Harvard 2013 (HBS) - Calling All Applicants

I received an email from reporter for a prominent national publication this morning who would like to speak with HBS and Wharton applicants about their application experience this year at these two programs. in the reporter's words:

"I’m just curious to get a student voice saying whether they think the Wharton and HBS changes offered them a good outlet to show their genuine selves, and whether they felt their fellow applicants were prepared or over-prepared and scripted.

"Ideally, I’d talk to someone in the next day or two. "

This could be a great way to make a connection with a reporter with whom you would like to have a connection.

You do not have to have been accepted; you do have to have reached the interview phase at either one or both schools and be willing to be quoted by name.

If you are interested, please either PM me or email linda@accepted.com.

Thanks,
Linda

I heard back on my aid package! It was very fast and I even had some questions / additional information to include. Still fast and very easy. Now to finding a loan...

Yes - you have to log in. Luck for me, the Stanford reject came about 10 min before Harvard. I used that as the practice to see what to expect. When the HBS email came in, I was so nervous that I blanked on my password and entered the wrong one. Haha - a feeling a DEFINITELY do not miss

Without going into specifics (unless you'd like to!), was your aid package more grants/fellowships versus loans? I'd be curious to learn how a typical aid package is composed.

Thanks.

Hi,

Like esdykes, I received a response very quickly. The financial package typically consists of 3 numbers:

1. Student's contribution
2. Need-based scholarship
3. Loan

1 + 2 + 3 = the total student budget for 2013/2014, which mainly depends on family situation and pre-MBA activities, and the repartition can vary a lot depending on each student's financial situation.

Good luck with your application!

Edit: it might look different for sponsored students, maybe someone can chime in on this.

How is the student contribution determined, are you expected to put in your entire savings?

It is not that I do not want to answer, but I think this is highly dependent on your personal situation. Once admitted, there is a lot of information on how they calculate your contribution + HBS aid + loan.

I will be honest and say that I wasn't expecting very much (I've had a decent to good salary and saved a good amount over the years) but I did receive HBS funding. So, while I need a loan and my contribution is higher than I would have hoped, I feel like the HBS aid is free money that I wasn't expecting. So - in the end - very happy.

Interviewed today in Shanghai. The adcom member did an excellent job making me feel very comfortable, and the 30min (actually ended up being 40!) absolutely flew by. Almost the entire conversation was centered around my job, but there was a question along the lines of "Is there anything we haven't discussed yet that you'd like to bring up?" where I was able to mention my Why MBA / Why Harvard, (which I thought was also pretty brief on my application too). Finishing up my Post-Interview Reflection, and then the waiting game continues!

Awesome! And good luck! The wait is much shorter for you

I had my interview in London last week - very much enjoyed the process. There were two interviewers who made me feel comfortable from the very first moment. As many already posted it is hard, to impossible prepare the answers.

The conversation was retrospective, the interviewers seemed to be little interested in my goals for and after the MBA. There were several deeper questions about the experiences I mentioned in the application form, but for the rest they were building up the questions on my answers. I think it was particularly important for them to clearly understand what I had to say e.g. they would ask clarifying questions like the following: in a particular experience you described, why in your opinion the person handled in this way, how would you act if you were in that situation yourself, what did you learn out of it?

All in all I have the feeling that in the interview I was given a chance to present myself at my best, in some way it might also be a strategy to ensure comparability of the candidates.

As many others I am joining the second round of the wait game now!

Thanks this actually makes a lot of sense, hope I'm lucky enough to actually go through this process!!!

This video is a pretty good overview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZtWfedlDM4

Thanks for the video link!

Two weeks and two days to go!

Anyone else get the "What's Next" email today and get a bit jumpy? 2 weeks is forever!

Any R1 WL candidates get the What next email?

Yep got it, looks like a generic email.

I also got shocked when I first saw it!!!