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anyone have a non-easy interview? everyone in my interview group seemed to think that their interview was a cakewalk and super easy but mine was kind of hard...not like super saturday banking interview hard but def not a cakewalk

mine was hard too.def not a cake walk.
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An HBS alum advised me that (purely based on a theory), your interview would break down one of two ways.
1) Cakewalk
2) Brutal Pounding

He said it was largely based on whether or not your letters of recommendations backed up the claims you made in the rest of your application. If they did - the interview was more informal. If there were parts that were missing - they'd jump all over your case to prove yourself.

I can't vouch for this. Maybe the people how had a cakewalk interview can say whether or not their LORs backed up all of their claims?
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An HBS alum advised me that (purely based on a theory), your interview would break down one of two ways.
1) Cakewalk
2) Brutal Pounding

He said it was largely based on whether or not your letters of recommendations backed up the claims you made in the rest of your application. If they did - the interview was more informal. If there were parts that were missing - they'd jump all over your case to prove yourself.

I can't vouch for this. Maybe the people how had a cakewalk interview can say whether or not their LORs backed up all of their claims?

I saw some of my recs (after they were submitted) and they were better than my essays. they cited more stuff. your theory does not apply here. depends on interviewer.
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I saw some of my recs (after they were submitted) and they were better than my essays. they cited more stuff. your theory does not apply here. depends on interviewer.

Damn, I sure was hoping that was true. I'm afraid of getting torn a new one next week...
Anyway, regardless - congrats on getting it over with. Any advice you can offer?
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I saw some of my recs (after they were submitted) and they were better than my essays. they cited more stuff. your theory does not apply here. depends on interviewer.

Damn, I sure was hoping that was true. I'm afraid of getting torn a new one next week...
Anyway, regardless - congrats on getting it over with. Any advice you can offer?

nah nothing like that. the interviews are generally pleasant.
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I saw some of my recs (after they were submitted) and they were better than my essays. they cited more stuff. your theory does not apply here. depends on interviewer.

Damn, I sure was hoping that was true. I'm afraid of getting torn a new one next week...
Anyway, regardless - congrats on getting it over with. Any advice you can offer?

nah nothing like that. the interviews are generally pleasant.

Its not based off the interviewer. I know several people who had the same interviewer as myself. He used a different approach in each interview.
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Its not based off the interviewer. I know several people who had the same interviewer as myself. He used a different approach in each interview.

So has anyone figured out why some people get easier more straight-forward interviews, while others get grilled?
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My interview was a reasonably pleasant experience. With that said, I wouldn't call it easy. The interviewer was very friendly, but asked questions at a fast pace, changed topics frequently, and drilled down into many of the topics (i.e. if you bring something up, be prepared to back up you comments IN DEPTH - I brought up energy prices and recent political events, and had that go in depth talking about impact, specific pricing, etc). I could see some people getting flustered by this type of questioning and the interview ending up as a painful experience. Thankfully I felt reasonbly comfortable and didn't get tongue-tied.

I truly believe they tailor the interview to what they feel they need to get from you. Mine was 50% industry discussion and 50% career / role progression. Lots of in depth industry / company questions, with probing questions that to me seemed to be trying to get at how well I could think on my feet and support idea. A few questions on what I wanted to do long term / back up plans if going back to same firm didn't work out. I spoke with another applicant whom interviewed after me and his experience was completely different.

I know it sounds corny, but try to relax, stay calm, and be yourself. If you know your app and your story well you should be fine.
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My interview was a reasonably pleasant experience. With that said, I wouldn't call it easy. The interviewer was very friendly, but asked questions at a fast pace, changed topics frequently, and drilled down into many of the topics (i.e. if you bring something up, be prepared to back up you comments IN DEPTH - I brought up energy prices and recent political events, and had that go in depth talking about impact, specific pricing, etc). I could see some people getting flustered by this type of questioning and the interview ending up as a painful experience. Thankfully I felt reasonbly comfortable and didn't get tongue-tied.

I truly believe they tailor the interview to what they feel they need to get from you. Mine was 50% industry discussion and 50% career / role progression. Lots of in depth industry / company questions, with probing questions that to me seemed to be trying to get at how well I could think on my feet and support idea. A few questions on what I wanted to do long term / back up plans if going back to same firm didn't work out. I spoke with another applicant whom interviewed after me and his experience was completely different.

I know it sounds corny, but try to relax, stay calm, and be yourself. If you know your app and your story well you should be fine.

i see you stole a page out of Dee's book...
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My interview was a reasonably pleasant experience. With that said, I wouldn't call it easy. The interviewer was very friendly, but asked questions at a fast pace, changed topics frequently, and drilled down into many of the topics (i.e. if you bring something up, be prepared to back up you comments IN DEPTH - I brought up energy prices and recent political events, and had that go in depth talking about impact, specific pricing, etc). I could see some people getting flustered by this type of questioning and the interview ending up as a painful experience. Thankfully I felt reasonbly comfortable and didn't get tongue-tied.

I truly believe they tailor the interview to what they feel they need to get from you. Mine was 50% industry discussion and 50% career / role progression. Lots of in depth industry / company questions, with probing questions that to me seemed to be trying to get at how well I could think on my feet and support idea. A few questions on what I wanted to do long term / back up plans if going back to same firm didn't work out. I spoke with another applicant whom interviewed after me and his experience was completely different.

I know it sounds corny, but try to relax, stay calm, and be yourself. If you know your app and your story well you should be fine.

i see you stole a page out of Dee's book...

Lol, I guess I did. I honestly believe that it helps to go in with that mind-set. I've had four interviews so far, and my first one was a complete gong show. I was incredibly nervous, knew my story but hadn't really rehearsed it, and was entirely too focused on "impressing". I lost my thoughts on several occasions and was generally not as articulate as I'd hoped to be. I approached the next ones from a much more relexed (and practiced) perspective, and feel that I was not only more articulate, but more of my personality came through.
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I don't know about others' experiences, but my interviewer was polite and friendly the whole time. The only thing that raised the formality level (besides dress and location) was that there wasn't much opportunity for small talk - he had specific areas he wanted to cover in a rigid period of time.

I wouldn't be worried about being "torn a new one" but I would expect to be questioned about subject matter I focused on in my application. Given HBS' focus on students teaching students (both in case discussions and in learning teams) they just want to make sure you have something to say and the ability to articulate it.

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I saw some of my recs (after they were submitted) and they were better than my essays. they cited more stuff. your theory does not apply here. depends on interviewer.

Damn, I sure was hoping that was true. I'm afraid of getting torn a new one next week...
Anyway, regardless - congrats on getting it over with. Any advice you can offer?
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For fellow R1 waitlisters:

Curiously, when I check my status in the ApplyYourself system, I can no longer see the link to my waitlist decision from Round 1. It still says that I have a "decision available" under the status but no link to the actual decision itself like there used to be.

Anyone else verify that this is the same for them?

Not waiting to add unneccesary anxiety for fellow-waitlisters but am just mildly curious.

Best of luck to all.
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yeah i wasn't assaulted or anything but i came out of the interview with sweaty pits

kalty - maybe that means that they made a decision for you already? just speculating
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For fellow R1 waitlisters:

Curiously, when I check my status in the ApplyYourself system, I can no longer see the link to my waitlist decision from Round 1. It still says that I have a "decision available" under the status but no link to the actual decision itself like there used to be.

Anyone else verify that this is the same for them?

Not waiting to add unneccesary anxiety for fellow-waitlisters but am just mildly curious.

Best of luck to all.


You are no longer a waitlisted candidate if you were invited to interview with other R2 candidates. That must be why your 'decision' is no longer available. You are now in the R2 pool and will get your decision on March 29 like the rest of us.
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kalty
For fellow R1 waitlisters:

Curiously, when I check my status in the ApplyYourself system, I can no longer see the link to my waitlist decision from Round 1. It still says that I have a "decision available" under the status but no link to the actual decision itself like there used to be.

Anyone else verify that this is the same for them?

Not waiting to add unneccesary anxiety for fellow-waitlisters but am just mildly curious.

Best of luck to all.


I was WL R1 w/o interview. I then interviewed in R2.

My status has changed to "Submitted"

I do not see the "decision available" link anymore.
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So guys, Round 3 is comming up. For all those who got an interview, which of the optional essays did you choose? I am stuggrling on choosing the last one. I think that the career vision and why harvard is meaningful is sort of a stretch and to be honest one may come as arrogant or too ambitious if one says too much. I chose the one were i present myself to the harvard class and I think I will end up choosing the one were I was frustrated or dissapointed with something.

What are your thoughts? to those who were interviewed, which optional essays did you choose? Thanks for your tips guys!
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I wrote 3a and 3c...I thought they were pretty easy to write based on my experiences.

For 3a I focused on all the outside demands on my time that made the academics much harder than they should have been, as well as how I took lots of courses outside my comfort zone because of my school's largely standardized curriculum. Without directly mentioning my relatively low quant score, I noted all the technical and quant courses I had taken and done well with, saying that my past success gives me confidence that I can handle that type of work in the future.

3c is tailor-made for an "I had this type of problem/frustration in my career, and here's how I dealt with it and overcame it and was productive anyway" kind of approach. Mine dealt with me being disappointed based on unrealistic expectations I had when I started my current job, but how I found ways to improve the situation for me and the organization rather than just being miserable and dragging along.

That was just my approach--obviously any of them can work. If you have a really spectacular career vision that will distinguish you from the masses, go for that. If you have any good stories about being thrown into situations as an outsider yet were still successful forming cohesive bonds with your peers, effective as a leader and a follower, etc. you could write the introduction one pretty easy.
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