Calling all Harvard MBA Applicants: (2017 Intake) Class of 2019!

Sure! I'm told that HBS takes an entirely fresh look at reapplicants (though previous applications are retained and may be referenced by Admissions). I also heard that about 10% of the class previously applied unsuccessfully before ultimately being admitted. If you received an interview invite, your chances of admission jump to 50 - 60%! Sounds like you've got a good shot with the extra year or work experience working in your favor.

During my interview, I was not asked anything about my prior application or what had changed since I applied previously (but my changes were rather obvious -- I transitioned from my first job to my second job, added additional extracurriculars, re-took the GMAT to raise my score by 10 pts, and did a much better job on execution). I was, however, asked "Why now?" for an MBA (since I had only been at my new job for about a year).

The HBS interview is unique. You (most likely) won't get any "gotcha" questions -- the questions are generally about your past professional experiences and why you made your career decisions. I was asked for specifics on what I wrote in both my resume and essay -- be ready to articulate the impact you had on your organization, how you learned your skills, how you approached any challenges, why you chose a specific job, etc. Know your industry -- you might be asked specifics on trends or recent news. The interviewer will have studied your application in detail, since the interviewer is the one who advocated for you to receive an interview invite. She or he may have googled you and your firm (if you don't come from a well-known company). In general, the interviews are very conversational. My understanding is that presence/body language matters a lot -- for the case method, you need to be confident and articulate in defending your views, so try your best to come into the interview as relaxed as possible.

I know how intimidating this process can be, but it will all be over soon. Best of luck with your interviews!

Thank you so much, this is tremendously helpful!

Am not too nervous at this point frankly. But 100% sure it will come! Preparing diligently will help

To those who have interviewed or have friends / colleagues who have in the past:

I heard two different scenarios for the interviews.

1) One of the interviewers has read your entire application (CV, essay, online application, recommendation letters) while the other has read your CV only.
2) One of the interviewers has read your entire application (CV, essay, online application, recommendation letters) while the other has read nothing about you.

Are both scenarios still practiced? Is it up to to the two interviewers themselves how they handle each case?

Any help is appreciated

I haven't heard of anyone in the recent past being interviewed by two people. There may be two people in the ROOM, but only one asks questions while the other is taking notes. Whoever interviews you at HBS is going to know your application inside and out, and the questions will be very targeted to you.

Good luck!

If you interview on campus, you (most likely) will have one interviewer and one scribe (the person taking notes on what you say). The interviewer is the one who evaluated your application and recommended you to receive an interview invite -- this person asks all the questions, tailored to your background and experience. The scribe will not have reviewed your materials (or only seen your resume). Your interviewer will explain this to you when you start the interview (he/she will tell you how much the scribe knows about your application and how to approach the interview). My general advice is that you want to be talking to/engaging with both people during your interview. Do not get discouraged if you receive blanks expressions after answering a question (poker face time!). Just be confident, composed, and concise in your answers (helps to practice).

The more rare case is that you only have one interviewer and no scribe. I know several admitted students who were only interviewed by one person in Admissions. People have tried to guess about whether this is a good or bad sign in terms of chances of getting admitted, but it's impossible to tell. Just don't worry if you don't have a scribe in the room.

Anyone know how this is the same/different if you interview at an off-campus hub? Still typically two people in the room, or do they only send one?

Hi All,

We are happy to announce the launch of our new App Tracker here: https://gmatclub.com/forum/app-tracker.html!

The app tracker will give you a much better overview of current stats for specific schools.

Most importantly, unregistered users will be able to submit their application status.

We hope you will enjoy this new feature!

Hi all,

Once again, Kyle and I have compiled a list of resources for lucky candidates to prepare for their HBS interview.
https://www.mbaadmissionsadvisors.com/hb ... w-invites/

All the best to all !

Good luck to everyone here!

I was lucky enough to get in to HBS and am now a EC (2nd year student). To those of you who decide to matriculate at HBS, the 2019 FB group has been created.

Facebook Group Name: HBS MBA Class of 2019

After rd 1 letters go out, students join and use the group for vacation planning, ASW (admitted student week), housing, etc.

Thanks for the encouragement!

Would you mind sharing your interview experience and tell us about your experience as an RC ?

Has anyone here completed their interview yet? How did it go?

In for R2!

Two of my clients had theirs this week but both were phone interviews because they're deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, respectively, so it's a little harder to pull useful information from their feedback. One said he thought the questions were pretty straightforward and that things went well, the other felt like things went downhill a bit after he was tripped up by a few curveball questions.

Added my report on clearadmit.

Should hopefully be updated soon! Happy to share more details with anyone also

Here is my report if that helps anyone

https://www.clearadmit.com/2016/11/hbs-i ... ampus-hub/

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone here is using the HBS CV format for their applications?
I'm aware MBA application resumes are a lot different than regular job resumes yet I'm wondering if the HBS format (job description, followed by bullets with achievements) is a powerful way to communicate to Adcom.

If yes / no, why ?

Thanks ! good luck to all , give it your best shot so you have no regrets !

Hey mbamkay, I used the Wharton template for all of my applications, more because that was the only one I had and didn't bother to try and find other templates. It got me an interview with HBS. It sounds like your suggestion above to use the hbs template is very sensible. Definitely start with work experience followed by bullets of achievements.


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