Knowledge@Wharton, the online business journal of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, recently featured a video interview with Clear Admit admissions advisor Alex Brown discussing his new book, Greatness and Goodness: Barbaro and His Legacy. Brown worked for more than seven years in admissions at Wharton before joining the Clear Admit team. In 2006, he turned his energies toward raising awareness of horse welfare issues, though he continues to serve as an advisor to Clear Admit.
From MBA admissions to horse racing and horse welfare may seem a strange jump, but not if you know Brown. While working as the senior associate director of admissions at Wharton, and later as an admissions counselor here at Clear Admit, Brown was waking before the sun to put in several hours every week at a track in Maryland galloping horses before heading into the office in Philadelphia. In fact, Brown came to the United States 20 years ago from his native United Kingdom as a horse racer. His MBA – at the University of Delaware – and subsequent work in MBA admissions and as an internet marketing professor – were initially all mere sidelines to galloping horses.
Through his involvement with horses, Brown watched Kentucky Derby-winning racehorse Barbaro train for the Preakness and saw his catastrophic injury – a broken leg as he approached the first turn during the 2006 race. Brown, who had begun a blog about Barbaro’s preparations for the Preakness, www.alexbrownracing.com, continued it after the injury, mounting what would ultimately become a crusade for improved horse welfare after Barbaro’s subsequent death.
Through the course of chronicling Barbaro’s life, Brown conducted more than 100 interviews with individuals central to the racehorse’s captivating story. Brown has spent the past two years weaving these interviews, along with analysis and spectacular photographs, into his new book, Greatness and Goodness, which Knoweldge@Wharton’s Mukul Pandya made the subject of a recent video interview featured on YouTube.
In the interview, Pandya explores with Brown the genesis of the book and what made Barbaro such an inspiring figure to so many. He also delves into the deeper issues of horse welfare, including the need to find a cure for laminitis, the disease that ultimately killed Barbaro. Finally, he talks with Brown about his other areas of expertise, namely internet marketing and social media, which he has harnessed to help grow the audience for his book.
Not at all unlike the admissions committees at the world’s top business schools, Clear Admit seeks well-rounded candidates with diverse interests to serve on our staff. Who better to help prospective business school applicants convey to schools their own multi-faceted personalities and unique offerings? We congratulate Alex Brown for following his passion for horses through his recent book project. At the same time, we feel fortunate that he continues to lend us his expertise in the arena of MBA admissions.
To view the recent Knowledge@Wharton interview with Brown, click here. For a link to Brown’s book, Greatness and Goodness: Barbaro and His Legacy, on Amazon, click here. And to learn more about Alex Brown’s work on behalf of horse welfare, visit www.alexbrownracing.com.
Read the full article: Knowledge@Wharton Video Features Clear Admit Advisor, Former Wharton Admissions Official