Welcome to The Weekly Spark, my weekly+ newsletter featuring insights on mental and physical wellness, intentional living, and personal development. Since September 2020, I’ve published 262 reflections hoping to motivate myself and others to live more thoughtful, purpose-driven lives.
Recently, I launched a fundraiser supporting Pennsylvania Free Enterprise Week (PFEW), a week-long summer leadership, business, and workforce preparedness camp for high schoolers centered around modern business and the American free enterprise system. I’m a proud alumnus and volunteer with this organization that has transformed the lives of over 52,000 attendees. In today’s world, positive experiences like this are crucial to the education and leadership development of our next generation of leaders; I hope you’ll join me in supporting/donating to this mission and important cause.
Next week, I’ll officially begin the full-time pursuit of my MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business in Palo Alto, California. I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity. In this piece, I’ll reflect on the end-to-end journey and some lessons learned along the way. The goal is that this piece is interesting for all, and particularly informative/motivating for anyone who may be seeking to pursue an MBA in the future. Of course, some of you were with me every step of the way, supporting me all the way to the finish line (or to the next start line, I should say); this was our win. Thank you for the love and support 🙏
My journey to the pursuit of an MBA dates back to summer of 2023. As I thought through my career prospects and how I could accelerate my career, it became clear that this was the right option. Not only would it give me an opportunity to rebrand and integrate with a completely new network, but it would allow me to expand my job prospects at the end of the two years. The right program would also provide an opportunity for significant personal growth.
For those who are unfamiliar (and many on here are all too familiar with this), there are a few key criteria that applicants are evaluated on (in no particular order): test scores (GMAT/GRE), work experience, volunteer experience, leadership experience, undergraduate experience / educational track record, letters of recommendation, and ultimately interviews.
I knew that the test scores were something I could control and could be my limiting factor. There are plenty of talented candidates, so I figured all things considered, if I didn’t clear the hurdle for test scores, I didn’t have confidence that my application would get the time of day, even in a “holistic” process. Whether that belief was right or wrong, it guided the first steps of my process. While I knew it would be hard work, I didn’t anticipate taking 6 exams over a span of 2+ years to reach my target score. It started with a practice GMAT in October of 2023. Horrible result. I knew I had my work cut out for me. Over the next 9 months, while balancing the studies and a very busy full-time job and life, I ended up taking the real GMAT twice, achieving the same score in June and July 2024. It was on the cusp of good enough but I wanted to leave no doubts in my application and a lower test score hindered my confidence in my candidacy.
In late July 2024, I was at a critical fork in the road. I hadn’t started any applications because I was so focused on the test scores that I would likely need to push my applications to the January round. Now perhaps I had over indexed on the importance of the scores and not given myself enough credit for my previous performances, but it was what was important to me at the time. Of course, in the heat of the battle, I decided to take a 2 week solo hiking trip in Austria to contemplate the game plan going forward. I came back on fire and doubled down on this pursuit. I hired an admissions consultant: Jessica Shklar from mbaMission, who I firmly believe is the absolute best in the business. In this business, right or wrong, you are often judged on track record and after interviewing about 7 consultants, it was clear she had an uncanny ability to bring out the best in people and would push me to new heights. I ultimately decided to switch to the GRE and studied vocab and math strategy tirelessly. The exams have similarities in material, but the Verbal (reading and vocab) is significantly harder on the GRE. Every morning, I would wake up and rehearse my incantations: “I will get XXX on GRE. I will get XXX on GRE.” After taking it 4 times (😅), I scored XXX + 8 the day after Christmas of 2024. While it was never pretty and took far longer than I had hoped, it was worth it.
Now that I knew my test score would leave no doubt, the rest of the application was fun. The essays are very reflective and create an opportunity to reflect on the body of work that is your life, and your motivations going forward. If you’ve done things at school, work, and in your community that you are proud of, writing the essays and completing the applications and interviews are great opportunities to honor the person that you are and a pleasure to complete. Candidly, working with an admissions consultant who knows the landscape and can help advise you on how to position your application and ensure that your best self is shining through is a very worthwhile investment. I would make the same investment a million times over, knowing that without Jessica and her guidance, I wouldn’t be at Stanford.
Having lived in PA my entire life and having great options here on the East coast, I had no business even applying to Stanford. Truth be told, it was never on my radar. Even with the application I submitted, my “Why Stanford” portion of my essay was the hardest one to write, strictly because I didn’t know the first thing about the place. When I was deciding on my school list, I knew Harvard and Wharton were locked in as choices, but didn’t know what to do for a 3rd. Jessica encouraged me to apply to Stanford, thinking that its focus on growing leaders, emotional intelligence, and the people side of business leadership would speak to me; she was spot on. Despite its notoriously high admissions hurdle, she made me believe. Surround yourself with people who bring out the best in you and you never know where you’ll end up.
A few weeks after submitting the applications, I had my first news: rejected without interview from Harvard, my initial dream school. Greenlight 😃. Dejected of course, I thought there was no way I had a chance at Stanford; after all, it interviews less candidates than Harvard accepts and has a class size that is less than half of Harvard’s 1000. More to come on this and the power of rejection in another piece, but I think things turned out ok. 5 days later, I got the interview invite to Stanford, booked a flight to campus to demystify the place, speaking with students, alumni, and shadowing classes. The Nathan that got on the flight to SFO was not the same Nathan that got on the flight home. I couldn’t sleep for 2 weeks leading up to the interview; sometimes that’s what it feels like to care SO much (one could argue, too much). When I finally got the news that I was accepted both there and Wharton, I had a decision to make. While both schools are fantastic and I have friends who are students / alumni at both places, I ultimately prioritized personal growth and the entrepreneurial ecosystem that the tight-knit GSB community would provide and a change of pace in California. This outcome is not one that I would have dreamed of a year ago, but I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity. As I walked the campus this past weekend, it confirmed that I am where I’m meant to be.
In addition to the lessons above, I wanted to share a few other key takeaways that I think are relevant to life in general:
Tune out the noise and run your own race - Whether it’s pursuing a job, graduate school, relationship, etc., people are always going to have something to say. Their reference point will always be their own life and they’ll use that to project onto you. I remember when I was applying to schools, people would advise me to apply to a “safety school” and caution me on the hypothetical scenario of me not getting into any of the 3 that I applied to (the 3 most competitive business schools in the world). Champions don’t think like that. They set the bar high, embrace the challenge, work relentlessly to clear it, and achieve more than anyone ever thought was possible. They reach unprecedented heights and are not afraid to dream big. Don’t ever limit yourself by the insecurity of others; embrace your own path and enjoy the scenes along the way…
Don’t stop until you’re finished - Far more times than we care to admit, we stop before we’re truly finished. Why? We adjust the finish line and are so psychologically convincing that we rationalize why we did so. Set out for a 15 minute run but feeling gassed at 12? Your mind will tell you that you can stop and that you’ve done “good enough.” You’ll start to believe it and stop short of your goals and more unfortunately, stop short of what you are capable of doing. Good enough wasn’t gonna carry me into Stanford. Showing up for that 6th exam made all the difference, and taught me a lot about myself in the process. Sometimes the only way is through…
Connect with your higher purpose - If you are doing things for shallow reasons, you’ll be much more likely to stop short. This was an intense, multi-year pursuit for me. Had I been doing this for shallow reasons (how it appears on social media, power, clout, etc.), I would’ve folded a long time ago. You just simply don’t study for 2+ years, take 6 exams, or spend the time and significant money on the resources and applications if you’re doing it for shallow reasons. For me, I thought a lot about the personal growth that I could experience, how this experience could benefit my current and future family and friends, and the cool things I’ll experience along the way. Because of that internal motivation, I didn’t think twice when studying vocab and math on Christmas Day before my final exam, or all of the nights where I would finish a full day of work and begin studying / working on applications, or all of the other sacrifices that I had to make in the last 27 years to create the body of work that put me in position to confidently apply to these places. Sometimes you have to dig deep, but finding that deeper purpose and calling can give you unlimited fuel and energy, even when the road gets narrow and tough to navigate…
Believe - Always believe. If you don’t believe in yourself, why should anyone else? Belief comes from the knowledge and self satisfaction that you have done what you are capable of to put yourself in a position to succeed, no matter what scenario you face. Your physical and mental routine builds belief. If testing, your preparation and studying builds belief. Belief is earned every day, or else it’s just false confidence. Pay your dues. Put yourself in a position to succeed. Believe that you will execute and succeed and your number is called…
If you’ve made it this far, I hope you enjoyed the reflection. As you can see, I took the scenic route to the palm tree lined campus of Stanford, but one that I wouldn’t trade for the world. It was fun, thrilling, required tenacity and resilience, and ultimately ended validated with a great result. If you are preparing or considering an application, particularly for Stanford GSB, I’m happy to share more of my story and add value to you in the process in any way that I can. Onwards and upwards 🚀
Mental Diet
Quote of the Week:
“Life takes on meaning when you become motivated, set goals and charge after them in an unstoppable manner.” - Les Brown
I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing. If you are enjoying The Weekly Spark, please share with a friend, family member, or coworker who you think might benefit. If you have thoughts, comments, or feedback, please reply to this email and share them; I’d love to hear from you! Until next time… Take care of yourself and take care of each other. 🙏
Nathan
