<p>my ultimate goal is to go to harvard MBA, or UPENN MBA.
i was just wondering what i need to do during my 4 years my college to achieve my goal.
i might graduate early though. im gonna try to...
but anyways i know some factors that i need to work on.
-GPA
-prestige of undergrad school (is Cornell fine?)
-extracurricular
-internship
-work experience
-GMAT
-essay
-awards/honors?
-recs</p>
<p>so my questions are
1. could someone possibly rank these factors in the order of importance?
2. which extracurricular activities are helpful in increasing my chance? plz don say follow your passion, etc. im a guy who does not have a single passion so i can't really follow my passion. </p>
<p>Factors you need to work on( in order of importance)</p>
<p>1) GPA = GMAT
2) Work experience ( Leadership roles; roles where you can show leadership potential)
3) Extracurricular = Essay = awards/honors = recs
4) prestige of undergrad school (is Cornell fine?)
5) Internship</p>
<p>For extracurricular activities, focus on Community Services or do internship with Start Ups. Take initiative in promoting their products/services.</p>
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<p>By far the most important factor is your work experience, and great work experience will lead to great recs (employer recs, not professors). </p>
<p>Many MBA students have lower GPAs and GMATs (a post from a few days ago show the average GPA/GMAT for accepted asian students was lower than those rejected). Not saying you should shoot for low grades but it just shows it’s definitely not the most important factor. </p>
<p>Internships are key as they lead to work experience, as post #3 indicates. </p>
<p>Prestige of UG only factors in to getting a job, it’s not weighed heavily at all in actual admissions. That being said it can be a pretty important factor in getting that first job out of undergrad.</p>
<p>1) Leadership Potential (conveyed in essays)
2) Work Experience (with track record of leadership and/or potential for leadership)
3) GMAT / Prestige of Undergrad / GPA
4) Recommendations from influential people saying that you have leadership potential</p>
<p>1&2 could be interchangeable</p>
<p>Harvard wants to put out the world’s future CEO’s and top brass. This isn’t to say that other B-Schools don’t want the same thing, but its just that Harvard guns for leadership above all. </p>
<p>I don’t know if you’ve heard the old story about the UPS delivery guy who got into HBS because he was able to convey in his application his rise to success at UPS and his ability to take on more and more leadership responsibilities at an unusually quick pace. Ofcourse this is one of the outliers in terms of who gets in, but I think it makes the point rather well: Harvard looks for leaders.</p>
<p>If you want to get in there, definately get good grades and score well on the GMAT, but also make sure that once you have a job that you are maneuvering your way up the food chain quickly. It wouldn’t hurt to join a few different organizations and run for president or become a member of different boards either.</p>