牛人落选哈佛、斯坦福MBA之谜

    他拥有沃顿商学院(Wharton)的金融学士学位，还曾经在艾意凯咨询公司(L.E.K. Consulting )和巴克莱银行(Barclays)工作过两年。他的GMAT（研究生管理专业入学考试）成绩是740分，GPA（平均绩点）为3.45。这位印度裔美国人不仅是一位零差点球员，还攀登过珠穆朗玛峰。然而，就在上周，哈佛商学院(Harvard Business School)和斯坦福大学商学院(Stanford Graduate School of Business)双双拒绝了他的入学申请。

    27岁的她已经成功创办了两家初创公司，受到了投资人和各大媒体的关注。她毕业于一所“小常春藤”(Baby Ivy)盟校，GMAT成绩为760分，GPA为3.5。她甚至被一家国际性的杂志选为30岁以下30位最佳企业家之一。然而，她上周被斯坦福商学院放弃。

    他今年26岁，是雅培制药公司(Abbott Laboratories)的一位生物医学工程师，获得过两次晋升，还受到领导团队的一致好评。他的GMAT成绩高达790分，足足比哈佛商学院最近一次录取新生的平均分数高出了60分。然而，哈佛拒绝了他就读该校MBA课程的申请。

    上周的首轮入学申请评估中，这几位MBA申请人要么被哈佛或斯坦福拒绝，要么被这两家商学院双双放弃。然而，他们拥有令人印象深刻的GMAT成绩，专业和课外成就也相当出众。那么，为什么连他们也被拒之门外呢？

    我们邀请 HBSGuru.com创始人、著名的MBA入学顾问桑迪•克雷斯伯格审视一下这几位被拒绝申请人的简历和原始资料，同时向他们说明未能进入哈佛或斯坦福的原因。上周，这两家商学院公布了它们的首轮决定，数千位申请人收到了令人失望的消息。

    进入哈佛或斯坦福当然要面临着不小的障碍。哈佛商学院最近一次录取新生的GMAT平均成绩是727分，斯坦福是732分。本科阶段的GPA也处在令人流鼻血的区域：斯坦福是3.73，哈佛是3.67。每年，斯坦福商学院的录取比例不到7%，哈佛商学院不到12%。

    被哈佛和斯坦福同时拒绝

    • GMAT成绩为740分

    • GPA为3.45

    • 拥有宾夕法尼亚大学( University of Pennsylvania)的金融学士学位

    • 在艾意凯咨询公司工作了两年，在巴克莱银行伦敦和纽约分公司从事过三年的投行业务

    • 利用课外时间参加过社区活动；为两家宾夕法尼亚大学毕业生创办的公司担任过顾问工作；校队成员之一，零差点球员；也攀登过珠穆朗玛峰

    • 这位印度裔美国人“有可能重返宾夕法尼亚大学”

    桑迪的分析：这份简历没有惊喜。攀登过珠峰（和零差点球员）可以把成色不足的黄金变为黄金，但不会把白银变成黄金。而我们在这里看到的，是一块实心银：一个有点低的GPA，一段在艾意凯咨询公司和巴克莱银行的工作经历，这些都挺体面的。但GPA不是3.9，供职公司不是麦肯锡( McKinsey)和高盛(Goldman)，也不是KKR。确实没有什么能够真正打动招生官员的地方。

    人们拒绝直面真相，因为他们不想完全坦诚地承认商学院招生究竟有多么不公平。但你的命运取决于你上了哪所大学。要是你上的是普林斯顿大学( Princeton )，而不是宾夕法尼亚大学，你或许就会去麦肯锡，而不是去艾意凯咨询公司工作。随后或许将跳槽到高盛或摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)，而不是巴克莱银行。然后，你就会被哈佛和斯坦福商学院录取。现在呢，你很可能会重返沃顿商学院。

    He has an undergraduate degree in finance from Wharton, two years of experience at both L.E.K. Consulting and Barclays. With a 740 GMAT and a grade point average of 3.45, this Indian-American is not only a scratch golfer, he also climbed Mount Everest. Yet he was rejected last week by both Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business.

    She's a 27-year-old woman who has successfully founded two startups, attracting both funding and major media attention. With a 760 GMAT and a 3.5 GPA at a "Baby Ivy," she was even named to a list of the 30 best entrepreneurs under the age of 30 by an international magazine. Yet she was dinged by Stanford last week.

    This 26-year-old is a biomedical engineer for Abbott Laboratories who has been promoted twice and won recognition from his site leadership team. His 790 GMAT is more than 60 points higher than the average score for the latest enrolled class at Harvard Business School. Yet Harvard just turned him down for admission to its MBA program.

    These MBA candidates were all round one applicants who were dinged by either Harvard, Stanford, or both business schools last week. Yet they have impressive GMAT scores along with professional and extracurricular achievements that are nothing less than exceptional. So why didn't they get in?

    We asked Sandy Kreisberg, founder of HBSGuru.com and a prominent MBA admissions consultant, to take a look at the profiles and raw stats of rejected candidates and tell them why they failed to get into Harvard or Stanford. Both business schools released their round one decisions last week and thousands of applicants got disappointing news.

    Of course, it's no small hurdle to get into either Harvard or Stanford. The average GMAT score for latest class enrolled at HBS is 727, while the average at Stanford is 732. The undergraduate grade point averages are in nose bleed territory as well: 3.73 at Stanford and 3.67 at Harvard. Less than 7% of Stanford applicants and less than 12% of HBS applicants are accepted each year.

    Dinged by Harvard & Stanford

    • 740 GMAT

    • 3.45 GPA

    • Undergraduate degree in finance from the University of Pennsylvania

    • Work experience includes two years at L.E.K. Consulting and three years at Barclays (BCS) in investment banking in London and New York

    • Extracurricular involvement in community; advised two startups by Penn grads; was on varsity crew and a scratch golfer; also climbed Mount Everest

    • Indian American "likely returning to UPenn"

    Sandy's Analysis: No surprise here. Climbing Mount Everest (and scratch golf) could turn gold minus into gold but not silver into gold, and what we have here is solid silver [a lowish GPA, a work history at LEK and Barclays, all solid but not a 3.9, with experience at McKinsey and Goldman (GS) or KKR (KKR). There was nothing really driving you in.

    People refuse to acknowledge the truth because they don't want to be completely honest about how unfair admissions can be. But college is destiny. If you had gone to Princeton instead of Penn, you probably would have worked for McKinsey instead of L.E.K. and then would have made a move to Goldman or Morgan Stanley instead of Barclays. You then would have been accepted at Harvard and Stanford. Instead, you might very well be going back to Wharton.