harvardmbaapplicant wrote:
Voxius wrote:
harvardmbaapplicant wrote:
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!
Congrats on the interview invite; were there other extenuating circumstances in your case? (URM, etc.?) You should probably be a little cautious not to give people false hope if the situation isn't really comparable
Thanks and sorry, I forgot to mention that I'm an American-born Chinese female.
I don't really think it's false hope because the benefits far outweigh the costs of an application. My circumstances were mostly just being a victim of bad luck. I had trouble acclimating to school my first year. I had some pretty run of the mill relationship issues, but my inexperience in dating really allowed those issues to affect me. I had one good quarter with a 3.70 that I didn't need to do any explaining in. And I had a family member going through depression at home which really took a lot of my time my last 2 years.
Each of the GMAT tests I took had ridiculous traffic backups due to accidents on the main freeways and I had an upset stomach on the last test, but somehow ended up doing the best there! Like I said, the GMAC practice tests are officially from GMAC, so I've proved that I'm capable of a 710 during normal test-taking conditions.
I hear you for being honest, but I truly believe that this is not a strategy to apply to HBS just because it worked once, I'd be careful of trying to put excuses on everything that's below HBS average including GPA, GMAT, Work experience etc... I mean it can certainly be true but trust me its really easy to find stories for each and I don't think that ad-coms like to hear about more than one perhaps, anyone trying this can start sounding a really unprofessional by trying to justify everything with explanations
Hell I mean I got a lot of 750's on my practice tests but I got a 710, I honestly don't think HBS needs to know about that!
Hopefully, I guess in your case it was true and it worked, but I wouldn't suggest people to try this overall because it doesn't look well in most cases
Good luck with the interview process and I really hope that you get in, you played your cards and it seems to be working. There's merit there too for good execution
Cheers!
J
16 Oct 2014, 09:56
close
