Senior Manager
Joined: 15 Jan 2010
Posts: 258
Given Kudos: 1
Location: United States
Concentration: Finance, Strategy
Schools: Chicago (Booth) - Class of 2014
GPA: 3.54
WE:Consulting (Consulting)
Re: Last minute gut-check H/S/W
[#permalink]
05 Jan 2012, 08:22
I think you can try, to the extent that everyone has a shot at these schools. You have impressive experiences, but from what I know about people who've gotten in, I don't see this as a particularly compelling profile for H/S/W.
I think you can appreciate that you didn't get into your Ivy League undergrad just by being "super smart" - you probably had something really important in your profile - a significant activity, passion, leadership experience, life story, etc. that differentiated you from the thousands of other applicants who think they're super smart. Same thing with business school and "being a superstar at work".
Consulting is an incredibly competitive field in business school, so your EC's and personal statements will be what will distinguish you from others. Work essays about consulting (e.g. turning around a senior client, developing a pathbreaking strategic analysis, managing a project team, etc.) by consultants will all blend into one another and sound like the same grey matter. Having spoken to several people at HBS and Stanford, they describe their consultants as "not just consultants", but "people who worked at an NGO, spent all their vacation days volunteering in Africa, have leadership roles in reading programs for underserved youth, created a startup with their friends, AND STILL managed to be in the top bracket of their consulting class at Bain (or what have you)."
That's what you'll be up against. Notice I didn't say "cure cancer" or "save dying orphans". The activities above are things that normal people do, but I think that the people at H/S/W (especially consultants!) have them in spades, and excelled in all aspects of a very balanced life. Unless you have a particularly compelling life outside of work (and maybe you do but just don't realize it), it's going to be tough to compare your profile against the people described above.
Sorry to be harsh, but just setting realistic expectations. Your accomplishments are unique and special, but honestly, most people applying to HBS think their accomplishments are unique and special. And consulting applicants (your competitors) are especially good at marketing themselves as such.