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Has anyone seen a case where an undergraduate was admitted into HBS? I would like to see a example and will do just as good as those people and maybe have a chance.
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<p>I know of several. </p>
<p>Here's the case of Lisa Schwartz, who graduated from Harvard College in 2003 and was apparently accepted into both HBS and Yale Law School and is going to attend both (!) and complete a JD/MBA. Of course, she was is one of the few people ever, perhaps only the 5th or 6th in history, to ever achieve a perfect undergrad GPA at Harvard.</p>
<p>"Lisa B. Schwartz 03 has managed to achieve what most students consider impossible. </p>
<p>Over her four years at Harvard, Schwartz did not receive a single grade lower than an Anot even an A-minus, giving her a perfect 15.0 grade point average on Harvards 15 point scale. </p>
<p>Schwartz, also a Crimson editor, will receive the Sophia Fruend prize today, an honor awarded each year to the highest ranked summa cum laude graduate in the College. </p>
<p>But unlike most recipients of the award, Schwartz has a perfect academic record. The last person to earn this distinction was Lisas older brother Kevin S. Schwartz 01, who was the first undergraduate in nearly 20 years to achieve such perfection. </p>
<p>Schwartz said that while she was proud of her brother when he won the award, she never felt pressure to repeat his success. </p>
<p>I knew it was most important that I make the most of my own experiences at Harvard, so I never made it a goal to set any records, Schwartz said. </p>
<p>Schwartz, who is graduating with a bachelors degree in government, said she took a wide variety of classes and tried to challenge herself academically.</p>
<p>Ive loved my time at Harvard, Schwartz said. * feel that Ive learned something from all aspects of my experience here, so its definitely is a nice honor.</p>
<p>Fellow students, advisors and professors were not surprised to hear of Schwartzs perfect record.</p>
<p>Loeb Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures Maria M. Tatar predicted such a feat was within Schwartzs reach during her freshman year when she took Tatars core class Fairy Tales, Childrens Literature and the Culture of Childhood. </p>
<p>Lisa is a natural in the academic world, achieving the impossible with power, control, rigor and real style, Tatar said. </p>
<p>In addition to winning the Fruend Prize, Schwartz is also a Truman Scholar and is a member of the USA Today College Academic First Team. </p>
<p>Lisa is such a self-starter and so motivated, said Andrea L. Campbell 88, an assistant professor of government and Schwartzs thesis advisor. </p>
<p>Schwartz wrote her senior thesis on the little-known U.S. Judicial Conference, which makes policy for the federal justice system. The Conference is composed of the Supreme Courts chief justice and other top federal judges. </p>
<p>Campbell said that Schwartzs thesis, which she called extraordinary, dealt with a topic that few have studied. It could easily be published as a book, Campbell said.</p>
<p>The thesis, entitled Judging Policy: The U.S. Judicial Conference and the Politics of Judicial Involvement in Congressional Policy Making, also won the James Gordon Bennett Prize for the outstanding Government thesis on a subject of American domestic or foreign policyone of the top prizes awarded in the department.</p>
<p>Campbell predicted a bright future for Schwartz in public service.</p>
<p>Well, she already worked in the House, the Senate, the United Nations and the Supreme Court, Campbell said. Shell most likely be a major figure and have a prominent future in public policy in some way. </p>
<p>Ronald C. Chen, a law tutor in Eliot House who worked closely with her on business and law school applications, praised Schwartzs commitment to excellence in both her academic and extracurricular involvement.</p>
<p>Writing recommendations for Lisa was always a perilous task, Chen said. One is not certain to succeed in conveying all that she has accomplished in her life thus far. </p>
<p>Schwartz, who has worked in the office of Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, has been president of the Harvard Mock Trial Team, on the Institute of Politics Student Advisory Committee and on the executive board of the Small Claims Advisory Service. </p>
<p>Schwartz will attend Harvard Business School in the fall, pursuing a JD-MBA degree with Yale Law School. "</p>
<p>I believe Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney got into HBS (and Harvard Law and completed a JD/MBA) right after graduation from BYU. However, he graduated from BYU when he was 24, after having served a 2-year Mormon mission in France. I guess that would count as 'work experience'. Romney also graduated as valedictorian from BYU.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.eagletribune.com/news/stories/20020324/FP_004.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.eagletribune.com/news/stories/20020324/FP_004.htm</a></p>
<p>Then I know a guy who just graduated from undergrad, with fairly mediocre grades and GMAT scores, and is now at HBS despite never having worked after undergrad. I suppose you would think this is a relevant example, right? Well, this guy is close to 30 years old (if not over 30). After high school, he went to college but did poorly so he dropped out and joined the military, eventually entering the Special Forces and participated in a number of missions of which he is reluctant to talk to me about, and earning a number of decorations and citations. After his enlistment was up, he went back to college and graduated. His GPA is still poor (mostly because of his really bad grades in his first go at college), and his GMAT ain't that hot. However, I'm sure that HBS was pretty darn impressed with some of the things he did while he was in the Special Forces. </p>
<p>So these are the kinds of people who can get into HBS (or any other elite B-school) right after undergrad, with no intervening work experience.</p>
<p>However, I do have to ask, why so fixated on HBS? What's wrong with Stanford? Or Wharton? Or MITSloan? Or Northwestern Kellogg? I would argue that these B-schools are just as good as HBS.</p>
<p>And furthermore, even if you do want to go to HBS, why does it have to be right after undergrad? What's so bad about working after undergad and going later?</p>