Harvard Business School requirements?

[Anonymous]

My DS graduated from GMU in '21 with a degree in CS and a 3.9 GPA and he is currently working for Apple. He is interested in getting an MBA from a good school. He is looking at HBS but he wonders about his chance. He is setting aside about 50K to work with a GMAT expert in preparing for the GMAT. This expert has helped five candidates to score 750+ on the GMAT.

What else is HBS looking for besides GPA and GMAT score? TIA

[Anonymous]

$50k??????
There’s got to be a better use of that money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$50k??????
There’s got to be a better use of that money.

This. If you are going to pay 50k for GMAT prep, maybe you don't have the business sense to attend Harvard Business School.

-- from someone who taught SAT and LSAT for Kaplan (although, admittedly, not GMAT).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$50k??????
There’s got to be a better use of that money.

This. If you are going to pay 50k for GMAT prep, maybe you don't have the business sense to attend Harvard Business School.

-- from someone who taught SAT and LSAT for Kaplan (although, admittedly, not GMAT).

+1
Absolutely do not spend that. Completely idiotic. Perfect scores on that are a dime a dozen. Take a regular Kaplan class and leave it at that. Also, what does he want to do after business school? He may be better just staying where he is instead of losing 2 years and paying for school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$50k??????
There’s got to be a better use of that money.

This. If you are going to pay 50k for GMAT prep, maybe you don't have the business sense to attend Harvard Business School.

-- from someone who taught SAT and LSAT for Kaplan (although, admittedly, not GMAT).

+1
Absolutely do not spend that. Completely idiotic. Perfect scores on that are a dime a dozen. Take a regular Kaplan class and leave it at that. Also, what does he want to do after business school? He may be better just staying where he is instead of losing 2 years and paying for school.

I do not understand why people make comments like this. If OP has the money to do it, why not? There are many parents that drop 20K for SAT prep so that their kids can get perfect scores on the SAT.

[Anonymous]

GMAT prep is 50K????

[Anonymous]

Are you/is he nuts? He is being taken for a ride. Seriously, this is like reportable scam level

[Anonymous]

So it's all about smarts and naturally superior ability? Got it.

[Anonymous]

He should have gone to a better college. Do not spend $50k on a pipe dream. Call HBS and ask if they have ever accepted someone from GMU.

[Anonymous]

Recent comp sci applicants with no personality and average careers at top companies are a dime a dozen. Not saying yours fits that description, just be aware.

Does your son have a unique niche in his career? Has he had any special experiences or accomplishments while there? Does he have a distinct plan for what he wants to do after his MBA and how b-school will enable him to do it? What is his race/ethnicity- HBS is big as b-schools go but small compared to undergrad, so instead of 50 of each kind of applicant, they might take 5-10.

Your son should spend some money on GMAT prep but focus on polishing his story and his “why”. If he feels like he is faking the story or it’s thin, this is a great time to explore special projects at work or take 1-2 more years to earn a promotion or stay in a current position with an easier workload but do something interesting outside of work.

Also key: look at applications. See what they are specifically asking. If he can’t answer the essay questions out loud, right away, or if he is working less than 60-70 hours a week but doesn’t do anything outside of work, he needs to change that.

-top 3 but not HBS b-school alum

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$50k??????
There’s got to be a better use of that money.

This. If you are going to pay 50k for GMAT prep, maybe you don't have the business sense to attend Harvard Business School.

-- from someone who taught SAT and LSAT for Kaplan (although, admittedly, not GMAT).

+1
Absolutely do not spend that. Completely idiotic. Perfect scores on that are a dime a dozen. Take a regular Kaplan class and leave it at that. Also, what does he want to do after business school? He may be better just staying where he is instead of losing 2 years and paying for school.

I do not understand why people make comments like this. If OP has the money to do it, why not? There are many parents that drop 20K for SAT prep so that their kids can get perfect scores on the SAT.

Here's why not: I'm the PP who taught test prep for Kaplan. Good test prep is pretty much good test prep, and the companies like Kaplan that charge about $1600 for an in-person course (they also have a bootcamp, self-study options, tutoring, etc) have it down perfectly. You aren't going to get anything more helpful for the extra $48,400. And ... this is for business school. Like I said above, what kind of business sense do you have if you go around overpaying to that extreme extent, out of insecurity? I'll tell you -- poor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$50k??????
There’s got to be a better use of that money.

This. If you are going to pay 50k for GMAT prep, maybe you don't have the business sense to attend Harvard Business School.

-- from someone who taught SAT and LSAT for Kaplan (although, admittedly, not GMAT).

+1
Absolutely do not spend that. Completely idiotic. Perfect scores on that are a dime a dozen. Take a regular Kaplan class and leave it at that. Also, what does he want to do after business school? He may be better just staying where he is instead of losing 2 years and paying for school.

I do not understand why people make comments like this. If OP has the money to do it, why not? There are many parents that drop 20K for SAT prep so that their kids can get perfect scores on the SAT.

Because it is stupid and idiotic to do that. The kid has a CS degree, is working at Apple (top company). No need to spend $50K on GMAT test prep. And once you have a great undergrad degree and excellent job, you need to seriously consider "why you want the next degree" and what you plan to do with it. It would be 2 years lost wages, the $50K test prep (apparently) and the $75K tuition each year plus living expenses (so ~$200K for the 2 years as Boston is not cheap). So unless you are independently wealthy, one needs to seriously consider why you would pay over $200K to get a degree and loose over $200K in salary, so essentially why you'd pay almost $500K to get a degree? What do you really want out of life? Will it even give you a pay raise? Most people cannot justify spending half million dollars to have the same salary at the end of the 2-3 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$50k??????
There’s got to be a better use of that money.

This. If you are going to pay 50k for GMAT prep, maybe you don't have the business sense to attend Harvard Business School.

-- from someone who taught SAT and LSAT for Kaplan (although, admittedly, not GMAT).

+1
Absolutely do not spend that. Completely idiotic. Perfect scores on that are a dime a dozen. Take a regular Kaplan class and leave it at that. Also, what does he want to do after business school? He may be better just staying where he is instead of losing 2 years and paying for school.

I do not understand why people make comments like this. If OP has the money to do it, why not? There are many parents that drop 20K for SAT prep so that their kids can get perfect scores on the SAT.

Here's why not: I'm the PP who taught test prep for Kaplan. Good test prep is pretty much good test prep, and the companies like Kaplan that charge about $1600 for an in-person course (they also have a bootcamp, self-study options, tutoring, etc) have it down perfectly. You aren't going to get anything more helpful for the extra $48,400. And ... this is for business school. Like I said above, what kind of business sense do you have if you go around overpaying to that extreme extent, out of insecurity? I'll tell you -- poor.

+1000

The entire thing makes no financial sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GMAT prep is 50K????

No! OP's kid is being scammed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GMAT prep is 50K????

No! OP's kid is being scammed.

+1

You can get excellent test prep for a fraction of that.