Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016

I don't mean to disrespect HBS students and alums. There are obviously many smart and dare I say good people that attend HBS. But the reason I am writing about this is that people don't truly understand the culture and various attributes of different schools and just go for schools like HBS because of the name. Every other person thinks HBS is his or her dream school. Why? What do they like about the program? In most cases, not much other than the "ranking" or prestige. For instance, I have spoken to a dozen Tuck applicants who have also applied to Wharton. Why on earth would anyone do that. These two programs have nothing in common. They couldn't be any more different. What I find is that people's reasoning is often limited to prestige and reputation. I can bet that is the primary reason at least a few thousand applicants apply to HBS. This is why you see so much applicant overlap between HBS, Wharton, Chicago etc. HBS and Booth are again very different programs but few people look beyond the prestige factor. "If I don't get into the No.1 school HBS, perhaps I'll get into a top 5 school Booth". I know someone who has applied to Wharton simply because of its rankings even though I can guarantee that she will be absolutely miserable at Wharton. In my opinion, this blind focus on prestige is ridiculous. And this is why HBS' yield would not go down regardless of what the school's culture was like, people would still blindly go to HBS.

With regards to the culture at HBS, this conclusion isn't just drawn from the NYTIMES articles. I speak from personal experience that, relative to my experience with schools like Kellogg, Tuck, Fuqua etc, the people and environment on the whole at HBS is far worse. When I visited HBS, the people were not very friendly or helpful. In fact, they even seemed a little cold. On the other hand, when I went to Tuck for instance, my experience was the complete opposite. I arrived at Hanover and asked someone for directions to Dartmouth, they said they were Tuckies and offered to give me a ride to Tuck. Every single individual I met at the school was very down to earth and friendly. At schools like this, when I send alums and students emails as an applicant, they manage to find the time while holding jobs at McKinsey and Goldman to send me 1000 word replies trying to answer my questions.

And then there are other factors like HBS' tendency to admit candidates from wealthy and influential families like children of billionaires. And why on earth was George W Bush ever admitted to HBS??

And, by the way, I am not picking on HBS, I had a very bad experience with Wharton as well. I attended an even hosted by Wharton alumni where the alums went on about how good the Wharton network is and how supportive the alums are. Afterwards, I went to the President of the local alumni chapter and asked if he could put me in touch with alums in the city. He very rudely told me that alums were too busy and if I was really interested in Wharton, I should just visit. How many Wharton applicants take such factors in to consideration? Not many, because "Wharton is the third best school in the world." Whatever that means.

another ding here! haha....

Doesn't look like many got interview invites yesterday

I'm not going to claim that you're lying about your experience at HBS, but you should consider the sample size....i.e. one day for your visit vs. the two years I spent there. Think about it--if you met just one person that day who rubbed you the wrong way out of the 20 or so you interacted with, he/she would have a disproportional impact on your overall perception of the school. For me, that person would only constitute a tenth of a percent of my classmates. I guess it's possible I developed Stockholm Syndrome and am physically unable to criticize my classmates or my time there, but I doubt that's the case.

I'm sure if I asked around enough I could find at least one person who had a negative experience at Tuck, Kellogg, Booth, Stanford, Haas, or any of the other schools that supposedly have "superior" cultures. And I could also put you in contact with the 50 or so applicants I helped during my time there, who all raved about the over-the-top friendliness of everyone they met during visits or phone calls. I'll bet it also wouldn't take much effort for you to find people who had completely opposite experiences with Wharton than the one you had.

As I mentioned previously, I'd say my HBS class had about a 0.2% ***hole ratio....I'll gladly take those numbers up against any other business school or 900-person sample size you can think of, and I certainly met fewer selfish/egotistical people at HBS than I have in any other population I've been part of. I also said that I first visited HBS expecting the worst in terms of those stereotypes, and if it had lived up to any of those bad expectations I would have gladly attended Haas or Kellogg.

I registered for off campus hub interview (shanghai) but the confirmation email did not include an address. Anyone else have the same issue?

我的天啊，你居然收到面试机会啦？

Yes (though my location wasn't Shanghai). I was going to reach out to the admissions office a week or so before the actual interview if they hadn't sent a followup by then.

I called Susan Bergen from the admissions office and she told me where the address is. I suggest you do the same, don't think they'll be sending you another email. Good luck w/ the interview!

Any R1 admits can share their experience with the interview? and how they prepared?

Interesting debate but guys seriously...? Some incredibly insubstantial opinions getting thrown around here. There's plenty to choose from, but a few points that caught my eye.

• "...And why on earth was George W Bush ever admitted to HBS??"

How did you get on with the critical reasoning part of the GMAT with logic and reasoning like that?

And I suppose you had first hand experience of 'dubya' while he was interviewing or a current student. Besides, when dealing with the current topic, surely Bill Clinton going to HBS would have been more of a concern (or maybe Georgetown and Oxford have endemic problems too)? The GMAT can have that one for free.

(And leave it, I'm not a republican, I just thought it was quite a funny joke)

• "When I visited HBS, the people were not very friendly or helpful. In fact, they even seemed a little cold."

Maybe, one visit, at least there's some evidence here. But from my experience, when I was there last week I was touched at the number of current students who took time out of their days and incredibly busy schedules to spend time talking to me about the school. They had warmth, spoke with great enthusiasm, and mostly about how great their fellow classmates and professors were. One partner of an admitted student during the Admitted Students Weekend was almost in tears with the generous spirit and welcome she'd been extended. So again, only a few data points but worth mentioning as a different perspective.

• "The Dean at HBS this week apologized for the sexism at HBS."

This one is an interesting one. In the full text he has apologized for past problems, not a current issue (article: https://management.fortune.cnn.com/2014/01/29/harvard-business-dean-apologizes/). The specific apology was also about a lack of women as the subject of case study material, most of which go back a number of years.

In an incredibly open and candid Q&A session a lady asked about this last week during the Admitted Students event with a question to Youngme Moon (Associate Dean and Head of the HBS FT MBA program). I paraphrase a little, as I listened to this in a long session but part of what was said went something like this:

"It's true Nithin Nohria apologized... we have accepted at HBS that to tackle what we felt has been a historical problem we will need to make changes... To do so we knew would attract attention, and bad publicity....We couldn't allow that to be a reason not to change something we felt was wrong..."

If someone else was there and has a better memory than me I'd appreciate it!

Hopefully that adds some context to the apology. And again, HBS apologizing and no-one else doing so certainly does not show that this is the one school affected (pull out your Critical Reasoning books again). It does though show it is the only school to recognize it, the first step to correcting it. I also take some confidence in the strong passionate speaking from Youngme Moon and Dee Leopold [Director of Admissions] (surely two of the most influential staff at the school, and both women). This also is a stab in the dark but I find it hard to believe Dean Nithin Nohria is either sexist or chauvinistic either...

Anyway, of course HBS has had issues, much as I'm sure other schools did. *Opinion warning* For my part, I met roughly half of the Class of '16 last week. I was stunned by how genuine they all were, and also met a very, very low percentage where I detected any lack of humility. It was the most amazing and kind group of people I've ever had the fortune to meet. I like to think I have at least a small insight of the future as they'll all be part of the culture next year...

I hope anyone who read some of the ridiculous unsubstantiated comments above didn't put anyone else off looking a bit closer at one of the best education institutions in the world and at least making their own conclusions. I met students from several prominent business schools along the way, both in the US and Europe, and detected arrogance on several occasions. But I was realistic to accept that maybe I had at best an isolated insight and didn't feel the need to flame the places where there would be few readers with any experience to counter a pretty flawed argument.

I read all the past typical questions in interview guides/on internet etc I could find and tried to think about how they would answer them. Only one out of what most of been hundreds actually came up, but it was still worth doing.

My interview seemed incredibly fast but still found time to ask me a question about a tiny part of my application. I was completely thrown as I wasn't expecting it but thankfully was able to answer ok after a little think. The interviewers themselves were great, I certainly didn't get the impression they were trying to catch me out.

I had a bit of an unconventional background, at ASW last week some of those with 'traditional' background seemed to get a more traditional interview, but experiences did seem to vary.

I think it is in the IFC-HSBC building in Shanghai. Isn't it?

Thank you @Timbob . How soon after the interview did you hear back? did you get an email or a call?

You won't hear anything from HBS until the published notification date.

guys, any tips on prepping for the HBS interview? Dress code? Color of suit? Dress ok? <I'm a girl, yes.>

thanks!

I'm a guy, but these tips come from The Harbus:

-Simple and classic suit style. Skirt lenght at least knee length. Make sure top fits appropriately. When in doubt choose a conservative cut.
-Wear close toed pumps with heel 1-3 inches.
-Hair and makeup should be natural and clean
-Do not wear perfume (i guess this is just in case your interviewer is allergic or something). Do year deodorant.
-Keep handbags at home unless they fit a legal and laptop, opt for a large structured tote
-No flashy jewelry/accessories.
-Keep your look clean and professional.

to those of you interviewing in R2:

are you planning on sending a thank you email/note to your interviewer afterwards?