Thanks for John for diffusing the situation, Sandy will just reap you apart...his assessment is good, but could have been presented in a lighter tone/attitude
Olivia, if you see this message, please get in touch. As a fellow Babson grad, I was so impressed to see how gracefully and professionally you rose above being cut off and dismissed. I am happy to offer you a portion of my time for free as you navigate the MBA admissions process.
why doesn't she have the skill? her parents went to college. If you leave the answer where she did, they can infer that she took a long time to figure things out -- not a good look. If she said that she just neglected those skills or didn't care and then did an attitude shift, it implies that the problem is solved for the FUTURE in addition to the past. You're not gonna have multiple attitude shifts (hopefully) but a candidate that took 2 years to figure out how to study might be too dumb to go to HBS. Sandy's answer is actually on point