Who HBS Dinged In The First Round

Mr. Computer Science

710 GMAT (50 Q/36 V)
8.74/10
Undergraduate degree in computer science from NIT in India
Work experience includes two and one-half years with Hewlett Packard after internships at Microsoft and IBM

No promotion yet

Essay addressed “why Computer Science (CS) was my first choice since childhood, convincing parents that CS, not medicine was perfect for me, showing highest improvements in GPA in school history, an experience of how I went beyond my work at HP to make lives of my co-workers easier by creating innovative tools and frameworks”

Selected for highest honor at HP (did not win), Employee of the Month (at Business unit level), HP’s CSR activity award

Goal: To achieve a general management job in strategy in the technology industry

First application

25-year-old Indian male

Sandy’s Analysis: Hmmm. Hard to say, but your application was iffy to start with. You have an unbalanced GMA and you have stiff competition from Desi IIT kids with the same story and better numbers and more clear success at work.

Ultimately, there was nothing compelling driving you in. That can do it.