At MBA Mission, we have long asked candidates not to mistake HBS’s openness to younger candidates as some sort of prejudice against older candidates. Today, Dee Leopold, HBS’ Director of Admissions, addressed this issue via her blog. Leopold noted that 371 of its 912 entering class members – roughly forty percent – are three years removed from their college graduation. Of course, this means that 541 class members (sixty percent) are four years or more removed from graduation. While Leopold did not parse this data further, which certainly would have been nice, she did offer an olive branch to “older” candidates, encouraging all candidates to apply at their respective optimal times.
Of course, logic should nonetheless rule: while candidates can always strive to increase their GMAT scores, get a promotion or improve on a bad grade, candidates, of course, can do nothing at all about their age. If you happen to be an older candidate, you should simply accept this reality and make the most of your application.