Calling all HBS Fall 2010 Candidates

All answers have to fit on one Letter-sized page. Its ok to be short if they say a lot in those few sentences

Thanks MBA Girl.

guys what about the Awards and Recognition section.. do you list the bachelor scholarship there? What about job promotions?

I think it's ok to be short, but personally, I would try to pack the recommendations so they each convey maximum supporting evidence for your themes and personality strengths.

Use the second question, about constructive feedback, as extra space for your recommender to talk about strengths well. For example, here's constructive feedback I gave, here was the candidate's reaction, and here's how I've really seen him/her take that feedback and grow to do X, Y, and Z since then.

I definitely listed scholarships. I didn't list job promotions, but it was self-evident through my resume and application form... not sure what others did. I did, however, list achievement at my jobs. We get ranked and compensated accordingly (I used to be in banking and now am in private equity), so I listed "Top Tier Analyst / Associate" as an award.

Any info you have on how strictly they enforce this? I have heard that recommendation letters "can be as long as they need to be".

The wording on the recommendation form was strong about this, but I don't have info about enforcement. Whoever shares with us more specific info on this gets +1 from me

Posted from my mobile device

Hey guys,

I was reading a blog post from the HBS Admissions Director today and noticed for the first time see said that HBS is not looking for peer recs.

I have actually asked one of my peers to write a rec to talk about a leadership experience in a community org, which I think he can speak to best.

What are you guys' thoughts on this? Anyone have success/lack of success with peer recs for HBS in the past?

Were you guys both the heads of the community organization? If yes, I think you can go ahead with that; They said it is ok if the peer is your business partner, which seems to fit your situation a little bit. If not, however, is there anyone else who supervised your community contribution? He might be a better fit to HBS.

Do you think career switch fits the difficult decision question? I'm confident that I want to switch careers and have tons of stuff to discuss in the essay, but my issue here is that I don't have results from this decision. The MBA would be my first step to switch career. I want to show my thought process in the essay and what made me decide to switch. Does the decision have to have results?

I thought of discussing the career switch in the career vision essay, but I don't think there is enough space for that.

Does community engagement have to be an extra curric story? or is it even strongly recommended?

Folks,

quick question:

I am not writing the career vision question in the Harvard Set. I was wondering how did folks who did not write the vision question work in the WHY MBA and WHY NOW into their essay set? Due to the word limits its extremely challenging to add that in.
Is it necessary to answer these or can one do away with adding these to the essay set and hope that the interview is going to clear that out?

Thanks

Nut MBA

Ok, I'm distracting myself at work, so I'll throw my two cents in on some of these questions although I may not be the most qualified to answer since I'm just a fellow applicant!

I think career switch could definitely fit the difficult decision question. You really need to make sure you're focusing on the decision making process itself and why it was difficult to answer the question well though (I did this essay as well, though not career-related). I also wouldn't answer both this question and the career vision question - I can't tell if that's what you're suggesting - because you want to show breadth in your essays and I feel like that's too much of the same topic.

New questions answered on Dee's "From the Director" blog - more will follow in next days..

What should I enter on the application for GPA if my university doesn't use a 4.0 grading system?

Don't enter anything. Don't convert your grades to a 4.0 system. We review all transcripts and are familiar with a wide variety of grading systems.

Are essays read in consecutive order?

Not always. Each Board member may have his/her own way of approaching the written application. Speaking for myself, I often skip around with no particular pattern. If I start with an essay that seems to be building on a theme in another essay, I just go back and catch up. Not a problem. I can reassure you that all essays are reviewed!

also applying R1... only a week left!

i have a question about post-college extracurriculars. since i graduated only 2 years ago and i have spent all of 2009 (literally) preparing for the GMAT and applications, i have not had a chance to participate in any organized extracurricular activities that i can list in that section of the HBS application. any advice? is this a big problem that i should address it in the "additional information" section of the app?

thanks

I would recommend either not touching it or finding a better reason. Two years is a long time. And preparing for the GMAT is not an excuse IMO. You'll be competing with many many people who found the time to excel in their jobs, ace the GMAT AND participate in an extra curric.
Even if you prepared for the GMAT for an entire YEAR, that doesn't explain why the other year had no participation.

And don't abuse the additional information by the way. People use that to explain major illnesses and getting fired. Saying I didn't have even 2 hours a week to do something because of my job and GMAT will seem weak.

But of course all this is my opinion and IANAAdcom-member. I am just an application, never been to business school

In the data form,HBS asks for the number of months of Part-Time Work Experience Since College (including part-time, contract work, unpaid work, etc.)
Can community work be included in this information?I have already given the details in the Extra-Curricular Activities Section.

A minor question is in the Work Experience Section,there is a question-"Reason for Leaving".Is this the reason for leaving that job for another job,or the reason for deciding to do an MBA?I have had just one full-time job since graduation,so should I leave this space blank?

For the work experience section, i would just put "intending to leave in Summer of 2010 for business school" or something like that. Don't leave it blank