牛人落选哈佛、斯坦福MBA之谜

    被哈佛商学院放弃（没有获得面试机会）

    • GMAT成绩为790分

    • GPA为3.15

    • 从罗格斯大学(Rutgers University)获得生物医学工程学士学位

    • 在雅培制药公司工作过4年——做过制造部门的工程师，工作内容涉及新型医疗设备的研发和推出，获得过两次晋升，受到领导团队的一致好评。

    • 目标：把过去4年间在雅培公司获得的生物工程技能和金融知识结合在一起，成为雅培制药公司的一名高管。

    • 男性，26岁

    • 他说：“我怀疑GPA低可能是我被拒绝的原因。我还有没有希望凭借这个难看的成绩进入一所排名前5的商学院？此外，我看见你的专栏文章说，商学院青睐拥有生物制药背景的申请人。那么，这个光环是不是也覆盖医疗器械行业？我想知道，跳槽到生物制药领域能不能加大我的机会。”

    桑迪的分析：我不知道究竟发生了什么事。790分的GMAT挺惹眼的，雅培制药算是一家知名公司吧。现实世界中，医疗器械也是一个相当不错的专业。你本应该更好地描述你的梦想，说你想成为一位具有创新意识、希望增添价值、致力于服务穷人的领导者。你说你想成为雅培制药的CEO，这听起来有点缺乏想象力。用你们的行话来说，有点过于“通用”了。我不确定这一点是否真的破坏了你的机会。这要看你当时的表现。

    如果你的申请作文看起来过于宽泛，推荐信没有经过精心的策划（一些经常跟医疗设备打交道的人往往没有写作经验），再加上你的GPA比较低，本科就读院校——罗格斯大学也不是哈佛商学院青睐的院校，或者说学术血统不够正统，那么，你很有可能在这一点上失分。

    所有这些小东西一点一滴地加起来，就有可能成为大问题，特别是如果这些小东西开始形成一个负面图景的话。在这一点上，790分的GMAT其实反而对你不利。他们或许开始怀疑，你的智商不错，但情商有限，不懂社交。这些完全是我的猜测。要是我冷不丁地碰到你的申请书，我或许会说，鉴于你的GMAT成绩和在雅培制药的工作经验，你被录取的几率是40-50%。我估计我会给你一个面试机会。（财富中文网）

    译者：叶寒  

    Dinged at Harvard (no interview)

    • 790 GMAT

    • 3.15 GPA

    • Undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from Rutgers University

    • Work experience includes four years at Abbott Labs – worked in manufacturing dept. as an engineer, involved in development/launch of new medical device, promoted twice, received recognition from Site Leadership Team

    • Goal: To combine technical engineering skills gained over the last four years at Abbott with financial education and become a top executive at Abbott Labs

    • 26-year-old male

    • What he says: "I suspect the low GPA for the rejection? Is there any hope for me to get into a top five school with that ugly thing? Also, I've read in your columns that business schools love bio-pharma types. Does the stardust also apply to the medical device industry? I'm wondering if transitioning to bio-pharma would help my chances at all."

    Sandy's Analysis: Not sure what happened. A 790 GMAT is an eye-catcher and Abbott Labs is something, well, I have heard of. Medical devices is what your major was, and that is about as good a major as exists in God's man-made world. You should have done a convincing job of saying you wanted to be an innovative, value-adding, poor-people-serving leader. Saying you wanted to be CEO of Abbott Labs (ABT) showed a, ahem, lack of imagination and, in context, was generic. Not sure if that actually damaged you. It depends on how you did it.

    If your essay sounded over generalized and recommendations were not curated properly (some of those med device lab guys are not experienced writers) and then if we start focusing on the low GPA and Rutgers -- not a favorite HBS school, probably not Springsteen enough -- then you probably lost them at that point.

    Drop by drop, all the small stuff can add up, especially if the small stuff begins to form a negative picture. At that point, the 790 GMAT actually starts working against you. They begin to suspect you are a brainiac with limited social skills. Just speculating here. If I came across your application cold, I would have said your odds were 40-50%, given your 790 GMAT and work experience at Abbott. I would have predicted an interview.