having a father who is the head of JP Morgan and worth $1 billion might have something to do with it...
Business schools routinely accept people who have the ability or family background (e.g. wealthy parents) to donate significant amounts of money.
This would also apply to some "highly accomplished people." If a guy who sells his company for $100 million suddenly decides he wants to apply to HBS, you can bet that it's going to be on the radar of someone in the development office or external relations office. Those people will then nudge the people in the admissions office to make sure that person's application gets put into the "accept" pile (or, at the very least, "offer an invitation to interview" pile)
Beyond university development, admitting the "highly accomplished" can also be a double-edged sword. If a senator, like you mentioned, or Miley Cyrus wanted to attend business school, would the school want to be associated with them? So, if Miley applied at the height of the "Wrecking Ball" controversy, the image she puts out could be negatively reflected on the business school. Similarly, if the former senator was controversial (e.g., Ted Cruz), that could be a deal-breaker.
On the flip side, if someone like one of Jamie Dimon's daughters DOES want to attend, say, HBS, you now have a legacy candidate AND a potential donor AND someone with good branding opportunities. In that case, it's a clear win-win-win for the school.
Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if T10/M7 schools spent ~30 seconds googling each candidate just to check to see if the applicant is famous... or infamous.
It happens at the undergrad level mostly.
Example: Emma Watson, Natalie Portman, James Franco, Rivers Cuomo (lead singer of Weezer who went to Harvard while the band was still big) - just off the top of my head. All of them for undergrad, although James Franco may have done grad school at Columbia, not sure.
Also, there's a stream of Olympic medalists, child actors that got out of the business, and so forth. But again, it's usually at the undergrad level.
And I'm sure Malala (the activist from Afghanistan) could probably go anywhere she wants to for college.
In these cases, their applications are handed over to the administration to handle rather than just the admissions office alone.
It's not hard for adcoms to know who's who. If you did something high profile or hugely notable, it's on your resume. For legacies, the applications ask for your parents' info, your high school, and more than enough info on the application form overall to put 2 and 2 together. They don't have to google every applicant - but they can suspect pretty quickly based on some key info whether it's a special situation or not.
With MBA programs, it's typically legacies (children of high profile parents) moreso than actual high profile individuals applying.
So, to your point then about high profile "legacies", are their applications rubber stamped, so to speak? Do those types of people need to take the GMAT and submit recommendation letters and write essays?
Of course they do. What is on them just doesn't matter.
swizz beatz did it...if this counts
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/blog/2014/04/25/swizz-…
I'd imagine you'd have to be a bit more high profile though. like if zuckerberg wanted to go to stanford, I'm sure he could get in as a college dropout.
the question is: why on earth would anyone at that level want to go back to school?
Another point in favor of these high profile legacies or super accomplished candidates is that they can afford to pay the entire tuition without the need of any scholarships or fellowships or loans. So, such candidates also free up valuable financial aid dollars for the school which can then be utilized to attract other quality candidates!
Another point in favor of these high profile legacies or super accomplished candidates is that they can afford to pay the entire tuition without the need of any scholarships or fellowships or loans. So, such candidates also free up valuable financial aid dollars for the school which can then be utilized to attract other quality candidates!
Another point in favor of these high profile legacies or super accomplished candidates is that they can afford to pay the entire tuition without the need of any scholarships or fellowships or loans. So, such candidates also free up valuable financial aid dollars for the school which can then be utilized to attract other quality candidates!
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