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Hello,

I am a big fan of HBS and Columbia, would like to know if I would get a decent chance to get into either school.

School Stats:
- Undergrad 3.1 GPA (Top 5% of the class)
- BBA, Information Systems Major
- Best honours project (Research paper) among 300 undergrad in my final year
- Postgrad A- Average (Top 3% of the class)
- MSc in Financial Analysis - Security Analysis Major
- Designation: CPA / CISA (Information Systems auditor)
- 760 GMAT (50M, 46V 5.5 AWA)

Work
- 4-year at Big 4 public accountancy firm, worked in risk advisory, audit and due diligence and currently on secondment to marketing department
- Assist on family business of wine trading, active business in france, UK, singapore and china (not on full-time nor having a "specific" position)

Extracurricular
- Active volunteer in various organization like UNICEF, Oxfam
- Founding member and EVP of a foreign student assistance club in college
- Fonnding member and Financial Secretary of a young member committee in a professional society

I would also like to know if I really wanna be admitted, is my assistance to family business a positive or I should not include it in the experience? And, if I shall include that, who I should get for a recommendation letter? Will a family member recommendation be less reliable?

Thank you so much!

Best regards
Zonia

Hi Zonia,
Thanks for your post. One clarification, your GPA was 3.1, but you were ranked in the top 5% of your class? That seems a bit disconnected.

As you know, its hard to assess your candidcy based on scores, as much of the decision is based on your essays, quality of work expereince, LORs, interview, etc.

However, if you were ranked in the top 5% of your class and have a 760GMAT, then you would be competitive for both HBS and CBS. Obviously both schools are very competitive, but you have the right foundation.

Regarding your family business, you should definitely mentioned in your application. In fact, I am sure you could find one essay which you could devote to your work with the family business. This could also help sell your post-career goals (for example, if you were interested in entrepreneurship, you could talk about how the MBA program will help refine/compliment the skills you learned while working in the family business).

Let us know if you have any other questions.

Regards,

N

Dear Nikhil,

Thank you for a prompt reply. To address the queries you have, the degree I got (from Hong Kong) has a very stingent scoring policy and actually there is only 1 first honour and 1 2:1 honour (thatz me) while there are 45-50 students in the class in my year. So I was in the top 5% even while my GPA is only 3.1. With this I have another question in mind, shall I address this point in my application so to clarify to the Adcom?

In addition, the family business point, I am not holding any permanent position there (although i spend some 10 - 20 hours each week on it). Is a recommendation from family member helps? or would it be less reliable when it comes to family?

Thanks so much!

Best regards
Zonia

Hi Z,
Thanks for the clarification. First of all, yes you should definitely explain your ranking system to AdCom (probably through the optional essay). And I would also following up the school and explain your situation - as they might have you recalculate your GPA (international GPAs are always tricky...). Let the school help you with that.

Regarding the family business, is there anyone else who could write you the letter of recc? Maybe a business partner or investor? Obviously you want to find someone who can write you the best LOR (in terms of selling your experience), but I think you need to be careful of having a direct family member write your LOR.

Regards,