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uprightcitizen
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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2) 04 Nov 2010, 12:10
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smileyface

what is a barn burner?
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Someone/something really compelling or interesting. No idea where the expression comes from, but you hear it in sports sometimes.
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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2) 04 Nov 2010, 12:14
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uprightcitizen
smileyface

what is a barn burner?

Someone/something really compelling or interesting. No idea where the expression comes from, but you hear it in sports sometimes.
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1835–45, Americanism ; barn1 + burner; ( def. 3 ) so called with reference to burning down a barn to get rid of rats
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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2) Updated on: 04 Nov 2010, 17:11
Originally posted by LionO on 04 Nov 2010, 13:19.
Last edited by LionO on 04 Nov 2010, 17:11, edited 1 time in total.
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Imagine two people apply from an established and well-known VC firm and both fit Sandy's profile (high GMAT, high GPA from prestigious school, work experience at traditional HBS feeder firm).
THE REALITY IS, BOTH USUALLY GET IN. ESP. IN VC AND PE. I ALSO THINK MCK, BAIN ACCEPT RATES ARE HIGHER THAN 50PCT. YOU ARE STILL IN MYTH LAND WHERE SOME GREAT ESSAY/GOALS CAN CRACK THE NUT. BELIEVE ME, I WISH THAT WERE TRUE. I'VE JUST DONE MOCK INTERVIEWS OF 30 OR SO KIDS FOR ROUND ONE, AND MANY OF THEM ARE JUST HIGH PERFORMERS ETC, AND IN SOME CASES, ACTUALLY, HAVE NOT SO GOOD ESSAYS IN TERMS OF EXECUTION ALTHO YOU CAN SEE THEY ARE REAL SOLID AND IMPRESSIVE BUT BY NO MEANS BARN BURNERS.
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Thanks for your prompt response and interesting perspective Sandy. But I'm still under the impression that the number of "high performer" applicants (high GMAT, high GPA from top schools with lots of great ECs, top performance at traditional HBS feeder firms, etc.) still far exceeds the available slots in that year's class. If your experience suggests great essays/goals aren't driving their decisions to differentiate between the high performing candidates that do get the interview and the high performing candidates that don't get the interview, then what forces do you think shape their decisions to make these tough calls?
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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2) 04 Nov 2010, 14:03
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Program 2+2:

Would like to hear your views on the chances of acceptance.

-junior year at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, GPA : 3.4
-major : materials engg. | minor (voluntary) : mechanical engg. (only student in batch of 800 to do so)
-GMAT yet to take (expecting ~ 750)
-Co-founder and VP of a startup of manufacturing indigenous Li-ion batteries, won Asia's largest business plan competition at IIT Bombay
-Founder of an initiative to launch startups from research projects
-Co-founder and Chapter Coordinator of India Youth Climate Network (very popular group in India) of our campus
-Project Head of Engineers Without Borders of our campus, currently deploying solar lighting solutions to nearby rural areas
-Internships
1. ITC Limted (India) large FMCG company
2. Imperial College London and Corus Steel

Area of focus : entrepreneurship, climate change, cleantech

Also thinking of applying to Stanford GSB.

Let me know your views.

Thanks.
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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2) 04 Nov 2010, 21:30
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edit...it's been said multiple times
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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2) 05 Nov 2010, 02:24
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Anybody have a good use for an unsuccessful round 1 application? Probably plenty to learn from it, even though you get zero feedback. Let me know.
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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2) 05 Nov 2010, 06:39
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Sandy's analysis is bang on. I know a couple of my PE/ IB friends with similar stats (710 GMAT, 3.7 GPA.....) who got in, while couple of others like me who are in a different industry have gotten dings. I know it is a broad generalization and there is not much point in speculating on this anymore, but it just feels like HBS wants to keep its class filled with guys from feeder companies so that they get hired back easily. Ironical how even HBS is mitigating the risk of dropping down the ranking now.

And yet me and my friends mentioned above who beat those stats no prob and are PE/IB guys...ding, ding, ding

When I was there on Tuesday for my interview, I attended the luncheon for interviewees (about twenty of us). The vast majority were PE/IB folks, along with a few consultants, a non-profit, and me.
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uprightcitizen, can you let us know what questions you were asked at your Tuesday interview.
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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2) 06 Nov 2010, 07:01
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I've been a long-time lurker and thought I'd share back to the group my interview experience (in NYC)- here are some questions I was asked (lots of them were prob related to my personal background- see the Google Doc):

*Why did you choose [my college]?
*Where else did you apply?
*You didn't get to visit [my college] right? So what did you find about [my college] that was different than what you were expecting?
*How would you compare the culture between [IBank #1] and [IBank #2] during your two internships?
*What did you do during each internship?
*Lets say you're in your learning team, and your teammate knows nothing in finance. Explain to him about this [M&A sell-side deal at my previous job]- how did you get to the $xxxMM valuation?
*So tell me what are the drawbacks of using transaction multiples? trading multiples? (a follow-on Q to my previous answer)
*So again we're in a learning team, and your teammate knows nothing about finance. Explain to him about this [VC investment at my current job]
*If you have one year break where everything else (school, job, etc.) is taken care off, what would you want to do?
*Lets go back to high school. What would your best friend from high school say your strengths are?
*How about weaknesses?
*What are the things in your life that you would stop doing, start doing, and continue doing?
*(an essay specific question- a person I wrote about in my failure essay)
*Tell me sth about you that is not in your application that would surprise me
*Tell me sth that is not in your application, a situation where someone who's senior to you let you down
*What is something that you expected me to ask and you want to answer?

Overall it was a very pleasant experience...he was much nicer than I expected.
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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2) 06 Nov 2010, 19:31
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Questions like Melody's are common, but I think the interview is largely influenced by your interviewer and your profile/application materials. Dee Leopold included a letter in the interview reception envelope and said "You really can't prepare... although I know you will try!" I think there's a lot of truth to this.

Preparing for curve-balls is a waste of time. They will find a way to throw you off your game if they want to and see how you respond (think case method). Just know how to tell your story - career, decision making, leadership experiences, goals, well-rounded, well-read/knowledgeable in your field, etc. (instead of preparing for curve-balls) and give them a clear picture of who you are and why you belong at HBS.

I went through all sorts of prep, studying questions and preparing answers, but my interview was completely different than what I expected. Ultimately I delivered the same answers that I would have without all of that [wasted?] "prep".
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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2) 06 Nov 2010, 19:43
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im going for round 2, great thread on here for me to get up to speed
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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2) 07 Nov 2010, 01:32
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Anyone interested in doing a peer mock interview within the next week or so for HBS? I have mine in a week. PM me if interested!
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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2) 07 Nov 2010, 11:31
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thx melody.. that was definitely useful..

i agree that the interviews would be highly personalized based on one s background apps etc... now that there s no actual prep to do, the interview wait is really getting long than imagined..
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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2) 07 Nov 2010, 11:35
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nikki4nikki

uprightcitizen, can you let us know what questions you were asked at your Tuesday interview.
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I won't go word-for-word, but here is the gist of it:
-tell me about work (I have an unusual job)
-tell me more about work
-talk to me about your academic performance (I had some issues here)
-series of questions on my work (very tailored to me)
-why an MBA?
-why HBS?
-what can you contribute to the case method?
-what else?
-what are you surprised we didn't cover in this interview?
-do you have any questions for me?

Very conversational, interviewer was extremely friendly. Nothing crazy.
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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2) 08 Nov 2010, 06:59
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Thanks guys for posting your interview questions! Even though the interview is highly personalized, I think the questions are helping those of us about to interview to get in the right frame of mind.
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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2) 08 Nov 2010, 17:42
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How important is the interview? I have mine next week.

Is it if you don't do well you get dinged or is it more "seem normal, speak english, a couple of blunders are OK, don't insult the interview/make totally obvious error"? As in, is this a screen for socially unadjusted candidates etc or is it a very big part of the app?

Prepping like crazy, but trying to gauge relative importance? Referring to people with my background (IB, megafund PE, pretty much everyone who has applied in the past has gotten accepted [true for a lot of the bigger PE funds])
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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2) 08 Nov 2010, 20:01
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Go through Sandy's posts or his website or even better his Poets and Quants interview.
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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2) 08 Nov 2010, 20:14
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From what I understand (numbers from Sandy), 1/10 can't speak English well enough for the case method, 1/10 just screw it up by blabbering, coming off as a cocky SOB (big banker on top of the world?), and well just check out Sandy's posts, and 6 of the remaining 8 are chosen based on the entire package.

I haven't seen any other "data" on this matter.

On a lighter note, check only mbaapply's interview don'ts for a good laugh.
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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2) 09 Nov 2010, 05:30
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though exaggerated, the videos were definitely hilarious...:) the guy is a W passout and this kind of material definitely sells for his business... :wink:
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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2) 10 Nov 2010, 12:48
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WHARTON INTERVIEW NOTICE

Wharton has really changed its interview process this year, and has a whole training module for its alums to give behavioral interviews, which requires them to write down a good deal of what you say, and ask fewer questions, esp. questions focused around team building, leadership, and the most impt question, HOW COME YOU WANT TO GO TO WHARTON AFTER BEING SUBJECTED TO SUCH A MORONIC AND JACK-ASS READY INTERVIEW AS THIS.

ALUMS ARE OUTRAGED AT HOW STUPID THIS IS, AND ONLY THE UNDER-EMPLOYED ARE SIGNING UP.

A typical interview will often be 3 questions, along lines of

Tell me when you built a team in a formal setting (or informal setting)

A time you disagreed with someone on your team


Tell me when you helped resolve a dispute,


A time you were in a team and someone was a free rider

A time when you convinced someone to agree with you

then you really get drilled on that, e.g. getting scored for how many types of disagreement you mention, how many outcomes you are able to list, how many compromises, how many times you rolled you eyes.

They then leave 10 minutes for questions and hand out directions to Columbia, MIT, and other Wharton competitor schools to kids who just say, "PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE" this is the dumbest thing I ever did. And alum says, yeah me, too, but it gets better. Dont let the new JACKASS adcom programs chill you, school itself is ok.
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Calling all HBS 2011 Applicants!! (Including 2+2) 10 Nov 2010, 23:55
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Hi,

just found this thread...

Invited to interview.

Good luck everybody!

---
My stats:
GMAT: 720
Working in automotive industry in China
Nationality: German
Gender: male
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