You’d Never Believe These MBA Applicants Were Just Rejected By Harvard Business School - Poets&Quants

Only 1% of the world’s GMAT test takers could claim an equal score. With a 780 on the test–50 points above the current 730 median score at Harvard Business School and 170 points higher than the newest MBA student enrolled with the lowest score–he’s solidly inside the 99th percentile of everyone who has taken the exam. This 25-year-old South African also works at a globally recognized financial service firm that is even the basis of Harvard case study. He’s also the co-founder of a successful plastics recycling company and also a volunteer consultant on a higher education funding project for the past two year.

Yet, when he applied to Harvard’s round one deadline this year, he couldn’t even win n interview at Harvard and was immediately dinged.

Or consider the 30-year-old woman who graduated Phi Beta Kappa with an English and French degree from a top U.S. liberal arts school. On the GRE exam, she scored a 169 on the verbal section of the test (four points above Harvard’s median) and 164 on the quant (a point higher than the median), the equivalent of a 740 GMAT. After a five-year career as a professional athlete, she spent two years in journalism and the past year in marketing at a digital services field.

Rejected, too, without an interview.

Or how about the 24-year-old Asian American who in three years climbed the ranks to become the youngest product manager ever at a high growth tech company that has gone public. In fact, newly minted MBAs from top schools would start off in his current role. He has 770 GMAT and an undergraduate degree in computer engineering from one of the top four engineering schools in the U.S. He also mentors under-privileged children, and his photography has been published in newspapers and magazines.

Dinged. No interview as well.

Or how about the professional soccer player in Europe, who has played highly competitive soccer for the past seven years and has also started his own sports consulting firm. This 27-year-old athlete and entrepreneur has lived and played in several European countries and cultures, speaks seven languages, boasts a 770 GMAT and an impressive 3.8 grade point average in his undergraduate studies.

Turned down, without an invite to interview.

Every highly selective business schools disappoints thousands of MBA applicants each year. At Harvard Business School, the extraordinary candidates above were among a couple of thousand people rejected in the first of Harvard’s two admission rounds. If anything, their rejections–without even an admissions interview–demonstrate the remarkable depth in Harvard’s highly competitive applicant pool.

HBS GETS MORE THAN 10.6 APPLICATIONS FOR EACH SEAT IN ITS FIRST-YEAR MBA CLASS

Sandy Kreisberg, founder of HBSGuru.com

After all, Harvard gets slightly more than 10.6 applicants for each of its 930 classroom seats in an entering cohort. Last year, roughly 1,085 candidates were admitted out of a total applicant pool of 9,866 people, an acceptance rate of 11% (see HBS Apps Down 4.5%, But Few Changes In Class Profile). Among the estimated 8,781 who were rejected last year were thousands of candidates fully qualified to get into HBS and successfully complete its MBA program. In fact, many of them would be indistinguishable from the majority of the 1,085 who actually got into the school.

That’s why it’s often hard to explain why a person gets turned down at Harvard Business School.
After all, of the two dozen rejected round one candidates who shared their profiles with us, the median GMAT score was a 750, a score achieved by only the top 2% of test takers in the world.
They graduated from universities in the Ivy League, elite liberal arts colleges, top UC schools such as Berkeley and UCLA, and one of the leading Indian Institutes of Technology. Their undergraduate transcripts boast GPs that equal or exceed the 3.71 average at Harvard.

They work for such prestige firms as McKinsey, General Electric, the Big Four accounting firms, high growth Silicon Valley tech firms or a country’s central bank. They are consultants, hedge fund analysts, financial regulators, and product managers. One entrepreneur founded and built a multi-million-dollar retail tech business from scratch.

WHY HBS ADMITS, RELEASES AND FURTHER CONSIDERS CANDIDATES

How could these already successful young professionals get the boot?

For some, rejection could mean that Harvard likes someone in your bucket–whether you are a consultant, a banker, an engineer or a non-traditional applicant–better than you. A decision could turn on a compelling story in the essay, a higher GMAT or GRE score, better GPA at a more prestigious undergraduate university, or a track record of success at a globally known organization that is just as selective as HBS. Sometimes, there’s just no reasonable answer that could explain a rejection.

As one re-applicant, dinged for the third time this year after getting to the interview stage last year and flunking out, found out: “A certain outgoing admissions director after the decision that time around, but I didn’t get much concrete feedback. She essentially said, ‘Sometimes we take candidates like you, sometimes we don’t.'” A corporate finance analyst for a major semiconductor manufacturer in California, he had applied in 2016, 2017, and finally 2018 with a 780 GMAT, a 3.7 GPA from a top three Ivy League university, and a 4.0 GPA in a master’s in industrial engineering from a prestige public engineering school. Last year, he was told by HBS that his interview was “not a home run, but certainly not a strikeout.”

Nonetheless, there often are revealing clues–however subtle–in every dinged profile. That why we again turned to Sandy Kreisberg, the leading reader of admission tea leaves at Harvard Business School. Kreisberg, founder of HBSGuru.com, dissects each aspect of a candidacy to suggest why an applicant failed to pass muster with the admissions team in Harvard’s Dillon House, where all ‘admit,’ ‘release’ and ‘further consideration’ decisions are made.

(See following pages for rejected candidate profiles and Sandy’s analysis)

Mr. Aerospace Engineer At A Global Top Three Airlines

• 740 GMAT
• 3.2 GPA
• Undergradute degree in aerospace engineering from a public university in the U.S.
• Work experience includes two and one-half years working as an engineer for one of the top 3 airlines in the world and two previous years as an engineering design and testing consultant with a small aerospace consulting company
• Extracurriculars include founding a charity to rescue African children from dangerous situations and sponsor their education; lso a student government senator in college
• Essay focused on “why I became an aerospace engineer (plane crashes in my country growing up that affected people I know) and the obstacles that poverty put in the way of accomplishing that dream. Discussed long-term goal of starting an aerospace consulting firm aimed at reducing plane crashes in Africa.”
• Recommenders include current boss and boss at old company. “Didn’t read recs but certain they gave great recommendations.”
• Post-MBA Goal: Transition to a consulting role at McKinsey, Bain or BCG
• 25-year-old African Male (U.S. Green Card holder)

Sandy’s Analysis: Grrr.

First, I am not sure if African “Green Card Holder” is technically an under represented minority (URM) at most schools. URM’s must be minorities (African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Surname etc.) and U.S. citizens. My guess is that Green Card holders are NOT URMs by that definition, but of course, schools can treat you as a real interesting international/African, which is OK, but probably not the bonus zone that URM’s are in. Speaking generally, all comments on this single point welcome.

Moving right along, we got:

A 740 GMAT–EXCELLENT

A 3.2 GPA in aerospace engineering from a state university in the South/Midwest–RED FLAG

Work experience, including two and one-half years working as an engineer for one of the top 3 airlines in America and the world.

YOU GOT ME, IS THIS A SUPER SELECTIVE JOB? DON’T AERO ENGINEERS TYPICALLY WORK FOR AIRPLANE DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING COMPANIES LIKE BOEING AND NOT AIRLINES? SORRY IF I GOT THIS WRONG BUT HOW MANY DUDES FROM YOUR WORK COHORT TYPICALLY APPLY TO MBA PROGRAMS? THAT IS ALWAYS ONE INTERESTING METRIC.

Accomplished big projects. Very technical role

WELL IF YOU SAY SO. THAT COULD HELP, BUT WE STILL NEED ANSWER TO QUESTION RAISED ABOVE

Work experience two years prior: Worked as an engineering design and testing consultant for a small aerospace consulting company that contracts with the big airlines.

AGAIN, NOT SURE I KNOW THE STATUS HIERARCHY IN THIS INDUSTRY, BUT IS THAT A SELECTIVE JOB? THAT IS A REAL IMPORTANT FACTOR TO B-SCHOOL ADCOMS, WHO USE PRIOR JOBS AS ONE OF THEIR MAJOR FILTERS. [HEY, WHY SHOULD THE ADCOM LADIES BOTHER FIGURING OUT HOW GOOD YOU ARE WHEN COMPANY HIRING OFFICES HAVE BIGGER BUDGETS AND MORE EXPERTISE????]

Extra curricular: Started a charity to rescue kids in Africa from dangerous situations and sponsor them through school.

WELL THAT IS GOOD IN GENERAL. A LOT WOULD TURN ON SIZE, OUTCOMES, BUDGET, YOUR ROLE, WHETHER THIS WAS REALLY AN ORGANIZTION OR JUST A ONE-OFF GIG BY YOU.

Was also a Student government senator in college amongst other EC.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Essay: Talked about why I became an aerospace engineer (Plane crashes in my country growing up that affected people I know) and the obstacles that poverty put in the way of accomplishing that dream. Discussed long- term goal of starting an aerospace consulting firm aimed at reducing plane crashes in Africa.

DUNNO MAN, THIS SOUNDS ALL OVER THE PLACE AND ODD. AIR CRASHES ARE NOT HIGH ON THE LIST OF THE PROBLEMS THE WORLD NEEDS TO SOLVE, V.S. SAY
DRUNK DRIVING CRASHES, AIDS, FAMINE, DISEASE, ETC. ETC. YOU SEEM TO HAVE FOCUSED ON SOLIVING CRASHES AS YOUR PASSION, BUT THAT JUST DOES NOT SOUND INFORMED OR CREDIBLE TO ME, OR A BIG TOPIC AMONG AERO GUYS, ALTHO, SURE SAFETY IS BAKED IN.

ALSO, AMONG ALL AIR CRASHES, NOT SURE HOW MANY ARE DESIGN BASED, VS. TERRORISM, BIRDS (FOR REAL), ETC. HAPPY TO BE EDUCATED ON THIS BY SOMEONE WHO KNOWS, BUT YOU SEEM TO BE CRASH CENTRIC. ALSO, NOT SURE HOW AN MBA LEADS TO REDUCING AIR CRASHES IN AFRICA.

I MAY HAVE THIS ALL WRONG BUT MY GUESS IS YOUR APP/GOALS WERE CONFUSED, ALL OVER THE PLACE AND UNCONVINCING.
FOR INSTANCE, BELOW IS THE DESCRIPTION [TAKEN OFF WEBSITE] OF WHAT A LEADING AERO CONSULTING FIRM DOES–MOST OTHERS ARE SIMILAR–DUNNO MAN,
READ THIS OVER. ONE THING THEY DO NOT DO IS PREVENT CRASHES!!!!!

The FTI Consulting Aerospace and Defense (A&D) team is staffed with seasoned experts with extensive experience working along the industry value chain and with Private Equity sponsors and companies in the sector. . . . . . With our help, our clients can navigate issues such as organic and inorganic growth, affordability, profitability, digital strategies, complex disputes with the government and audit agencies, assistance with capital raising activities, working through internal restructurings, development of strategic messaging to external and internal constituents, and providing critical evaluation and improvements to business systems. Given our cross functional capabilities, we also have the expertise to work with Aerospace & Defense companies in areas such as compliance, communications, and technology.

AS A REAPPLICANT, I WOULD STEER MY GOALS MORE INTO THAT JIVE, AS BORING AS IT SOUNDS.

Mr. Product Line Manager

• 750 GMAT (47 Q/47 V)
• 3.92 GPA
• Undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from small private engineering school
• 3.90 GPA
• Master’s degree in mechnical engineering from same school
• “College is well known within the engineering school circle, excellent career focus and respected within the region as far as engineering talent it produces, but not at all a feeder to top MBA programs”
• Work experience includes just over four years at a small niche aerospce firm with promotions from a systems engineer to senior systems engineer to a product line manager
• “Typical PLMs here have 10+ years experience. Prior to PLM, my role was half R&D and project management, half BD/sales support with decent international experience. Company is not a feeder to MBA programs”
• Extracurriculars include term as fraternity president and club athlete in college; Woodworking, camping/hiking, golf, intramural sports leagues post-college
• Essay focused on “a ‘call to leadership’ story showing my progression from an introverted engineering student in college content with doing math problems all day to a leadership position at my company in a short time. Highlighted a defining moment in college, first major leadership test as frat president, how I’ve applied those skills at work to get where I am”
• Recommendations from manager and senior colleague with a very close working relationship
• Post-MBA Goal: Short-term transition to strategy consulting, with long-term goal in corporate strategy at a technology/engineering company
• 27-year-old white male

Sandy’s Analysis: It’s really hard to break out of the white male box, and while there is lots here to like, there are other guys with the same story and more, who also attended more selective colleges, had more selective jobs, blah, blah.
You might think that company NOT being a feeder program to HBS could be a plus, and I guess in some cases it could be, but you just did not win that little lottery given the context.

“Extracurriculars: Fraternity president and club athlete in college. Woodworking, camping/hiking, golf, intramural sports leagues post-college.”

Hey buddy, I like you, but this could be read by the hipster chicks on the adcom as an application dated 1955. It’s just Häagen-Dazs vanilla.

“Essay: Sort of a ‘call to leadership’ story showing my progression from an introverted engineering student in college content with doing math problems all day to a leadership position at my company in a short time. Highlighted a defining moment in college, first major leadership test as frat president, how I’ve applied those skills at work to get where I am.”

Ha ha, and just what could be wrong with that, you may ask??? It’s just quite fair in my book. I got a feeling it headed more towards a brag story than one about influences. In general using the HBS essay as a platform to tell admissions bout accomplishments is a dangerous way to go. I’m not saying you did that, but offering advice to the great unwashed (and so far un-submitted) here. And if I might continue, this formula stuff of saying, as frat president I learned these leadership lessons, A, B and C, and here is how I applied them to my jobs to get promoted, is a no go.

The adcom chicks don’t go for that story. Seriously. It is no longer in your voice, it comes off as talking points about leadership. And let me end by saying, ahem, LEADERSHIP is often not a good topic to write about, although saying why could take years to explain.

The dirty little secret is that HBS doesn’t care so much about leadership. They care about your GPA/GMAT, select jobs on your resume, diversity and stories about overcoming adversity.
Leadership?

“We don’t need no stinkin’ leadership.”

Mr. Consultant In Public Health Nonprofit

• 760 GMAT (Q50/V44)
• 8.3/10.0 GPA
• Undergraduate & master’s degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay
• Four years of work experience, including as a management trainee at a multinational pharma for 10 months; founder of a venture in the logistics-tech space which lasted for 20 months; and currently as a management consultant at a leading global non-profit in the public health sector for the last 18 months
• Extracurriculars include leadership roles in community development projects; head of student placement committee during undergrad; debating
• Essay focused on “my startup and public-health experiences. I demonstrated my interest in the use of technologies for tackling complex problems. Also focused on the power of collaboration that I’ve observed while working on community development projects and during under-grad. Stated my future goal of starting a social-enterprise in public health”
• Recommenders include supervisors (current and former) at my current organization. The first is from a senior manager manager with 10+ years of work-experience and an MBA (top 3 in India), and the second is from a director with 15+ years of work experience and a Wharton MBA.
• 26-year-old Indian male

Sandy’s Analysis: As an Indian male with an engineering background, you are in a real hard cohort. But you did everything right, well, for a while. e.g. IIT, high grades, and a 760 GMAT.

After that your story gets murky, to wit:

Work Experience – Total 4 years of work-ex; (1) Management trainee at a
multi-national pharma for 10 months;

WHAA??? TRAINEE IN WHAT? FINANCE, OPERATIONS, ROTATIONAL LEADERSHIP?

(2) Started my own venture in the logistics-tech space which lasted for 20 months;

LET ME TELL YOU AND OTHERS A DIRTY LITTLE SECRET. ADCOMS DO NOT FULLY TRUST OR CREDIT START-UPS. THEY SUSPECT YOU GOT FIRED AND COULD NOT FIND A JOB, OR ON THE OTHER HAND, WERE STUPID ENOUGH TO QUIT AND ACTUALLY START A COMPANY, SO THIS PHASE NEEDS SOME REAL EXPLAINING, AND MAY BE UNEXPLAINABLE.

(3) Currently working as a management consultant at a leading global non-profit in public-health sector since the last 18 months

YEAH, IF YOU HAD STARTED AT MCKINSEY AND CAME HERE FOR YOUR SECOND JOB, THAT WOULD COMPUTE. WHAT WE GOT NOW IS A KID WITH A ZIG-ZAG PAST FALLING INTO POSSIBLY AN OK JOB [DEPENDING ON THE REPUTATION OF THE ORGANIZATION AND ITS HISTORY OF SENDING KIDS TO MBA PROGRAMS.

ALSO, SINCE YOU ARE A CONSULTANT, YOU ARE POSSIBLY COMPETING AGAINST SOME OF THE USUAL IVY/MBB TYPES. ADCOMS COULD HAVE FOUND YOU MORE INTERESTING THAN THOSE DUDES, BUT SOMEHOW THEY DID NOT. COULD BE FISSURES IN YOUR STORY OR EXECUTION.
ADCOMS ACTUALLY LIKE TO DING DO-GOODERS, JUST TO FEEL TOUGH. THAT COULD HAVE BEEN THE LAST STRAW.

YOU WERE AN EASY DO-GOODER FOR HBS TO DING.

Ms. Former Pro Athlete Turned Digital Marketer

• 169 V/164Q/5.5 AW GRE
• 3.96 GPA
• Undergraduate degree in English & French from a top liberal arts college, graduating Phi Beta Kappa
• “Limited undergrad quant experience (Microeconomics & Calculus, both A’s) but taking classes through Wharton Online to shore that up”
• Work experience includes five years as a professional athlete, two years in journalism, and slightly less than a year in marketing at a regional digital services firm
• Essay focused on “my family’s small business/entrepreneurial experience and my journey back to the business world after playing professional sports”
• Recommenders include direct supervisors with no HBS or MBA connections. “Previous position was entirely remote so had to go back to one job to get recommenders that had known me in-person”
• Post MBA Goal: marketing/entrepreneurship
• 30-year-old female

Sandy’s Analysis: Yikes. A 3.9, with high GRE’s, plus a pro athlete from a select college. SO far so good.
Your two years as a journo is a bad turn although not fatal. Your age at 30 is older but not a deal breaker per se.

But then there is this: “<1 year marketing at regional digital services firm, post MBA-field: marketing/entrepreneurship.”

Marketing is also a suspect category and so is digital, although solid gold versions exist of both, obviously. Also you’ve only been doing that job for ~one year. SO those are shadows on this application, depending on what your firm is, actually does, and how you explained it.

Your background was sorta OK. What was possibly damaging was the time spent in each of your three careers, with you “goal” career and current job being very recent. Also journalism can mean anything from TV anchor to blogger. In most cases, adcoms view journalism jobs as sketchy, and then you followed it by working for a regional firm. Hey, it’s all OK to me, but this could look like a redemption application and life turn-around, and not someone gung-ho on marketing.

I’m just guessing. The effort you are making in taking quant courses shows them that you are serious, so you may have better luck at other places.

If you only applied to HBS, ahem, that is a revealing and dumb thing to do. It probably bled into you an application that HBS would reject. The school does not like trophy MBA seekers.

You already got a wall full of trophies, my guess.

Mr. Engineer-Turned-Consultant

• 720 GMAT (Q & V, 86%)
• Top 5% GPA
• Undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering from the best engineering college in France (also top 5% in one-year exchange to best school in Germany)
• Work experience includes one year as design engineer in Altran, and currently two years at Roland Berger as a consultant; also did an eight-month-long internship at Air France and a 10-month stint as a researcher in Denmark on new aircrafts concepts
• Extracurriculars include being co-founder and president of two associations at university; captain of the basketball team, member of the sports management board, mentor of international students
• Also received a scholarship from the French government to fully-fund my MBA
• Essay focused on “how my career changes and passion shaped who I am today. Also, how I acted along this personal journey to improve my community. Finally I explained my long-term goal of launching my own startup and how that will impact our society for the best”
• Recommenders include one partner and one principal. “Worked very close with both”
• 27-year-old French male, 720 GMAT

Sandy’s Analysis: Well, after the smoke clears, you are a white, male, consultant, with OK grades and average GMATs, who has a slightly interesting background in aero and being French.

I would have predicted an interview invite on the profile you present, based on the French/Aero angle. I’m not sure switching to consulting helped your case versus having three years in aerospace. Roland Berger is an OK firm, but white, male consultants are plentiful. It’s just a hard cohort to bust out of.

You Wrote:

“Essay: Talked about how my career changes and passion shaped who I am today. Also, how I acted along this personal journey to improve my community. Finally I explained my long-term goal of launching my own startup and how that will impact our society for the best”

Dunno, that is OK-ish in general but could easily come off as a bunch of self-serving and brag-y cliches. Just reading between the lines.
What they want are influences, e.g. the people, events, and mentors that had an impact on you. I’m not so sure you nailed it when you say you “talked about how my career changes and passion shaped who I am today.”

I’m just guessing wildly from the little explanation you left, but I think you might have written about accmplishments than influences, and made your essay less personal and more braggy.

Mr. Supply Chain Manager

• 680 -> 700 -> 720 GMAT
• 3.0 GPA
• Undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering, with an economics minor from the University of Texas-Austin
• Work experience includes three years in progressive roles now as a supply chain project manager, up from a start as a logistics engineer. “High success and praises in each role; notated as a high performer and future leader”
• Extracurriculars include president of work’s young professionals association (YPA), largest group in company impacting hundreds of employees; co-founder of nonprofit initiative; named among emerging leaders in manufacturing within the state of Maryland; volunteer monthly with different groups in Baltimore
• Essay was about my “focus on people, my passion in inspiring and motivating others and I’ve done so in all my EC activities, and now I want to do so for international development long-term”
• Recommenders include the president of the nonprofit I co-founded and company’s CIO who is his YPA advisor and personal mentor.
• 25-year-old white male, U.S. citizen

Sandy’s Analysis: Huh, a white guy with a 720 and a 3.0 GPA?

You dinged them with hello.

It is real, REAL hard to overcome that –and while your work experience is solid, that does not count as much as you think it should. And work is not at blue-chip frequent flyer companies, my guess.
 Any white males out there with similar stats who got interviewed, please check in.

While we are at it, extracurrics involving OTHER young professsionals in your company is a real
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz at HBS.

The extracurricular that matters is helping others overcome adversity, not helping your peers write better resumes.

“Essay: I maintain a focus on people, my passion is inspiring and motivating others and I’ve done so in all my EC activities, and now I want to do so for international development long-term.”

Hey buddy, on very limited evidence, this sounds like bragging and not illuminationg who you are.

It’s just blah, blah. The 4,369th nail in your coffin.

Mr. Third Time Not A Charm

• 780 GMAT (50Q/50V)
• 3.7 GPA
• Undergraduate degree in economics at a top three Ivy League university
• 4.0 GPA
• Master’s degree in industrial engineering at a top public engineering university
• Five years of work experience at a top semiconductor manufacturing company in California across two jobs, first as a business development analyst for three years and the secon as a corporate finance analyst, managing P&L for one of the company’s product portfolios for two years
• Extracurriculars include mentoring other first-gen college students at alma mater, mentoring interns/new employees at current company, and (back in college), teaching ESL to Chinese-speakers (he minored in Chinese language)
• “This was my third (and final) time applying. I had previously applied for the 2016 and 2017 intakes; I was interviewed in for 2017, but rejected. I spoke with a certain outgoing admissions director after the decision that time around, but I didn’t get much concrete feedback. She essentially said, ‘Sometimes we take candidates like you, sometimes we don’t.’”
• “As for the interview, i don’t think I sounded scripted, but I tried to play it safe and not do much to stand out. The AD said that she didn’t have really detailed notes, but it was ‘not a home run, but certainly not a strikeout’
• 28-year-old white male, first-generation college grad

Sandy’s Analysis: “Sometimes we take candidates like you, sometimes we don’t.”

HILARIOUS.

If that was Dee Leopold, the former head of admissions, and it sure sounds like her, I think what she meant was that you are a bit tightly wound, which is another way of saying scripted, which is another way of saying ‘not their type’ based on touch and feel versus dudes in your cohort.

It is also an interesting question if they considered you as a STEM applicant versus a FINANCE applicant, given what jobs you actually performed at a STEM company. If they put you in the finance bucket, well, that one is very competitive with golden boys from Ivies just like you except working at top banks etc, so that could explain a bit.

Mr. Big Four Turned Mid-Market Leveraged Debt Analyst

• 740 GMAT (48Q/44V)
• 3.9 GPA
• Undergraduate degree in business from a top four business progrm at a top public university, graduating a semester early
• Master’s degree in accounting from same school with a CPA
• CFA (passed in shortest time possible)
• Work experience includes one and one half years at a Big Four firm (thesis was to start career in audit to immediately apply his MAcc degree; transitioned to finance directly following second busy season); then two and one-half years at a top middle market leveraged debt firm (current full-time position),
• Also co-founder/CFO for an SEC-registered long-short cryptocurrency hedge fund (both domestic and international investors through a subsidiary feeder fund) (current part-time position); summer internship in between undergrad and masters program working in the micro-finance department for bank in Africa
• Extracurriculars include two years of volunteer work for a nonprofit focused on mentoring low-income high school students (ceased involvement after being diagnosed with cancer) and two years of volunteer work for a cancer support organization as both a mentor (survivor to survivor) and captain responsible for organizing monthly events at a local hospital (diagnosed with cancer in Summer ’16, currently in remission)
• Post-MBA Goal: Fintech, “motivated by experiences in Africa and research efforts for the crypto fund, looking to leverage business acumen to date and work toward marrying micro finance with tech with a focus on financial inclusion”
• Recommendations from direct supervisors
• 28-year-old white male

Sandy’s Analysis: Your work experience was more silver than gold. The audit job in a Big Four is a great job for an URM or an international candidate but less so for a white male in the U.S. You were smart to transition into a leveraged debt firm, but not knowing which one, the firm may not qualify as gold in adcom’s eyes.

Unfortunately, for Harvard at least, you are in a super competitive bucket with people from Blackstone, Goldman, JPMorgan, etc. It’s not that there is anything glaringly wrong here; it’s just that HBS liked you less than other people in the same bucket.

Even so, I would have thought the “extras” in your profile would have offset these issues, particularly your work as a co-founder of a cryptocurrency hedge fund, your experience in and passion for Africa, and your volunteer activities. Your career goal lines up nicely with your profile as well. All those things, I find more impressive than your master in accounting, by the way. I would want you in my class!

Bottom line: White males in Big Four audit is a very tough cohort for kids applying to HBS. If anyone out there is such a person, or knows of one, please check in, and maybe add stats and extras. I’m kinda curious about what it takes.

Despite all the blather about what HSW is looking for, like humility, etc. what they are really looking for are people from top IB and MBB.

Funny what LIARS they are.

Anyway, this is not Divinity School, although they lie too.

The post You’d Never Believe These MBA Applicants Were Just Rejected By Harvard Business School appeared first on Poets&Quants.

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