Calling all HBS Applicants - (2015 Intake) Class of 2017

Ding for me.

Out of curiosity..Any engineers working in the industry get an invite?

My stats: 26 M/730/ Graduated First class/ 3+ years in the construction industry.

I always knew HBS was such a long shot but the first ding has rattled my confidence.

I am an Industrial Engineer but I am working in Consulting, and got an invite.

My stats: 26 M/730/International/ Graduated Top 1% in class / 2 years in the consulting industry

Thanks LexLuthor- hmm, consulting traditionally feeds into business schools - Guess I'm more looking to see whether a lot of engineers in industries apart from tech have much success. Thought I had decent stats but perhaps my essays didn't quite cut the mustard..

Engineering and consulting is the right combination for HBS especially if you have a good gpa
PE guys too
Finance, manufacturing and others are in the ding zone

Not at all.

710 GMAT, 3.81 GPA, no joint program, only applying to the MBA program.

What exactly is the difference between engineering and manufacturing in the eyes of the adcom? All engineers work for a manufacturer of some sort. Unless I misunderstood your post and you meant STEM degree + Consulting?

Yup, STEM degree is what I really meant, it isn't really too hard to tell who has a real shot and who needs a lot of luck
But anyways, screw it, the case method only works for certain type of profiles

@

Well, jlgdr, it worked for Pat Bateman -- murders and executions!
Ding, btw.

I have 3+ yrs in construction industry. Got a ding.

I think what did me in was unknown employer brand and non-IIT education.

I think HSW are reach for everyone. I am reading Ding report from Quants and Poets now. Make me feel much better as there are guys with celestial high profile got dinged. :D

Keep on the fight, guys...

I got an invite - I think it's due to the peculiarity of my background: 740 GMAT / 3.99 GPA / Italian living in London / 6-year commercial role at a major record company / recording musician / lots of extracurriculars

I'd like to honestly wish all the best to all the candidates that didn't move on to the interview - it could have been me at your place, and I was ready for the ding.

I hope you'll get your other top choice. Well done anyway guys!

That's great! Honestly these posts make me feel better about the whole process. You obviously have some strong numbers and an interesting background, it is great you are getting a shot. Not everybody needs PE/IB/Consulting experience.

Commercial role at a major record company? Sounds very interesting!!! If I get admitted I hope to be your classmate!!

Congratulations to all the rest who got an interview! And don't fret for those who didn't, I'm a perfect example that anything is possible!

Thank you - too kind. It's a biz dev role, I negotiate digital deals with Apple, Spotify, etc. So very business focused. Unfortunately (or luckily!) I don't get to hang out with the big stars!

Good luck with your interview preparation!

I got a few private messages from applicants looking for advice in the 2nd round.

I'll give a summary of my application for those interested:

About 2 years of work experience indirectly managing 1 person (talked about learning the value of teamwork in my essays and how teamwork created a lifelong friendship and mutually beneficial relationship)
3.03 GPA (with junior college factored in, explained each failing grade of C- or lower and the extenuating circumstances I faced on a quarterly basis)
690 top GMAT score (added optional explanation explaining the circumstances surrounding my low scores all 3 nights before each test)
Non-brand name school (talked about how I was able to better develop myself at a lower brand school by becoming involved and having confidence that my intellectual ability was on par with everybody although the stats didn't show it)

All in all, I would say what probably distinguished my application the most from others is my "realness." I don't want to say too many specifics, but I made sure that I came off as genuine; adcoms all know the life of a college student, and sometimes, dealing with crazy exes or lack of motivation are valid reasons behind lower stats. Although I can't go back and change it, by applying to HBS, that showed that I wasn't some lazy person; I just need the right target to shoot for. I did not make excuses, but made sure I laid out the facts for them to see so the adcoms wouldn't make wrong judgments themselves. I am just going to be myself during the interview and see where that goes, because HBS was always a stretch for me to begin with!

Edit: I took the bait on a couple of free profile assessments by admissions counselors. I ended up not using any of them because they all told me flat out that I wouldn't be a strong candidate and I should focus on other schools (non m7). I felt that most of that criticism was due to my GMAT/GPA, which made me realize that those are probably the weaknesses I should address. For example, I got a good score (710 Q47 V42 IR 6) on the official GMAC practice tests, which should be indicative of ability to score highly on the real test, since they're made by the same people! Just because I had some crazy circumstances the nights before my official tests doesn't mean that a single test should hold me back! The low GPA was a little trickier since it was 4 years of steady grades, but I just made sure to explain each grade C- or lower (considered failing) by naming the reason and what I learned from it. Make sure you leave time to add some compelling optional portions!

Longtime lurker and first poster here. Invited to interview last week -- international exposure in manufacturing (corporate finance) with essay focused around a significant professional experience with details of my personal and professional "story" sprinkled in, decent GMAT, unremarkable GPA, no extracurriculars. The essay was my determining factor.

[ Tip for international applicants: family and friends from the USA (where I was born and grew up) read my essay and commented that some of my English was askew - phrasings and various bits have worked their way into my vocabulary over my nearly 3 years abroad in a developing country working for a British firm. This can stand out and potentially be a positive when the Adcoms read it, but can also sometimes be confusing if they are not aware of the differences in the first place. I definitely recommend having others read your essay for this very reason, among others. FYI, an example was "take a decision" (England and foreign countries) versus "make a decision" (America).

Good (although dated) article on the subject: https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/16/magaz ... ision.html ]

Overall strategy: I am only applying to two schools so that I don't spread myself too thin and I focused on making sure the completed applications as a whole projected my story and the perspective I could add to the schools. I took the GMAT early and only once (in January 2014) to get it out of the way. I read the essay prompts when they came out in early June and let them sink in for a month or more before writing anything. Liaised closely with my recommenders making sure they understood the "why?" and crossed my fingers.

Best of luck to all who gave it their best.