Mr. French Economist

Given your young age of 22, I first assumed you would be applying to Harvard Business School’s 2+2 deferred admissions program. But then I see you have more than two years of work experience at NERA. So I am going to assume you are applying for admission immediately and not wanting to defer. You bring a lot of the table, given your international experience, your fluency in several languages, and the fact that you are a first generation college graduate. You also have some extras that reflect your leadership potential, from your experience in athletics to your election as President of ESSEC’s student council and your founding of the ESSEC Club of Economics. But you are on the young side, you’ve been in your job just over two years without a promotion, and your GMAT score is 20 points below the Harvard median. So this could go either way. For HBS, my guess is that your young age, lack of demonstrable progress in your job because you haven’t been there all that long, and your GMAT will lead to a ding. If you do get rejected and really want to go to HBS, I would reapply with a higher GMAT score and a promotion. Your chances would become significantly better.