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An in-depth case study on how to get into Harvard Business School

Michael was a financial professional living in Los Angeles, CA, who sought advice on how to get into Harvard Business School.

By developing a compelling application persona and implementing a strategic plan to overcome his low undergraduate GPA, we helped Michael get accepted to Harvard Business School, #4 University of Chicago Booth with a $60,000 scholarship, and #7 UC Berkeley Haas with a full scholarship!

ABOUT THE STUDENT:

Place of Residence: Los Angeles, CA

Undergraduate University: Top-Ranked Liberal Arts College

GPA: 3.0/4.0

Career Industry: Finance

Intended Post-MBA Career: Entrepreneur

STANDARDIZED TESTING:

GMAT: 690

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Officer at Wealth Management firm

Strategic Relations at Investment Firm

Professional Basketball Player in Europe

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Board Member of Non-Profit Organization

President of Young Professionals Division at the Non-Profit Organization

Board Member & Director of Young Alumni Association

THE CHALLENGES

• Michael’ GPA was well below the average GPA of students admitted to Top 10 MBA programs in the United States.

• Michael’ GMAT score was lower than the average score of admitted students.

• Michael wanted to switch careers from a financial professional to an entrepreneur, but had no entrepreneurship experience on his resume.

HOW DID INGENIUS PREP HELP?

• We paired Michael with a Former Admissions Officer from Harvard and a Graduate Coach from the Yale School of Management. As with every student, the student-counselor work was closely managed by the Director of Education at InGenius Prep.

• We started our work with Michael by truly getting to know him—his personal background, work experience, career goals—and figuring out what was unique about him as well as what he was passionate about. By speaking regularly, analyzing his resume, and getting to know Michael personally, we began to craft his application persona—The Budding Social Entrepreneur—that would soon drive all of the components of his application.

• We started working on Michael’ letter of recommendation process early. Michael’ counselors coached him on how to build his relationship with his recommenders and how to approach them when it was time to “make the ask.”

• This proactive process culminated in compelling letters of recommendation, perfectly tailored to Harvard, that supported his application persona and filled any potential gaps in his candidacy:

• The letter was intimate.
• The letter addressed any doubts the admissions office might have had about Michael’ quantitative ability, due to his low GPA quantitative score on the GMAT.
• The letter used concrete examples that supported his leadership (a quality that Harvard Business School values) and his application persona.

• Michael and his counselors dug deep to think of creative ways to use his personal story and extracurricular activities to answer the essay prompts in a way that clearly stated why he wants to become a social entrepreneur and why an MBA is absolutely critical in his journey to getting there.

• Michael’ counselors worked with him on at least 10 drafts of every single business school essay.

• Michael’ counselors formatted and edited his resume.

• Because Michael’ GPA was definitely sub-par, his counselors advised him to use the “Additional Information” section of the application to write an essay addressing his undergraduate academic performance.

• Michael and his counselors took advantage of every single part of the application, including every 100 character answer section, to tell the admissions office something new and captivating about Michael.

• Michael’ counselors performed a Final Review of his application to check for grammar, spelling, content, tone, and school fit. Once the application could not be improved in anyway, Michael pressed submit.

• When Michael was invited to interview, he scheduled a strategy session with his counselors to discuss how he would answer common questions as well as how he would handle trickier questions. After this session, they scheduled a Mock Interview over video chat, during which his counselors asked the same questions in the same way he would eventually be asked during his interview.

How to Get into Harvard Business School: the acceptance letter

Round 2 deadlines will be coming up before you know it!

For help building your candidacy and strategic advice on how to get into Harvard Business School, schedule your free consultation today.