Quote:
MY ANALYSIS OF SIX MBA HOPEFULS IS UP AT POETS AND QUANTS, ONE EXAMPLE, WHICH ALSO ADDRESSES HBS GMAT, IS BELOW.
https://poetsandquants.com/2011/09/08/breaking-through-the-elite-b-school-screen/3/Mr. Diplomat
■710 GMAT
■3.8 GPA
■Undergraduate degree in liberal arts from a top private non-Ivy (Duke, Georgetown, Northwestern)
■Working as a U.S. State Department foreign service-political officer, focusing on the Middle East since 2007
■Proficient in colloquial Arabic
■Extracurricular activities include English/Math tutoring in the inner city, an executive student board member while in college, vice president of the student debate team, and competitive martial arts
■Goal: To land a position in finance/consulting focusing on emerging markets in the Middle East and Central Asia, possibly going back into the public sector in a management/executive role.
■27-years-old white male
Odds of Success:
Wharton/Lauder MBA/MA program: 50% to 60%
Harvard Business School: 50+%
Chicago: 60+%
Columbia: 60+%
Dartmouth: 60+%
New York University: 60% to 80%
Sandy’s Analysis: Guys like you get into HBS with solid execution, solid recommendations, and not blowing the interview, which seems unlikely for a State Dept. dude.
One question that is revealing, as it always is: How many foreign-service political officers apply to HBS and Stanford and Wharton per year, and what are their outcomes?
Just based on your GPA and GMAT and your posting to Middle East, you have to be in top 20% of that cohort, although I realize it is a hard-ish gig to get. The HBS issue then becomes just putting together the right mix of personal and State Dept. Stories, and giving off the right vibe. You deeply seem their type.
Just to clarify something about HBS and GMAT’s: For our general readers, scores over 700 stop registering much. Her majesty Dee Leopold, the HBS adcom director, says at public forums that GMAT’s over 700 stop registering at all. Well, we love HRH Dee-Dee, but what she means is, there’s probably not that much difference between your 710 and a 730, but when you see a 3.8 and a 780 and some career with the State Department, you just start getting Robert McNamara whiz-kid leader visions in your head. At least I do. Although we all know what a bang-up job he did in Vietnam, that was later after he graduated from HBS in 1939 and blah, blah, blah.
So just saying:
1. Dee is mostly telling the truth about GMAT’s not super counting over 700 (although it depends, of course, if you flunked some basic math stuff during your wildnerness frosh and soph years and then get a perfect quant GMAT score, that helps),
2. 760+ scores, combined with other items, like a 3.9+ Ivy GPA, well, Dee may not be impressed, but I am. And that is despite knowing over 20 amazing jerks with those stats. All that said, I’ve seen a fair number of HBS dings with 3.8/760+, not all of them transparent oddballs, either. Bottom line: Dee Leopold is less impressed by jumbo GMATs than Sandy Kreisberg. Double bottom line: Dee’s views about this count more, unless you are applying to the Sandy School of Business, which I do not suggest.
Ok, back to you. This is a strong Wharton-Lauder case as well, especially given your history and goals. A 710 GMAT may, in fact, hurt you more at Wharton than HBS (don’t take it over! but Wharton really tracks GMAT scores in some serious way), but man, your story is real solid. Lauder is made for guys like you. I’d downplay the finance part, though, that is not Lauder’s bag, international management is.
At other schools you mention, it should just be a matter of convincing them you want to go.