After posting and deleting (by accident) the thread, here we go again Time to start HBS story... HBS, as promised, released essay topics for class of 2012. Very similar to last season except for Q4 (which I think is cool b/c one can show creativity/personality) and Q3. 1) ESSAYS (source: https://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/writ ... ation.html ) 2) DEADLINES (source: https://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/appl ... dates.html ) 3) PAST THREADS 2009: calling-all-hbs-fall-2009-applicants-63410.html 2008: calling-all-the-harvard-gurus-fall-49915.html 4) IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS (source: https://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/blog.html and https://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/inte ... tions.html and https://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/writ ... ation.html ) 5) GMAT CLUB CANDIDATES R1: STATS: Total applicants: 51 Invited to interview : 16 Matriculating: Admits: 11 Dings: 31 Waitlisted: 4 Unknown: 5 Admit: HCGirl10 - invited to interview Icarus - invited to interview Izen* nerdgirl - invited to interview PatrickBateman - invited to interview PBateman- invited to interview redrobot* sc - invited to interview forzviol motionny Biology - invited to interview Waitlist: sharstarz12 - invited to interview skkingdom - invited to interview 2010HereICome - invited to interview warriorM33 Ding: 2009mba2012 adude* all - invited to interview audacityofhope DucRR eteusch1 - invited to interview fzt39806 - invited to interview Gelopwez JordinT* javaexe laurenbcn mba4me2010 MBAgirl2010 mbahopes2009 - invited to interview milias pook oompm* shadowsjc - invited to interview sm332 river zyskind cublu2 LetsGoMets NCMBA2012 Deepauk sapphireka CarpathianRidge - invited to interview USMCCommO zaphod shacster - invited to interview Aldrak CANDIDATES: 2012dreams ACNguy bigfernhead cacky1983 cassie2012 CharlieChaplin chrisahn112 Comrade CrushTheGMAT csino david2008 duderanch ezekiel2517 gmatbschool gravity1914 guitarguru hohoo JamesT - invited to interview jcol jolt kokkiri latammc lionvish mschumy Noodles nutmba radeal spiritworld steeler99 stillhoping surychen taken20 thedeadlyone tq17749 R2: STATS: Total applicants: 52 Matriculating: Admits: 21 Dings: Waitlisted: Unknown: ADMITS: Anonymous13 biotechgirl bunny27 bwizzle Demonic11 fsj434 HERM3S heywhassup jag120 kohlia LB20 Magellan matanga mba2012lfh meridian17 oneschoolwonder pilot RonMexico TorontoGirl ttocsik waitinganswers CANDIDATES: 2012dreams AceofSpades aditi123 Aenigma agnok aj1545 andrewcs Ashish369 BangaloreKid baxter bwizzle cesc4 christinee co2012 colequinn con Demonic11 egy ezekiel2517 fall2010mba gkumar GoalMBA2010 GordonBombay gravity1914 HBS2011 hbsr2 HERM3S hokiegenius infanteed jankynoname jimmyfunk Jivana kohlia lakai777 LB20 lbiggs mba12tech mp2437 mustafaj nikheel nlt22 nutmba pochcc qaum RonMexico Skysurf slingfox tdave theDreamChaser triple5soul Turnpike westsew R3: STATS: Total applicants: Matriculating: Admits: Dings: Waitlisted: Unknown: CANDIDATES: 6) USEFUL STUFF a) Sandy's HBS advice: blog with plenty of info on HBS: https://www.hbsguru.com/blog/ essays' analysis: https://forums.businessweek.com/n/pfx/f ... &tid=10180 b) Forcefeed's application tips from last season: calling-all-hbs-fall-2009-applicants-63410.html#p464989 c) CS @ HBS essay advice: https://www.computersexy.com/blog/2007/ ... lishments/ d) Chat with Deirdre Leopold, Director of MBA Admissions & Financial Aid at Harvard Business School: https://www.businessweek.com/bschools/c ... 175992.htm e) Take it with a grain of salt! About social life at HBS: https://www.asktheharvardmba.com/page/3/ f) About case method: HBS website on case method: https://www.hbs.edu/learning/case.html Entry from Harvard Bound blog: https://myharvardmba2010.blogspot.com/2 ... dents.html Entry from Mark and Jie's Journey to B-School blog: https://markandjie.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_archive.html Entry from AGirlsMBA at Harvard Business School blog: https://agirlsmba.blogspot.com/2007/12/ ... ation.html g) Weaknesses of HBS educational model: https://media.www.harbus.org/media/stor ... storiestab h) Advice on leadership essay from AGirlsMBA at Harvard Business School blog: https://agirlsmba.blogspot.com/2007/08/ ... ssays.html i) BusinessWeek's "Make Your Leadership Case for B-School Admission": https://www.businessweek.com/bschools/c ... 219087.htm j) HBS on recommendation letters: Entry from June 17, 2008 on https://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/blog-all.html 7) OTHER INFO a) Link to 2+2 program: https://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/2+2/ . Note that it has different deadlines and app process. b) Class profile (2011): https://www.hbs.edu/mba/profiles/classprofile.html c) Additional class profile stats: https://www.hbs.edu/about/statistics/mba.html d) Podcasts: https://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/podcasts.html 8) DO I FIT? LIFE AT HBS - i.e. HBS blogs so that you can better understand the culture a) CS @ HBS - https://www.computersexy.com/blog/ b) Harvard Bound - https://myharvardmba2010.blogspot.com/ c) Inside HBS - https://www.insidehbs.com/ d) Sync - https://sync.bradleylautenbach.com/ e) Mark and Jie's Journey to B-School - https://markandjie.blogspot.com/ f) Will Hsu's HBS Bubble - https://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=wphsu99 g) AGirlsMBA at Harvard Business School: https://agirlsmba.blogspot.com/ h) Military to Business: https://militarytobusiness.blogspot.com/

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Calling all HBS Fall 2010 Candidates

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shadow

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11 Sep 2009, 13:20

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shadowsjc

I spoke to an alumni (~10 years out), and he told me that he got into HBS without an interview. I realize this is probably not common; does anyone know if HBS still does this? Or is an interview going to be required of everyone who is going to get in?

btw in case anyone else wanted to know... i emailed this question to a guy who runs an admissions blog for HBS, and he said that no one gets in without an interview. might be common knowledge but it wasn't originally clear to me.

Gelopwez

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12 Sep 2009, 03:16

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Count me in for R1

Aldrak

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13 Sep 2009, 20:41

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How short can the recommendation essays be? One of my recommenders is having hard time reaching 250 words, especially in the second question. Could it be as low as 100 or 150 words?

MBAgirl2010

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13 Sep 2009, 20:44

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All answers have to fit on one Letter-sized page. Its ok to be short if they say a lot in those few sentences

Aldrak

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14 Sep 2009, 14:22

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Thanks MBA Girl.

guys what about the Awards and Recognition section.. do you list the bachelor scholarship there? What about job promotions?

HCGirl10

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14 Sep 2009, 14:50

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Aldrak

How short can the recommendation essays be? One of my recommenders is having hard time reaching 250 words, especially in the second question. Could it be as low as 100 or 150 words?

I think it's ok to be short, but personally, I would try to pack the recommendations so they each convey maximum supporting evidence for your themes and personality strengths.

Use the second question, about constructive feedback, as extra space for your recommender to talk about strengths well. For example, here's constructive feedback I gave, here was the candidate's reaction, and here's how I've really seen him/her take that feedback and grow to do X, Y, and Z since then.

HCGirl10

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14 Sep 2009, 14:53

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Aldrak

Thanks MBA Girl.

guys what about the Awards and Recognition section.. do you list the bachelor scholarship there? What about job promotions?

I definitely listed scholarships. I didn't list job promotions, but it was self-evident through my resume and application form... not sure what others did. I did, however, list achievement at my jobs. We get ranked and compensated accordingly (I used to be in banking and now am in private equity), so I listed "Top Tier Analyst / Associate" as an award.

PatrickBateman

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14 Sep 2009, 21:34

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MBAgirl2010

All answers have to fit on one Letter-sized page. Its ok to be short if they say a lot in those few sentences

Any info you have on how strictly they enforce this? I have heard that recommendation letters "can be as long as they need to be".

MBAgirl2010

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15 Sep 2009, 01:59

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The wording on the recommendation form was strong about this, but I don't have info about enforcement. Whoever shares with us more specific info on this gets +1 from me

Posted from my mobile device

gemster

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16 Sep 2009, 10:58

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Hey guys,

I was reading a blog post from the HBS Admissions Director today and noticed for the first time see said that HBS is not looking for peer recs.

I have actually asked one of my peers to write a rec to talk about a leadership experience in a community org, which I think he can speak to best.

What are you guys' thoughts on this? Anyone have success/lack of success with peer recs for HBS in the past?

Aldrak

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16 Sep 2009, 12:51

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gemster

Were you guys both the heads of the community organization? If yes, I think you can go ahead with that; They said it is ok if the peer is your business partner, which seems to fit your situation a little bit. If not, however, is there anyone else who supervised your community contribution? He might be a better fit to HBS.

Aldrak

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16 Sep 2009, 15:48

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Do you think career switch fits the difficult decision question? I'm confident that I want to switch careers and have tons of stuff to discuss in the essay, but my issue here is that I don't have results from this decision. The MBA would be my first step to switch career. I want to show my thought process in the essay and what made me decide to switch. Does the decision have to have results?

I thought of discussing the career switch in the career vision essay, but I don't think there is enough space for that.

gmatbschool

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17 Sep 2009, 07:24

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Does community engagement have to be an extra curric story? or is it even strongly recommended?

nutmba

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18 Sep 2009, 12:25

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Folks,

quick question:

I am not writing the career vision question in the Harvard Set. I was wondering how did folks who did not write the vision question work in the WHY MBA and WHY NOW into their essay set? Due to the word limits its extremely challenging to add that in.
Is it necessary to answer these or can one do away with adding these to the essay set and hope that the interview is going to clear that out?

Thanks

Nut MBA

HCGirl10

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21 Sep 2009, 08:48

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Aldrak

Ok, I'm distracting myself at work, so I'll throw my two cents in on some of these questions although I may not be the most qualified to answer since I'm just a fellow applicant!

I think career switch could definitely fit the difficult decision question. You really need to make sure you're focusing on the decision making process itself and why it was difficult to answer the question well though (I did this essay as well, though not career-related). I also wouldn't answer both this question and the career vision question - I can't tell if that's what you're suggesting - because you want to show breadth in your essays and I feel like that's too much of the same topic.

skkingdom

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21 Sep 2009, 09:04

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New questions answered on Dee's "From the Director" blog - more will follow in next days..

What should I enter on the application for GPA if my university doesn't use a 4.0 grading system?

Don't enter anything. Don't convert your grades to a 4.0 system. We review all transcripts and are familiar with a wide variety of grading systems.

Are essays read in consecutive order?

Not always. Each Board member may have his/her own way of approaching the written application. Speaking for myself, I often skip around with no particular pattern. If I start with an essay that seems to be building on a theme in another essay, I just go back and catch up. Not a problem. I can reassure you that all essays are reviewed!

jennipuh

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23 Sep 2009, 17:18

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also applying R1... only a week left! :shock:

i have a question about post-college extracurriculars. since i graduated only 2 years ago and i have spent all of 2009 (literally) preparing for the GMAT and applications, i have not had a chance to participate in any organized extracurricular activities that i can list in that section of the HBS application. any advice? is this a big problem that i should address it in the "additional information" section of the app?

thanks

gmatbschool

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23 Sep 2009, 20:17

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jennipuh

also applying R1... only a week left! :shock:

I would recommend either not touching it or finding a better reason. Two years is a long time. And preparing for the GMAT is not an excuse IMO. You'll be competing with many many people who found the time to excel in their jobs, ace the GMAT AND participate in an extra curric.
Even if you prepared for the GMAT for an entire YEAR, that doesn't explain why the other year had no participation.

And don't abuse the additional information by the way. People use that to explain major illnesses and getting fired. Saying I didn't have even 2 hours a week to do something because of my job and GMAT will seem weak.

But of course all this is my opinion and IANAAdcom-member. I am just an application, never been to business school

vikramaditya

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25 Sep 2009, 23:58

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In the data form,HBS asks for the number of months of Part-Time Work Experience Since College (including part-time, contract work, unpaid work, etc.)
Can community work be included in this information?I have already given the details in the Extra-Curricular Activities Section.

A minor question is in the Work Experience Section,there is a question-"Reason for Leaving".Is this the reason for leaving that job for another job,or the reason for deciding to do an MBA?I have had just one full-time job since graduation,so should I leave this space blank?

david2008

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26 Sep 2009, 11:04

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For the work experience section, i would just put "intending to leave in Summer of 2010 for business school" or something like that. Don't leave it blank