Who HBS Dinged In The First Round

Mr. M&A Lawyer In Brazil

• 730 GMAT
• 7.6 GPA (out of 10)
• Undergraduate degree from a top Brazilian university
• Work experience includes five and one-half years as a lawyer, with the the past two and one-half years at a boutique M&A law firm in Brazil, one and one-half years as counsel at the Brazilian stock exchange, and two years at a big Brazilian/U.K. law firm doing cross-border M&A transactions
• Wrote essay on “a turning point (cancer survivor) and how it made me want to cause a broader impact and align personal values and professional practice; shared long-time history in volunteering activities and professional leadership stories; future goals include to move into consulting (leveraging experience from the legal profession) and later focus in public & social practice
• Recommenders reinforced history of accelerated promotions, leadership, always being top among peers, self-awareness and team playing
• Goal: To move into consulting
• 28-year-old male Hispanic and Jewish Brazilian

Sandy’s Analysis: Man, here is a stat I would like to know about JD’s at HBS: The number of already practicing lawyers admitted to HBS who have not attended Harvard or Yale Law School or worked for a GOLD PLATED law firm,

Here is another stat I would like to know: The number of practicing lawyers admitted with over five years of work experience as a lawyer.

The answer in both cases is small, real small. The number of MBA students at Harvard with over five years of work experience as a lawyer number could be real close to ZERO.

So you had that statistical headwind, they just don’t take random lawyers with that much practice experience in the first place.

That explains 99 percent of your ding. The other 1 percent is you are essentially applying as career changer, and goals do not build on prior experiences (enough, although you tried, see below), so you are then competing with many generic consultant wannabes, who are often cookie-cutter admits in terms of age, GPA, GMAT, prior experience, blue chip experience).

YOU SAID “future goals include to move into consulting (leveraging experience from the legal profession) and later focus in public & social practice.” Dunno, given facts, and not sure what better goal statement could be, and this prob. did not make a huge difference.

Stanford is always hard, you may have more luck at Wharton, with a 730 GMAT for openers, and a background that is attractive to them. Ditto Booth. Kellogg and Tuck may just like you for the Brazil factor, and solid everything else. BTW, typical number of Brazilians at HBS is less than 9 per year, mostly banking and consulting people plus a couple of plutocrats-to-be.

Hispanic does not help you gain URM status unless you are a U.S. citizen. Male and Jewish are neutral unless you want to make something out of them. It is possible that being a Jewish lawyer made you LESS ‘exotic’ –the guy is in Brazil and all he can think of doing is become LAWYER? Only half joking.