hey all,
just got back from a day and a half up in cambridge for prospective students day. bear with me while i write a hopefully quick debrief.
thursday afternoon - drove up from the NYC area. hit random spots of traffic, and wound up reaching boston around 4pm. my hair was in need of some minor fixing, so i yelped a decent/cheap barber shop in the area, and i got my hair fixed for $7. Got back to the hotel and read through the case study (as part of the event, HBS gave you a case study to read over and bring with you to class the next day).
later in the evening was an informal session with the Latino and African American student groups. They talked about the app process and gave tips on what to include and what to fix. additionally they had 3 volunteers (prospective students) 'pitch' their app stories in front of everyone (a crowd of about 100 or so.. pretty nerve wracking). the sad part is the 3 people who volunteered, IMO, had very solid stories, but the HBS students picked weaknesses in all of their stories. this was beneficial to everyone who still hadnt applied, but unfortunately i already submitted R1. not much i could do to improve.
next day (friday) i was up bright and early. the day at HBS started with registration and breakfast at 7am. the morning was filled with presentations by adcom (including a welcome address by dean leopold). later, they split us up into 2 groups; the first group got to sit in on a first year accounting class. it was pretty fast paced - a lot of lightning quick discussion, and 95% of the class was students talking - the prof barely did more than moderate the discussion. it was a really cool way to see HBS' case study method up close and personal.
later, more presentations followed (financial aid and career development), and then lunch was served. we were split into small groups of 8-9 prospective students and each group had 1 current student to answer any questions we may have about anything. i appreciated his candor and honesty, as did everyone in my group.
all during the morning, you could see the R1 applicants checking their phones/blackberries over and over with each new mail message they received, hoping to receive an invite. lunch came and passed, and it was already 1pm, which made me lose a ton of hope. a few mins later i finally got the email invite... i couldnt stop grinning (i probably looked like a damn fool). During the admissions portion of one of the meetings, adcom talked about the same #'s that Sandy (hbsguru) refers to - namely 9000+ applicants, 1800 invites, 1000 acceptances. i think they're pretty accurate numbers, so if you didn't get an invite today - dont lose hope, as the next couple of weeks will have more and more invites being sent out.
afterward, we went on a quick campus tour, followed by a meeting with either the latino or the african american associations. i picked the latino one, and they gave us an overview of what they did around campus and what resources they offered not only current students, but also alumni and prospective students. everyone seemed really intent on helping, which was cool.
an alumni panel was next, with 4 very interesting alumni giving us their insights into their post -HBS lives. again, i appreciated the honesty and directness with which they fielded questions.
finally, the day concluded with a quick wrap up session, and a complimentary happy hour at the HBS campus grille. all in all, a great day. they have another one in the spring, and if anyone is thinking of applying next fall, i'd definitely recommend attending, as they gave some useful general tips, but also were willing to give you specific tips on your story and pitch if you asked for it. this prospective students day was primarily targeted towards minorities; i'm not sure if they all are, or just the fall ones. definitely sign up to be on HBS' mailing list if you're not already on it, as that's how i found out about this event.