Who is applying to HBS or Wharton this year? (For fall 2011)

Don't sell yourself short, military experience is much more impressive than CAT test results.

I don't think I am selling myself short; there are a lot of qualified candidates applying. I think saying mid-low is fair since most people's chances are non-existent.

I'd say the right type of military experience/leadership accentuation on your essay can be a deal-maker for you, so think long and hard about how you want to approach that. Also, the top schools know that a 2.8 in engineering can be harder to get than a 3.8 in finance or accounting, so I don't think it hurts you. The 4.0 Master's is not only impressive but shows you've grown your knowledge base and self discipline and pretty much offsets any "damage" your undergrad GPA did. If there's any way you could bump yourself up to a 750 GMAT I would say you've put yourself in a great position. It all comes down to how well you sell your particular skill set and I think you have a lot to work with. Best of luck.

I already submitted for R1, whats done is done. Thanks though!

Luckily they changed their policy and will notify everyone by 3 November if they did or did not get an interview.

Depending on what you did in the military, your chances are better than what you stated

I'm applying as well:

GMAT: 750 ECs/Recs: Solid UG GPA: 3.3 Cumulative, 3.8 Finance (Babson) WE: 6 months distressed debt investing in NY, 6 months Asia-Pac High Div Equities in HK, (promoted from Associate to Analyst after only one year) 1 year HY Bond trading at hedge fund in NY

Are you a URM? That is very helpful, whether we like it or not.

Military is solid. From what I've heard, no one knows what is or is not impressive in the military (unless youre a SEAL or something people have heard of). I have a friend at hbs right now (west point grad) who told me how impressed everyone was in interviews with his mil experience. He told me, "nothing i did in the military is impressive to anyone who knows anything about the service". So think it's more of a nice check mark than something they are going to dive into.

GMAT is fine.

EC's are irrelevant unless you're Bono.

I saw a Tuck resume where the dude was a SEAL. If anything adcom's would fear for their life rejecting a guy with specops hahah

I am BONO -- I started from scratch a boy scout program for Iraqi children in central baghdad.

Might be Fall 2012...maybe.

Regards

GPA: 3.8, Physics/Economics, Ivy, Magna Cum Work experience: 2 years at IB (GS/MS), 2 years at MegaCap PE (worked both abroad and in the U.S., lots of HBS alumni), interned at top 3 consulting firm, board observer for a couple of our portfolio companies Nationality: Asian Age: 25 at matriculation Gender: M Languages: English, Chinese ECs: Kind of weak here. Couple of club presidencies in college, editorships at some newspapers, some involvement with tutoring etc, worked on a few different on-campus jobs, a ton of econ/finance research, thesis in Physics, study abroad in central Europe (do these count?), worked with a charity for a 7-8 months (nothing too great though). To be honest, work schedule is so brutal that I can't find time outside of work at all.... but I have some good work-related stuff though. Like, I am fairly active on our Company boards, interact with the CEO a lot etc. But I think that's common for PE applicants.

I think I can write some interesting essays (lots of travel, interesting experiences while working on campus in different jobs, some rigorous scientific research etc.)

Round 1:

Harvard Stanford Wharton

Fall 2011 Applicant as well:

GPA: 3.7, Computer Science GMAT: 760 Nationality/Gender: White American Dude Work Experience: 2 Years MM M&A; 2 Years MM PE (Great experiences: Int'l Travel/Work, Board Positions, Etc.) Recommendations: Top notch recs from alumni at the respective schools EC: Leadership role in multiple community service efforts; Player on an amateur sports team Undergrad: Math tutor, study abroad, student government, club athletics, etc... Other: Self-taught 2nd language (advanced proficiency); Relatives are alumni at both HBS and GSB

Planning to try my hand at HBS/GSB/Wharton-Lauder.

If I get my act together with gmat studying I'll apply for F'11

GPA: 3.1, (1) Econ, (2) History Nationality/Gender: White American Dude Work Experience: 3.5 years Boutique IB/PE; 2 years Peace Corps Small Business Consultant Latin America Recommendations: Solid recs from alumni GMAT: TBD

No interest in Harvard even if I could get in, which I don't think is possible. Top choice would be Stanford but doubt I'll apply because I don't think my profile is good enough and don't want to spend 250 seeing as though it's what I currently make in a month. Will apply to Wharton because for whatever reason I've convinced myself I'd have a better shot there, plus I can get a fee waiver. Next top choice is Columbia.

Opinions?

Anyone here get an invite? I didn't.

I may apply late. Getting early aps in at UT and Rice

^^^Seriously, I need to join you in that jump.

This is a pretty standard PE profile.. its actually quite hard to stand out amongst the sea of PE applicants.

Uhhh,,, 3.8 in physics from H/Y/P AS A DOUBLE MAJOR says a lot.

Has anyone here gotten an invite?

I have not applied yet, but two friends of mine received HBS interview invites.

I wish you all the best of luck, pembahopeful if that all is true you've got it made HYP double major 3.8 wow good work

2 people I know received interviews for HBS... I read your "stats" and compared with my friends and made the following conclusions:

A good percentage of the applicant pool shares your accomplishments; 700+GMAT, good GPA which demonstrates commitment to academics (and you know how to take exams). So you have some years of experience which means you can contribute to the discussions in class, big woop. So you traveled abroad- woa- so you know how to manage your finances and spend it getting to know the world... impressive??

What I don't hear is what separates you from these "average applicant". I've attended several admissions presentations from HBS, Columbia, Wharton - they are not impressed just by looking at those stats... If you do some digging of the alum at these ivy schools, you'll find students who demonstrated leadership, community involvement and willingness to change the world. Stats alone means nothing.

I think that stats are becoming the base of a candidate.... Join a board of directors for a not-for-profit, get in touch with a cause/initiative and bring it to your company, create a not-for-profit (or support one by providing some type of consulting service/how to run it, etc)... what separates YOU from the other 3-4 people who share similar stats...

Forgot to mention something... Not dissing any of you guys but I'm seeing a lot of people post their stats and not getting in to top schools... This is not College where your SATs, and GPA count the most...

Business school is a place to train demonstrated leaders. Stats do not represent leadership... If you can translate stats to how many people you've made an impact, how you brought change to your business/others, implemented ideas or help drive a cause... THAT counts the most.

Good luck.

In the top 7 schools, business school admissions are flat out unpredictable. You would think HBS and Stanford are the hardest, but I know guys who got into H/S but were dinged at Kellogg and Columbia. There is a such a large amount of qualified candidates, and the system is very subjective (middle-aged liberal women admission officers). It doesnt matter who you are or what you did, you need to apply to a few schools because no one is a lock. Warren Buffet couldn't get into HBS but Ted Kaczynski got into Harvard.

jc100021, Gordon.Gekko, whatever the hell you're calling yourself nowadays, didn't you supposedly already apply last year to all of these schools?

MsCleo:

jc100021, Gordon.Gekko, whatever the hell you're calling yourself nowadays, didn't you supposedly already apply last year to all of these schools?

Yes, my name used to be gordon.gekko, and I realized how toolish it was so I just chose a random name. Is that an issue? Are you stalking me or something? I applied to these schools, didn't get in, and then decided to re-apply.

What have you done that makes you such a better candidate this year?

I am thinking of putting school off for another year... not really doing much to make myself a better candidate but have some things in the works that i want to do for myself... should i just apply?

Maybe I'll use this as an opportunity. I'm admitted to HBS while in college, currently looking for a front office job at a BB (most interested in IB). Would be happy to swap advice/tips/essay help on the application for help with finding a job.

yeah, but we had a similar process and that year at least, the same essays.

i should add that i can also give interview advice if someone has one coming up.

^ I've always had a big question about 2+2, and that is this:

HBS 2+2 students will have had two years of experience before entering HBS. The average age of the normal matriculating class is now 26 (still younger than Wharton/Stanford). So on average, the 2+2 student will have had 2 years less of actual work experience than the rest of his/her peers. Now look, I agree that the HBS degree will do wonders to brand you - BUT, I think MBA's are valuable to the extent you can properly leverage that credential with your past work experience. which leads to this question...

How the heck are 2+2, 24 year olds going to compete with 26 year old high-achieving, type A personalities for the generally most coveted jobs? One might have an HBS degree, which is honestly a great experience in and of itself, but 10% of HBS is unemployed at graduation.

so would someone with stats far from those have a chance? say someone like myself?

2.6,670

Screw HBS. I think they are a bunch of pompous hypocrites.

ibhopeful, there's actually a good chunk of the class coming in with 2 years of experience. Granted, they might not be hitting KKR, but they do fine in terms of employment.

Also, ose track on it at places like WSO, but we can't forget that not everyone wants to work on Wall Street.

Sometimes people post stats on here that are unbelievable, literally.

7 people in wharton this year had less then 540...nothing the norm but happens... i also met a people people with my stats at harvard, booth, columbia, wharton so not 100% worried

i played d1 baseball started a non profit started a tutoring program for inner city kids started two small biz(both failed) working on a short film on inner city kids and baseball first to go to college

It's not all about stat's:

my older brother's good friend got dinged from HBS with 4.0 in engineering from princeton (summa), 4.0 in mEng at MIT, 3 yrs WE at google, 780 GMAT... he did get into stanford though.

yeah... this guy was kind of a goofy indian guy... not the most personable individual. But he's also not like an idiot who would fuck up an interview. I was completely astounded that he got rejected... he was the smartest kid in my entire HS (or so says my brother).... and my HS sends 30% of the kids to Ivy and is top 10

He applied in 2008 though, which i think was a particularly insane year because crisis was hitting and everyone wanted to get out of work etc.

maybe he was an idiot..

he probably smelled like indain food at his interview

(I'm an asshole)

you are...lol

also had front row seats as bear and lehman went down(I was on trading desk at both)

why not mention energy rodeo

Took the gmat early for Fall 2012, got a 710- whew! Should I take it again, to get over the 750 hump? My stats 3.4 top 25 undergrad, top 3 film program 7 years work experience including 3 years as a mtv vj, and have produced and starred in talk shows for mtv and pbs, as well as films and tv. Age 30 @ matriculation Started three business, two of them based in Nigeria Kind of not the traditional candidate, but I'm looking to create a vertically integrated entertainment conglomerate in Africa.

Thanks

Don't bother retaking the GMAT. A 710 will do just fine.

What are peoples opinion about Big Brother big sister volunteer work. You have to commit to a full year and see your litle 3 times a month for a few hours. Seems to show commitment and community involvement. I am doing it because i really do want to give back but just curious everyones opinion about BBBS.

Applied 2nd round to Wharton. It is crazy how proud I was to finish the application.
It is a lot of work.

2.88, 690, solid leadership experience. It's gonna be exciting.

5 days til HBS is due.

Doing Wharton round 2. Submitted on tuesday. Out of the 5 schools I'm applying to, I thought wharton had the toughest essay questions. It required a lot of thought and self-reflection.

Submitted Wharton on Tuesday and Stanford last night. I agree -- Wharton's essays questions were far more challenging than HBS or Stanford. I found Stanford to be the easiest (once i figured out how to answer What matters most to me and why).

Sometimes people post stats on here that are unbelievable, literally.

GPA: 4.0 from top Ivy majoring in Math, Organic Chemisty, and Econ GMAT: 780 WE: 2 yrs BB IB, 2 yrs PE, 2 yrs KKR EC: President of the Asian Cultural Alliance, Captain of the Football team, Fencing team, and Crew team, President of Phoenix house Ethnicity: Native American

Posting stats is a lot easier than obtaining them. It makes me feel real good about myself because it makes others feel bad about themselves.

Waitlisted at HBS in Round 1, applying to Stanford and Wharton Round 2. Good luck everyone.

Fuck. Pembahopeful was waitlisted. I will not be applying to HBS.

i dont mean to hijack this thread, but since everyone is talking about ways to stand out in admissions process....i am years away from applying to b school but want to start now to form my application. i have been interested for some time joining the air national guard reserve, would this look favorably upon adcoms? i have other non-profit/volunteering experiences/leadership, but want something more eye grabbing.

I'm a long time reader...seldom poster (so not sure if I posted the links correctly)...but I didn't see this Fortune article cited anyplace...more than a tad interesting for you guys:

http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2010/12/17/harvard-biz-school-to-wall…

Then I guess Fortune felt bad or something and followed with this a few days later:

http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2010/12/23/bankers-don%e2%80%99t-fret…