Rejected By HBS. Find Out Why

MILITARY MAN WITHOUT COMBAT EXPERIENCE AND A 730 GMAT

Profile Basics:

• 730 (Q49/V41) GMAT
• 3.36 GPA
• Undergraduate degree at a top University of California school
  “Did pretty poorly in a few quant classes (D in multivariable calc, C in intermediate accounting (after an A in basic accounting)), 4.0 in a quant heavy online master’s program since undergrad”
• Work experience includes four years of military service in a non-combat arms/non-pilot (support role), collateral duty doing sexual assault prevention and response
• Extracurriculars included heavy club sports involvement in college, fraternity leadership position, the school newspaper. “Nothing major since college due to lack of a work/life balance”
• Recommendations from a direct supervisor and former direct supervisor (who I deployed with). “Based on their evaluations of me, recs were well-written and very positive”
• Essay addressed “my work in sexual assault prevention and response, linked to future career goals in renewable energy”
• Post-MBA Goal: Renewable energy project finance
• “I’m thinking I probably should have left the fraternity stuff off, but it came up in my essay as well”

Sandy’s Assessment:

Just too much silver and not much gold.

Your stats are probably on the lower side of average for white male admits (and military admits).

Those D’s and C’s don’t help either. The HBS adcom does not like kids who blow off a course, even if they make it up. It just goes SOOOO much against their grain. It’s like a conviction for drunk driving, even if you are now booze-free.

Sexual assault prevention is something they stand up and salute, but not something they super credit when sitting down and making decisions. Only sexual assault prevention they want to hear is FROM A VICTIM WHO LATER BECOMES ADVOCATE.

You say your essay was a “discussion of my work in sexual assault prevention and response, linked to future career goals in renewable energy.”

??????????????????????????????????????

And then you mention that you probably “should have left the fraternity stuff off, but it came up in my essay as well.”

I’ve got to agree with you there. Frat stuff, even upstanding citizen frat stuff like raising money for good causes, helping other brothers, blah, blah, gets you nowhere. They just don’t like frats.