Best Of Sandy’s HBS & Stanford Ding Report

Dinged by HBS & Stanford

• 780 GMAT
• 3.9 GPA
• Undergraduate degree from Princeton University
• Work experience includes two years at KKR and two years at Teach For America
• “I did six months at KKR in an entry level job before becoming an associate. I had the credentials for that. A friend told me HBS would ding TFA alums quite heavily this year, wondering if you heard similar rumors.”
• “My dad is a successful HBS alum, who gave a lot of money to HBS. He has he plaques in his name on both sides of the Charles.”

Sandy’s Analysis: You went from TFA to KKR???? As a what????? That is slightly unusual.

As for Dad, apparently he did not give enough money, or you don’t know how to play that card. If this is not a spoof, and it might be, have Dad get you a phone call with Dee Leopold, the head of MBA admissions at Harvard. It’s not all that hard to do, and she will tell you what you need to do for next time. Do it. Hire me, I usually don’t solicit on this board, but rich out-of-it kids with high GMATs are a sub-specialty of mine. Not kidding.

I do not think HBS has a position on TFA alums this year, nor do I think pure TFA alums, e.g. peeps applying in their second TFA year, are a big cohort to begin with. If you are in post grad year four, with first two in TFA, well, obviously what matters a lot is what gig you get after TFA. That cohort’s outcomes would be interesting, but my guess not revealing of any HBS thinking.

A stat I would really like to know is the admit rate of people who mentioned Sheryl Sandberg in their essays.