Why do some MBB analysts/associates get into HBS/GSB while others don't?

From everything I've read, it seems as though working at MBB is one of the strongest foundations for entry to the top tier of business schools -- HBS and Stanford GSB, in particular. MBB are often listed in the top 5 feeder companies for top business schools, and it seems like the jobs' selectivity and skillset are well-regarded by adcoms. With that being said, what is that determines why MBB analyst/associate X gets into HBS or GSB, while analyst/associate Y doesn't? Exactly how good are the odds of someone working at MBB getting into HBS/GSB? Higher than the acceptance rate, certainly -- but by how much?

 

Interesting, I'd say probably exactly the opposite (based on both personal experience and what I've heard from the mouths of Derrick and Dee).

In order to get a job at an MBB out of undergrad, you're pretty much guaranteed a GPA, GMAT, and undergrad that puts you in the upper echelon of HBS/GSB admits. I would say the average undergrad hire has a 3.75 from a top 25 school, some decent extracurricular activities in undergrad, nailed their SAT and therefore can probably nail the GMAT (750 is about average for MBB).

Where the differentiation comes is your ability to articulate why you want to go to B-school, what makes you unique, and why now is the right time to go. Those things that make you unique could be anything from post-college extracurriculars, to a non-traditional upbringing / hardship story, to a warm and fuzzy career goal that actually makes sense based on stuff you've done in the past.

These are the things I did a shit job of when I applied a few years ago (related to the fact I was on the young side, not to say many people don't go to B-School from MBB after 2 years, but probably wasn't the right time for me) despite having the measurables mentioned above. And so, no HBS/GSB meant no B-school then, and I'm not sure I'm much closer to actually wanting to go enough to figuring out my angle.

The stats I saw from my firm were that HBS was a bit better than a coin flip, Stanford was below that, and Wharton/Booth/Kellogg/CBS were about 75%. Any given person applying to 3 schools within the top 7 was, IMO, all but a lock (90%+).

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I agree. I didn't really feel like writing a whole post but my only point is there are definitely MBB kids with stats that are toward the lower end of the spectrum and on a person by person basis that probably comes into play. I'd guess that to a large degree MBB kids are competing against themselves not the applicant pool at large (this is true for every subset for that matter). Regardless of how good the story is written and the stats are, HSW aren't going to let in every MBB that applies.

 

Keep in mind that anyone whose undergrad record is strong enough to get into MBB as an analyst would still be on the right track to making it to HBS/GSB if they did pretty much anything else.

 
Best Response

Indeed, luck is not to be understated here.

Also, while the average MBB analyst does have stats better than the average admit to HBS or Stanford, there are a significant minority who do not.

Need to bring up one other rather obvious point here too, I've found that over represented types, e.g., white guy from the northeast, Asian guy from California, do much worse than the underrepresented types in admissions. E.g., I had a good friend at my firm (who also happened to be a white dude from a big city) who was magna from H/Y/P, had been a professional athlete for 3 years before MBB, had a 770 GMAT, and didn't even get interviewed by Harvard or Stanford. I know of another white dude from my firm who was from Boston who had a 750 GMAT, was about to become a team manager there, had a good GPA from a LAC, was a club president, allstar athlete and team captain, and another masters from a top 5 uni, and also didn't get interviewed by either Harvard or Stanford, and I read this guys essays and they were the literally most inspiring thing I'd ever seen. Meanwhile I've seen plenty of underrepresented types with much much weaker profiles make it in.

These are only a few stories, I could tell more ... now it is certainly partially luck, but the the n is large enough that it's a bit more than that, fact is these schools are diversity obsessed, and if you're not 'diverse' then it's much tougher.

 

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