MBA Handicapping: 4.0/760, Caltech: Minefields For 2+2

It would be hard to think of a more perfect MBA candidate for a deferred admission program than Amy Wang.

She has a perfect 4.0 GPA at CalTech in a rigorous academic discipline, chemical engineering. She killed the online GMAT on her first try, scoring a 760 even after two Internet disruptions during the exam. That score puts her among the top 1% of all test takers in the world. And on her resume is a summer internship with Novartis Gene Therapies, the highly regarded global healthcare company.

But there’s more. With her sister, she has created a YouTube channel that translates Korean pool songs for English-speaking karaoke fans. It has 33,000 subscribers. She has played varsity basketball at CalTech and is chair of the biannual committee to improve the chemical engineering major at CalTech. And Amy is the creator of the first series of CalTech vlogs on YouTube to help admissions showcase the school to prospective students during COVID.

It would be hard to imagine any of her target business schools–Harvard, Stanford, MIT Sloan, or Columbia–turning her down. But alas elite graduate school admissions can be shockingly random, particularly so in deferred admissions programs.

In this episode of Friday’s With Sandy, HBSGuru.com Founder Sandy Kreisberg assesses her odds of admission and also gives Amy a taste of what a tough admissions interview would be like.

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.

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