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Some applicants will try just about anything to get into a prestigious business school. The well-connected have long used influential family friends to call admission officers to put in a good word. Nowadays, B-school wannabes are far more creative. One applicant sent a list of the top-10 reasons to admit him -- one day, one reason at a time.
But this year, the most popular gambit appears to be marketing oneself as dot-com entrepreneur. At the Wharton School School of Business, the number of applicants claiming startup experience is up more than 10% over last year. Duke University's Fuqua School of Business has noticed a 25% increase since 1997 in such applicants.
After two to four years at a large corporation, consulting firm, or investment bank, some applicants do an about-face and spend a few months to a year at a startup. "A lot of people have left consulting, done a small startup, and now want to do an MBA," says Liz Riley, director of admissions at Fuqua. "Many felt like they didn't have the skills to take their businesses to the next level." But the reasons may have more to do with strategy than anything else: Applicants think startup experience will make them stand out, particularly to the top schools.
TEAM PLAYERS.
That perception has some validity. Sorting through 6,400 applications to Columbia University's MBA program, Admissions Director Linda Meehan looks for applicants who exhibit some signs of originality as well as academic qualifications. "Someone who has run or started a business sticks out in your mind," Meehan says. "It can be very advantageous for them."
Startup experience on a resume signals big things for some B-schools. "It means they're risk takers, that they're willing to put in a couple of years at something they're interested in," says Rita Edmunds, director of graduate admissions at Babson College, a school known for its strength in entrepreneurship. Edmunds says startup experience "also shows us that they have worked in a small team and are team players."
Irik Myers, marketing-operations manager at MBAlink.com, a job-listing service, plans to apply to MBA programs in two to four years. Since career centers for MBA programs are trying to aim students toward entrepreneurial companies, he believes future employers will smile at the risk he's taking now. "MBA admissions [committees] will like it," he says.
NO SURE THING.
Luke Chung, 24, started a cleaning-supply company in 1997 before deciding to apply to business school. Along the way, he spent one year at a consulting firm. When his own company started to grow, he took up the reins again. "B-school acceptances are so subjective these days," he says. "I didn't know if my nontraditional [professional] background would fly with them." But it has struck a chord: Two out of five schools have sent letters of acceptance, and he'll find out how he fared at Wharton and MIT later this month.
Still, putting in time at a startup isn't enough to guarantee admission. Keith Vaughn, director of MBA admissions at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, looks for demonstrated leadership and growth at a company. "Someone who has been at a company that went through three rounds of financing has more experience than someone who has three to six months of experience [at a startup]," Vaughn says. "That [short amount of time] doesn't add much value."
Startup experience can also raise a red flag among admission directors who witnessed an exodus of sorts to dot-coms in 1999. Wharton bid adieu to 104 accepted applicants who deferred enrollment, about two-thirds of whom did so to work at a startup. Berkeley lost 50 potential students.
WHO'LL DROP OUT?
John Lyons, head of admissions at New York University's Stern School of Business, now takes the time to gauge drop-out potential during interviews. "I ask [applicants], 'What if this [business you're part of] really takes off?'" he says. "For most people, the idea is to continue to work on the side, or they'll pull out of the company's business dealings."
Young entrepreneurs have rarely faced so many opportunities to get involved in business, even without an MBA. But it's important to remember that dot-com experience isn't "the silver bullet to getting into B-school," says Kristina Nebel, director of admissions at the University of Michigan's Business School. Anyway, soon enough being a startup graduate won't be such a novelty.
By Mica Schneider in New York EDITED BY PAUL JUDGE
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