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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futurestrategist

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20 Jan 2011, 15:10

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kraynro

yea this thread has been dead for the last week or two, probably because there is nothing to post on, the deadline just passed and there are no status updates to the applications, it will be buzzing again in a few weeks when invites start going out!

or until hbsguru posts some interesting tidbits!

hbsguru

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23 Jan 2011, 18:52

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HBS TINKERS WITH SACRED CASE METHOD, AS PREDICTED.

NOT FULLY SURE WHAT THIS MEANS, BUT THIS WAS SENT TO ALL KIDS ADMITTED ROUND ONE

SOUNDS LIKE A LOT OF TRAVEL MUMBO -JUMOB AND TEAM TEACHING, WHAT THIS DOES TO STANDARD CASE METHOD AND HOW MUCH THESE 3 MODULES WILL COUNT AS PART OF FULL FIRST YEAR SET-UP STILL UNCLEAR.

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Quote:

1/23/11

To Newly Admitted Harvard Business School Students:

Congratulations on your admission to Harvard Business School. We are thrilled that you chose to apply here and hope to welcome you to campus in the fall as part of the MBA Class of 2013. With that in mind, we wanted you to be among the first to know about a very exciting development that we believe will significantly enhance your educational experience at the School.

Following discussions among the faculty and after receiving input from alumni, recruiters, and current students, among others, we are pleased to inform you that last week, the faculty of Harvard Business School voted to approve two important enhancements to the MBA Program. The first will create a new course in the Required Curriculum that we're calling FIELD (Field Immersion Experiences for Leadership Development). It will focus on developing substantively meaningful small-group learning experiences throughout the first year that are experiential, immersive, and field-based, with the overall goal of advancing the School's mission to develop leaders who make a difference in the world. Like other new courses, it will be designed and delivered by a faculty teaching group, and it will consist of three modules: the first will center on leadership, the second on globalization (including a required global immersion experience during the RC Januarty term), and the final will integrate learning across the year.

The second enables new flexibility in the Elective Curriculum by modularizing the calendar, allowing faculty and students greater flexibility and creativity in molding their courses and building their schedules, respectively.

We believe both of these enhancements have the potential to become a platform for significant innovation in experiential learning in management education. We also believe these changes to the MBA curriculum will give our students an array of exciting field-based opportunities that will serve as a powerful complement to the case method.

We plan to tell you more about these developments at Admitted Students Weekend on Friday February 25th, so please join us then. Should you not be able to attend, we will be posting additional information on the prematriculation site shortly thereafter.

We look forward to seeing you next month.

Nitin Nohria (Dean of the Faculty)
Youngme Moon (Senior Associate Dean and Chair of the MBA Program)

suppati

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23 Jan 2011, 21:59

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sexonthebeach150

kraynro

hopefully this won't be too long of a wait, dee's blog says invites should go out in the first half of feb. looks like all the schools are moving a little bit faster this year... although im sure it doesn't feel like that for everyone.

which actually is length for HBS. round 1 they started sending invites in 14 days. this time they're looking for more time, it seems.

anyways, in for R2. had a problem submitting and got to the credit card page a few minutes after noon. emailed them and didn't get a response by early afternoon, called the office and the person said the app was still open and to go ahead and submit and it'll be round 2.

submitted at 5 EST and i got an email saying it was late but it would still be considered for round 2. and dee's blog stressed noon in caps, ha.

Hi There,

I also had a similar problem and was able to submit a couple of minutes late.(12.02 pm EST). How do I get to know if my application is considered in R2.

hbsguru

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24 Jan 2011, 02:29

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Excellent and fast analysis of new HBS curriculum in Poets and Quants.

PoetsAndQuants Harvard's MBA Student Association dubs changes to MBA program "bold new ideas" https://bit.ly/exammX

smartperson

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24 Jan 2011, 02:41

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Hmm...a new backronym and some more MBA admissions buzzwords... I'm sure these changes are great and will help my education be even better, but the message gets a little lost when they write that way.

oneofmany

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24 Jan 2011, 08:26

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smartperson

I agree. That statement comes off really stodgy and opaque.

d3xc

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24 Jan 2011, 09:06

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Just posted this on the GSB forum but thought it would be of interest here, as well.

Admit rates based on previous two years' Admissions411 profiles, normalized to the actual overall admit rate. Thresholds represent approximate quartiles of the sample, with n=184 for GSB and n=255 for HBS.

GMAT GSB HBS
<700 5% 7%
-725 5% 11%
-750 9% 13%
750+ 8% 13%
Avg 7% 12%

GPA GSB HBS
<3.4 5% 5%
-3.6 3% 10%
-3.8 7% 16%
3.8+ 12% 16%
Avg 7% 12%

If you normalize GSB to match the overall HBS admit rate, then average the two rates for each category, you get the following, where Q1 corresponds to <700 GMAT or <3.4 GPA.

GSB/HBS GMAT GPA
Q1 8% 7%
Q2 10% 7%
Q3 14% 14%
Q4 13% 18%

So 725+ GMAT or 3.6+ GPA seems to matter but subsequent gains appear minimal. Ironic that presence on this forum is probably more indicative, even after accounting for response bias.

kitbama

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24 Jan 2011, 09:15

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In for R2 as well!

sl86

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24 Jan 2011, 10:08

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Excuse me if this has already been answered as I am new to the forum, but how do HBS (and other schools, if you have insight into that) interview invitations go out? Is it a computer-generated email to the address on file, a phone call, an individual email from an alum/admissions officer, or do you just have to log-in and check the site? I see a lot of people saying they're logging in to look at their statuses, whereas I haven't been checking at all since I've been assuming I'd just be contacted if offered an interview. Please let me know -- thanks all!!

PS I also read somewhere here that HBS offers alum interviews as well as admissions... I thought they only had admissions officer interviews? Do you get to choose? This forum is quite enlightening.

Impalpable

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24 Jan 2011, 10:46

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sl86

I'm not sure about HBS, but schools do both email and phone calls. Mccombs, Kellogg, UNC send automated emails. Stanford admissions called and followed up with a personal email. I would count on some kind of email.

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24 Jan 2011, 11:33

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Quick question guys!

I am a R2 applicant. Have a question regarding (a) recommender verification process (b) work ex/extracurricular verification process. I think HBS/AdCom will contact recommenders if they have any questions regarding the applicant (based on his essays/recos) before the invitation interview but will wait till after the interview to contact Volunteer Organizations and/or Employers' HR. Obviously, it will be a waste of time to contact HR/ExtraCurricular organizations of every applicant before he/she has been shortlisted.

Does anyone here have any additional insight into this issue? If HBS chooses to contact extracurricular organizations or employers HR, what is the time-frame? I am looking to prep my recommenders and talk to current/prior HR personnel in case they receive calls from AdCom. I also need to talk to my volunteer organization and ask them to be cognizant of HBS calls. Any additional information will help.

Thanks.

Impalpable

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24 Jan 2011, 11:39

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Phoenix9

You should prep your recommendations and EC's now. If HBS is interested in you, then they may call before the interview. They called my friend's recommendation and EC contacts and grilled them. They should be prepared to talk about you in detail. I wouldn't worry much about HR unless something looks odd with your work history. Good luck with you application!

crimemaster

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24 Jan 2011, 12:42

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R1 Admits- is this a norm that HBS will touch base with recommenders before interview?

Impalpable

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24 Jan 2011, 14:05

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Quote:

Is this mean or what? Impalpable, I thought non-profit managers are nice, supportive people

For those freaking out - HBS doesn't have the bandwidth to check 9000 applicants' extracurricular and work references, especially before an interview... unless you say you invented the internet, in which case, they will just call Al Gore and tell him to kick your butt for false claims. However, they will check the 900 or so people they eventually admit.

Ha Ha, sorry if that post came off as mean. I meant that they might call if they are highly interested. If you pulled a 760+ GMAT and a 4.0 then they might call in advance. A claim that seems crazy (like inventing the internet, the wheel, or fire) might also draw a call.

Everyone remain calm.... deep breaths... but I would still prep your people now just to be safe.

Oh, and non-profit managers are nice... most of the time.

nikki4nikki

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24 Jan 2011, 14:27

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crimemaster

R1 Admits- is this a norm that HBS will touch base with recommenders before interview?

None of my recommenders were contacted - but I know some people who said their recommenders got a call.

hbsguru

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24 Jan 2011, 15:46

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Quote:

Sandy,

I have a random question for you. I recently interviewed at a top 10 B school, and spent time with about 6 other applicants in the admissions waiting room. While making casual conversation I asked the others which other schools they are applying to. All the applicants avoided this question, and i definitely received a few awkward glances. There were no representatives of the college in the room. My question is do Admissions Consultants advise not divulging this information? What is your stance?

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Huh, I dont give advice about what to say to peers and friends, altho sure, why be nice when all it can do is backfire, as some crumb rats you out to adcom as using this school as safety. Well, only partially kidding. I think it is a delicate topic and one avoided in some mildly stressful place like Interview Waiting Room. IF asked, dunno, say, "the usual . . ." and leave it at that.

A more pertinent and frequent question is being asked this question by adcoms, and that freg. happens at, e.g., Columbia, sometimes Wharton (in the old humanistic days but not now that the robots have taken over), Chi, NYU, Kellogg etc. My advice in that case is to mention schools in THIS schools peer group, and say getting an MBA is important to you. I have had kids answer H, S, W, and K at Columbia (where it is pretty darn clear that COl is back-up of some kind) and they still got in. I wudda said in that cirs, W and K, unless you were super star and omission of H and S was obvious.

No one likes this exercise, but some adcoms are pressured by directors to do it. This Q even comes up, altho rarely, at HBS. The 'correct' answer is list of other schools, not "ONLY HBS" which sounds like stalking and makes you sound more interested in trophy wife than marriage in general. :-)

hbsalias

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24 Jan 2011, 19:52

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Any R1 waitlisters out there? Care to share profile or application experience? Seems like we'll hear nothing until April based on last year. I've been accepted to another school but I'm still hanging onto HBS.

hbsguru

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24 Jan 2011, 19:53

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hbsguru

Quote:

Thanks Sandy, that's great advice.

How bout a more general interview question then. From your experience working with applicants, what typically has to happen for a person to have a great interview? How important is hitting all your main points vs. demonstrating a confident demeanor? Anything specific that you really try to coach up in your mock interviews?

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as noted many times, esp. at HBS, the mission is not to have a great interview, it is to prevent a bad one. You dont get too many points for a great interview, but a bad one is deadly.

As L. Blankfein tells new recruits to Goldman (I've heard),' you cannot real help this company much in your first few years here, but you can certainly hurt it.' or words to that effect. Same is true w. interviews, except you are the company.

And I assume you have seen my Interview on this score in Poets & Quants,

https://poetsandquants.com/2010/11/04/how-not-to-blow-your-harvard-interview/

PadawanOfTheGMAT

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25 Jan 2011, 07:03

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I noticed that in the cost summary, the room cost is for a duration 9 months. Does it mean that during the three months of summer we necessarily have to move all our stuff out then back in?

smartperson

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25 Jan 2011, 08:44

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I'm sure you can pay for housing in the dorms for the summer months, too, in which case you wouldn't have to move out...?

It makes sense to me to just rent an apartment, anyway.