Good grades. Most business schools look for academic leadership and the primary data point that they use is GPA. If you are coming from an Ivy League or Ivy equivalent school (like Stanford) for your undergraduate, you will be held to a much lower standard here. Top business schools will generally want to see that you have a solid GPA but not an incredible GPA. A 3.2 GPA will not kill your application but it may be viewed as a somewhat negative contributing factor. A 3.4 to a 3.6 GPA is probably PAR. A GPA above 3.6 probably contributes positively to your candidacy. If you graduated from a non-Ivy league school, I generally believe that you will need to have a 3.8 or higher GPA. Anything below that could literally disqualify you from the admissions process, unless you have some serious advantages in other areas. Further, even if you have a 4.0 GPA from a non-Ivy, I believe that the admissions committees will only view this as PAR and not as a positive factor.
GMAT. The GMAT is the great equalizer. This standardized test provides the admissions committee with a good look at your "standardized test" intelligence. The admissions committee will use this to understand how smart you are in one sense. I call it the great equalizer because non-Ivy league undergraduate applicants can use this score to show the admission committee that they are no less smart than their more pedigreed sisters. At Harvard, they frequently admit people with GMAT scores of 650 (or even below) but they have to demonstrate significant leadership in other ways. The average for the class tends to hover around 700, however so you should really try to exceed that score. 700 to 740 is probably considered PAR and 750 and up will probably contribute positively to your candidacy.
Letters of Recommendation. Letters of recommendation give the admissions committee a look at how much you have influenced other people and convinced them of your leadership skills.There is an age-old debate about whether to err on the side of having brand-name recommenders who may not know you that well or having people who know you extremely well but who do not have brand name recognition.I have seen both strategies succeed.I have also seen the “brand name” strategy seriously backfire.If you pursue this strategy, you need to ensure that the person who is recommending you has at least some direct knowledge of you and preferably has worked with you for at least some period of time.That said, there is definitely a “networking” side to getting into business school and I don’t think it hurts to have the President of the United States say something glowing about you if it is sincere and based on real experience.However, I have seen an individual get the top partners at two of the most prestigious private equity firms in the world to write letters of recommendation and even call the dean of a particular business school and it backfired.So, as always, you should exercise caution when using a networking or “name dropping” approach—and this is a general business principle.In any case, the letters of recommendation should highlight the 3-4 themes that you are trying to establish about yourself.I personally prepared each of my recommenders by giving them a document that highlighted the themes I was stressing, a resume that showed all of the work that I had done for them, and a copy of some of my essays.
Essays.Essays are extremely important at Harvard and other schools.These documents give the admissions committee real insight into who you are, how well you can express yourself, what you think is important, and perhaps most importantly how well you understand the mission of the school to which you are applying and why that school should admit you.I could write another entire report on how to write essays.For the time being, I will have simply summarize a few key points.First, create a mutually reinforcing and internally consistent message across your essays.Make sure that the essays build to create a story about why you are unique and why you are good fit for the particular school to which you are applying.In general, each essay should highlight one aspect of you that you want to convey to the admissions committee.However, the essays should also build on each other.Look for opportunities to explain why you really feel that you would be a good fit for the school in question.Highlight things that you have learned about the school from conversations with alumni, etc.
Extracurricular Activities, Awards, Other.The application to top business schools will give you ample opportunity to highlight extracurricular activities, accomplishments, honors, and awards that you have received.Now is not the time to be humble.However, for those of you award junky types, highlight the awards that round out the story you are trying to convey about yourself.
<< Home