bravo!
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Agree.

Totally.
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Awesome post!
I really enjoyed this one.
It made me consider Kellogg =)
(I am currently only considering UK Schools + INSEAD + HEC Paris probably...)
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Hey man awesome post! I'd say the analogy is a spot-on.

I used to own a brand new Mercedes, and although it was a beauty to look at, it had a number of electrical issues that made me wary of German quality. I subsequantly purchased a Toyota and since have had no electrical faults and ZERO passion. The car does not seem to have a soul like German cars do. Definitly not as enjoyable to drive as the German cars. I'm now comtemplating a BMW... (Literally and metaphoricaly)

funny! def turned me off from Harvard and on to Northwestern. This is a good one. Thanks!

^^^

Yeah, what's up with the electrical gremlins in German cars? Seems to be a recurring problem.

I started off very much like your wife - treating cars like a purely utilitarian thing for the longest time, until I started test driving and getting into different kinds of cars over the years (and having friends who were car enthusiasts), and I was won over. Living in LA also helps, seeing car porn everywhere (i.e. BMW 3-series is like the Honda Accord of LA; 911s are everywhere, and I see at least one Italian/British exotic everyday just in traffic).

You probably already know this but some great website forums for p-car freaks: Rennlist and Pelican Parts. And yes, the 993TT is absolutely sick. Not as fast or comfy as the 996 or 997 turbos, but the lines/curves on that car and the sound.

Now, if money were no object:



I've always had a soft spot for the Shelby Cobras. Classic American.
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Running out of car brands. Or getting into territory where the schools have way more redeeming qualities than the car brands themselves (Yugo, Lada, Fiat, Vauxhall, SEAT, Kia, Daewoo, Proton).
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Focus on the GMAT, as that is what will dictate what your chances are (i.e. a high score won't be an asset, but a low score can be a liability). GPA won't really be an issue if you went to college outside the US (pedigree of school matters more, which is why so many internationals at top b-schools went to the top schools in their respective countries).

Having said that, shoot for 700+ no matter what. With a score like that, I'd say H/S/W will be stretches, and schools outside of that will be within reach. That is assuming you're not at McKinsey, Bain or BCG. If you're at one of those 3 firms, you won't be a shoe-in at H/S/W, but it won't be a stretch either. Historically, the M/B/B consultants have been the bread and butter of the H/S/W student body (i.e. they're not the majority of the class, but they certainly make up a healthy minority to the point where you feel like a large number of the M/B/B alums that apply are at one of these three schools). If you're not at M/B/B, you still have a shot, but it'll be a stretch, and you'll see more non-M/B/B folks ending up at schools like Kellogg, Booth, Sloan, Columbia, Tuck, Haas, etc.
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Hi, Honestly, GPA 3.3 is too low for the schools you mentioned
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As I said before your GPA won't really matter because it's not from a US school (adcoms will look at your raw scores on your transcript, and most b-school forms will ask for your grades in the format that your school uses i.e. A-F, 0-100%, 1-9, 1.0-5.0, 1.0-4.0, etc.).

Again, the pedigree of your undergrad will matter more than your GPA if you went to a non-US school. That's why it's no accident that at the top schools, you'll see a lot of IITs, BeijingU/Tsinghua, Oxford/Cambridge, MoscowU, etc. Amongst Canadian undergrads, you'll see the overwhelming majority went to McGill, Queen's, Toronto, Waterloo, UBC or Ivey. Doesn't mean you can't get into a top b-school if you didn't go to these schools, but it's a bit of a self-selecting thing as well, since those who went to these Canadian schools tended to get the strongest job offers after undergrad anyhow.

As for age, yes it matters for b-school admissions - but even more so for men than women. In any case, there's nothing you can do about your age, so all you can do is if you really want to go to H/S/W, just give it your best shot, and you never know. The thing is, adcoms won't ever openly admit an age bias (at least explicitly), because it will open up a can of worms for them. That's why HBS publishes the distribution of their incoming students by grad year -- seeing that distribution is a strong enough hint about the sweet spot they are really looking for (between 24-27, or those who are 2-5 years out of undergrad) without having to actually say it explicitly. Although Stanford doesn't publish stats like this in such detail, if you look at their resume books or visit campus, you'll get a sense that the students do fall into a pretty narrow range in terms of age.

All you can do is just do the best you can, and have realistic expectations -- and know that while getting into H/S/W is great, it's not necessary at all to get where you want. Over the medium- to long-term, you're not necessarily going these H/S/W alums to be that much more successful than those who went to say Booth, Kellogg, Sloan, etc. And if they are more successful, it has little to do with the school and more to do with who they are individually.
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