Calling all Harvard Applicants: (2016 Intake) Class of 2018!!

I cannot say I ever really had those expectations. As absurdly selective as a program like HBS is, I could just never convince myself that they were going to do anything but toss me in the waste basket. Would have loved for it to work out differently, but I don't know that anyone can (or at least) feel reasonably confident about their chances in this context.

Personally, I applied to six schools. I said to myself then that if I could get into just one program, I'd be happy, no matter where, and that is still my outlook.

Look at the bright side, they are either going to admit you or they are not, and an offer of admission is all that matters at the end of the day. At least getting dinged pre-interview you don't waste more time and effort on a rejection, and can now at least apply that towards something constructive. Best of luck on your other apps.

Numbers don't lie: If you're a R1 waitlist, the odds of you ever getting an offer of admission are very low. Know that's probably not what you want to hear, but it's the truth.

Not sure where all you applied to, but if you're good enough to get waitlisted at HBS you're probably good enough to get admitted into another top program. I'm sure you will do well, so don't let me rain on your parade. Congrats on the recognition and best of luck ahead.

Ding ding ding - 3.95 / 750 / 2 years Big 4 consulting / 2 years F500 Corp. Strategy

On to the next .....

Fully agree. Doesn't look good for me but that is ok! Wasn't actually expecting much from the HBS application! Best of luck for you too! What's your status?

WL after interview is better than WL before interview.

that makes sense I guess.

Dinged. Best of luck to us all!

Looking at the personal adversity stories all around, I think they dont count in this day and age. I have lost confidence in my essays as well.

I think it presents a very tricky issue.

Ideally, if I had my preference? To hell with personal adversity stories, give me professional success stories. Give me a well-to-do background that resulted in a 3.75 at an Ivy League school, a few years at McKinsey, family ties to a school, recommendation letters from two name executives, and a good-enough GMAT, and that's going to trump probably 99% of the personal adversity stories out there. Unless you just have some really crazy story -- say, you survived the civil war in Sierra Leone, escaped to Guinea and overcame extreme poverty -- you're never beating out that applicant for an offer of admission with your personal adversity story.

If that's not your background, though, what do you do? That was basically my dilemma. I wrote about my personal story not so much out of desire as out of necessity. Much of what I have done in my life, in a lot of ways, really just doesn't make sense unless you can place it in the context of my personal story, so I felt (and believed I am) compelled to write about it. That puts you in a difficult situation as an applicant because, I do believe you are right, admissions committees really couldn't care less about them, but what else are you to do? You are who you are, and you have to tell your story, even if others may be better. You can't churn out alternate history just because admissions committees may prefer it.

I think much of this simply goes back to the notion that when you apply to an MBA program, you simply have to put yourself out there to the admissions committee, hope for the best, and be willing to accept the end result, whatever that may entail. It's a very introspective, revealing process, and you've just got to make yourself okay with the possibility of getting passed over.

Nicely put. I respect your clarity of thought! Good Luck with your applications

Totally agree with you and i faced a similar situation while introspecting about what I should write.
but the fact is now i think the space could have been better utilized telling about not so compelling professional stories.

Our very own GMATClub Confucius. Good stuff.

I mostly completely agree. Adcoms want people who have been extremely successful, have family connections and are in the right prep circles. Those people with that upbringing will continue to be successful because their network will not allow otherwise(those people are also smart and talented). So when these kids reach inevitable success, HBS can take credit. Makes sense, I would do the same.

That being said, the entire class cannot be white dudes from Greenwich, CT. People who overcame adversity bring a needed perspective to case discussions and making sure HBS does not become just a frat. But, and idk the numbers, maybe a 10 percent of the class are those folks who overcame, and like 40 percent of the applicant pool. I would say most people who didnt have a crazy resume played some sort of overcoming adversity card(whether real or not). Off those going with the adversity angle, I am sure the ones with the best stats and resumes were selected ---- not somebody who overcame the most(certainly an exception or two).

I dont think its about the resume or work-ex being stellar or not. Almost all of us have great resume and work-ex. The point being which is one thing that has shaped your reality. Would you rather spend 250 words out of 1000 telling yet another professional feat or talking about how you became the person you are because you were not so lucky in life to be born with a silver spoon or in some cases you had to find your own spoon.

Can someone explain why?

While American Hispanic is certainly an URM, I think for the purposes of elite B-Schools it doesn't hold weight. The way they massage stats they get far and away a ton of very competitive hispanic/latino minorities from Central and South America. Just the way it is. As of now I think the only two real URMs are black (either African American or African), and to a lesser extent female, although this second one is already fading away based on recent stats. And if you're a black female with decent scores and a decent story, well you can basically write your own ticket.

I figure it has to do with the interview bump or delta.

For instance, if the average acceptance rate applies to you, then you can expect that getting a WL will cut that acceptance rate down a lot but not all the way to 0%. So, if you do not get an interview and are WL'ed, then you are looking at a less than 100% weighting (likely under 5% as noted in the link I provied) to the average acceptance rate of 11% (assuming this even applies to you). If you are interviewed, general consensus is that your admissions chances jump about 40% to around a 50% chance of admission. Being WL'ed afterwards means that same WL weighting (again, let's say 5%) is now applied to a larger number, the 50% figure.

Please let me know anyone if this doesn't seem right but that's how I viewed that comment and it makes sense.