MBA Handicapping: How To Get Into HBS With A 3.2 GPA

Okay, we admit it. The headline is a bit of clickbait. It’s not because today’s candidate on Fridays With Sandy didn’t get a 3.2 grade point average during his undergraduate years. It’s because Andrew Dominguez is hands down the most impressive MBA applicant who has ever undergone the Sandy Kreisberg treatment on Poets&Quants.

We’re not surprised that this 29-year-old professional was already interviewed by HBS and is awaiting his round two answer which will come in 11 days on March 31. During our video session, Andrew shares his interview experience via Skype with two Harvard admission officials and dishes on a series of tricky questions that came off a single, nearly throwaway line at the very bottom of his CV.

So even though he got a 3.2 from Loyola Marymount University, a non-feeder college to HBS, he is an extraordinary candidate who also gives other applicants an idea of what you’re up against when you push the submit button on your application to Harvard Business School.

He’s highly accomplished, smoothly articulate, super smart and his interests in Kierkegaard & Aquinas, along with English and Irish poetry studied in Dublin, belie his expertise in mechanical engineering. With a 730 GMAT and even splits on the verbal and quant, Andrew also has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering with a 3.74 GPA. He has worked for a medical startup for more than five years, helping to guide their sleep apnea product from start to finish, starting at the lab bench to manufacturing.

Right now, he is in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis, playing a role in helping his current employer significantly boost the production of badly needed ventilators for patients sick with the disease. Oh, and did we mention, he has three patents to his name. Andrew has applied to only three schools: HBS, Oxford, and Cambridge.

If you would like to participate in a future Fridays With Sandy webinar, you can contact Sandy and P&Q Founder John A Byrne here.

DONā€™T MISS PREVIOUS FRIDAYS WITH SANDY EPISODES

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT HARVARD’S 2+2 DEFERRED ADMISSIONS PROGRAM

GETTING INTO KELLOGG & MCCOMBS FROM PLUTO (NOT THE PLANET)

HOW DOES THIS MCKINSEY ANALYST NOT GET INTO HBS & STANFORD?

A HIGHLY RANKED MBA FOR THIS CONCERT PIANIST?

SWIMMER, TECH FOUNDER, BANKER, COMEDIAN TRIES FOR H/S/W

BAINIE, BYU ATHLETE = H/S/W?

INTERVIEW ADVICE FOR MILITARY CANDIDATES ā€” AND OTHERS Ā 

A 770 GMAT & A 4.O FROM LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS ā€” WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED FOR HARVARDā€™S 2+2

FAANG APPLICANTS TO STANFORD & HBS ARE OFTEN SUCCESSFUL. THIS GUY SHOWS WHYĀ 

GROUPON TO HBS? THIS GUY MIGHT DO IT

WHAT IT TAKES FOR A NON-IIT FROM INDIA TO GET INTO HBS 2+2

OLD, WHITE MALES WITH A CHANCE AT HBS?

MBA MOCK INTERVIEW: A MORGAN STANLEY STAFFER GETS A DRILLING

GRE FOR 2+2 SUPERSTARS: HOW LOW CAN IT GO?Ā 

SAY ā€˜YESā€™ TO SILVER OR ā€˜HOLD OUTā€™ FOR GOLD?

WHEN WHITE MALES SHOULD RETAKE THE GMAT

3.4 GPA, 700 GMAT & HISPANIC: CAN HE GET INTO HARVARD, MIT, KELLOGG?

CAN THIS LIFE SCIENCE CONSULTANT GET INTO COLUMBIA & KELLOGG?Ā 

DO FEMALE INDIAN TECHIES HAVE AN EASIER TIME WITH THE HBS ADCOM? Ā 

CAN THIS INDIAN IT MALE GET INTO HBS WITH A 3.4 GPA BUT A 750 GMAT?

WHERE RETAIL BUYERS & BRAND SPECIALISTS GET MBAs

CAN THIS EX-AIR FORCE OFFICER-TURNED-SOFTWARE-ENGINEER CRACK THE MBA CODE?

CAN THIS TARGET STAFFER GET INTO HARVARD OR STANFORD?

HOW PETRO ENGINEERS CAN GET INTO A TOP MBA PROGRAM

LONG DISTANCE CALL: HOW DOES AN AUSSIE TELECOM GUY GET INTO STANFORD?

IS THIS 30-YEAR-OLD ENERGY GUY HEADED FOR HBS?

GETTING IN IF YOUR STATS ARE BELOW THE MEDIAN

WHAT GMAT DOES THIS LATINA GOVERNMENT ANALYST NEED?

REAL GOOD ODDS FOR THIS INDIAN DO-GOODER. HEREā€™S WHY

MILITARY-BANKER-HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL?

HOW TO AVOID LANDMINES IN YOUR 2+2 INTERVIEW

THE REAL HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL 2+2 INTERVIEW