Mr. Mango Lover

Let me just say that naming yourself Mr. Mango Lover immediately drew me to your profile. First, a confession. I do not like mangos. But I do like your ecclectic background, your international wanderlust, your remarkable facility with languages, and the fact that you rolled up your sleeves and built a business on your own. Those are all pluses, and to some, your love of mangos might very well be an asset as well. So let’s look at what I think your chances are at your first choice, Harvard Business School. You come into this with a few disadvantages: 1) Your undergraduate GPA is low at 3.0 when the HBS class average is 3.7. 2) Your 3.0 is in what would be considered a soft major, political philosophy, not a more rigorous and demanding STEM discipline. I would fall into the same category because I was a double major in Poli Sci and English. 3) Kings College is not really a feeder school into HBS, though Harvard Business School’s Class of 2020 did have one Kings College alum who majored in Maths and Physics. 4) You started your own company so you do not work at either a feeder company to HBS or a company that is highly selective in the way it screens would-be employees. And on the positive side? 1) Your 740 GMAT is ten points above the HBS median. That’s good. 2) You clearly have a global perspective given your background, travels and business. 3) You did create your own company. You would need to say what that really means in terms of employees, revenue, and third party investors. Obviously, if you were a solo act, it’s less impressive. 4) You do have PE and private wealth management experience with a large U.S. company’s London office. The big question: Do the positives outweigh the negatives to swing the odds in your favor at HBS? I actually think it does but not by a whole lot. HBS accepts about 11% of its applicants. I would peg your odds at around 25%, more than double the average rate. That’s mainly because of your 3.0 GPA from a non-feeder school and the fact that the majority of your work experience was for yourself.