看看那些年誰被哈佛,斯坦福商學院拒收了

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.

他擁有沃頓商學院(Wharton)的金融學士學位，還曾經在艾意凱諮詢公司(L.E.K. Consulting )和巴克萊銀行(Barclays)工作過兩年。他的GMAT（研究生管理專業入學考試）成績是740分，GPA（平均績點）爲3.45。這位印度裔美國人不僅是一位零差點球員，還攀登過珠穆朗瑪峯。然而，就在上週，哈佛商學院(Harvard Business School)和斯坦福大學商學院(Stanford Graduate School of Business)雙雙拒絕了他的入學申請。

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.

27歲的她已經成功創辦了兩家初創公司，受到了投資人和各大媒體的關注。她畢業於一所“小常春藤”(Baby Ivy)盟校，GMAT成績爲760分，GPA爲3.5。她甚至被一家國際性的雜誌選爲30歲以下30位最佳企業家之一。然而，她上週被斯坦福商學院放棄。

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.

他今年26歲，是雅培製藥公司(Abbott Laboratories)的一位生物醫學工程師，獲得過兩次晉升，還受到領導團隊的一致好評。他的GMAT成績高達790分，足足比哈佛商學院最近一次錄取新生的平均分數高出了60分。然而，哈佛拒絕了他就讀該校MBA課程的申請。

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?

上週的首輪入學申請評估中，這幾位MBA申請人要麼被哈佛或斯坦福拒絕，要麼被這兩家商學院雙雙放棄。然而，他們擁有令人印象深刻的GMAT成績，專業和課外成就也相當出衆。那麼，爲什麼連他們也被拒之門外呢？

We asked Sandy Kreisberg, founder of 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.

我們邀請 創始人、著名的MBA入學顧問桑迪•克雷斯伯格審視一下這幾位被拒絕申請人的簡歷和原始資料，同時向他們說明未能進入哈佛或斯坦福的原因。上週，這兩家商學院公佈了它們的首輪決定，數千位申請人收到了令人失望的消息。

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.

進入哈佛或斯坦福當然要面臨着不小的障礙。哈佛商學院最近一次錄取新生的GMAT平均成績是727分，斯坦福是732分。本科階段的GPA也處在令人流鼻血的區域：斯坦福是3.73，哈佛是3.67。每年，斯坦福商學院的錄取比例不到7%，哈佛商學院不到12%。

Dinged by Harvard &Stanford

被哈佛和斯坦福同時拒絕

• 740 GMAT

• GMAT成績爲740分

• 3.45 GPA

• GPA爲3.45

• Undergraduate degree in finance from the University of Pennsylvania

• 擁有賓夕法尼亞大學( University of Pennsylvania)的金融學士學位

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

• 在艾意凱諮詢公司工作了兩年，在巴克萊銀行倫敦和紐約分公司從事過三年的投行業務

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

• 利用課外時間參加過社區活動；爲兩家賓夕法尼亞大學畢業生創辦的公司擔任過顧問工作；校隊成員之一，零差點球員；也攀登過珠穆朗瑪峯

• Indian American "likely returning to UPenn"

• 這位印度裔美國人“有可能重返賓夕法尼亞大學”

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.

桑迪的分析：這份簡歷沒有驚喜。攀登過珠峯（和零差點球員）可以把成色不足的黃金變爲黃金，但不會把白銀變成黃金。而我們在這裏看到的，是一塊實心銀：一個有點低的GPA，一段在艾意凱諮詢公司和巴克萊銀行的工作經歷，這些都挺體面的。但GPA不是3.9，供職公司不是麥肯錫( McKinsey)和高盛(Goldman)，也不是KKR。確實沒有什麼能夠真正打動招生官員的地方。

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.

人們拒絕直面真相，因爲他們不想完全坦誠地承認商學院招生究竟有多麼不公平。但你的命運取決於你上了哪所大學。要是你上的是普林斯頓大學( Princeton )，而不是賓夕法尼亞大學，你或許就會去麥肯錫，而不是去艾意凱諮詢公司工作。隨後或許將跳槽到高盛或摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)，而不是巴克萊銀行。然後，你就會被哈佛和斯坦福商學院錄取。現在呢，你很可能會重返沃頓商學院。

Dinged At Stanford:

被斯坦福商學院放棄

• 760 GMAT

• GMAT成績爲760分

• 3.5 GPA

• GPA爲3.5

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

• 從一所東海岸私立“小常青藤”盟校獲得生物學和英語學士學位

• 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

• 工作經歷包括在5年內創辦了兩家公司，出任營銷和運營主管，並受到投資人和主流媒體的關注；5年的國際工作經驗；創辦的公司被成功售出；領導過多達15人的團隊

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

• 入選一家國際性雜誌30歲以下的30位最佳企業家之一，還獲得過兩家業內領先公司的獎項。

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

• 課外活動包括青年志願者工作，還參加過鼓勵婦女從事科技工作的項目

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

• 目標：創建一家創業加速器，致力於幫助擁有進軍國際市場雄心的公司

• 27-year-old female

• 女性，27歲

• 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."

• 申請被拒絕後，她說：“說老實話，我很茫然。學生和老師們都認爲，我應該是十拿九穩的。我猜可能是因爲GPA不高，公司名氣不大吧。順便說一下，我注意到，斯坦福商學院在錄取理工科女生方面的記錄非常差勁。”

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.

桑迪的分析：哎呀，點燃我的激情吧！如果有任何一個能夠大加鞭笞斯坦福商學院僞善面目的機會，我絕對願意這樣做，而且肯定幹過很多次了。

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.

我認爲你被拒絕的原因在於你的GPA過低。如今這個時代，畢業成績通脹，3.5遠遠低於斯坦福大學錄取新生的平均績點（3.73）。我敢打賭，在斯坦福看來，你的公司還不夠酷，或者還不足以改變世界。

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.

儘管哈佛和斯坦福經常公開發表他們有多麼熱愛初創企業之類的廢話，但要是你在申請作文中宣稱你想創辦服裝租賃網站Rent The Runway，甚或Snapchat，那將會是一個減分項，特別是如果你沒有任何創業經驗的話。商學院對初創公司持懷疑態度，因爲任何一個笨蛋都可以創辦一家，現在創業的人可不少啊。

Dinged at Harvard (no interview)

被哈佛商學院放棄（沒有獲得面試機會）

• 790 GMAT

• GMAT成績爲790分

• 3.15 GPA

• GPA爲3.15

• Undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering from Rutgers University

• 從羅格斯大學(Rutgers University)獲得生物醫學工程學士學位

• 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

• 在雅培製藥公司工作過4年——做過製造部門的工程師，工作內容涉及新型醫療設備的研發和推出，獲得過兩次晉升，受到領導團隊的一致好評。

• 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

• 目標：把過去4年間在雅培公司獲得的生物工程技能和金融知識結合在一起，成爲雅培製藥公司的一名高管。

• 26-year-old male

• 男性，26歲

• 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."

• 他說：“我懷疑GPA低可能是我被拒絕的原因。我還有沒有希望憑藉這個難看的成績進入一所排名前5的商學院？此外，我看見你的專欄文章說，商學院青睞擁有生物製藥背景的申請人。那麼，這個光環是不是也覆蓋醫療器械行業？我想知道，跳槽到生物製藥領域能不能加大我的機會。”

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.

桑迪的分析：我不知道究竟發生了什麼事。790分的GMAT挺惹眼的，雅培製藥算是一家知名公司吧。現實世界中，醫療器械也是一個相當不錯的專業。你本應該更好地描述你的夢想，說你想成爲一位具有創新意識、希望增添價值、致力於服務窮人的領導者。你說你想成爲雅培製藥的CEO，這聽起來有點缺乏想象力。用你們的行話來說，有點過於“通用”了。我不確定這一點是否真的破壞了你的機會。這要看你當時的表現。

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.

如果你的申請作文看起來過於寬泛，推薦信沒有經過精心的策劃（一些經常跟醫療設備打交道的人往往沒有寫作經驗），再加上你的GPA比較低，本科就讀院校——羅格斯大學也不是哈佛商學院青睞的院校，或者說學術血統不夠正統，那麼，你很有可能在這一點上失分。

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.

所有這些小東西一點一滴地加起來，就有可能成爲大問題，特別是如果這些小東西開始形成一個負面圖景的話。在這一點上，790分的GMAT其實反而對你不利。他們或許開始懷疑，你的智商不錯，但情商有限，不懂社交。這些完全是我的猜測。要是我冷不丁地碰到你的申請書，我或許會說，鑑於你的GMAT成績和在雅培製藥的工作經驗，你被錄取的機率是40-50%。我估計我會給你一個面試機會。