Harvard Business School Application for the class of 2013 is online. This thread will also serve as a master thread for the 2+2 applicants for the class of 2016 (June 2011 Applicants!) APPLICANTS: Please fill out your stats in the Google Doc attached and keep updating your information whenever you see fit! We will keep this thread updated as well (GIANT Post - Be warned ) Current Students: Harvard Admits 2+2 APPLICANTS REQUIREMENTS: GENERAL APPLICATION INFORMATION: 1. Essay Questions : 2. Application Deadlines : To be announced for the Summer of 2011. For the Summer of 2010 class: 3. Letters of Recommendation : 4. Sandy's Advice for Students Applying to 2+2 : REGULAR APPLICANTS All quoted sections of this post are from the Harvard Business School Admissions Website GENERAL APPLICATION INFORMATION: 1. Essay Questions : 2. Application Deadlines : 3. Letters of Recommendation : APPLICANT LIST: HBS Applicant List Google Doc 0Avb_1Ns4jB92dHp0UTJQcWpEajJwdENjYW9PVEc1TEE OTHER RESOURCES: Useful Web Pages for Application * HBS Director's Blog for All Important Updates * Last year's thread for HBS (Regular Applicants) * Last year's thread for HBS 2+2 Applicants * Veritas Prep School Report for Harvard Business School (Please register your email id, and Veritas will send a link to the download and you can download multiple school reports at once if you want!) * Class Profile for 2+2 * FAQs * HBS Director's Blog for All Important Updates * Clear Admit's Essay Analysis for Harvard Fall 2011 * Veritas Prep Essay Analysis for Harvard 2011 Life at HBS - Blogs a) CS @ HBS - https://www.computersexy.com/blog/ b) Harvard Bound - https://myharvardmba2010.blogspot.com/ c) Inside HBS - https://www.insidehbs.com/ d) Sync - https://sync.bradleylautenbach.com/ e) Mark and Jie's Journey to B-School - https://markandjie.blogspot.com/ f) Will Hsu's HBS Bubble - https://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=wphsu99 g) AGirlsMBA at Harvard Business School: https://agirlsmba.blogspot.com/ h) Military to Business: https://militarytobusiness.blogspot.com/

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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2)

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hbsguru

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07 Jan 2011, 15:33

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https://poetsandquants.com/2011/01/07/nohira-hbs-less-costly-than-other-top-schools/

POETS & QUANTS SUMMARY OF NOHRIA FT INTERVIEW, AND FULL LIST OF HS LONGS AND SHORTS.

mainhoon

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08 Jan 2011, 13:50

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Guys so what is the guideline for wordcounts @ harvard? Stanford said cannot exceed 1800. Harvard is also 1800, but I don't see a strict comment on the application. Is 10% over allowed?

BubbaWon

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08 Jan 2011, 15:17

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mainhoon

Guys so what is the guideline for wordcounts @ harvard? Stanford said cannot exceed 1800. Harvard is also 1800, but I don't see a strict comment on the application. Is 10% over allowed?

I was over by 5-10% on each HBS essay.

TiderInsider

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08 Jan 2011, 15:27

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BubbaWon

mainhoon

Guys so what is the guideline for wordcounts @ harvard? Stanford said cannot exceed 1800. Harvard is also 1800, but I don't see a strict comment on the application. Is 10% over allowed?

I was over by 5-10% on each HBS essay.

660 on the accomplishment essay? Maybe I am stressing to much about cutting from 650 (where my essay is now) and to 600.

BubbaWon

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Updated on: 08 Jan 2011, 15:44

Originally posted by BubbaWon on 08 Jan 2011, 15:43.
Last edited by BubbaWon on 08 Jan 2011, 15:44, edited 1 time in total.

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TiderInsider

BubbaWon

mainhoon

Guys so what is the guideline for wordcounts @ harvard? Stanford said cannot exceed 1800. Harvard is also 1800, but I don't see a strict comment on the application. Is 10% over allowed?

I was over by 5-10% on each HBS essay.

660 on the accomplishment essay? Maybe I am stressing to much about cutting from 650 (where my essay is now) and to 600.

My accomplishments essay had 651 words.

LaVerdad07

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08 Jan 2011, 15:44

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TiderInsider

BubbaWon

mainhoon

Guys so what is the guideline for wordcounts @ harvard? Stanford said cannot exceed 1800. Harvard is also 1800, but I don't see a strict comment on the application. Is 10% over allowed?

I was over by 5-10% on each HBS essay.

660 on the accomplishment essay? Maybe I am stressing to much about cutting from 650 (where my essay is now) and to 600.

Sounds like people who were admitted have said they went over but i was told by an AdCom and a few students, DO NOT GO OVER, EVEN BY ONE WORD. I guess i'm to risk averse to take the chance.

BubbaWon

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08 Jan 2011, 15:47

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LaVerdad07

Sounds like people who were admitted have said they went over but i was told by an AdCom and a few students, DO NOT GO OVER, EVEN BY ONE WORD. I guess i'm to risk averse to take the chance.

I guess I had the privilege of not having heard that while writing my essays.

TiderInsider

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08 Jan 2011, 15:58

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The adcom has 40,000 essays to read. My thinking is that if your essays are good, then it won't be a problem to be a little over. I just can't believe that going a few words over would keep someone out of HBS.

mainhoon

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08 Jan 2011, 17:17

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that brings me to a question lingering in my mind. Does the adcom actually reach each and every essay. part of me tells me that if the stats are way off, they won't bother. it is just mind boggling how to much that is...

mainhoon

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08 Jan 2011, 17:32

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TiderInsider

But coming to think of it, were I to be a stickler, it is also about following instructions. If it is clearly stated X, then why wilfully violate? I can also argue that why would you add those 20-30 words over the limit, if you don't truly feel those would get you to the school? I wish the schools just clearly states DO NOT go over. and be done with it.

BubbaWon

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08 Jan 2011, 17:49

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I look at word limits like speed limits: you obey them, but also know that you can usually go 5-10mph (or 5-10% for this analogy) without getting into trouble.

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mainhoon

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08 Jan 2011, 17:52

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Good analogy Bubba, the only thing though is this. With speedlimits, you are taking a chance that a cop is not watching. In this case if the school so desires they CAN see each and every essay's word count!

What would be great is to just let the applicant enter the essays in boxes with the predefined word limits - similar to the other sections of the application. That way it is done!

BubbaWon

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08 Jan 2011, 17:58

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I hear you mainhoon. But you have ample evidence that applicants (like me!) went over the word limit on every essay and still got in.

And I would argue my analogy IS valid: a cop is very, very rarely (if ever) going to pull over someone going 65 in a 60mph zone unless that person is dressed like the bank robbers in The Town

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mainhoon

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08 Jan 2011, 18:01

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Bubba, I am glad that we have someone who go in with 5-10% over. Its just that I don't know if they actually dinged others because of that, unlikely yet who knows. Plus as someone posted, as long as the quality of essays is good, they may not care about over.. You mentioned in 651 words for essay1.. What about the others? did you go 40 over in those too?

Thanks much...

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08 Jan 2011, 18:14

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mainhoon

Trying to take the perspective of adcom for a sec. I imagine if you have a really gripping essay and it's super-exciting, the adcom won't care if you go over by 10%. On the other hand, if they are bored with your essay and you go over that will probably hurt your application. I guess my point is, if you're going to go over, make sure it's your better essay that you're going over on and not a boring one that sounds like every other candidate's.

mainhoon - considering we had this conversation on the Stanford thread too, I interpreted the HBS instructions as more lenient than Stanford's. That was just my take. I'm definitely not an expert.

BubbaWon

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Updated on: 08 Jan 2011, 18:28

Originally posted by BubbaWon on 08 Jan 2011, 18:23.
Last edited by BubbaWon on 08 Jan 2011, 18:28, edited 2 times in total.

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mainhoon

My other essay word counts:

Mistake: 432
Undergrad experience: 436
Career vision: 473 (whoops 8-)

)

I guess you could file this one under "read the directions, even if you don't follow them"

mainhoon

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Updated on: 08 Jan 2011, 19:45

Originally posted by mainhoon on 08 Jan 2011, 18:25.
Last edited by mainhoon on 08 Jan 2011, 19:45, edited 1 time in total.

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I guess it all depends.

BubbaWon

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Updated on: 08 Jan 2011, 19:08

Originally posted by BubbaWon on 08 Jan 2011, 19:07.
Last edited by BubbaWon on 08 Jan 2011, 19:08, edited 1 time in total.

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Had to search for this. Hope it helps fellas

From Dee's blog:

Round 2 Application Deadline - FAQs
Date: January 11, 2010
As we head toward January 19, I'll try to field some FAQs. None of these are new to us, but we're mindful that applicants are dealing with all this for the first time, so we'll risk being repetitive in an effort to be helpful.

Question: How rigid is the word-limit restriction? What happens if I go over?

This is the language we used last time about this; it's still true, and I can't think of a better way of saying it:

"Your essays do not get cut off if you go over the word limit. That being said, after reading many, many essays, we have a good feel for whether an essay is going over the limit. I think it's fair to say that we expect a candidate to be able to edit effectively, but don't stress over a few extra words.

We're getting a lot of similar questions from recommenders wondering if their remarks are being cut short. They aren't. We have suggested word limits for recommenders that amount to roughly a page of text; we do this to give those not familiar with writing recommendations a sense of an appropriate length of response. If your recommenders have more to say, that's fine. Their file upload doesn't get cut off after a single page or after a certain number of words."

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hbsguru

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08 Jan 2011, 19:08

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I am an expert, having seen hundreds of applications of admitted HBS students, including about 30-40 round one. HBS mantra is use your judgment. Believe me, if HBS adcom is reading this thread (and THEY DO!!), they would be liking Bubba's way of thiking vs. chicken-sh** and bean counting 'tude of other guy.

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08 Jan 2011, 19:17

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BubbaWon

Good post--I found this blog post from a few years back saying the same thing:

"What happens if I'm over the word count limit in my essays? Does my work get cut off? What about my recommenders?

Your essays do not get cut off if you go over the word limit... that being said, after reading many, many essays, we have a good feel for whether an essay is going over the limit. I think it's fair to say that we expect a candidate to be able to edit effectively - but don't stress over a few extra words.

We're getting a lot of similar questions from recommenders wondering if their remarks are cut short - they aren't. We have suggested word limits for recommenders that amount to roughly a page of text; we do this to give those not familiar with writing recommendations a sense of the response we're looking for. If your recommenders have more to say, that's fine - their file upload doesn't get cut off after a single page or after a certain number of words