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Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016 31 Jul 2013, 19:18
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Interesting piece of information released by the HBS: Distribution of the Class of 2015 folks based on the years since graduating undergrad



Source: https://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/Pages ... 1#Jul24197
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Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016 04 Aug 2013, 19:44
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How are you guys doing on the essay? How many words you plan to have? I know it has no word limit, but I imagine it's probably 450-800 or something reasonable.
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Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016 04 Aug 2013, 22:01
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TheEntrepreneur
How are you guys doing on the essay? How many words you plan to have? I know it has no word limit, but I imagine it's probably 450-800 or something reasonable.
Show more


The length can vary, but previous years' questions would be good benchmarks. The word limit on each question was 400 last year and 400-600 two years ago.

They like straightforward, concise essays. The taste should be different from Stanford.


Good luck!

--------------------
2y-hbs
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Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016 05 Aug 2013, 11:23
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Keima
TheEntrepreneur
How are you guys doing on the essay? How many words you plan to have? I know it has no word limit, but I imagine it's probably 450-800 or something reasonable.


The length can vary, but previous years' questions would be good benchmarks. The word limit on each question was 400 last year and 400-600 two years ago.

They like straightforward, concise essays. The taste should be different from Stanford.


Good luck!

--------------------
2y-hbs
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@Keima: I was blinded by the green on your profile!!

congratulations.
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Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016 08 Aug 2013, 22:06
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How similar is this open essay compared with Stanford one?
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Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016 08 Aug 2013, 22:09
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How similar is this open essay compared with Stanford one?
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Not at all similar. The schools are totally different places and they use the essays in different ways. What's often appropriate for a Stanford essay would not be advisable at all for HBS. It will be very obvious if you try to reuse a Stanford essay for Harvard (or any other school's essay for Harvard, actually). You need to be approaching them differently.

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Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016 08 Aug 2013, 22:19
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lindalibinbin
How similar is this open essay compared with Stanford one?
Not at all similar. The schools are totally different places and they use the essays in different ways. What's often appropriate for a Stanford essay would not be advisable at all for HBS. It will be very obvious if you try to reuse a Stanford essay for Harvard (or any other school's essay for Harvard, actually). You need to be approaching them differently.

EssaySnark
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But if we want to add depth and color to the HBS application, shouldn't we touch on the personal side of things? And if so, isn't that similar to stanford? What do you suggest we should focus in the HBS essay?
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Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016 08 Aug 2013, 22:23
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As we just stated, these schools look for different things in their applicants. Stanford Essay 1 is a personal essay. Harvard has never wanted personal content in their essays. At risk of repeating ourselves, these are different requirements and a different approach is needed for both.

We have a full Harvard essay guide if you are interested.

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Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016 12 Aug 2013, 12:01
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Hi There,

Quickly wanted to introduce myself.

South Asian / Female/ 26/ 4 years with the United Nations/ Previous Masters from Harvard / 710 GMAT

Just got done with my Essay. Mine is 700 words. Wondering if this is too long?
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Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016 12 Aug 2013, 12:50
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Hey butterfingers123, welcome to GMAT Club - sounds like a very interesting profile!

700 words is DEFINITELY not too long - you're right in range of what we recommend.

Good luck with HBS!!
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Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016 12 Aug 2013, 15:03
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Hi There,

Quickly wanted to introduce myself.

South Asian / Female/ 26/ 4 years with the United Nations/ Previous Masters from Harvard / 710 GMAT

Just got done with my Essay. Mine is 700 words. Wondering if this is too long?
Show more


Interesting background! Waiting for you at HBS!
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Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016 12 Aug 2013, 18:35
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Hi There,

Quickly wanted to introduce myself.

South Asian / Female/ 26/ 4 years with the United Nations/ Previous Masters from Harvard / 710 GMAT

Just got done with my Essay. Mine is 700 words. Wondering if this is too long?


Interesting background! Waiting for you at HBS!
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Hi Keima,

Thanks for the vote of confidence! I'm really quite nervous. Congratulations on all your acceptances . Wow!
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Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016 12 Aug 2013, 18:37
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Hey butterfingers123, welcome to GMAT Club - sounds like a very interesting profile!

700 words is DEFINITELY not too long - you're right in range of what we recommend.

Good luck with HBS!!
EssaySnark
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Hello,

Thank you :) I'm working on cleaning up my essay a little before I send it to you . Please be brutal :)
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Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016 13 Aug 2013, 07:15
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Hey butterfingers123, welcome to GMAT Club - sounds like a very interesting profile!

700 words is DEFINITELY not too long - you're right in range of what we recommend.

Good luck with HBS!!
EssaySnark

Hello,

Thank you :) I'm working on cleaning up my essay a little before I send it to you . Please be brutal :)
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Looking forward to seeing it!!!

(Brutal? Who's brutal?!?? :-D )
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Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016 13 Aug 2013, 11:26
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Hi all,

Apologies if this post is in the wrong place (it's my first one!) - I have been a long-time lurker like many. Took the GMAT earlier this month and thanks to many of the tips on here, got a 760. Made the decision to apply to HBS in R1 but now have a small (somewhat trivial) question about the application that has been on my mind for a couple of days now - I have a nagging suspicion I might be interpreting a section incorrectly and wanted to pose the question to others.

For those who are currently working through the application, under the Employment section where you can list up to 3 roles - each role asks for a "Description", "Key Accomplishments" and "Most Significant Challenge". How did you guys interpret the "Description" section - did you take it to mean a description of the role or a description of the organization? I assumed it was asking for a description of the role but that seems a bit like a repetition of your resume, does it not? How did you go about differentiating this section from the information on your resume?

Any insight you could provide to ease my mind would be greatly appreciated :)

Thanks!
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Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016 13 Aug 2013, 18:27
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mittens63

For those who are currently working through the application, under the Employment section where you can list up to 3 roles - each role asks for a "Description", "Key Accomplishments" and "Most Significant Challenge". How did you guys interpret the "Description" section - did you take it to mean a description of the role or a description of the organization? I assumed it was asking for a description of the role but that seems a bit like a repetition of your resume, does it not? How did you go about differentiating this section from the information on your resume?
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Hi there,

Congratulations on an amazing GMAT score!

They're asking for a description of your role, not the company. Think of the description this way - it's a summary, high level statement that rolls all of the bullet points in your resume into one short, concise, powerful statement. In other words, if you were at a dinner party and someone asks what you do for company XYZ and it was someone you wanted to impress, how would you describe your job?

Bhavik
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Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016 14 Aug 2013, 22:08
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HBS 2+2 Round 1 here... I just started my essay... Where is everyone else up to?
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Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016 16 Aug 2013, 11:25
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Hey,

Just noticed HBS isn't asking for High School grades anywhere on the application. Am i missing something obvious or is it required somewhere on the application but I couldn't see it.

Thanks for the help!
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Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016 16 Aug 2013, 11:59
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Hey,

Just noticed HBS isn't asking for High School grades anywhere on the application. Am i missing something obvious or is it required somewhere on the application but I couldn't see it.

Thanks for the help!
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I'm pretty sure HBS are not interested and with good reason too, it's pretty irrelevant when you already have the data points from GPA, GMAT and work experience.
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Harvard (HBS) Calling all applicants - Class of 2016 16 Aug 2013, 12:26
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Exactly what domotron said. Your HS grades got you into college; HBS (and other schools) rely on the college admissions process to evaluate (and reward you for) what you did as a kid. In fact, we don't recall any bschool apps that ask for HS grades. They may ask what HS you went to, but not about the grades. If you know of any that want grades we'd be interested to hear.
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