rhyme wrote:
HBS = hard long shot
KGSM = hard, but I have a particularly interesting spin on this one
GSB = hard, but both my recommendations are from graduates which cant hurt.
Cornell = Dont think I'm going ot make it for R1. So much work.
Yale = Not sure why this one is on my list other than its a good school with a slightly less competitive profile. I've been thinking about replacing this one with Ross for R2.
Georgetown = should be my safety
Hey Rhyme,
I was just doing some research and trying to whittle down my list some more and I got to thinking about your comment on HBS. First, I don't know your whole profile but I think for most people (including me) HBS is considered a long shot. I started wondering about what portion of the applicant pool is made up of people who aren't just long shots but literally have zero or almost zero shot of getting in (not talking about either you or me hopefully).
Here are some HBS stats for recent classes:
https://www.hbs.edu/about/mba.html
It seems like they are getting about 6500-7000 applications lately and have been admitting about 15-16%. How many of those people apply to Harvard each year just because? I'm guessing it might be 1500-2000 students a year. Harvard's yield rates are exceptional, of course, but if 1500 applications can be weeded out as simply "hopeless dreams" then the overall admit rate would be about 20%. That doesn't sound so bad.
On the other hand, I'm wondering which schools may be unloved, receiving applications only from those that are very serious and very qualified. It seems to me that Dartmouth (because of its location and small size) and MIT (because it just sounds like a brutal experience) might have particularly strong applicant pools because you'd only apply to these places if you really wanted to go there.