Ms. Engineer In Finance – Deferred MBA

So you nail the stats for Stanford with a 3.94 in a rigorous and tough subject–engineering–and a GRE score of 332 that is above the latest class average of 330 at the GSB. But as you know Stanford has the lowest admit rate of any prestige MBA program in the world and you are competing against the best of the best there. And your competition will have graduated from Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Penn and Columbia–the top five feeder universities to the GSB (see https://poetsandquants.com/admissions/feeder-colleges-companies-to-stanfords-mba-program/). You are also in an overpopulated part of the elite MBA applicant pool which does you no favors there. Plus, while you note that you have had executive positions in women’s clubs and have been a mentor, it’s not clear if those positions put you in roles that allowed you to show real leadership potential which is crucial at Stanford. If they have, that is a real plus and would substantially increase your odds of an interview invite and possibly an admit. It’s clear you have the academic chops to be successful. The question is do you have the leadership potential and ambition to be a true leader during your career. If you can convince them of the latter, I would think you stand a very good chance at acceptance.

The good:
Great GPA, solid GMAT, stem degree, quant-y experience.

The bad:
Overrepresented pool, not considered underrepresented minority.
Not well-rounded; you’re a quant… can you tell us a bit more were you were a poet?
Post-MBA goal not detailed enough. Social impact in what? Too generic.
A lot of people want to create impact, if you have no plans… they won’t give you much credit.
What industry do you want to work in? Tech or business role? Any titles you want to achieve?
Why you want those 2-4 years to defer? Will you take any risks? You want HBS, but does HBS want you?

Also, you should consider MIT.