牛人落选哈佛、斯坦福MBA之谜

    被斯坦福商学院放弃

    • GMAT成绩为760分

    • GPA为3.5

    • 从一所东海岸私立“小常青藤”盟校获得生物学和英语学士学位

    • 工作经历包括在5年内创办了两家公司，出任营销和运营主管，并受到投资人和主流媒体的关注；5年的国际工作经验；创办的公司被成功售出；领导过多达15人的团队

    • 入选一家国际性杂志30岁以下的30位最佳企业家之一，还获得过两家业内领先公司的奖项。

    • 课外活动包括青年志愿者工作，还参加过鼓励妇女从事科技工作的项目

    • 目标：创建一家创业加速器，致力于帮助拥有进军国际市场雄心的公司

    • 女性，27岁

    • 申请被拒绝后，她说：“说老实话，我很茫然。学生和老师们都认为，我应该是十拿九稳的。我猜可能是因为GPA不高，公司名气不大吧。顺便说一下，我注意到，斯坦福商学院在录取理工科女生方面的记录非常差劲。”

    桑迪的分析：哎呀，点燃我的激情吧！如果有任何一个能够大加鞭笞斯坦福商学院伪善面目的机会，我绝对愿意这样做，而且肯定干过很多次了。

    我认为你被拒绝的原因在于你的GPA过低。如今这个时代，毕业成绩通胀，3.5远远低于斯坦福大学录取新生的平均绩点（3.73）。我敢打赌，在斯坦福看来，你的公司还不够酷，或者还不足以改变世界。

    尽管哈佛和斯坦福经常公开发表他们有多么热爱初创企业之类的废话，但要是你在申请作文中宣称你想创办服装租赁网站Rent The Runway，甚或Snapchat，那将会是一个减分项，特别是如果你没有任何创业经验的话。商学院对初创公司持怀疑态度，因为任何一个笨蛋都可以创办一家，现在创业的人可不少啊。

    Dinged At Stanford:

    • 760 GMAT

    • 3.5 GPA

    • Undergraduate degree in biology and English from a 'Baby Ivy" east coast private college

    • Work experience includes five years across two startups, with funding and major media, as head of marketing and operations; five years of international work experience; founder of my own company which was successfully acquired; led teams of up to 15

    • Was named to list of 30 under 30 in tech in an international magazine and have won awards from two industry-leading corporations

    • Extracurricular involvement includes youth volunteer work and programs engaging women in science and tech

    • Goal: To run a startup accelerator with a focus on helping companies with international ambitions

    •

    • 27-year-old female

    • What she says about the rejection: "Honestly, I'm at a loss. Even students and faculty thought I'd be a shoo-in. My guess would be GPA and unknown companies? As a side note, I've noticed GSB has an awful track record for women in tech matriculating."

    Sandy's Analysis: Oh boy, light my fire! If there is any chance at all of piling on and accusing Stanford B-school of hypocrisy, well, I am ready, willing, and have done so many times in the past.

    I believe you were rejected because of your lowish grades. A 3.5 in an era of grad inflation is well below the current 3.73 average at Stanford. And I would bet that your company was not cool enough for Stanford or world-changing enough.

    Despite all the public BS about how much Harvard and Stanford love startups, if you had said you wanted to start Rent The Runway or even Snapchat in your admissions essay, that would have been a negative, especially if you had no startup experience. Schools are suspicious of startups because any moron can do one and many have.