Dear Madfame,
Thanks for your post about HBS 2+2!
You haven't really offered enough information for me to make a concrete assessment of your chances here, but I can say the following:
1) Strong academics are very important for HBS 2+2. This means you'll need a GMAT score that is higher than the average for students admitted to the regular HBS program. It also means that a 7.2/10 GPA may not be sufficient - of course, I'd need to know where you went to school in order to really help benchmark your grades. [Note: your high school marks will not likely play a major role in the adcom's decision.]
2) While many HBS 2+2 candidates haven't yet held full-time, year-round employment positions, the admissions team will closely scrutinize a number of areas to get a sense of your teamwork and leadership experiences to date:
-summer jobs
-part-time or full-time work while in school
-outside activities and hobbies (XCs) at college (sports, student government, the arts, professional clubs, community service clubs, etc)
-study/travel abroad
If I understand your post correctly, you claim to have had zero work experience. This is somewhat puzzling to me - since I'm curious to know how you spent your summers, vacation time, etc. In any case, if you have no work experience, you'd need to rely very heavily on the other items I've indicated above - which could be difficult. While being a black belt and winning a technical prize are certainly nice items to dicuss in your application, I'm not sure that those items alone could make for a strong candidacy (or be used to demonstrate leadership skill).
If you are considering an application to HBS 2+2 and would like to share more of your background with Clear Admit, please send your resume to
[email protected] and sign up for a free 30-min session with one of our counselors.
Best of luck,
Graham
