The Golden Rule

"I am not going to lie: Getting my first acceptance to business school was the greatest day of my life"

By Toby Gardner

Toby Gardner
UC Berkeley
MBA Class of 2010

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I'll let you in on a little secret: I am not that smart. In fact, students at the Top 10 business schools aren't any smarter than you are. We just learned the "golden rule" early in life. That has gotten us to where we are today. It is the key to our success and is embedded in the DNA of our actions. When learned and mastered, it will give you a competitive advantage well beyond what an MBA offers and will separate you from the crowd. Want to know what it is? Well read on. All will be revealed, but first, ahem, a little bit about me.

I, Toby Mostyn Gardner (I actually like my middle name), was raised in Australia before my family emigrated to England when I was 10. It was definitely a change in culture; I went from a co-educational primary school in the suburbs to a six-day-per-week private all-boys school where hymns were sung each morning in a 900-year-old cathedral.

I was pushed along through the British public school (they call it public even though it's private) system, with its rich traditions, until I had a math class with a particular professor. Even though we didn't like each other, I gained a most valuable piece of advice from him. In my report card, he wrote: "Mr. Gardner may be able to charm his way through life, but he will not charm his way through math." Busted! It was here that I realized two things: I need to work harder at math, and my professor was an idiot.

Hugh Grant Meets Steve Irwin

After nine years in England, we moved back to Australia, where I confronted my fear of math and gained an undergraduate degree in finance. Keen to explore the world, I did my final year of university through an exchange program in America. The intention was to go home after my year, but as luck would have it, I convinced an investment firm to take me on, and I remained there until I left for business school. All this moving around has given me an accent that can be hard to place. It sounds Australian to the English, English to the Australians, and somewhere from overseas to the Americans. It's possibly best described as Hugh Grant meets Steve Irwin: "Crikey, old chap, those snakes look positively ghastly…"

My investment firm was in the venture-capital space, focusing on socially beneficial companies. It was a boutique firm, and its hands-on approach exposed me to a plethora of experiences and activities. Not only was I part of the due diligence and valuation of target companies, I was also able to propose, pitch, and complete deals of my own. In the end, I was able to work on projects on four continents and even live in Rome for a year!

Before I left for business school, I was in charge of a multimillion dollar golf-course resort development of over 600 acres. Alas, as the market appeared to slow and opportunities dwindle, I knew it was a great time to go back to school. I had an understanding of how businesses operate, but I wanted to better understand their capital requirements so I could value them more accurately. A GMAT (or two) later and after a few applications under my belt, it was off to Berkeley!

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Maybe you are thinking for the first time about doing your MBA, or perhaps you are as far along as your GMAT. If you are still reading, you are probably looking for some insight into this whole process. When you consider the time that it takes to prepare for each application and study for that evil exam they call the GMAT, you may ask yourself: Is it really worth it? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Well ladies and gentlemen, it is worth it, and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It is called "your first acceptance."

I am not going to lie; getting my first acceptance to business school was the greatest day of my life. I remember it well as it came from the school I would ultimately end up attending, .

A word of warning: As the application notification date approaches, you will find yourself spending an unhealthy amount of time on the BW.com forums. Don't fight it, accept it!