Your Chances of Getting In

Ms. Do-Gooder (dogooder)

• 700 GMAT
• 3.4 GPA
• Undergraduate degree from Wellesley in economics and philosophy
• Work experience as an innovation analyst in IT department of a large healthcare organization for three years; social media marketing and program management at two social enterprises
• Extracurricular involvement as a volunteer in college who won a community service award; but nothing formal since then
• Pacific Islander female
• Any suggestions for a good fit?

Odds of Success

Harvard Business School: Less than 20%

Stanford: Less than 15%

MIT Sloan: 30%

Berkeley Haas: 20%

Wharton: 30%

Columbia: 30%

Sandy’s Analysis: I am assuming you are not a U.S. citizen? If so, for example Samoan, your chances as a minority go up, possibly a lot. For the n-tenth time, ‘minorities’ for B-school applications means U.S. citizens who are African-Americans, Alaskan natives, American Indians or Native Americans, Asian Americans, Latino/as, Chicano/as, and Pacific Islanders. If you are from some undeserved place but are not a U.S. citizen that is good. But the school is not boosting its official U.S. minority stats by taking you.

Do we have five years of work experience here? Three years of IT at some health care organization and then two one-year gigs at social enterprises? Dunno. A lot depends on how serious/large/well-established those social enterprises are. If they are sketchy, your whole app can begin to sound odd and fragile. That is beginning to sound flakey, and potential burn out alerts, and a lot will depend on how solid those organizations are. Schools like Wellesley are solid, although your grades are low. Still, your GMAT is solid.

You are not getting into Harvard or Stanford. There’s just not enough gold dust (defined as various factors which really set you apart) unless you can somehow concoct some story about how all this translates into improving health care delivery in the Pacific Islands.

Chances at Sloan? Dunno. They are open to oddballs and if your GMAT quant score is high, they could use a person like you to counter their nerd image (and often admit them). Wharton seems less likely. Just nothing here they really need and stats —GPA and GMAT—are lowish for them. Haas, sure, if you convince them you want to come, and Columbia is a close one. Apply early decision and make a great case for how being in New York will help you learn about cutting edge health care delivery for when you get back to the Pacific Islands. I also think you’re a likely ‘fit’ for for Kellogg and Yale. They tend to love poets with social enterprise experience.