Client Case Study: Ella
Ella has taken an unconventional route to an American graduate business program, both personally and professionally. Ella immigrated from Kazakhstan in 2011, and went through community college before finishing a four-year degree in Chemical Engineering. But Ella’s an entrepreneur at heart, and though she loves engineering, she’s already thinking about what she’ll be doing when she finishes her engineering career.
So she came to The Art of Applying®, had a fantastic Breakthrough Call where she decided that business school was the right step for her, and then met her goal of being accepted for the same type of deferred admissions program for college seniors that Kaneisha Grayson, The Art of Applying®’s founder was admitted into for her Harvard MBA. Through her acceptance to the Future Years Scholars Program at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, Ella can stay at her job now and enter school two to four years from now — when she’s fully ready to make the leap.
Service: Application Accelerator®
Start Date: February 2018 | End Date: May 2019
Demographics
Originally from Kazakhstan, immigrated to the U.S. in 2011First-time applicantApplied as a college seniorWorking in her first full-time job as a process engineer at Texas Instruments for her 2-4 years of deferment
Application Stats
School: State College of Florida with a 4.0 GPA School: University of Florida with a 3.92 GPAMajor: Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering
Acceptances
University of Virginia Darden School of Business
Scholarships
University of Virginia Darden School of Business Future Years Scholars Program
Attending
has the non-binding option to attend University of Virginia Darden School of Business in 2-4 years
Notable Quotes
“My Breakthrough Call was amazing. I was really able to get excited and inspired, and I thought that even though it might seem like a big investment at the time, I do realize it’s an investment in yourself. The biggest thing I got out of working with The Art of Applying® was to realize what I actually wanted to do — in going through the process, realizing what my actual goals are. So now looking back, I think it was a very, very successful investment … My Breakthrough Coach really wanted to get to know me and where I was headed. So that alone helped me realize what I wanted to do, to get closer to realizing my goals.”
“Just listening to other clients, and seeing what they’re going through in their decision making, being on the monthly calls and weekly calls, [helped me in] understanding that everyone has a different path. I gained a lot of confidence in sticking to my passions. Before, I thought there was this perfect applicant and people needed to strive to work on Wall Street or whatever. And I realized that it’s not really needed… I felt like I was part of this community. And even though we weren’t applying to the same schools or the same degrees, I know I’ve made connections and I can always reach out to anyone in that group and ask for anything.”
“Even though you might not get into your first, top-choice business school, or even if you don’t get admitted at all, working with [The Art of Applying®] just helps you understand where you’re headed and what you want to do. I know it did for me.”
