Ms. URM

Well done. Congrats to you and best of luck.

With a profile likes yours, it’s easy to be discouraged by your rejection at Harvard Business School. I find it somewhat surprising, given your high GMAT score for a female URM. But HBS is much more elitist in its admissions than many people realize and the stats just prove it. If you are from a “nowhere liberal arts school,” that certainly hurt you. In HBS’ Class of 2020, nearly one in five HBS students did their undergraduate studies at Harvard, U Penn, Stanford, Yale or Princeton. In fact, 24 universities had 10 or more HBS students, and these accounted for 49% of the total class. I can guarantee that your “nowhere liberal arts school” was not among those 24 colleges. And being an analyst at S&P or Moody’s is also not considered by HBS to be a highly selective job. A recent analysis of enrolled HBS students in the Class of 2020 by Fortuna Admissions shows that there is not a single person who had been employed by either Moody’s or S&P. I would bet the same is true of the endowment you currently work for. This is at the heart of the special sauce you lacked. HBS probably had other URM females in its applicant pool from Ivy League schools and blue chip employers and chose them over you. While I’m unsure of your post-MBA goals, let me assure you that whatever they are you can probably achieve them with an MBA from a larger number of other schools that would not only gladly accept you but would admit you with a sizable scholarship. I would take a hard look at Chicago Booth, Northwestern Kellogg, UC-Berkeley, Columbia, Duke, Darden, and Michigan.

Lots to like including these stats: 740 GMAT, 3.6 GPA and being a female URM. Your work history is silver not gold, and if folks at your current endowment job indeed have contacts with HBS, it is your job to make sure they worked them into the recommendations, phone calls, extra letters… or all of the above. There are no rules on such things, which is something people often do not realize. So you need to be an activist and bold in working those connections. Ditto at other schools.

Hey Ms. URM. Krista Nannery from mbaMission here. On the surface, you seem to have it all..great stats, interesting work experience, and as you note “consistent volunteer work.” So I’m really curious about your application execution here. How did you use your HBS real estate? I hope you spent the majority of your essay telling them interesting things about YOU and not spending more than a tiny bit of space on Why HBS. Also, we’re missing out on your goals here. Do you want to do something that HBS can help you with? Other things I’d dive into with you if you were my client: leadership experiences, business impact, and any special expertise you have. What can your HBS classmates learn from you? I would definitely recommend trying again this upcoming R1 and please broaden your strategy. One school strategies are risky and my hunch is that a lot of schools would love to have you. (And be lucky to have you as well!)
Hope that helps!
Krista

Congrats to you! Jennifer here from Stratus Admissions. I’m an HBS alum so I’m biased but both Wharton and HBS will get you where you want to go in your career, whether it be MBB or something else. Any scholarship is amazing and you should factor that in but my take is that you should go with your gut instinct. Both wonderful programs!