From what I've read and heard, the GMAT would kinda make up for the GPA if it were a good score. The fact you took it multiple times and still got around 690 affirms that that is what you are around...not a good sign to adcoms. I'd really focus on it to get a good score to offset your GPA (mid 700s?). If not, I really think you need to look at what schools you'd be a solid candidate for.
thanks for the feedback brooksfit. But if you think about it, I got 3.9, 3.9, and 3.3 so if you do rough average, it comes out to be around 3.6-3.7 so I do not think that is a poor GPA. It might actually be considered a good GPA. What do you think?
That's logical but that's not how the adcoms views it. They see 3.9, 3.9, 3.3, which is a severe drop in the GPA. That's alarming on two fronts: 1) the drop shows that you're not a consistent 3.9 GPA student and I understand you were busy but anything sounds like an excuse no matter how busy you were 2) adcoms love upward trends. It shows that you got your shit together and had the skills and dedication to execute on it. Downward trends show the opposite.
If you are a white male you have very very close to 0% chance. You're below the average for GMAT already and probably way way below the white/male/finance average. Unless you have an extraordinarily compelling story you are not getting in. Take a look at the GMAT Club forums and see the stats of the kids getting dinged from Harvard.
Maybe look to Wharton as a hail mary and Columbia/Booth as fit/reaches.
Not trying to be a dick but here are the "blinks" that the adcoms will have to overlook:
Downward trending gpa
Poor gmat score relative to profile
Double transfer so sort of confusing for them
Sales/Trading is sort of looked at as meh according to my research
Seemingly no olympic level sports or the like to make up for it.
I was born in Asia and came to US when I was little around right after elementary school and retained citizenship about 2-3 years ago. But I think my chances are still the same comparing to white male finance person. So what can I do to improve my chances??
Yeah I don't think the asian profile helps either. I honestly don't think there is anything you can do at hbs. Maybe start a tech company that gets funded? You don't have any interest in a school below hbs?
Just like everything else, being an asian male in college admissions will make it harder. Some actionable things are to do better on the GMAT and transition into another job. Maybe abroad, maybe in a different industry that interests you. You need to take a few years to build your resume and craft a fascinating story the adcoms haven't seen before that will make them want to make you a part of the HBS class. Join the peace corps, work on micro financing in Sierra Leone, join start ups focusing on teaching basic tech skills to people in developing countries, etc. just something that is out of the box.
I'm sorry this is a long term solution, but your application isn't even about crafting the right story. Right now, there quite isn't enough to even form a coherent story that adcoms would appreciate. There are 4.0 kids from Princeton that were rhode scholars and were D1 athletes being all-Americans with incredible stories coming from finance. In terms of the raw stats, there's no competition.
Yeah I wouldn't get too discouraged by all this either. There are lots of great programs out there for which you would be competitive, and the opportunity sets they would offer you are nearly identical as long as you're motivated. It's easy to get into the HBS/GSB worship before you apply, but once you've gotten through the MBA it really doesn't matter all that much...
HBS is extremely unlikely. It's always worth applying (I am and I know I'm likely giving them 250 dollars to tell me to fuck off) but it's very unlikely you will get in. If you want an MBA, you likely need to open up your school list, and significantly so. Even if this thread was about Columbia I would tell you your chances are mediocre. You should consider whether or not you really want an MBA that isn't from Harvard, and if so, start figuring out which lower ranked schools you'd be happy at. Or just keep applying to Harvard till you get sick of getting rejected (or get in and then start playing the lotto).
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URM? If not, i'd say 3-5%.
From what I've read and heard, the GMAT would kinda make up for the GPA if it were a good score. The fact you took it multiple times and still got around 690 affirms that that is what you are around...not a good sign to adcoms. I'd really focus on it to get a good score to offset your GPA (mid 700s?). If not, I really think you need to look at what schools you'd be a solid candidate for.
thanks for the feedback brooksfit. But if you think about it, I got 3.9, 3.9, and 3.3 so if you do rough average, it comes out to be around 3.6-3.7 so I do not think that is a poor GPA. It might actually be considered a good GPA. What do you think?
That's logical but that's not how the adcoms views it. They see 3.9, 3.9, 3.3, which is a severe drop in the GPA. That's alarming on two fronts: 1) the drop shows that you're not a consistent 3.9 GPA student and I understand you were busy but anything sounds like an excuse no matter how busy you were 2) adcoms love upward trends. It shows that you got your shit together and had the skills and dedication to execute on it. Downward trends show the opposite.
If you are a white male you have very very close to 0% chance. You're below the average for GMAT already and probably way way below the white/male/finance average. Unless you have an extraordinarily compelling story you are not getting in. Take a look at the GMAT Club forums and see the stats of the kids getting dinged from Harvard.
Maybe look to Wharton as a hail mary and Columbia/Booth as fit/reaches.
Not trying to be a dick but here are the "blinks" that the adcoms will have to overlook:
Downward trending gpa Poor gmat score relative to profile Double transfer so sort of confusing for them Sales/Trading is sort of looked at as meh according to my research Seemingly no olympic level sports or the like to make up for it.
I was born in Asia and came to US when I was little around right after elementary school and retained citizenship about 2-3 years ago. But I think my chances are still the same comparing to white male finance person. So what can I do to improve my chances??
Yeah I don't think the asian profile helps either. I honestly don't think there is anything you can do at hbs. Maybe start a tech company that gets funded? You don't have any interest in a school below hbs?
Just like everything else, being an asian male in college admissions will make it harder. Some actionable things are to do better on the GMAT and transition into another job. Maybe abroad, maybe in a different industry that interests you. You need to take a few years to build your resume and craft a fascinating story the adcoms haven't seen before that will make them want to make you a part of the HBS class. Join the peace corps, work on micro financing in Sierra Leone, join start ups focusing on teaching basic tech skills to people in developing countries, etc. just something that is out of the box.
I'm sorry this is a long term solution, but your application isn't even about crafting the right story. Right now, there quite isn't enough to even form a coherent story that adcoms would appreciate. There are 4.0 kids from Princeton that were rhode scholars and were D1 athletes being all-Americans with incredible stories coming from finance. In terms of the raw stats, there's no competition.
Yeah I wouldn't get too discouraged by all this either. There are lots of great programs out there for which you would be competitive, and the opportunity sets they would offer you are nearly identical as long as you're motivated. It's easy to get into the HBS/GSB worship before you apply, but once you've gotten through the MBA it really doesn't matter all that much...
HBS is extremely unlikely. It's always worth applying (I am and I know I'm likely giving them 250 dollars to tell me to fuck off) but it's very unlikely you will get in. If you want an MBA, you likely need to open up your school list, and significantly so. Even if this thread was about Columbia I would tell you your chances are mediocre. You should consider whether or not you really want an MBA that isn't from Harvard, and if so, start figuring out which lower ranked schools you'd be happy at. Or just keep applying to Harvard till you get sick of getting rejected (or get in and then start playing the lotto).
Tenetur est nihil nihil tenetur voluptatem sequi ea. Fuga eaque illum quod. Vel itaque dolorum aut iusto vitae iste necessitatibus consequatur. Minima deleniti hic est corporis.
Esse enim laudantium velit qui. Dolore quia voluptates vitae odio ratione ut dolorum.
Magnam qui dolorum quos suscipit ut maxime cum consequatur. Necessitatibus dolores voluptas hic. Facilis adipisci dolor aut pariatur hic et et voluptatibus.
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