"Actual" Acceptance Rate

[gpb14]

Hello,

This questions may have been asked before, and if it has I apologize.

At any rate, I am curious what the "actual" acceptance rate of a top school (HBS for my example) is. When I say, "Actual Acceptance", I mean what is the acceptance rate of applicants who are somewhat qualified.

Last year HBS had 9,524 applicants for 903 spots (11% acceptance). Of those 9,500 applicants, I'm curious how many were grossly under qualified. "Grossly under qualified" is a rather vague definition and I'll leave that up for interpretation; however, I think of it possibly including the following examples:
-Low quantitative scores...for example a 3.0 GPA AND630 GMAT
-Poor work experience (maybe too little, maybe they didn't actually do well at work, etc)
-No extracurricular activities

After taking these candidates out, there should be a group of somewhat qualified applicants. Some will still be under qualified but they're worth applying.

Essentially, at some point it comes down to a group that are qualified but their acceptance rides more on a solid essay, recommendations and differentiating themselves from the pack. I'm curious what the acceptance rate of this group it.

Thoughts?

[Kaneisha Grayson]

Hi GPB14,

I don't have an answer for you, but I think the only way to calculate something like this is if you could get a statistically significant percentage of HBS applicants to submit their quantitative profile as well as whether or not they were invited to interview, waitlisted, dinged, or accepted. Even then, that would be only an approximation of the "real" acceptance rate.

Rather than worry about the "real" acceptance rate, apply to the schools you really want to go to (as well as some schools that match your profile that you wouldn't mind going to), do as you said and submit an outstanding application, and not worry about anyone else.

I truly believe that MBA admissions is less about competing with every other person applying and more about competing with a lesser expressed version of yourself. That may sound a little new agey, but when you concentrate on telling your own story as authentically, concisely, and compellingly as you can, you only stand to win, because you will never doubt if you gave the pursuit of that particular goal (being admitted to a top MBA program) your best shot.

Amen.

Kaneisha

[hman768]

As much as you might not want to hear this - the average GMAT of applicants at Harvard is over 700. Therefore, as much as we would all like to believe that there are a bunch of people who are unqualified but are applying it seems unlikely...