Tuck | Mr. Invest In Change
GMAT 710, GPA 3.1
Tuck | Mr. Chemical Engineer
GRE 326, GPA 3
INSEAD | Mr. Future AI Product Manager
GMAT 715, GPA 3.7
NYU Stern | Mr. Operations Strategy & Youth Leadership
GMAT 770, GPA 4
IE Business School | Mr. JD Garay
GRE GPA: 3.9, GPA 3.0
Kellogg SOM | Mr. Military To Entrepreneur
GMAT 745, GPA 2.38
London Business School | Mr. Decarbonisation
GMAT 695, GPA 3.5
Kellogg SOM | Mr. MENA Growth Equity
GMAT 730, GPA 3.4
Kellogg SOM | Mr. West Point Logistics
GRE 327, GPA 2.76
Harvard | Mr. Energy & AI PM
GRE 328, GPA 9.65
Tepper | Mr. Tech Mil-Veteran
GMAT TBD, GPA 3.35
Columbia | Mr. European MBB Consultant
GMAT 645 (Gmat Focus), GPA 8.2
MIT Sloan | Mr. Startup Strategy
GMAT 720, GPA 3.7
Stanford GSB | Mr. Mid-Market PE
GMAT 770, GPA 4
Stanford GSB | Mr. MBB Guy From Big 4 & Startup
GRE 325, GPA 3

Rejected By Harvard B-School? Don’t Feel Bad. You’re In Great Company

Turned down without interviews: A Rhode Scholar, several with 780 GMAT scores, Ivy League undergrads, even consultants at McKinsey, Bain & BCG

by: John A. Byrne on February 15, 2016 | 17 minute read

guystars

Mr. Medical Device

 

  • 780 GMAT
  • 3.2 GPA
  • Undergraduate degree in biomedica engineering from Rutgers University
  • Work experience includes six years at a Fortune 100 major medical device company in U.S.;

    promoted twice and currently a senior engineer; recognized by site leadership on 4 different occasions

  • Goal: To transition into a leadership position at a healthcare startup attempting to disrupt the medical device industry
  • 29-year-old Indian male

     

    Sandy’s Ding Analysis: OUCH. I would hate to think that your 3.2 GPA is behind this. But it could be that and what HBS thinks of your company, and what the cohort was for medical device guys (not sure that is a distinct cohort, but it could be, or you could have lost out to Desi engineers they liked more.

    The rest of your profile is solid and everyone likes a 780. But again, this goes to show that it takes a lot more than a high GMAT score to get into Harvard Business School, as so many dinged applicants have shown.

    This has shades of an Executive MBA, given the number of years at the same gig, so that could be an overhand as well.

    All that said, if you told me you got in, I would not have been surprised.

    DON’T MISS: FIRST ROUND DING REPORT AT HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL

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