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

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I'm in for Round 2. Haven't submitted yet, but I'm soldiering through these essays!

In for R2. Probably a little belated, but I've already written all of HBS's essays for other applications and adapting them won't be hard, so I figured why not.

Make sure to apply the lessons from R1 outcomes before reusing the essays for R2 apps.

Yep, that's the plan--I got good essay feedback from students at all three of my R1 schools so I'll continue to fine-tune them. The Stanford ding was a bit surprising but then again it's Stanford, so it's not realistic to pin your hopes on going to a place with a 6% admit rate.

In for R2, as well. Recently discovered this forum and am rapidly being sucked in. Application finished but will continue stew over it for the next week.

In for R2.

I have couple of quick questions about the Application form, I wonder if you guys have had these issues:

1. If you have two distinctly different roles for the same company and you do them as separate entries in the fulltime section, do you enter each role's start/end dates for the two and each role's start/end pay or do you do the start and end dates of your entire experience at the company, considering its the same company and HR would likely give one answer to the people who check.

2. I have a lot of important Part Time experience through college, but I just noticed that the form states: "Use this section to account for any gaps of time in your work history where you were not employed on a full-time basis. This may include a brief list of summer jobs, part-time employment, or other activities (e.g. extended travel, employment search, etc.) " Does that mean I can't mention my college experience in there?

Let me know what you guys did if you've had these.

#1. Someone just had the same question on the MIT forum. In the case of promotions, I would just list the most recent role since presumably the salary info is meant to capture advancement. If your move was lateral / significantly different, though, maybe it is worth listing them separately. If so, I would list the dates/salaries distinctly but just my opinion.

#2. I took the mention of summer jobs to mean college internships are fair game (otherwise why would the summer distinction matter?). Either way, I can't see it hurting to include them.

1. I did them with two separate sets of start/end dates and pays, though my "jobs" are probably a bit different than yours since even though I was working for the same "employer" I was in different places doing very different jobs. I could see it getting a little confusing if they call HR, but as long as you're doing your best to be truthful and thorough I can't see it being held against you.

2. That issue is throwing me a bit as well--it's titled "Part Time Employment" but then it says to use it to explain any gaps in employment. To me those are two different things. I also don't like how Full Time Employment only has room for three positions, then tells you to put any additional full time employment on your resume. I don't particularly want to waste resume space listing that I was in entry-level training (technically full-time, but student status) for a year after graduating from school, but it's looking like I may have to do that to ensure I have no date gaps. Or I may just list that training time as part-time employment and do some more explaining, since it's nothing worth putting on my resume.

1) In my humble opinion, I think you should do them separately - so you can visibly highlight your career progression even though it's for one company.

2) If your college experience included part-time jobs, exchange studies, then you should mention it - but if it's just to say something like President of so-so college club, you should just list that under the 'ECs during college section' and in the education section of your resume. At least that's the way I handled the different club/org positions I held in college. However, i listed my summer internships and such in the part-time section of the application form and that was it.

There's a general consensus that HBS is "unfriendly" to re-applicants (within 1-2 years since last application). Thought it would be good to have a thread on this topic to help re-applicants.

1. What would be potential reasons for HBS to be relunctant to re-applicants?

Maybe HBS does not believe better leadership can be developed within 1 year?

2. What are strategies to help re-applicants succeed?

A new job with much greater responsibilities?
Better crafted essays?
Stronger recommendations (or recommenders)?

Please chime in to help! Particularly if there're successful HBS re-applicants out there, please tell us your strategies!

Happy New Year, folks!!!

Imho, I think you should focus on the "relatively weaker" parts of your past application. The best source to point out which parts are would be the AdCom themselves (if you've had the chance to get limited feedback from them last year.) Another good option for feedback would be from current students/alumni, who should be able to help point out what areas, if improved, should contribute most positive impact to you application.

Hi guys, I will be applying for hbs 2+2 this coming april. Here is my profile

Indian National.
Undergrad- 3rd year, BS Civil and Environmental Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
Average till now= 81%
GMAT-740
Recipient of Technion Academic Scholarship in all 3 years till now.
Board Member- Engineers without borders-Israel chapter. Have worked and lead construction of biogas digesters, micro hdyro electric plants in Nepal and Israel
Worked with MIT-Hibur ( link b/w technion and mit) as an academic relations personnel
CEO/President of a startup,includes members from both india and israel. Registered in India working on Energy, Water and health sector. We are backed by UNESCO!
Researched on concrete technology, assisted professor in publishing a paper on concrete and radon emanation.
Worked on another startup, To provide the ginger producers of nepal an efficient way to market and sell their products in bigger international markets!

Do i have any chance..what do i lack??

What's the consensus on best sources for recommendations? I was planning on going with two of the same three I'd used for my previous applications (2 former bosses and 1 current boss) but I just noticed that HBS allows you to use a subordinate or direct report as a recommender. Every other school explicitly prohibits doing so.

I can't imagine a recommendation being taken very seriously if it was written by a direct report, even if it was a former direct report. Am I right here?

Are peers considered a valid option if it's someone who knows you well in a professional setting? I'm having a hard time getting ahold of one of my former bosses so I was leaning towards using the same peer who wrote the required peer recommendation for my GSB app.

I think you have a great profile and provided you can write good essays and get great recs, you should be in a great position to get in! best of luck!