Jason Buchel, MBA ’22, graduated from Stanford Graduate School of Business even though several MBA consultants told him he didn’t have a shot. He created HeyMBA, an AI-powered admission tool, to help candidates center their essays and applications around the power of their personal stories.
Remember Jason Buchel, the Stanford Graduate School of Business hopeful who was told by multiple MBA consultants that he didn’t have a shot? Well, he graduated in 2022 and Poets&Quants wrote about how he got in, largely because he believed in the story only he could tell.
Three years later, the self-taught app developer and coder has built an AI-driven MBA admission platform, HeyMBA, to help other hopefuls do the same. The platform centers MBA applications around one’s personal story, starting with that oh-so-important MBA essay.
“(HeyMBA) coaches people through seeing the power of their own story, to hopefully get into a school that they didn’t think was possible for them,” Buchel tells P&Q.
BUCHEL’S ‘WHAT MATTERS MOST’
In 2022, Buchel conceded to P&Q that he wasn’t a traditional GSB candidate: At 31, he was on the older side. At 640, his GMAT was on the lower side. He wanted to apply in Round 3 when most seats are already filled.
He knew it wasn’t going to be the test score that got him in, so he leaned into his story. For Stanford’s “What Matters Most” essay, he structured his answer around the brain and recognizing how he uses intuition in decision making – from coming out at a really young age (10 years old) to studying philosophy, neuroscience, and psychology as an undergrad.
Jason Buchel
After graduating from GSB, Buchel worked as a senior product manager at Apple for about a year, but wanted to really double down on storytelling. He moved to New York, started performing solo shows, and dabbled in stand-up comedy. He began coaching MBA hopefuls on the side.
One of those hopefuls had been rejected from several of the M7s despite excellent test scores. Buchel pushed him to go deeper: What mattered to him? Why? Anecdotes from his life that could show his convictions? Buchel wanted to know how he physically felt in those moments – nauseous, excited, shaking, calm? He wanted to know what he was thinking, what happened next, what changed.
The exercise triggered a memory the applicant would have never thought to include in an MBA admission essay.
“It’s literally what they want to see,” Buchel told him.
The applicant was waitlisted at Kellogg School of Management, then accepted (just like Buchel was to Stanford GSB.) He asked Buchel to jump on a Zoom call just so he could thank him 20 or so times. Buchel realized there might be something missing in the MBA admissions market.
A COACH YOU CAN TALK TO
Over one Sunday afternoon, Buchel built the prototype of HeyMBA – an AI-driven admission “coach” trained to help users shape their stories. Buchel referred to it as “vibe coding,” the act of creating things and launching them quickly while inspiration is fresh.
HeyMBA, naturally, centers the application process around your personal story. It’s not just another AI chatbot. While powered by tools like ChatGPT, HeyMBA is trained on storytelling frameworks Buchel developed through coaching dozens of applicants to top schools.
“What I think is really exciting is the engine behind it – my kind of storytelling frameworks and the prompts I’ve used to coach MBA candidates: What I know about people’s hiccups, where they get stuck, where they maybe question themselves,” he says. “It’s not just like talking to ChatGPT. It’s contextually smart from what I’ve seen coaching dozens of people across the top 15 or so business schools.”
HeyMBA is also trained on what particular schools are looking for in MBA candidates as well as each of the schools’ different essay prompts. It remembers everything a user tells it from their resume inputs, goal setting, essay drafts, and even past coaching sessions in order to offer real-time feedback.
“My hope is that maybe even someone who has a consultant will find it useful. Maybe it’s a Thursday night, they’re freaking out, they’re stressed as ever, and their consultant is not available,” Buchel says. “And they’re just like, ‘I want something else to talk to.'”
HeyMBA dashboard from which candidates can write out their goals, optimize their resume, and access essay prompts from 15 top U.S. MBA programs.
HOW IT WORKS
So how does it work?
Well, pretend you’re an MBA hopeful. You’d first select one or several target schools from the drop-down list. Buchel has so far preprogrammed essay prompts and focus for the 15 top programs in the U.S., but plans to add more schools in the future.
You’d then input your professional resume and set some short- and long-term goals.
Then, ask some questions. There’s a typical chat box for keyboard warriors or – one of Buchel’s favorite features – a voice chat for those who want the feel of talking with an actual coach. Buchel has named the bot Scout.
“Hey Scout. I need an idea on how to start my Tuck Inclusion Example essay,” you could type (or say.)
“Hey there! Great to see you diving into this essay,” Scout might respond in either text or that smooth, inoffensive tone only AI could muster. “A strong start could be to paint a vivid picture of the moment you realized someone was feeling excluded. Have you had a specific situation in mind where you helped someone feel included? If so, a brief anecdote or a snapshot of that moment could really draw the reader in!”
“Like what?”
“Think about a moment where you actively made an effort to include someone in a group or activity. It could be in a work setting, during a volunteer event, or even in a social situation. What specific actions did you take, and how did it impact the person you were helping?”
Etcetera, etcetera.
Once you’ve got some words on the screen, the “Get Feedback” button helps with the essay itself. More than a spelling a grammar check, Scout will answer with all it knows about you, the school, and the essay prompt you’re currently working on. It analyzes the power of your story, opening hook, and bridges between paragraphs. It will then help you tailor your personal story to the essay prompts for other target schools.
“To me, what’s beautiful about this, and what I always coach people on, is when you’re applying to school, it’s really important that you have a really strong narrative across your application. It’s what you’re known for and what people will remember you for,” Buchel says.
Example of essay feedback from HeyMBA.
A REDDIT THUMBS UP
A few weeks ago, Buchel posted a quick snapshot of HeyMBA on Reddit. Almost immediately, he got 30 to 40 DMs asking for access. A couple of dozen turned into beta testers.
The response validated that his platform offered something new to the market while actually solving a few pain points. Namely, the chaos of essay requirements, the lack of accessible feedback, and the emotional weight of the application process.
“You got 20 Google tabs up. You have to keep track of all the questions – how they’re similar, how they’re different,” he says. “It’s an emotional process to lay your heart out on paper and then hope that a school sees it and accepts you.”
Buchel sees the platform as both a complement to MBA consultants, and an alternative for applicants who simply can’t afford them. Consultants may cost thousands of dollars. That can be a barrier, he says, “specifically for people from underrepresented communities who have powerful stories to tell but don’t have access to expensive admissions consulting.”
HeyMBA offers two pricing tiers: $199 a month for platform access and group coaching, or $399 a month for the platform, group coaching, and a monthly one-on-one strategy session with Buchel.
For future updates, Buchel is working on a recommendation letter module and mock interview questions for each school.
Learn more about HeyMBA here: heymba.ai
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