Invited...still in shock...

GC'ers,

Thanks for letting me hang with you all. This forum has helped me get through these last few months as I, at times, blindly navigated the b-school app/interview process.

Whatever the outcome tomorrow, it's been a real pleasure going through this rough process with you all.

Good luck!

HBS said yes. I am so incredibly happy. In fact, I just spent about 20 minutes sobbing in the conference room and calling the boyfriend/parents/etc.

Dee Leopold also called me at like 12:10 to say congrats, which was an incredibly nice touch.

I'm surprised how quiet the "Calling all Applicants" forums have gone. I was hoping for some insights from others who may have gone through this last year or this year. I'll relay my experiences as a R3 invitee - hopefully others will find it useful when they search for info next spring.

I was an R3 applicant largely due to time restraints. In retrospect, I wish I'd done R2 and probably would have made life a little easier on myself. As it stands, I got a 740 GMAT and had interesting work experience working on one of the Presidential campaigns. I applied, spending close to a week on my essays. I found it very helpful to outline the entire application as a sort of super-long essay, with the essays themselves supporting assertions made earlier (analytical appetite for instance).

The class visit was great and the interview was casual. Despite what others say, you can absolutely prep for your interview. If you can't answer a question as basic as "Why are you choosing to leave your chosen profession behind" in two or three sentences, it will definitely show. They ask a lot of questions that are harder to prepare for "elaborate on that idea, etc", but you definitely need a game plan.

It's not a terribly nerve wracking 30 minutes - it flies right by. The interviewers are nice and understand what's at stake, so they make you comfortable. Stay calm and know what you want to say and you'll survive the interview - which is really the main point of this thing. Don't blow it by rambling or being unprepared.

There were quite a few interviewees there, so R3 applicants definitely get invited to interview. They probably fill 50-100 seats in R3, so it's certainly possible to get in.

I hear the final decision on May 15th - fingers crossed. Hope this helps.

WELL, the average HBS GPA is 3.67, so you can do the math, but for openers, that means that ~460 kids there have GPA's HIGHER THAN THAT.
of the 460 with LOWER scores, my guess is most bunch between 3.47 and 3.67, b.c. well, there just aint much room on other side of the see-saw.
Of the outlier low GPA's, my guess is most are minorities, special cases, HIGH GMATS, and sure some mad money bets. But real few.
BTW what do you mean by 'low' GPA? The best way to balance a low GPA is 1. high GMAT, 2. alternative transcript. E.g. take courses in person for credit at local U. Esp. stats, micro, finance, blah, blah.
The kind of 'leadership' you are referring to, that HBS would be "reluctant" to let go of b.c. of low GPA, dunno, that is really hard to come by, and amazingly often peeps with amazing leadership stories ALSO have high GPA's. The two are not contradictory.
OK< I'm always willing to learn, if anyone knows any sub 3.0 GPA person at HBS, let me know. Or even sub 3.2
(prob a couple of those ).
PS--just read your profile --7 yrs military w. active leadership etc. and 2.8 GPA. I'm impressed but your great military service is not going to kick in the door at HBS, how come, too many military guys with service close to that (on paper, and sometimes in fact) who have higher GPA. Sorry but adcom is not in the business of comparing leadership, bravery, responsibilities etc. of military applicants, they can, however, compare GPA. Great recs, and military recs vary a lot (I've read 100s) could make a diff, but some of that is luck, given that military rec writers have wide range of abilities to execute, altho some good ones can blow you away. Good luck, if you write back to tell me (after you get in) I was wrong about you, I'll be ecstatic.
_________________

AskSandy--the HBS guru
http://hbsguru.com
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GREAT HBS MOCK INTERVIEW service.

Everything works out in the end. No email from Harvard at noon, but got into Columbia at 1. Funny how things happen.

Keep your head up. It's still early in the process.

Posted from my mobile device

Well on Oct. 24 2011, Dee said "We're going to send out invitations on the next 3 Wednesdays - October 26, November 2 and November 9. NOT on any day in between. Many will go out on October 26, some will go out on November 2 and 9".

As you can see, she set upfront the distribution. This year, she did exactly the opposite.

Haha, that's what I thought. Let's say you have those amazing connections into HBS. Why would you go on the internet and let everyone know that you are gaming the system? Either you are a first rate, arrogant d*** that will give HBS a bad reputation in the future or you are just having fun spilling lies on the internet. In any case, I think schools these days try to make an effort to keep legacy and nepotistic admissions more to a minimum, although arguably there will always be people that can game the system.

Yep, got the email. I love how transparent and clear they are.

I feel it is more like the dentist telling me "You need to have a root canal in a few weeks, but there is a chance I will not have anesthetics available when you come in." (following that analogy, I'm just ready for this toothache to be gone)