Client Case Study: Anthony

African-American Man Working in Tech Gets 10 Acceptances with Over Half of a Million Dollars in Scholarships, including the University of Pennsylvania Wharton Lauder MBA/MA Program

Anthony knew he wanted to go to graduate school after college, but wasn’t sure what he really wanted to do or why he wanted to go to graduate school. Immediately after graduating from college, Anthony applied to six top business schools and policy schools on his own, but unfortunately, he didn’t get admitted to any of them. Despite that setback, Anthony regrouped by taking a couple of years to build work experience and re-apply to his dream schools. Needing guidance and wanting to make this round of applications count, Anthony reached out to The Art of Applying® for help. 

Here’s how Anthony describes his state of mind before he joined the Application Accelerator® program, “I just didn’t know where to start. I thought I needed to focus on the test score, so I didn’t really pay too much attention to the other components of my resume and if I needed to take additional coursework. Also, because I’m a reapplicant, I felt directionless. I guess I wasn’t fully confident that the MBA was the right degree for me, so I was looking into so many different programs (JDs, MBAs, etc.) and just kind of throwing things at the wall to see what stuck.”

After enrolling in our Application Accelerator® program, Anthony became one of our hardest-working and most successful clients! If his story sounds familiar, you might have read about it in our first Hit Submit blog where he talks about applying to fourteen different schools and was still planning to submit more before the December 2020 deadlines. Anthony worked hard to submit eighteen applications in total and was admitted to ten school acceptances, awarded five scholarships and fellowship programs, and was waitlisted at four schools. 

It wasn’t easy though. Anthony talks about what his initial results were like after working so hard to submit that many applications, “My first result was a rejection from HBS… That was a really disappointing experience to hear the first result back. Then, I was rejected from Stanford. Then, I started getting waitlists. I was first waitlisted at INSEAD and then I got waitlisted at Ross. I was feeling really disappointed because I had essentially been working for nine months straight on my essays and test score.”

But, Anthony’s hard work would pay off shortly after the initial rough patch, “I had just been putting in all of this work and I remember I had reached out to you, Kaneisha (Founder & CEO of The Art of Applying®), and I was like, ‘I don’t know what’s happening. None of my interviews had produced anything yet.’ And Kaneisha was just like, ’Stick in there. The positive results are going to be on the tail-end.’ And that was totally right because it seemed like every result after my Ross waitlist was an acceptance.”

By aiming high, Anthony uncovered one of the seven secrets to getting multiple top graduate school acceptances. It pays to be a Wild Card applicant!

What was Anthony’s favorite part of working with The Art of Applying® in the Application Accelerator®? Here’s what he had to say, “Of course, there’s my consultant who was very amazing and wound up a great fit in terms of background and personality. [They were] really able to guide me on schools that I was planning on applying to and how to position my story. Besides that, I really liked how many resources The Art of Applying® had and it seemed like there was a resource for whatever question or concern that I had like which supplementary courses I should take and a list of all the classes and where I should sign up. Resume and email templates. And a list of past applicants I could reach out to. I just liked how everything was there for you to, once you’re in the Application Accelerator®, go after any part of your profile that you think needs improvement on your own time, but there’s just so many resources to make use of and it was a really holistic process.”

What’s Anthony’s advice for you if you’re thinking about getting help with your applications to graduate school? In his words, “Don’t put off investing in yourself with time or money. You really won’t go wrong with investing in yourself.” 

Those are wise words from a high-dollar scholar. Congratulations, Anthony! We’re so proud of the hard work you put in and the results you achieved!

Start Date: February 2020 | End Date: May 2021

Applicant Information 

• GPA: 3.5
• GRE: 158 Quantitative, 163 Verbal, 5 Writing
• Work Experience: 3 years in tech
• Ethnicity: African American
• Gender: Male

Acceptances

• University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business MBA/MA Lauder Joint Degree Program
• Columbia Business School
• Cornell University Johnson Graduate School of Management
• University of Virginia Darden School of Business
• Asia School of Business
• UCLA Anderson School of Management
• University of Michigan Masters in International and Regional Studies (MIRS)
• Columbia SIPA 
• Harvard Kennedy School (MPP) 

Waitlists

• Yale School of Management
• MIT Sloan School of Management
• University of Michigan Ross School of Business
• INSEAD

Scholarships

• Wharton – $80,000 Scholarship and Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) $18,000 Scholarship with a $15,000 Stipend
• Columbia Business School – $80,000 Scholarship
• Cornell Johnson – $40,000 Scholarship
• UVA Darden – Consortium Fellowship Valued at $150,000
• Asia School of Business – Full Ride Valued at $100,000
• Michigan MIRS – $50,000 Fellowship for Year One with Potential to Renew

Notable Quotes

Anthony had heard of The Art of Applying® before, but chose to apply to graduate school on his own initially. Why didn’t he join initially and why did he come back to enroll in the Application Accelerator® for his second round?

“I initially heard of [The Art of Applying®] when I was applying to programs in 2017, but it was too late to join the Application Accelerator® then to join and get the full value. It was right in the middle of round 2 applications… So, I just decided it was too late for me to join and went through the process without the Application Accelerator® and I didn’t get any results. But this time after I was rejected from my scholarship application in the fall of 2019, I decided I wanted to reapply to grad school one more time and to make it count. So that’s why I decided to reapproach The Art of Applying®.”

On Anthony’s initial concerns about the cost of tuition for enrolling in the Application Accelerator®: “I was really afraid of the cost initially because it was a significant investment, and honestly at the time, I wasn’t 100% aware of all the resources The Art of Applying® had to offer… It wasn’t just the number, but I thought, ‘Oh my gosh. The stakes are so high.’ It made me feel like ‘Oh, wow. I have my family depending on me to make sure that I actually make the most of the program and get the results that I wanted.’ And so it was a big jump and I spoke with [my mom] one on one and we both decided that even if I didn’t get into my top choices I would still be gaining a lot of skills like how to write a resume, how to write about myself, writing these essays. The guidance is so valuable. We just decided to do it and I made sure that once I put down the tuition payment that I was always making use of all the resources that were available to get the best result.

Did you know we offer a Green Light Guarantee™ for those who enroll in our Application Accelerator®? Yes, this does mean if you join us in the Application Accelerator®, do all the work, and don’t get in, we’ll work with you again for your next application cycle for free so it doesn’t have to feel like you aren’t getting your money’s worth. Your success is our success.

What would Anthony say to someone who’s surprised by the schools who waitlisted him when he got accepted to amazing programs with scholarships?

“I personally didn’t think it made any sense myself when I found out I got accepted [to Wharton while being waitlisted at other schools]. I kept a little bit of hope thinking, ‘It’s Wharton and they’ll be more willing to, because they have the largest class size after HBS, take a risk. They’re also always ranked pretty high. Maybe I might be one of those applicants that can get in and be one of the Wild Card applicants that actually gets in with money and it turned out to be true.’”

What would Anthony say to someone that says, “Working with The Art of Applying® sounds great, but first I want to get a really strong test score before reaching out for help or starting this program?”

“I definitely understand that motivation and I don’t think it’s necessarily wrong to want to start off with a strong test score. But, I think you really want to start early. You want to sign up with The Art of Applying® early and you want to start preparing for the test early to give yourself time to raise the score if that’s something you want to actually pursue… 

Test scores are important, but focus more on what you can bring to the program and on conveying that. And if you want to reach a good score, that’s fine too, but make sure that it’s not your number one priority.”  

Ready to get amazing results, too?

If you don’t know where to start, are already working on your applications, or just need some help getting into your top choice programs, we’re here to help. Book a Quick Call with our team today to get started!