Hi everyone,

I understand military is considered non-traditional, but would you say teacher is non-traditional too, especially by Wharton and Stanford's definition? If it is non-traditional, what you would say are the characteristics that make it non-traditional?
 
I'm a big 4 accountant by full-time, which I'm sure is very traditional; but also university lecturer by part-time. I'm wondering to what extent I can play the "non-traditional" card for applications with Wharton and Stanford?
 

you would not be considered a non-traditional applicant, and oddly enough, the past two info sessions i've gone to, they've stopped calling teachers non-traditional applicants as well, they see a lot of these guys.  your full time work experience is the bucket you'll be analyzed in. what does work in your favor is that your lecturing gig is a great EC/personal interest and speaks about skills you possess outside of work and leadership.  while i don't see adcomm buying an agrument from you if you try to paint yourself as a teacher, they could possibly be impressed by your achievements and anecdotes from teaching as your EC.

Thanks very much 2012dreams for sharing the info!

Can I ask which schools' info session you went to?

I think you've got the best of both worlds. None of the weaknesses non-traditional folks have (lack of finance/business knowledge for example), but with  absolutely excellent material to separate you from the other two thousand consultants in the application pool.

Best of luck!

Thanks for the encouragement, brit_guy!