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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kohlia

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17 Mar 2010, 06:57

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tispot

Hey guys,

for people who already passed their interviews, how did you thank them? to which email did you send?

or do you think sending email is useless?

I genuinely believe that you don't need to send an email in the case of HBS. They don't have business cards or give you their contact details. It's not expected at all. I wouldn't worry about it - it's certainly not going to help if you do, and I am positive it won't harm if you don't.

LB20

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17 Mar 2010, 07:07

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Yeah for me (I interviewed on campus) the reception desk gave me a generic HBS admission business card (with the generic admissions email address on it) and wrote out my interviewer's name before I went in for my interview. As a result, it was easy for me to email with the correctly spelled version of my interviewer's name and direct it to her in the subject line. She'd also mentioned that if I had any questions, since there wouldn't be any time to ask them in the interview, I could email and say her name and it would get to her.

I do agree that it probably won't make or break your chance of success, I just did it because I didn't have to work very hard to get it all in line and send the email, but I don't think it's going to get me in or get me dinged.

My interviewer was really nice & welcoming, but the questions were all over the place and a few were totally unrelated to my application and background, and I got the feeling they just wanted to see how I would do when put on the spot (in which case, while my eventual answer was decent, I had a deer in the headlights moment). Anyway--I'm leaning towards the "my interview didn't go so well" side of the spectrum and won't be surprised if I'm in the ~40% that gets dinged or waitlisted after an interview. It happens.

pilot

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17 Mar 2010, 08:27

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Kohlia, I just had my interview and share all your sentiments. I expected much more drilling, much more probing. But the whole thing was so casual it really caught me off guard.

kohlia

Janus

Okay I had my interview. Bombay hub.

It was very friendly and casual, but only 20 minutes in length. She would jump from topic to topic, switching before I could finish my answers.

I'm hoping this is because, as you said, the purpose of the interview is to confirm that I can speak english, am likeable, etc. I'm guessing that either makes me a shoo-in or an instant write-off. What do you guys think? Anyone else in a similar situation?

Hey Janus,

I had my interview in Bombay as well - on Monday 15th. I had exactly the same experience as you.

My interview was extremely casual that I think I was caught a bit off-guard. The interviewer was warm, very receptive and extremely nice. I had been given the impression that the HBS interview was a bit intimidating, and in retrospect I'm confused as to whether that would have in fact been better (given the way I had mentally prepared for it). I felt that I had done some serious soul-searching, spoken to a lot of HBS alum and current students, and made note of some really interesting points that I wanted to make about my candidacy. But I didn't manage to touch upon anything at all! Maybe this was my failure and it was up to me to create opportunities to weave points into my responses. But the interview was so casual and so focused on just asking me to talk about my essays and the odd bullet point on my resume, that I just couldn't find a way to say anything else.

It all happened so quickly and before I knew it, I was told that we were out of time. I hope that my face didn't suggest extreme disappointment at the time, because I immediately felt that I had lost the opportunity to present a lot of things I was keen to and hadn't made a serious impact.

My take is as follows:

1) The interview was just a way to verify what I'd written in my app, and to confirm if I was articulate and would be able to mesh well with the HBS community in terms of the way I spoke and structured my answers - if that's the case, I feel I managed to do ok (it could always have been better, of course). Though somewhere the fact that only 50% of interviewees are admitted (I feel I've seen that stat somewhere) makes me feel that it requires more than just "verifying your candidacy" or else one would see a higher acceptance rate

OR

2) The interview is clearly a way to go beyond your app and truly distinguish yourself from everyone else by being an effective yet real/humble "salesman" of your credentials - the interviewer is fairly neutral in terms of questions and it's really up to you to be smart and creative to get all your points across within a short time-frame. If this is the case, then I feel less buoyant about the way I performed and definitely feel I may have missed the mark slightly

In retrospect, I feel I may be exactly where I was before the interviewer - at a 50% chance of success. This could be a positive (in that I didn't evidently just screw up and ding myself out of contention altogether) or negative (in that I didn't do anything to really enhance myself beyond my app). It's a completely unknown variable - I've been replaying every moment of it in my mind (each time, I discover that "one other thing" I should've said differently to be more effective/clear) since and this unending post-mortem just makes it even more confusing to assess how it truly went. Impossible to tell.

I feel I had somewhere read that Sandy (the HBS guru) had written that the interview won't "get you in for sure" but can definitely "get you out for sure" - so I'm taking solace in the fact that I feel I am closer to the former than the latter.

All that being said, I am personally a bit disappointed with my performance and know I could certainly have done better. It just went by too fast and seemed so comfortable that somewhere I almost lost track of everything I wanted to say and just went with the flow, and possibly missed out on some key things.

I guess I've typed all this out only to come right back to the start: I have no idea, much like you!

Good luck. All eyes on the 6th - this really could go either way.

Cheers.

hbsguru

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17 Mar 2010, 08:50

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Sandy, is there any way we could find out who the HBS interviewers in R2 (for various locations) are? I'm having an interview in Shanghai next week and it would be great to find out some facts on my interviewer first.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OK gig is up, Shanghai WL interviewer is Eileen Chang, who is also known on these boards as the official HBS Wait List Lady, but she is more than that, very senior adcom member, and done losta,lotsa interviews in all cities, including Shanghai in the past, and London, etc. etc. Viz. some of her old questions below. IF anyone was interviewed by Ms, Chang this round and wants to give a report, please do so. GOOD LUCK SHANGHAI INTERVIEW KIDS!!!! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eileen Chang

The interview went well, mostly the types of things we talked about and I think I did well!

Explain background
Why current job
Explain more about current job
Examples of teamwork, team dynamics
Career goals- explain why

Most of the rest was very specific to me, so we talked about where I am living, why, my travel with my job, how that impacts me, family, and some follow up questions on above like, explain, talk a bit more etc.

It was calm and nice interview, very professional, and a bit short even- seemed we covered everything quickly.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, so interviewed with Eilleen Chang . She was very friendly, polite and eloquent. Interview was extremely focused on my application/industry (healthcare/pharma). However, general questions were:

Explain to me what you actually do in your current job?
What is it that has allowed you to enjoy success so far in your career?
What is your ideal job?
Do you find your industry exciting? Why?
What challenges do you forsee as a leader in your industry? How would you handle these?
Where do you see yourself working post MBA? (She wanted country, not job/role)
What would you contribute to HBS?
Why are you unique?
Is there anything else you want to tell me about yourself?

hbsguru

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17 Mar 2010, 09:02

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pilot

Hey Janus,

I had my interview in Bombay as well - on Monday 15th. I had exactly the same experience as you.

I feel I had somewhere read that Sandy (the HBS guru) had written that the interview won't "get you in for sure" but can definitely "get you out for sure" -[YOU GOT THAT RIGHT, DUDE--SANDY, THE HBS GURU] so I'm taking solace in the fact that I feel I am closer to the former than the latter.

All that being said, I am personally a bit disappointed with my performance and know I could certainly have done better. It just went by too fast and seemed so comfortable that somewhere I almost lost track of everything I wanted to say and just went with the flow, and possibly missed out on some key things.
Cheers.

Most HBS interviews, even successful ones, are unsatisfying, they dont want to you sell yourself, that is what the app. is for, in terms of major accomplishments, goals, and scores. They are testing to see 1. if you can in fact speak English; 2. if you can speak English for that 30 minutes; 3. If you can survive in case method enviro which often requires summarzing your pts, and not getting lost in the weeds; 4. if you are pain in the butt, annoying, not going to fit in (lots of unannoying people in real life fail this part because they act more salesman-y and boastful than in real life, or get confused and lost and ugly in their helplessness. What happened to most kids who reported on interviews above was that once interviewer asked you question, and you began on right foot, and it was clear where you were going, she cut you off, and asked new question, that is whole pt. she does not care about rest of your 4 part answer, we get it, I see where this is headed, next.......of course for you sitting there, you feel cut off and unfufilled. HAHA, HBS interviews, like most massages, rarely have a 'happy ending' they just poke around to make sure that you got two arms, two legs, etc. and that all your organs respond to quick stimuli, it IS NOT ABOUT MAKING YOU FEEL GOOD. :wink:

hbsguru

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17 Mar 2010, 09:13

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by the way, for all you applicants interviewed in Bombay, the interviewer was Pauline Jennett
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/pauline-jennett/7/427/201 and her style is warm but quick moving. I got reports from several clients (like 8) who interviewed with her this go-round, and they said pretty much the same as comments on this board. Fyi, below are some interviews she has done in the past, same style, same mode of asking questions, some kids said in the past that interview was 20-25 minutes. Once she got what she wants, DATS ALL FOLKS. As noted, interview is NOT about you. If you want love rub, go to Stanford.

OLDER ONES

Pauline Jennett
1) What was your favorite and worst class in college? why?
2) If your friends & family had to describe you in 3 words, what would they be?
3) How has your leadership developed? What is your current style?
4) What do you do in your role now? Give me examples..
5) How did you develop your speech?
6) Asked me a few questions about why I withdrew from a few classes in college
7) Asked me about my statement that I did too many extracurriculars in college and my grades suffered.. why? what have you learned?
8) Anything else you want to tell me?
My interviewer was Pauline Jennett.
Our interview was somewhere between 20-25 minutes (ended early). Any thoughts based on the length and the person?

INTERVIEWER: Pauline Jennett

When did you come into town?
Did you see a class?
Tell me about what you do at your company. (Follow-ups: What are your current cases? How many people do you manage?)
What has been your most interesting project?
Which people have influenced you the most at work?
Why did you choose your undergraduate institution?
Tell me a specific leadership role at work.
How are you a junior leader at your company?
How have you dealt with conflict?
What major challenges do you experience at your job?
Why did you choose your company?
People talk about a "generation gap." Do you think one exists and how do you think technology relates to that?
Why a Harvard MBA?
Which industries have you worked in?
What did you do to get an overview of each industry?
What is the biggest misconception about you?
How would your friends and family describe you?

hbsguru

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17 Mar 2010, 09:38

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Quote:

that somewhere I almost lost track of everything I wanted to say and just went with the flow, and possibly missed out on some key things.

dude, as noted, purpose of interview is NOT for you to dump your prepared script on adcom. (That is called the application). Purpose of interview is to see how you organize and talk when unplugged, that is why they often ask lotsa questions, and cut you off once they sense you got good answer to last one. If you lost track of what you were saying in present tense--NOT GOOD, if you lost track of prepared BS and sales points, don't worry, that was the whole point.

keith7293

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17 Mar 2010, 18:20

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Guys,
Any news on the remaining 50 interviews that were supposed to go out later?

kohlia

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18 Mar 2010, 00:02

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hbsguru

pilot

Thanks for putting it in the right perspective, Sandy. I guess it's tough to do that when you're in the actual interview and then the period right after. This makes a lot of sense (of course!) and is reassuring indeed!

I guess now it's time to move on and stop thinking about it any more!

Janus

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18 Mar 2010, 00:07

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So I guess we can conclude that it is more of a GOOD thing if they cut you off when you feel you are not rambling but on point, as that means she is satisfied...

Janus

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18 Mar 2010, 01:59

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Has anyone (Sandy the HBS Guru, I'm looking in your direction!) ever attempted to compile a list of who had "tough" and "easy" interviews and if there is any correlation between that and admission? :idea:

hbsguru

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18 Mar 2010, 08:16

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Janus

yeah, I have compiled this list, and many others, based on the ~300 mock interivews I have done over the past 3 years: conclusion=NO PATTERN. Superstars sometimes get hard interviews (and blow them) while marginal kids get walk me thru your resume interviews, with no tuff guy questions about
1. WHY WE SHOULD TAKE YOU? LET'S HEAR YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH!
2. WHAT WILL BE HARDEST FOR YOU HERE, GIVEN X AND Y ON YOUR RECORD?
3. WE GET LOTS OF KIDS FROM YOUR BACKGROUND, MANY WITH BETTER SCORES, ETC. WHAT MAKES YOU SPECIAL?
4. IF YOU WERE HEAD OF TOYOTA NOW, WHAT SIX THINGS WOULD YOU DO?
5. TELL ME 3 MORE MISTAKES?
6. DESCRIBE SOMETHING COMPLEX TO ME IN REGULAR PERSON TERMS (A FAVORITE Q OF HRH LEOPOLD)
7. DESCRIBE A TIME WHEN YOUR VALUES WERE COMPROMISED AT WORK?
8. WHAT IS THE BIGGEST RISK WE TAKE IN ACCEPTING YOU?
All of the above tuff questions, which you think they might hit the marginal candidate with, but they don't. Folks who get questions like that, and more stressful interviews are JUST NOT LUCKY. There is no rhyme or reason for stress/difficult questions--but if you get hit w. a barrage of them, and get confused or demoralized, it can damage your chances.
ALL THAT SAID, MOST INTERVIEWS AND INTERVIEWERS ARE SUPER NICE AND DONT REALLY STRESS YOU OUT, BUT IT HAPPENS.
4.

hbsguru

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21 Mar 2010, 08:18

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BY THE WAY, APPARENTLY MS. JENNETT HAS PADDLED ACROSS THE ARABIAN SEA AND IS DOING THE HBS INTERVIEWS IN DUBAI

hbsguru

hbsguru

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21 Mar 2010, 08:22

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great interview question,
:shock:

Quote:

"We view your ideals as telling us the person you want to be, and we view your compromises as telling us the person you are. In light of that, could you tell me 3 ideals you have and 3 compromises you have made."

hbsguru

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22 Mar 2010, 05:22

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Can you please shed us some light on why someone could be admitted to a "top 5" school such as Kellogg or MIT and dinged from a "top 15" (maybe top 10?) school such as Yale SOM or Tuck without interview when their essays were good enough ....??

Small schools, esp. Tuck and MIT and maybe Yale, are very aware of your interest level, and if you have not taken campus tour, visited classes, linked up w. school at Forums, or expressed detailed knowledge of school, etc. in app., or if they otherwise sense you are really not putting them in your top 3 choices, etc. by dint of geography, all the above, fit, etc. etc. they will just ding you. Lots of kids accepted to HWS are dinged WITHOUT interview or w. interview, at Columbia, Tuck, MIT etc. etc. Those places are pretty good at sniffing out cruisers and double-secret safety candidates, and dont waste their time. If they make an occassional mistake, well, tuff nuts for you.

hbsguru

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22 Mar 2010, 05:27

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How to get B school results-- the F. Scott Fitzgerald way.
Just got a Kindle, and, ahem, was hip enuf to figure out: 1. how to download free books, including the Scott Fitzgerald novel below, 2. How to clip parts of that book to my Clip File; 3. How to transfer my Clip file to my PC, so I could then repost the Clip here.

Gentlemen (and ladies), we have here the famous scene in The Near Side of Pardise where Fitzgerald’s hero and alter-ego Amory Blaine receives notice fr. the Princeton Registrar’s Office as to whether he had managed to Pass or Flunk Out of Princeton, after a semester of debauchary and diversion. It was well known to undergrads in that day that one did not have to actually read the notice sent from the Registrar, since those who passed received a letter on PINK paper, while those who flunked out, received a notice on BLUE paper.

Below is suggested, in this season of getting results, as some romantic advice about how to handle this anxiety-to-the-max momment. Altho I once had a client in Australia who got his Wharton results at noon (midnight in Australia) at a bar, and had a table-full of spirited friends around his laptop to cheer him on. As you may know, in Australia, they don’t really need excuses to start drinking, let alone what happens when there is, in fact, reason to celebrate.

Our Fitzgerald hero, whom we meet outside his dorm, shouting up to his room-mate, well, let’s pick it up from there . . .

Quote:

This Side of Paradise (Fitzgerald,F.Scott )

“Oh, Tom, any mail?”

”Yes, your result’s here.”

His heart clamored violently.

“What is it, blue or pink?”

“Don’t know. Better come up.”

He walked into the room and straight over to the table, and then suddenly noticed that there were other people in the room.

They seemed to be mostly friends, so he picked up the envelope marked “Registrar’s Office,” and weighed it nervously. “We have here quite a slip of paper.”

”Open it, Amory.”

”Just to be dramatic, I’ll let you know that if it’s blue . . . my short career is over. Watch my face, gentlemen, for the primitive emotions.”

He tore it open and held the slip up to the light.

”Well?”

”Pink or blue?”

“Say what it is.”

“We’re all ears, Amory.”

“Smile or swear–or something.”

There was a pause . . . a small crowd of seconds swept by . . . then he looked again . . .and another crowd went on into time.

“Blue as the sky, gentlemen. . . .”

hbsguru

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22 Mar 2010, 14:18

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Quote:

hi sandy

i am interested in transitioning from a engineering profile into a consulting role post mba. Just wanted some info regarding consulting firms

- do they recruit for a generalistic profile? or an industry specific one?
- what do mba students major in at schools to score a consulting job?
- which courses are popular/must to break into consulting?

top consulting firms look for smart peeps who know how to correctly use a knive and fork and drink soupwith a spoon w.out slurpping. IF you got an engineering background and also know how to work a fork, that is a plus. They sometimes hire for speciality practices,but for post MBA's, it is usual generalists. Courses etc. are BS, take whatever you want, no one cares about jive like that. Takes courses which are 1.easy, 2. will help you network, 3. sound interesting, 4. have good profs. A good number of consulting gigs evolve out of first year summer internship, and THAT is granted when you are taking required first year courses anyway. Or so I belive, if any folks want to modify above views, please do. That is my understanding of how the game is played.

powerka

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22 Mar 2010, 14:27

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hbsguru

What a pleasure to read these lines instead of the usual politically correct BS.

Thanks

pilot

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23 Mar 2010, 20:09

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2 more weeks !!

What are you guys doing to kill time?

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24 Mar 2010, 01:15

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A mix of a 1 week vacation around India and endless replaying of the interview in my head, (it probably gets more distorted every time I try to recall it). And then telling myself "oh interview is only part of it" and hoping....

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