Rejected By Harvard Business School. Can You Believe It?

Mr. Engineering Doctor

• 740 GMAT
• 3.5 GPA
• Undergraduate degree from an Ivy League school in engineering
• Currently a medical student at a Top 30 school on a full-ride
• Work experience includes two years of research experience at top name-brand organizations and one year as a medical student rotator
• Letters of Recommendation written by his direct supervisor at previous and current jobs
• Essay focused on the patient who motivated him to go into hospital administration.
• Extracurriculars include a medical mission trip abroad. “I helped fundraise $20k for a charity.
• “I thought my profile would be sort of unique, but I also wonder if I need to rack up more work experience. I am thinking about re-applying later down the road in residency. Does that seem reasonable?”

Sandy’s Analysis: I’m no expert on MD-MBA applicants but HBS does have a very well established dual-degree program with HMS that includes its own timelines and other special features.

See this: https://www.hbs.edu/mba/aca…

I suppose it is possible for applicants from OTHER medical schools than HMS to get admitted to HBS and pursue if not a “joint” degree, well, both degrees. The above link, which is pretty darn frosty and dis-inviting, recognizes that but assumes you are earlier in your training. My guess is, those applicants are rare and have very powerful stories, so the bar is really high.

One person who recently passed the bar–for HBS, not Harvard Law–was a resident physician at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He just entered the fall class of MBAs and was profiled by Poets&Quants here. He applied as a resident surgeon so it’s possible that you could be in a better position to get an invite then.

Also, the Kennedy School has a robust public health program that might interest you, although the school’s website is a titanic iceberg of jargon.

https://www.hks.harvard.edu…