ding ding ding

[ruthereyet2010]

i just got dinged.
i've been dinged by HBS, Booth, and Wharton. Really losing hope here.

What are they looking for?

My profile:
Wrk Exp: 4yrs (same company)
GMAT: 710 (q50 v36)
GPA: 3.17
Undergrad: Electrical Engineering (top Canadian School)
Extracurricular: Volunteering at rehab hospital for kids, cancer society committee, teaching engineering to elementary kids

Right now, I'm thinking I need to rewrite the GMAT, but I thought something >700 was a foot in the door.

Anyone going through similar frustrations?
Even the admits, have any ideas on how to improve the profile? or any other suggestions.

Thanks in advance

[ivyctor2010]

These 3 are very competitive schools, you could have applied to other good but less competitive B-schools as well.
Plus your essays at times are big deciders, have you reflected upon them?

[Jon@Admissionado]

Well lots of things come into play buddy... your work experience, your essays recommendations. It's hard to say why or why not without seeing your whole application (which you are welcome to send BTW)...

But these are VERY hard programs to get in, and lots of people with AMAZING profiles get rejected, so first don't feel bad...

The important thing now is to figure out what to do going forward.

[sagar@jk]

Every applying batch has its own competence levels. What may be persuading in a particular admission year may not be so in another.

In addition, the adcoms assess an applicant on several parameters and GMAT score is just one of the qualifying factors. Therefore, the probability of your selection is a mix of your achievements. Your GMAT score and the rest of the profile list looks largely okay.

Some other weaknesses in your case might be:

-Work experience (the highest weighted parameter) with not many achievements, responsibilities, and growth
-Your MBA application essays need to convey your personality in a convincing, positive light. Your weaknesses have to be battled out logically & analytically well. Your essays might have needed some more work & better framing in this regard.
-Your application might be vying for more demonstration of your leadership skills in personal, professional, & community spheres.

Now, you need to assess what went wrong where. On the safe side, seeking professional advice is quite helpful here.

[money9111]

Think of all of the people who apply to those schools:

You said that you had 4 years work experience..... what do you think the other candidates have?
You said you scored a 710... given their Mean & Median scores, there is no shortage of people who apply who have these scores.
GPA... this is only one data point that doesn't really give much
Extracurriculars... it's not so much what you did or for how long but what impact did you have?

We have no idea how your interview went or what your essays were like. These play a much bigger factor than some of the other things that you mentioned.

From what you've listed here: you're just like every other application who applies to those schools.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but these are the types of things that I wish people told me when I was applying to school. It's not as black and white as people think. Actually, it's not even close.

[olimpic]

Your profile is good but so is everyone else. These are top schools, very selective.
Don't lose hope, cheer up and try again next year or maybe even this year for other schools!

[machichi]

Have you received any promotions? How have you demonstrated leadership and/or leadership potential? What are your goals for receiving an MBA?

When people refer to the essays, they really want to know that you can answer these questions well.

[ruthereyet2010]

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies.

@ivyctor2010 - I think that is really where I fell short. I did not look deep enough into the schools. And my motivation was too broad.

@sagar@jk - I think I need to highlight my work experiences better. In my essays I focused more on my leadership outside of work.

@money9111 - Thanks for the advice. I will focus on elaborating on my the impact of each of my leadership roles/activities. I need the harsh statements to fix my app.

@machichi - I didn't include information on promotions. Thanks for the advice. I'll make sure to include this going forward.

I've looked at my profile and talked to my recommenders. Recommendations were strong. I also got some perspective from a friend who got into Booth. He said my essays were weak, GMAT score and GPA below average. I can't help my GPA, but my next step is going to be to improve my GMAT scores and spend a lot of time on the essays. I guess I didn't value my knowledge of the schools and went by information I found online.

[Jon@Admissionado]

That makes sense. Also, consider sending out your package to a consultant for a review. I'm sure one of the folks here can help you get better insight about how to take things forward.