You Won’t Believe Who Harvard Just Rejected

Mr. Pharma

• 780 GMAT
• 3.1 GPA
• Undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from Rutgers University
• Work experience includes seven years at Abbott Laboratories, promoted three times, recognized by site leadership on four separate occasions for achievement
• 30-year-old Indian male

Sandy’s Analysis: This is drifting into Executive MBA territory with seven years of work experience and eight at matriculation. So that might have been one issue. Just look at the chart below put out there by the former head of admissions Dee Leopold. It shows that last year, only 50 students out of the 930 or so first years had the kind of experience you would bring to the class–and the trend is down from the previous year when the school took 58 students with that much work experience.

Getting into HBS with seven years of work experience at ONLY ONE job is a real outlier, even in ‘hot’ field like yours.
 Military types who require special training are more likely to be in this category.