so who is the lucky one?

Waitlisted. Wouldn't consider that lucky :(

denied.

I'm in. The MBA gods have smiled upon me today.

Congrats. Must feel good.

Looking distinctly GSB for you then rhyme? Or are you waiting on the cornflake school?

Sounds like you are enamoured with Kellogg...

Dinged at wharton, waitlisted at kellogg... I was not feeling too good about things. It was a nice turn around.

Oh man......it's a loss for HBS ....

Sorry to hear that cpetro and rhyme...

Now I'm really worried about my chances in R2.

What an achievement dude!!!! Congrats!

Congrats Brown! What an achievement! What was ur profile, if you do not mind sharing?

Fantastic Achievement !

Congrats brown!! Quite an achievement. Do share your success story with us.

Thanks!

24 years old, male, 3 years as software engineer. 750 gmat, 3.72 gpa from a state school. strong work performance and good extra curriculars. My "hook" is that I'm from a small farm in the middle of rural USA.

I don't really know what else to say.... the only real advice is to really devote yourself. I spent more time than I'd like to admit studying for the GMAT and writing essays. I spent hours and hours and hours on my essays. I had friends review and review and review them. Only advice is to stick with it.

One thing that I did find really helpful was talking to b-school graduates and just listening to their experiences. I really had to step out of my comfort zone to meet with random people who I've never met. In the end, all of them were extremely friendly and helpful though. They all went through the same process when they applied, so they know how torturous it can be.

Best of luck to everyone else! I absolutely understand how stressful the process can be. If you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to help. I don't consider myself an expert by any means, but I'm happy to share.

Wow, that is pretty inspiring!

Please don't take this in the wrong way, but your success with a profile that isn't insanely out there (such as starting up 3 businesses while trekking to Antartica using your laptop to finalize multi-million dollar deals in the process) just goes to show that a lot of hard work can pay off big time.

Have fun at HBS!

That's awesome. I'd say that you're exactly the type that HBS is looking for. In fact, I would bet that Kellogg (and possibly Wharton) realized just that and didn't admit you for yield management reasons.

Congratulations!

I am not an expert:

But I guess they look for people who do whatever they do well. One doesnt have to climb everest or be in antartica to demonstrate leadership. Effective leadership can be demonstrated through everday experiences!

Also, I think they look for people who have unique background AND have leadership potential. A farmer in Papua New Genea might have unique background and high GMAT, but that does not mean that he automatically has managerial/leadership potential.

Thus using logical representation:

Admit = GMAT_above_certain_threshold (GMAT Score)
AND Will_be_able_to_handle_academic_Rigour(GMAT Score, GPA) AND Leadership_Potential(Essays, Resume, Recommendations, Interview) AND Will_bring_Unique_Perspective(Essays, Resume, Recommendations)

Congratulations !


To Pelihu:

"That's awesome. I'd say that you're exactly the type that HBS is looking for. In fact, I would bet that Kellogg (and possibly Wharton) realized just that and didn't admit you for yield management reasons."

Can you please elaborate on the above? Do you have any insights on what HBS/Wharton/Stanford are looking for?

Here's a stat. Average months of work experience:
Wharton 71 (most of any school in the top 30)
Harvard 54 (2nd least of any school in the top 30)
Stanford 48 (least of any school in the top 30)

It have been widely observed that Harvard and Stanford really favor younger applicants, while Wharton still values more experience. If we apply a normal curve to these numbers, I would guess that 80% of Wharton's students have 4-8 years of experience. At Stanford, the middle range is probably 3-5. So in terms of experience, Brown (the poster in this thread) fits great with Harvard & Stanford, but actually comes up a bit short for Wharton.

Obviously, his stats are stellar for any school, which leads me to another point. Harvard has a yield of 90%, Stanford has a yield of 80%. Wharton's yield is a little lower, and Kellogg's is a lot lower. This means that Harvard and Stanford admit who they want, and can pretty much expect their admits to matriculate (other than the 100 or so that are admitted to both Harvard and Stanford of course). Kellogg for sure knows this. They are wary that admitting hyper-qualified folks will damage their yield even further (currently just 56%); so instead they waitlist. If the candidate remains interested in 2 months, Kellogg can admit them at that time. If the candidate is admitted to H/W/S, many will, as a courtesy, inform schools where they still have pending decisions and withdraw their apps. Kellogg then doesn't have to admit this person that won't show up anyways.

Also, stellar stats and scores can be enough to get into Wharton (solid work experience too). For Harvard and Stanford, you need a boost from extracurriculars. Brown didn't identify his, but said that they were good. Combined with the other things, he looks perfect for Harvard. Given Wharton's record, they probably would have preferred another year of experience. I'm just observing based on known stats. As mentioned before, if Kellogg gets this candidate, they are probably thinking "we're the back-up school"; which they hate.

great analysis and i totally agree....