Harvard 2013 (HBS) - Calling All Applicants

Sandy - based on your clent volume, and other perceptions, how do you seen the app volume at hbs this year? Additionally, do you (or anyone else) know the application no. Split aong the three rounds?

Thanks

Just wondering, any HBS 2+2 candidates here?

Submitted application yesterday. Best of luck to all!

I didn't make it. Essays weren't as good as I wanted them to be. Sad that I'll have to delay, but going for Round 2. I think it's for the best.

App submitted..

@str1der: I was wondering the same thing too.Did try to do some small correlation between last year's "HBS Calling" at this stage.. The Tuesday morning after the application deadline last year had 15 pages of threads in this very same section.. Now we have 9... Relevant? Maybe, Maybe not...

I do think there is some corelation, but dont know what to make of it. Today, EssaySnark (www.essaysnark.com) has a post up that says how they havent seen enough Columbia apps coming in till now, versus last year where 12 people at Columbia had already applied and had been accepted at the school in ED. (Full Disclosure: Havent read the whole thing as I dont have premium access)

Until now, there is NO NEWS at all of even 1 ED admit on this forum or elsewhere (or if 1, then not 3-4 etc. By this time last year, multiple people had already been accepted)

@str1der: I actually read the full post.. Essaysnark did not paint it as a secular trend across schools..the point there was more about specific issues in Columbia which might have led to the decline but there is a follow up post tomorrow..Might throw some insights...

Thanks, my apologies - I didn't intend it to come across as EssaySnark's Columbia post was common across all schools, but that he has indicated regarding one school and a trend may emerge in time.

So now that the R1 deadline has passed ... how are you guys thinking about the post-interview write-up/"email"/additional essay/whatever you want to call it?

Are you even thinking about it right now, or are you going to wait until you find out if you got an interview before wasting the mental energy to devise a strategy for this final hurdle of the admissions process?

I have spent a little time contemplating what I might write, but haven't come up with any good ideas yet. May choose to [a] wait and see if I even get an interview and [b] wait until after the interview before really spending much more time on it.

Just interested in how others are thinking about it!

I think the final essay will be extremely contextual, depending on how your interview goes. I am writing own thoughts or ideas when they come to me in case no strong topics result from meeting the adcom, but I don't want to have a pre-determined idea when writing about something related to the interview may make a bigger impact. Just my take on it.

i'll worry about it when/if i get it! until then there are other apps to work on!

Makes sense, no one even knows how the interviews will be like, and the post-interview reflection is completely based on that...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the post-interview reflection (since its due within 24hours) is adcom's way to gauge if an application used a consultant?

I would say that's at least part of the consideration. Even though they have access to AWA scores/essays, it is fairly easy enough to cruise to a 6 on that. There is much less time to "polish" the reflection to anywhere near the same level as the essays given the dynamic topic (each reflection is going to be different from the other) and the 24 hr turnaround. Not sure if you have been on any of the webinars but the HBS adcom have hinted multiple times that the admissions essays have become too constructed - probably the reason behind the essay revisions this year. So the reflection in tandem with the interview itself should provide a strong enough level of differentiation for them to make decisions.

I have seen some consultants comment that they will be "on call" during interview days to help their clients through the process, so I am not sure if the reflection will necessarily impact their use.

Can we have some other stats aggregated and posted, when available...for example, out of the 218 current HBS applicants for 2015, can you post # who are female vs. male, and what industries people are coming from. Makes it easier to compare than from scrolling. Would also be cool to have a calculator where you could type in your gmat and gpa and see what % of applicants have both scores above you. Then could multiply that by expected 3000 R1 apps to see based purely on academics how many you're competing with.

for SURE!
But hey, like we can't turn around stuff in 12 hours! Pshaw... who are they kidding?!
(oh man, no more sleep for me)

You can actually copy-paste the user info table onto an Excel spreadsheet, and create a pivot table based on that, in order to get some additional statistics. For example, out of those who have indicated that they are applying in Round 1:
- 14 come from consulting
- 10 from IB
- 10 from computer SW/HW
- 5 from non-profit
- 3 from consumer products

As far as undegrad goes, we have:
- 33 engineers
- 12 economists
- 11 who studied finance
- 11 who studied business
- 8 who studied computer science
- 9 who studied sciences & maths

Regarding ages, most applicants are 26-28, with only 6 being 24 and under (surprisingly, there's someone who is either applying at 16 years old, or cannot properly complete online forms).

My profile: international applicant, male, 24 years old with 3 years experience in consumer goods at the time of matriculation. 720 GMAT, First Class Honours undergrad from a UK top ten uni, masters from Oxbridge.

A.