Mr. Early MBA Undergrad

Hi Mr. Early MBA Undergrad, this is Kristen from MBA Prep School. Having been a member of the admissions team that launched MIT Sloan’s deferred MBA program, I have firsthand experience with evaluating candidates like yourself. You certainly have a lot going for you! Your GPA within two quantitative majors at Columbia is impressive, as is all your extracurricular involvement. Your investment banking internship is also an asset; did you receive a return offer? It’s certainly important that you have a realistic career plan for your deferral period, but it is even more convincing when you’ve already secured that first job. It’s even better when it is an offer from an elite institution. Admissions officers can’t evaluate candidates based on actual work experience, so they need to rely on your potential, evidenced by who is hiring you right out of the gate. Pursuing a career that naturally leads to an MBA can also help (it shows that an MBA makes sense), but you will also want to showcase why HBS should give you that offer NOW rather than wait until you have 3-5 years of work experience and are ready to matriculate. Overall I’d say you have a good chance of being noticed by the admissions office, but competition will be fierce so you will need to go beyond raw stats and have a cohesive and personal narrative to drive your candidacy home. Please feel free to reach out for a complimentary consultation if you would like to chat further about how to do that!