Calling all HBS Fall 2010 Candidates

Hey all,
As people are starting to prep for interviews, I thought I'd finally post my interview experience from R1

From what I've read, the HBS interview seems to vary quite a bit from the very easy-going/conversational to the almost stress test type where people are getting interrupted mid-answer to move on to the next question. I was fortunate enough to get the former. In general, there were a lot more high-level questions than I thought there would be. Here are the questions I can remember:

Why did you choose xyz university?
How did you know you wanted to go into business?
Why consulting?
Why did you choose your current firm?
Tell me about a typical project
What's the best part of your job? Worst part?
What would you change/improve about your firm? (this seems to be a popular HBS tricky question, which I had luckily seen...)
Why do you think your firm hasn't done this yet? (...but was definitely not prepared for this follow-up question)
Tell me about your experience working with xyz organization outside of work?
What would you bring to HBS?
(no time for questions)

One thing to keep in mind is that the interviewer will have read your application, so they will ask targeted questions. She also specifically asked that I use examples/stories that I did not mention in my essays (although you should probably do this regardless). Lastly, I got my interview invite the day after most people did, so don't be too discouraged if you don't get an invite on day one.

Hope this helps someone, good luck to all

He also sounds really humble, polished, and down to earth.

What are your three most substantial accomplishments and why do you view them as such? (600-word limit)
The most important question by far: as a rule these accomplishments should reflect your work, your development and extra currics. The purpose of essays for HBS is find out what makes you tick --they already will know a lot about you, so think added value not sketching out your story, they know that. OK to write one that in general says, "Coming to USA (or overcoming childhood b..c of poverty blah blah) and thriving by dint of finding mentors etc. is accomplishment--e.g. life story summary. Usual work b.s. is ok, e.g. I did X at work which required being leader and overcoming obstacles and then say how; also ok to say I did extra curric X which had impact1 2 3 and here is how I did it. Accomplishments should be concrete w. metric outcomes if pzzble, e.g. impact at work was x, raised y dollars, increased club size fr. x to y. But more imptly, you need to explain HOW YOU DID IT, how got others to cooperate, etc. etc.

What have you learned from a mistake? (400-word limit)
Yikes, this Q sucks and usually does not add value, IMHO, after having read over ~300 of them last year. It is possible to 'score' here w. some deeply personal story about addiciton and recovery, disappointing or lying to parents, lovers etc. and why, & what you learned, but the vast majority of answers, even among accepted kids, take the form, "I made a mistake at work b.c. [too arrogant, too rushed, too focused on my ego, did not listen b.c., too immature to get help, too afraid to get help, blah, blah, or mismanaged my first subord for same reasons, and consequences and b.s. about how better you have become w. examples. Duh, try to avoid that, but remember, 70 percent of the admitted class wrote essays just like that, so if you are not fortunate enuf to have recovered fr. meth, etc. well, write one of those dufus essays.

What would you like the MBA Admissions Board to know about your undergraduate academic experience?
hmmmm, do not answer this Q in general UNLESS you need to--e.g. explain bummer grades or something else clinical and important, it is REALLY hard to add value w. this. My guess, number of admitted kids who answer this Q=less than 10 percent, which cld also be the pool of all applicant percent (or maybe not, if there are LOTS of kids explaining bad grades who dont get in. )

Discuss how you have engaged with a community or organization.
winner!--most kids answer this (both admitted and all applicants) b.c. it is HBS sweet spot, it allows you to do a leadership demonstration piece. Classic answer is Over x period I dealt w. Org Y, and made these innovations, added members, built out org (specify) and here is how I got results and others to help me. Oddball but effective variants are engagment w. your family or a cause (e..g based on your affinity or ethnic background) over time, same jive tho. What you did, how you led, or worked in teams, etc. etc. As a rule extra currics work better here, but if you got a super strong work story, that works, but less effective IMHO.

Tell us about a time when you made a difficult decision.
hmmmmm, new Q. My hunch, in general. AVOID, unless you are burning to answer this b.c. you actually have MADE a difficult decision. What works in these apps is real accomplishments w. results, bang, bang bang. altho adcoms will swear til Sunday they want to know how you think blah blah and may even believe it themselves (until actually reading apps and not pontificating in Forums) -going thru some decision tree etc. etc. like who cares? Sure, if you can combine this w. some accomplishment, e.g. how as captain of team I benched star player b.c. of my coaching style, and other key decisions like that, or how you decided, after leading student demos in Commie country growing up, you called them off b.c. loss of life was not worth it, well, yeah, if you got a story like that, sure. Coming out to parents, hmmmmm, my guess is, they are going to get A LOT of those stories . Stay in the closet, essay wise. altho trust me, in next year's admitted class there will be ~20-30 kids w. coming out to parents stories admitted, but it will not be THAT essay which got them in. Pulling plug on mom or dad, etc. could work if you can show how you marshalled medical and other family members to make that call.

What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you?
Most kids answer the career vision essay b.c. 1. they already got answer fr. other apps, they think HBS cares, they want to also waste our friggin time by saying WHY HBS (HBS DONT CARE!!!!) Well, the trend is your friend here, you should answer this Q too, but beware--you need to think MACRO, we want a VISION not a business plan, not a continuation of what you are doing, but some vision of how the platform of your current life and accomplishments is a sort of foundation for a vision which is based on it in some deep way but yet builds it out. A good answer has a PC or informed variant of whatever industy you choose, dont worry about being a cliche, all those cliches get in, and several DUMS DUMS thinking of marching to their own stupid drum often do real damage here. Make sure what you want to do sorta requires an MBA, and slug in some part which explains personal sig. to you.

Write a cover letter to your application introducing yourself to the Admissions Board.
Dunno, this seems like fun, but you should have introduced yourself LONG before this by dint of all the other essays and accomplishments and resume. Soooo, I have a hard time seeing a good answer here. As a rule, wild stuff, like list of favorite songs, books, etc. and Twitter type baloney, which you think is SOOOO intimate and clever, dont work. I've read several attempts at that, so you keep the sun roof open in the winter and sing along to the radio, who gives a F. DO NOT EXPLAIN WHY YOU WANT TO ATTEND HBS, THAT IS NO VALUE AND FOR LOSERS. SURE SOME KIDS WHO DO THAT WILL GET IN, BUT IT WILL BE DESPITE THAT PART. I suppose if you got some amazing Lost Boys of Sudan story w. family trauma, etc. etc, you could do a good job here, you could also finese career vision question in here and write cover letter about how background etc. impacts goals, yeah, but you could do that w. vision question too (and should). Dangers here more likely than value. But tempting, good luck, and your funeral.

Harvard Essays Analysis

Essay 2: Accomplishments

April 28th, 2007

2. What are your three most substantial accomplishments and why do you view them as such? (600-word limit)

Yeah, that’s a tough one. Maybe even the toughest. When I visited the US couple of months before applying, I went to one of those huge US book stores and amusingly surveyed the University Admissions Help section. I was less amused when I picked up “65 Successful Harvard Business School Application Essays: With Analysis by the Staff of the Harbus, The Harvard Business School Newspaper”. The first essay I read was this one, and the guy’s accomplishments were the following (quoting from memory…): 1. broke his leg/arm/some combination of them in a horrible accident, was told he’d never walk again, and was able to walk within 4 months, 2. after that, managed to graduate with honors and start his own company, which was incredibly successful blah-blah, 3. also founded and a was a member of an extremely valued jazz band, which had concerts in fancy clubs and was featured in several magazine articles.

“Wow!”, was my first thought after reading that, “I stand NO chance at HBS!”. See, I’m not a superstar. Haven’t founded any company (yet?), don’t have a band, and (fortunately!) didn’t have any accidents. What will I write about? My own accomplishments, which I thought were pretty decent up until this point, seemed to turn pale in comparison.

Well apparently, they were just enough for HBS. I can tell you roughly what they were:

1. Overcoming a major professional hurdle at work and managing to come out of it in a very good way, including a prestigious award.
2. Launching a significant initiative at work, that was completely ‘mine’ from the conception of the idea to its successful implementation, which involved guiding other team members. In the long run, this initiative also led the way to my career progress from my first position to the current one.
3. Successfully combining a demanding full-time job and demanding full-time undergraduate studies.

See? In my opinion, these are quite impressive achievements, but they’re certainly not ’superman’ ones. I definitely view them as my substantial achievements and I’m proud of each and every one of them, but I don’t think they’re ‘extraordinary’ or ’superhuman’. I think HBS is aware of the fact that not many of us would have ’superman’ achievements, at least not at this point in time.

After writing a draft for this essay, I showed it to someone whose opinion I highly valued. Her feedback was - “That’s it? I think you should come up with something more impressive!”. Naturally, I was upset. But after thinking it through, I just realized that this is me, these are my achievements, I’m proud of them, and I’m not going to embellish or make up anything. And apparently I was right.

A few technical comments:

* Start off with this essay, even though it might be the hardest - or at least start with an outline or decide what are the accomplishments you’re going to write about. After that, the accomplishments or key strengths that were ‘left out’ would need to be mentioned, somehow, in the other essays (like the first or the third).
* 600 words isn’t much. Unless one of the achievements is clearly more significant than the others, make a deliberate effort to devote1/3 ( 200 words) for each one. Otherwise one will look more important, just because of the length.
* I gave a short ‘title’ for each accomplishment: “Accomplishment 1“ etc. It makes it clearer and easily shows the reader that there are three distinct ones.
* Don’t forget to answer the second part of the question: “and why do you view them as such”. Sometimes, especially when the accomplishment isn’t that “bright”, the explanation can give you an extra “wow factor”. Of course here you can also explicitly bind the accomplishment to the values and qualities you want to convey in the application:

“The ability to juggle between responsibilities and requirements in different fields, and to successfully perform under time constraints for a long period, make me view this achievement as a significant one.”

Summary

Though the essay is undoubtedly one of the hardest to write, I think you should view it as an excellent opportunity to showcase your best strengths and achievements to date, without the risk of sounding arrogant or vain. After all, that’s exactly what they want to hear, and this is your chance to impress, point-blank!

businesschat: What does Harvard look for in a candidate?
HBSDeirdre: We're looking for an assortment of leaders, all of whom can thrive in a demanding, fast-paced, highly verbal academic environment. Our classroom experience is quite different from traditional academia; students need to be fully present and engaged and ready to contribute. There are no opportunities to be a bystander. We're looking for people who, at every opportunity, have chosen to be givers vs. takers and don't sit by and wait for others to take the initiative.

ramtelecom: What do you, compared to previous admissions directors, look for in new HBS candidates?
HBSDeirdre: I have been thinking a lot about leadership and how to both define and identify it. I think there's a danger in thinking that there is just one model of a leader—someone who is larger than life and always out in front—who should be at HBS. I prefer to think in terms of an assortment of leaders, some of whom gravitate to traditional leadership roles in an established organization, some of whom like to start things and get them up and running, some of whom motivate small groups, "thought leaders" who provide the unexpected and provocative way of looking at a problem. One of the most exciting ways of thinking about diversity in the case method classroom is on the dimension of leadership styles—bringing together all these folks and hearing how they tackle the real life problems in a case.

sendo: What kind of qualities are you looking for in international applicants?
HBSDeirdre: We don't view international applicants as being in a separate pool. All candidates are evaluated on the same criteria. We find that our international applicants offer the same measure of diversity of work experience and leadership styles as those from the U.S.

littledhc: I want to know if taking the GMAT exam multiple times is frowned upon and if a lower score in a previous attempt reflects negatively on an HBS application?
HBSDeirdre: We look only at the score that you report in the application

PJC2007: How re-applicant friendly is HBS? I have heard and read that chances aren't good the second time around.
HBSDeirdre: There's absolutely no stigma in our application process against re-applicants. When an application is read by the admissions board, previous status is unknown. However, if a re-applicant is invited to interview, we may choose to include the previous application in our preparation for the interview.

cmrMBA: How creative can applicants get with their essays? I've heard you look for essays that "stand out," but I wonder if there is a line you don't want to cross.
HBSDeirdre: As I said before, our process is not to find the most unusual or striking essays—it's to use the essays to try to get to know the candidate. Use the essays to tell us about the real you, vs. trying to get our attention.

Paradosso: When evaluating CVs, do you take into account the differences in education cycles among countries? Should one convert his academic title to the nearest U.S. standard or maintain the original?
HBSDeirdre: We have students from about 70 countries. We're well-versed in understanding the differences in international academic systems, so don't worry about trying to translate for us.

businesschat: I have 15 years of work experience and want to do my MBA now. Is too much experience a problem for getting admission?
HBSDeirdre: This is an important question: Whether you have 15 years of experience or two, think about whether the MBA is going to add value and be a significant transformational experience. For many candidates, two to three years is just right; for others, they are "ready" after a much greater number of years of experience. There's no right time.

PeteN: Other than the brand-name reputation and the case-study-only approach, what are the most distinguishing factors of the HBS program?
HBSDeirdre: I'd focus on the case method learning model, the required curriculum which gives all students an opportunity to get a solid grounding across business disciplines, and the distinctive nature of faculty interaction with students in a very high-quality teaching environment. Faculty at HBS can't rely on prepared lectures since the case method is organic and continually evolving. One-third of the cases in any given course are brand-new every year, and that's a critical way of being on the cutting edge.
In addition, one-third of the cases used are about international organizations, in large part due to the network of five HBS global research centers. There are significant opportunities available for HBS students to be global, both here and abroad.
Unlike many schools, we are a residential campus, with 33 buildings on 40 acres. About 80% of students live on campus, which makes for a close-knit community experience.

Gosh! I totally forgot about the Resume! Still have to frame that. And prepare the transcript. I've downloaded the form from the applyyourself HBS portal, and I'm totally flummoxed. Can I use any other format?

And prepare the transcript. I've downloaded the form from the applyyourself HBS portal, and I'm totally flummoxed. Can I use any other format?

Essays
The most important thing here is to decide what you really want to convey to the adcom and what stories you will tell. For HBS I suggest that each example displays your leadership ability, and shows that you posses qualities that are critical to leading effectively. Everyone's definition of leadership varies so I suggest that you follow your own belief (personally I think decisiveness, vision, and confidence are critical to leadership). Then you will have to decide which stories line up with the essay questions, which I don't believe is too difficult with HBS' broad range of questions. If you can, take a novel approach to answering a question. I ended up completely changing my culture shock essay10 days before submitting the application because I realized that culture shock can include much more than travels to other countries.

I suggest that you have your essays reviewed by multiple people, I had two sisters, a current HBS student, and a professional editing service review my essays. If you are a very technical person (Engineer or in IT) I suggest that you have non-technically oriented people review your essays. Always remember that it is your application though and you have the final say in what changes and what stays. While I am on the topic of editing, I have to plug Edit Avenue (https://www.editavenue.com). I had all of my essays reviewed by Fin&Marketing and she was able to provide copy editing and advice on content without charging the ridiculous MBA admissions consultant fees.

I believe the most difficult part of the HBS' essays is meeting the ridiculously short word limits. I ended up removing many of the details from each story and had my editors confirm that the essays still made sense. The essays also lacked smooth transitions because those often take a lot of words. My essays were not pulitzer prize winning works, don't worry if writing is not your strong point, I believe it is one of my weaker points. As long as you can clearly show and not tell your story, your writing should be OK.

Interview
First off, if you get an interview invitation, congrats! When I met my interviewer, I was a little intimidated because he seemed like the type of person that would thoroughly grill you and take pleasure in breaking you down. It turns out that it was actually a very enjoyable experience, and had to be the most comfortable interview I have ever had. I believe everyone is interviewed by an HBS adcom, and it is not a blind interview. The adcom will know your profile very well, and have specific areas that they want to probe into. I prefer this approach because I did not find myself recycling my essay and resume material, it was obvious they already knew that well because it would be used as a spring board for their question.

The only piece of advice I can really offer for the interview is to know yourself!!! I know it sounds stupid, but they will start asking about things you barely even mention in the essays. I spent ~10mins of the interview talking about a topic that was not mentioned in my essays, but he knew my profile well enough to read between the lines. Keep your cool throughout the interview, and if needed, take a second to think things over or ask them to repeat the question. Some people just get too wound up and tense which then makes them panic and blow the interview. I listened to some Linkin Park & Jay-Z before the interview and it got me pumped up and in the right mood, being in the right mental state is half of the battle.

I walked out of the interview very satisfied with how things went. I knew that I put my best foot forward, and had no regrets.

HBS site on case method: https://www.hbs.edu/learning/case.html

Taken from Harvard Bound blog (source: https://myharvardmba2010.blogspot.com/20 ... dents.html)

4) How effective is the case method for quantitative courses such as accounting and finance?

This question will be answered very differently depending on your personal background, work experience and level of quantitative skills. If you've kept up with my blog at all, you'll see that I'm not the strongest in the quant area, nor do I particularly love dealing with numbers (I'm much more of a creative, people person). While this does put me at a disadvantage immediately in these courses, I've learned very quickly to take it all with a grain of salt. What I mean by this is two things: firstly, I have no intent of going into banking or accounting, so for me, a general foundation in the subject will likely suffice, and any additional quant training could be learned on the job or through additional outside coursework. Secondly, while the HBS grading system tends to compare students to one another, I had to take a step back to keep my sanity and remind myself that I am truly incomparable to many of my sectionmates in this area. Without a quantitative work background, I will never be as good in accounting as the two CPAs in my class, and I will never be able to model as quickly or effectively as the former I-bankers. But that's okay! Really. It's hard to come to grips with at first, but you start to recognize your personal competitive advantages quite quickly here and it's best to run with them and take the other courses for what their worth.

Now I realize I have not at all answered the question yet, but I felt like that was important to say. Personally, I don't find the case method as conducive to truly learning the techniques and concepts of accounting and finance. For me, a combination of case learning and lecture/small workshop courses would be more effective in helping me get a grip on the basics. The good news is that there are tons of resources on campus (whether it be second year tutors, sectionmates, people from your learning team, textbooks in the library, meeting with professors, etc.) that you can employ to help yourself understand these concepts. It's without a doubt more work, but that doesn't mean you can get there. On the upside, the case method is a great way to teach you how to think about business problems in an environment where information is ambiguous and often incomplete. You truly learn a ton in class every day.

I would highly, highly suggest that you take the time (if possible) to come visit HBS and see the case method in action. It's a truly different classroom experience from anything I've seen, and watching a course will give you the best idea of whether or not you can see yourself thriving in an environment like it.

Taken from Mark and Jie's Journey to B-School blog (source: https://markandjie.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_archive.html)

2. The case method: He felt the case method was the single most valuable feature of HBS. If you want to learn finance, he said, then go to community college and you can learn all you want about the mechanics of finance. Or go to the library and learn it on your own. But the case method teaches you how to think about finance (or any subject), and it teaches you that your thinking can be enhanced by having a strong group of thinkers around you. Learning to think in a new, rigorous, thorough manner was the number one thing he got out of HBS, it was worth more than all the other benefits of combined.

Taken from AGirlsMBA at Harvard Business School blog (source: https://agirlsmba.blogspot.com/2007/12/h ... ation.html)

CASE METHOD: I know a lot people have doubts in this for classes like accounting and finance, and it's not for everyone, but I find it amazing. The best part is that while I learn the concepts (which anyone could do from a book) what we really learn are about the managerial decisions that executives must make for cases that are "on the edge". When is it appropriate to change depreciation methods? Is it representative of the business we are in? How would the change affect the financial statements and in turn the investors view of the company? I truly appreciate the no-laptop policy, and I can't imagine a situation where students are more engaged and enthusiastic to be in class.