NOVEMBER 9, 2017

At Acton, it’s all about mindset, and it’s our student’s mindset that has ranked Acton MBA #1 on Princeton Review’s list of Most Competitive Students for six years in a row.

As someone who’s competed at the highest levels, I know what it’s like going up against the best in the world. In the Olympic community, you’ll find that 90 percent of Olympians hate to lose, while 10 percent of them love to win. I definitely fell in the ‘hate to lose’ camp; the thought of it lit an inferno inside me.

What’s more apparent, and important, is that the best of the best (Olympic medalists, world record holders, the most successful entrepreneurs) care most about maximizing their potential—pushing the absolute barriers of what their mind and body is able to withstand. The exercise becomes less about ‘beating the competition’ and more about ‘how do I beat my own limiting perception of what I’m capable of?’

For the sixth year in a row, the Acton School of Business is ranked #1 for Most Competitive Students by The Princeton Review. As the CEO at the Acton School of Business, I have the distinct pleasure of witnessing this mindset and mode of operating in each of our students, which is why we’ve won this award so many times.

Acton students care about how they perform in relation to their potential. They push the envelope on how much they can understand and internalize the concepts and techniques that will help them improve, and in turn, how thoughtfully and tenaciously they can push their peers to go further than they thought they could. This is the magic of Acton: an environment built solely for unlocking potential.

Pushing yourself to go beyond what you thought you were capable of—that’s an admirable journey we praise. Be dead set on unlocking your potential, not on judging yourself against the other horses in the race, but upon whether you’re doing everything to increase your own technique, aptitude, efficiency, and speed.

Winning an Olympic gold medal feels good. And, you’ll never know the feeling if you focus on the medal itself. 

By: Garrett Weber-Gale, CEO of Acton School of Business and Olympic gold medalist

Want to know how we received this ranking? Read more about our program here.