Who HBS Dinged In The First Round

Mr. Mid-Market PE

• 740 GMAT
• 3.4 GPA
• Undergraduate degree in economics from a top 20 university with some F’s and a semester off due to a medical issue
• Work experience includes three years at matriculation for a middle market private equity firm in New York
• “I graduated in 2011 and started in 2012 with a failed startup in the interim”
• “Company has sent a couple whities to HBS in last few years”
• Extracurriculars include good leadership roles in college and now (on the board of two charities)
• Wrote essay about great experience that was basically MBA in PE and desire to transition to operational leadership in industry
• “It’s my first app and will try again if I’m not embarrassing myself”

Sandy’s Analysis: So you are working for a middle market PE in NYC for 3 years at matriculation and the company has sent a couple of whities to HBS in the last few years.

WELL, what were those white fellas like? Not to be reductionist, but a 3.4 GPA and Middle Market PE firm (as only blue chip job!) usually does not add up to an HBS admit.

There was nothing compelling driving you in, and PE cohort is just ultra-competitive.

I think if you re-examine the admits from your firm over the past three years, you will discover better stats or some X factor missing here, or easier year. F’s on transcript is something some people can overcome, but not all, so that is another issue. Don’t think the med leave was an issue.

The X factor in this context can mean very high GPA/GMAT, or URM status (those are two most common by far). Or adversity/victim story of some kind. STRONG impact beyond yourself as woman, Asian, blended race, LGBT, etc. Relationship somehow to celebrity, rich guy or both. Child movie star, Olympian . . .variants and mix’n’match of any of the above. That about does it for X factor items.

Goals sound targeted to what you think they want to hear. Not a big deal, but in next life, say operations focused private equity, not ops at some company.