Deborah Knox has been an MBA-admissions consultant since 2004. She began her education at Princeton University, where she was awarded a BA in French Language and Civilization, graduating magna cum laude and winning the thesis prize for her department. Prior to attending business school, she was vice president of Scott Calder International, a firm that marketed deluxe, international, independently owned and operated hotels in the North American market. Deborah earned an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she focused on entrepreneurship, marketing, and international business. After Stanford, she worked in management consulting for several years, serving clients such as Apple, Hilton Hotels, and Texas Instruments. A freelance communications, marketing, and leadership consultant for the past 28 years, she has worked on a number of projects for best-selling management author Jim Collins, including performing research for Built to Last; editing Good to Great and the Social Sectors, How the Mighty Fall, Turning the Flywheel, and BE (Beyond Entrepreneurship) 2.0; and performing research for and editing his latest book, Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck—Why Some Thrive Despite Them All. She contributes to Poets & Quants, the leading website portal for all things MBA. Check out some of her advice regarding older applicants, international applicants, the goals essay, leadership, entrepreneurship, the early bird’s guide to MBA admissions (for college students and the newly graduated), the GMAT, and writing about hobbies/pastimes/passions.
Passionate about cultivating conscious, masterful leaders, Deborah has volunteered for two nonprofit organizations that support youth leaders: Greenhouse Scholars and The Unreasonable Institute. Greenhouse Scholars provides scholarships, mentorship, professional liaisons, and leadership training to high-performing, under-resourced college students who are committed to community service. In addition to serving as a mentor and professional liaison, Deborah is on the organization’s admissions committee and has contributed to the programming for the annual leadership symposium. The Unreasonable Institute is an incubator/accelerator for social entrepreneurs. For fun, Deborah enjoys yoga, improvisation, acting, dance, travel, design and architecture, cooking, group facilitation, community building, and hiking. She currently lives in New York City.