Quietman, I know your pain. I too was rejected today and I am absolutely devastated. Our stories share some key elements, so let me add my two cents.
I applied to HKS last year and was waitlisted. I decided to wait a year and reapply, turning down admission to a couple of prestigious B-schools in the process. Like you, I decided that policy was where my true interests lie. I spent a year bolstering my application: I took a stats course through an HKS-recommended program, did countless rewrites of my essays, and even quit my consulting job to spend a year running my own startup firm and volunteering nearly full time. I really wanted to find a job at an NGO or such, but it unfortunately just didn't come together.
HKS is a prestigious school, and Ivy admissions are notoriously tricky, but I still cannot believe I didn't hit the WL at least. Every aspect of my app was better than last year. Recommendations from current HKS staff. A compelling narrative. Strong GRE verbal, okay quant, and supplemental coursework. Argggg it's driving me crazy that I bombed. Seriously depressed.
Still waiting on Fletcher regular decision for MALD to come back. Will likely attend if admitted. I worked for Harvard a while back and love the Boston area.
Stay strong, man. HLS admittance is seriously impressive. I don't know what happened to HKS this year, they must have had some serious talent.
Stats:
-170V, 158Q, 5.5 GRE
-3.73 cum GPA, 3.82 IR major from "public Ivy"
-Stats, Econ, few math courses, all As and one B
-Strong recs, including former professor and HKS personnel
-3+ years in consulting, strong leadership responsibilities, volunteering throughout
-Founder of multiple volunteering groups in DC metro area
As you can see, my weakest link was lack of professional policy experience, IMHO. I hoped to counteract it with all my volunteering credentials. Guess it didn't work.
HKS is weird, man. My much less polished app from last year got me WLed. Spent a year working on it only to get dinged. Congrats to everyone who got in, but I'm pretty salty about my situation right now. I wanted this. Badly.
If you reapply, you should definitely try to up your quant game. My 158 probably did me no favors, even though I tried to bolster it with supplemental quant coursework.
Good luck.
