2+2 Applicants - Please add yourself to the 2+2 Roll Call which will be put up on this thread: HBS 2+2 Class of 2016 HBS Business School Guide HBS Applicant Summary (Real Time) Quick Glance: GMAT Club vs. Latest Intake (Class of 2013) Latest GMAT Club Member Profile Updates Detailed Applicant List: Add Yourself to This List (add HBS to your profile) GMAT Club's Real-time Admissions Statistics Add Your Profile to This List Questions about this Roll Call ? Members Invited to Interview HBS CLASS ADMITTED THIS YEAR (entering 2011) VS LAST YEAR (entered 2010) FINANCIAL SERVICES BLOODBATH HEADLINES 1. apps DOWN fr. 9524 to 9134 2. PE/VC Down fr. 18pct to 13pct -HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3. Women up 36 to 39 pct 4. Class size up fr. 910 to 918 5. Investment banking and Investment Management DOWN fr. 14 to 12 pct Class of 2013* https://www.hbs.edu/mba/perspectives/class-statistics/ Admissions Total MBA Enrollment 918 Applications 9,134 % Admitted 12% Yield 90% Class Composition Women 39% US Ethnic Minorities 23% International 34% Average Age 27 Countries represented 68 Undergraduate institutions represented 243 GMAT Score Range 490-790 Median GMAT 730 Citizenship North America 70% ?United States 66% Asia/South Pacific 13% Europe 10% Central/South America 4% Africa 2% Oceania 1% Undergraduate Majors Business Administration 20% Engineering/Natural Sciences/Technical Disciplines 36% Humanities/Social Sciences 43% Other 1% Pre-MBA Industry Consulting 21% Consumer Products 6% Financial Services** 12% Healthcare/Biotech 6% High Tech/Communications 9% Manufacturing 14% Military 5% Non-Profit 8% Other Services 5% Venture Capital/Private Equity 13% Unspecified 1% * As of June 1, 2011 – subject to change ** Includes Investment Banking and Investment Management ============================== Preliminary Profile of the Class of 2012 https://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/blog-all.html entry for July7,2010 Date: July 07, 2010 Here’s a peek at the Class of 2012. This is still officially “preliminary” until registration in September. Admissions Total MBA Enrollment 910 Applications 9,524 % Admitted 11% Class Composition Women 36% US Ethnic Minorities 23% International 34% Countries represented 73 Undergraduate institutions represented 243 GMAT Score Range 510-790 Middle 50% GMAT Score Range 710-750 Average GMAT 724 Citizenship North America 70% ?United States 66% Asia/South Pacific 13% Europe 12% Central/South America 3% Africa 1% Oceania 1% Undergraduate Majors Business 23% Engineering/Natural Sciences/Technical Disciplines 33% Humanities/Social Sciences 43% Other 1% Pre-MBA Industry Consulting 22% Consumer Products 7% Financial Services* 14% Healthcare/Biotech 6% High Tech/Communications 6% Manufacturing 9% Military 5% Non-Profit 7% Other Services 5% Venture Capital/Private Equity 18% * Includes Investment Banking & Investment Management BTW: A GREAT, GREAT RESOURCE FOR ALL HBS APPLICANTS IS LAST YEAR'S THREAD, CALLING ALL HBS 2011 APPLICANTS, calling-all-hbs-2011-applicants-including-96063.html#p739570 ESP THE FIRST POST, WHICH ITSELF GIVES RESOURCES. SPENDING AN HOUR READING THRU THOSE POSTS WILL GIVE YOU AN EXCELLENT IDEA OF WHAT THE YEAR AHEAD WILL LOOK LIKE AND PROVIDE YOU WITH MANY, MANY PROFILES AND THEIR OUTCOMES. Interview questions:

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HBS 2012 - Calling All Applicants

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hbsguru

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17 Jun 2011, 07:51

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dhood1982

This will not square well for laid of finance types.

Unlike 2007-2008 layoffs, this upcoming round of layoffs will be less widespread and will generally be limited to underperformers (bottom 25% of a group). Layoffs during the peak of the financial crisis often included large portions of groups (or divisions in the case of Bear, Lehman, etc.) The bank I was at laid of more than 50% of a 70 person group between 2007-2009, so you could always spin the layoff as part of a mass restructuring.

Savvy adcoms (and I assume most are) will recognize this dynamic and it will likely make it tougher for some finance types.

The one interesting twist will be timing. If layoffs don't occur until after R1 deadlines, then you may end up with some kids being laid off between application deadlines and notification.

AGREE IN PART. Certainly the larger the lay-offs, the more easy it is to say, "Everyone got fired!" But--
1. it appears fr. story, that lay offs may be massive in cert wall st sectors, e.g. those on front lines of cascading impacts of Euro bailouts etc. In those sectors, layoffs may indeed be near 50-70 pct and you can say, everyone is doing it.
2. There is a sense in which adcoms are not savvy, by design, they know there are large spread lay-offs, they know that lay-offs are a crude tool to measure worth, and they
will look behind a lay-off to see what you are otherwise presenting, in terms of adcom value points like gpa/gmat/extras, and performance at work pre lay-off. I could easily see an unemployed kid beating out an employed kid, fer sure, and even at the same firm. Possibly in the same unit, as well, b.c. reasons for keeping person X vs. person Y are often only partially related to things B schools look for, and often turn on elements of the micro environment of the firm, e.g. what specific deals kid worked on, or micro expertise as a result. blah,blah. Altho I'm sure we both agree this is real speculative.

hbsguru

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17 Jun 2011, 08:42

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WHITE HOUSE AIDES HEAD FOR HARVARD LAW AND BUSINESS SCHOOL.
MOSTLY LAW SCHOOL, FOR THE BUISNESS SCHOOL KIDS, POLITICO REPORTS

Quote:

Another batch of students, including Bryan Jung, Kyle Watkins and Sarah Cannon, are leaving the White House for Harvard Business School,

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/stories/06 ... z1PY5Uj4gV

hbsguru

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17 Jun 2011, 12:46

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hbsguru

WHITE HOUSE AIDES HEAD FOR HARVARD LAW AND BUSINESS SCHOOL.
MOSTLY LAW SCHOOL, FOR THE BUISNESS SCHOOL KIDS, POLITICO REPORTS

Quote:

Another batch of students, including Bryan Jung, Kyle Watkins and Sarah Cannon, are leaving the White House for Harvard Business School,

Ahem, our White House sources note that all 3 of the above peeps who are going to HBS were working in the WH for the
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Sta ... ic_Council

BStand

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17 Jun 2011, 14:28

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hbsguru

WHITE HOUSE AIDES HEAD FOR HARVARD LAW AND BUSINESS SCHOOL.
MOSTLY LAW SCHOOL, FOR THE BUISNESS SCHOOL KIDS, POLITICO REPORTS

Quote:

Another batch of students, including Bryan Jung, Kyle Watkins and Sarah Cannon, are leaving the White House for Harvard Business School,

Bryan Jung was Larry Summers' Special Assistant and an aid to Biden. I bet having the ex-President of the University write you a rec helped a bit. Having said that, he seemed uniquely qualified regardless of who wrote the rec.

Sarah Cannon was a Yalie that went to Ghana as a research fellow, McKinsey and the Brookings Institute prior to the WH. Her profile was on its way to being HBS caliber well before she landed at the NEC.

hbsguru

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17 Jun 2011, 15:01

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thanks, that only leaves Watkins unaccounted for :-)

distgent007

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Concentration: International Business, General Management

Schools: HBS '14 (D) Stanford '14 (D) CBS '14 (WL) Tuck '14 (A$) Wharton '14 (M) Anderson '14 (A$)

GMAT 1: 740 Q46 V46 Verified score

GPA: 3.51

WE:Performing Arts (Media/Entertainment)

Schools: HBS '14 (D) Stanford '14 (D) CBS '14 (WL) Tuck '14 (A$) Wharton '14 (M) Anderson '14 (A$)

GMAT 1: 740 Q46 V46 Verified score

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18 Jun 2011, 17:10

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Hi Sandy, just took the gmat for the first time, scored a little lower than I was hoping for. I was wondering, as I am am not a consultant/engineer/finance type how I would stack up @ HBS admissions.
These are my stats:
Age: 29
Nationality: African
School: UCLA
Major: Theater and Film (#1 ranked undergrad program)
GPA: 3.5, 3.7 last two years
GMAT: 680 Q42 V41
Work Experience: MTV VJ, launched a brand new network. Host/Producer for shows on G4 and E!. Created, produced, and hosted a news-magazine show for PBS. Have interviewed luminaries such as Bill Walton, Kanye West, T.I., Lil John, and Elmo

Performed at the Actor's Studio with Academy Award winner Al Pacino, directed by Academy Award winner Estelle Parsons. Directed by MacArthur Fellow and National Medal of the Arts winner Merce Cunningham.
Started two different companies in Nigeria, currently working as Director of Business Development for both of them. One is in cleantech (water remediation), the other in food and beverage imports.
College ECs: African Student Union, Nigerian Student Union, Sigma Chi, UCLA TheaterFest
Post College ECs: founding member of award winning Los Angeles Theater Ensemble, created tutoring program for inner city african american and mexican high schoolers.

I do plan on taking the gmat one more time though, just to get over the 700 hump. Would like to know if getting over 700 would my chances, and if my age will be a negative factor- thanks!

girlinblack

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18 Jun 2011, 20:36

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Hi Sandy,

Would like your inputs on my profile. I plan to apply in R1.

Nationality : Indian
Age : 30 ( wondering if this would be a negative factor

)
Gender : Female
WE1 : 6yrs in IT MNC, worked mainly as an engineer but pro-actively took up management roles, started various clubs.
WE2 : 2ys as an Entrepreneur : Founded an E-Commerce venture. Currently running it..
High school GPA : 4.0 Have been a topper throughout.
Under Grad GPA : 3.5
GMAT : Taking it in July'11
EC : Active in entrepreneurial community in my city.
Head City division of a well known Non-Profit working to promote Entrepreneurship.

Others: Have won various awards & recognition as an entrepreneur, have been profiled in a book on women entrepreneurs, Selected for International Leadership Seminar.

Thanks

fsaq

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21 Jun 2011, 09:28

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distgent007

Im not Sandy but man!!!! I really think you have a chance at any school you apply. Most schools only have about 1% of graduating class working in the Entertainment industry, mainly because you need a lot of contacts and being succesful there is something that truly and really cannot be attributed to graduating from a good school such as Harvard or Stanford (Politically incorrect thing to say I guess but when was the last time Mckinsey, Blackrock or Bain recruited from community colleges?). I think that if you play your cards well, they will see you as a great asset to the Alumni network in an industry in which they may not have the influence they wished they had and for that, I believe you have a very good chance of success, but then who knows. I wish you the best of lucks in the process.

eskimoroll

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21 Jun 2011, 10:07

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distgent007

Hi Sandy, just took the gmat for the first time, scored a little lower than I was hoping for. I was wondering, as I am am not a consultant/engineer/finance type how I would stack up @ HBS admissions.

I do plan on taking the gmat one more time though, just to get over the 700 hump. Would like to know if getting over 700 would my chances, and if my age will be a negative factor- thanks!

Agree with the other poster. You've got a really unique profile that I think most schools will value (assuming your essays are coherent, recs are in order, etc.) Sure a 700+ gmat would be great but not even a requirement since you are an under-represented minority and from an entertainment background. Don't worry about the age thing. You're not a typical banker/consultant/whatever so age is less of an issue. I think you'd have a fair shot at HBS. Best of luck!

gijoedude

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21 Jun 2011, 12:14

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Is the 3 setbacks essay a twist on the 3 accomplishment essays? As in, are your 3 setbacks actually accomplishments in disguise? So do you have to talk about setbacks on your way to accomplishing something? I am also not exactly sure what qualifies as a setback.

hbsguru

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21 Jun 2011, 18:57

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IMPORTANT--HBS Swings older incoming class includes 191 candidates who earned their undergraduate degrees six or more years ago, up from only 113 last year.
see a pretty good analysis in Poets and Quants
https://poetsandquants.com/2011/06/22/hb ... pplicants/
which reprints the charts from Dee's Blog and does the math.
. . .developing

eskimoroll

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21 Jun 2011, 20:08

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hbsguru

I think that's good news. That means 5% of my class will be my age or older vs. 2%! I don't feel that old now.

pyarapopat

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Concentration: Operations, Strategy

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GMAT 1: 760 Q50 V44 Verified score

GPA: 3.1

WE:Manufacturing and Production (Energy)

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21 Jun 2011, 21:37

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Hi Sandy,

Would like your inputs on my profile. I plan to apply in R1.

Nationality : Indian
Age : 26
Gender : Male
WE1 : 2Y as an Engineer in the Manufacturing arm of an Oil and Gas Service company (Paris, France)
WE2 : 1.5Y as a Trainee Engineer in the Manufacturing arm of an Oil and Gas Service company (Pune, India; Stonehouse, UK; Abu Dhabi, UAE)
GPA : 7.67/10 from an IIT
GMAT : 760 (Q50, V44)
EC : Very active during undergrad (won awards in various competitions); after college have only been actively involved in LPT at my workplace and my college alumni association (but been doing both for 3 years now)

Thanks

hbsguru

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22 Jun 2011, 11:19

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[highlight]How HBS Waitlist gets openings:[/highlight]

Divvyshot’s Sam Odio Explains Why He Left Facebook to Found Freshplum (Video)
https://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/co ... 801047.htm

Quote:

Freshplum is part of the current class of Y Combinator, the start-up accelerator program where Divvyshot was incubated in 2009, Odio said.

Why leave Facebook now? Odio was product manager for Facebook Photos, which is thought to be the largest online photo-sharing service in the world. It wasn’t a bad gig.

Odio said he’d been brainstorming the idea for Freshplum with co-founder Nick Alexander, who was accepted to Harvard Business School for the fall. When the opportunity emerged to join Y Combinator just before the latest session started a few weeks ago, Odio and Alexander felt like it was now or never to work together on their idea, so Odio left Facebook and Alexander decided not to go to business school.

BYURover

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22 Jun 2011, 21:23

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First post: Thank you in advance for any thoughts on how my profile weighs against HBS Admits.

28, M, US, Hispanic
GPA 3.1 Economics (Major University)
GMAT 730
2-year international volunteer service
4 Years W/E in Corporate Finance (Retail)

whiplash2411

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23 Jun 2011, 00:05

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hbsguru

Is this going to affect 2+2 in any way? With the inclusion of seniors, do you think it's likely that they'll accept more seniors than rising seniors? I am not really sure how much of a difference it makes if you've graduated or if you have one semester to graduate, but I am just wondering if the number of people applying to 2+2 will go up drastically, without the admitted numbers going up the same way.

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23 Jun 2011, 01:33

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distgent007

Wow - this is a great experience! Really outstanding =)

hbsguru

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23 Jun 2011, 12:34

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I ANALYZE SIX TYPICAL APPLICANT PROFILES IN CURRENT ISSUE OF POETS AND QUANTS:

Quote:

Handicapping Your Shot At a Top School
by John A. Byrne

https://poetsandquants.com/2011/06/23/ha ... op-school/

The most common question MBA-wannabes are asking right now: “What are my chances of getting into a top-ranked business school?”

. . . .Do you have what might be called “nosebleed stats” likely to open the doors to a top school? . . .Did your undergraduate degree get stamped at the right institution for an elite grad school? And do you work for a “sexy” or “dull” company that is not a feeder into the best business schools?

To handicap the odds for various candidates, we turned to Sanford “Sandy” Kreisberg, founder of MBA admissions consulting firm HBSGuru, and asked him to analyze a half dozen composite profiles of typical MBA applicants.

(If you include your own stats and characteristics in the comments, we’ll pick six of them and have Kreisberg assess your chances in a follow-up feature.)

BELOW, ONE OF THE SIX STORIES.

Quote:

Mr. Perfect

■750+ GMAT
■3.8 Grade Point Average
■Ivy League Undergraduate Degree
■Work experience at Goldman Sachs or McKinsey & Co.
■Extracurricular includes alumni involvement and very active participation in an ethnic identity organization
Odds of Success

Harvard Business School: 85%
Stanford: 80%
Wharton: 90%
Tuck: 95%
Kellogg: 95%

Sandy’s Analysis: “The biggest risk this person has of not getting into HBS or Stanford is screwing up the interview, especially at HBS where the interview counts. (It does not count at Stanford in any meaningful way.) I am assuming the recommendations are in line and this applicant does not have a secret hater out there. HBS and Stanford, of course, love to reject kids like this, just so they can say they do. But they rarely do.

“Another danger, though rare, is just going a bit weird on the application through a combination of odd and unsupported goals, annoying and naïve enthusiasms, or just plain stupidity. Stanford could reject a kid like this if the ‘what matters most to you’ essay is a blatant and unreflective brag sheet.

“As to Wharton, Tuck and Kellogg, the issue is not blowing the interview and the related issue of convincing them that you are not using them as safety schools. If this kid really wants to go to Kellogg, he should apply very early. Otherwise, they will make the guess that the applicant is somehow toxic to Harvard, Stanford and Wharton.”

LatinAmericanMBA

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Schools: LBS '14 (WL) Rotman (A) Yale '14 (WL) INSEAD Jan '13 (S)

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Schools: LBS '14 (WL) Rotman (A) Yale '14 (WL) INSEAD Jan '13 (S)

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23 Jun 2011, 15:19

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I see! Universities like if someone is a first generation college grad then?

adirao90

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27 Jun 2011, 12:06

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Hi Sandy,

Would like your inputs on my profile. I am applying to the 2+2 program

Nationality : Indian
Age : 21
Gender : Male
Undergrad : Engineering Design (Product Design) from IIT
GPA :9.0/10
GMAT : 760 (Q50, V44)
Creative, Arty but still have a love for engineering.
EC : Academic Affairs Secretary, Head of Placements Committee, Cricket for State team (U-16 level)
Heavily into design and art.

Was on the path to pursuing a career in product design and came across HBS 2+2.

Do you think HBS wants creative types in their program? Do they see potential?