Calling all HBS Applicants - (2015 Intake) Class of 2017

Just had my interview today. Went relatively well -- way less stressful than I was expecting.

I'm just wondering, does everyone hear back on December 10 or do people occasionally get notified earlier (perhaps called by their interviewer)?

Thanks!

Nothing goes out early for HBS. You get an email telling you to log into your application to view your decision, usually at 12pm EST on the decision day. If admitted you'll get a call or two over the next few days, usually from some combination of adcom, students, and alums.

This next month is going to take forever. I'm about one more slow day at work away from starting Round 2 apps just to stay busy!

Yikes, I don't think my interview went very well. I just never felt like I got settled in. That said, I thought my Harvard mock went really poorly and the interviewer said it was great, so maybe there is hope.

I was caught off guard by a few questions:

- How is Canada different economically than the U.S.?
- Tell us something about Canada that we wouldn't know?
- What else would you like to tell us about? Which is common, but I suggested two things, both of which were vetoed and then drew a blank lol.

Overall I don't really feel like I put my best foot forward, but we'll see what happens December 10th.

Good luck to others!

Thanks for the feedback! Just out of curiosity, how did they veto your suggestions?

Pretty directly lol. She said "what else would you like us to know? I reserve the right to veto though."

I said "I really didn't get a chance to talk about my views on leadership, or motivating a team". She said "I veto that, I think I have a good idea of it from your application".

wow that is really annoying...sorry to hear that

Honestly, I think that whatever I had said, she would have vetoed. They want to get you away from your "script". I had planned my answer to that question, they took away my ability to do so. It's part of their process and to be honest I think it makes sense, even if it didn't make my own interview go as smoothly as I would have liked.

Good luck to everyone that interviewed in Dubai this past week! Nice meeting some of you at the dinner on Thursday.

Interviewing in the morning in NYC, do I need to bring a copy of my résumé?

I don't think I do, but just wanted to confirm!

Posted from my mobile device

Nope, they usually have a copy of your application with like notes scribbled on it to ask you questions from, and rarely ask you for anything else, haha. If there are major changes in your resume that you want to address, if it doesn't pop up during the interview naturally, you can just write about it in your post-interview reflection! Good luck!

FROM HBS Admissions Blog: Class of 2016 - “Years Out of Undergrad”

We meant to do this earlier, but got distracted by Round 1 applications. Like many other elements of the Class Profile, please keep in mind that we are “reporting” vs. trying to signal a “template” for the design of a class.

Following on from the resume question from earlier, would it be useful to bring business cards? I am currently in the Navy and would have to print out a set for the interview.

I brought mine and did not use a single one. Worth having if it isn't much effort though.

Does anyone who has interviewed (or had yet to I suppose) have thoughts on the post interview reflection? What was your experience?

I am posting on here way too much, can you tell I'm obsessed?

I sat in on a chat with Dee where she spoke about the reflection. She basically said to treat it as having the last word in the interview. She said some write it as a letter to her, or to their interviewer (which I did) and just truly try to reflect on how well they got to know you. She also said to avoid stressing about it and that "no one has ever had a great application where they were going to get in until they blew the post-interview reflection".

This is exactly what she said to us as well. In fact, I think she said something like: "Oh yeah, we've never had a case where we were like: wow we would have given this person a spot if it weren't for that post-interview reflection"

She also explicitly mentioned that if you're on campus for the interview, she advises you not to spend your time post-interview trying to jot down thoughts or write this reflection. She would much rather prefer you really "get to know" the campus by participating in the activities. My post-interview reflection was a very similar note, with three bullet points (oops) addressing three topics that I thought we touched upon in the interview, but didn't really get to talk about thoroughly. It was just an extension to some of the answers I had provided during the interview.