There was probably nothing missing from your profile.

Keep in mind that you are applying to the most competitive b-school programs IN THE WORLD. And Stanford is the most selective of all the top b-schools in the world.

Simply put, there's just tons of highly qualified people like yourself applying, and only so many spots. It's not some plug-and-play formula where a certain candidate will get in if he/she does X, Y and Z.

Having said that, of course there's certain people who have a better shot *on paper* than others. With Stanford, a disproportionate have strong numbers (GMAT/GPA - like yourself) who went to the best schools in their home country (or internationals who went to top US/UK schools), and spent some time at top tier firms. Moreover, most if not all of these applicants with blue chip and stellar profiles have also put together articulate and compelling applications (and interviewed well). And yet, even amongst this group (of which you're a part of), arguably the majority still don't get in for some reason (or no reason at all).

When faced with way more people who could easily take the limited number of spots, it becomes very, very, very subjective, especially at Stanford. Sometimes, if you felt you did the best that you could, then there's not much more you could've done, and you can't start thinking that there was anything "missing" or wrong with you. Because an adcom may have simply chosen enough other people they liked more, and there's only so many spaces to fill up.

As for Haas, it's a similar dynamic - of course, it's not as competitive, but given its small size and the fact that it still gets a lot of high quality applicants, you just never know. You can still *on paper* have a decent shot of getting in, but still not get in for some reason without anything missing or wrong with you.

That's why so many b-school students find b-school a humbling experience when they first meet their new classmates, because it's then and there that they realize how lucky they are to have gotten in (and when they hear of other folks with scarily amazing credentials not get in).

From a practical perspective, all you can do is reapply next year and expand your list of schools. And do the best you can on the applications - it might mean changing up your approach entirely to the applications, or just tweaking a few things but keeping the underlying themes and what you want to say intact. That's really a judgment call that you'll have to make.
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Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
http://www.mbaapply.com
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