Harvard 2013 (HBS) - Calling All Applicants

Dee literally said that we are all pink folders (apparently round 1 = pink folder) and we spend many hours in her bedroom in various piles and groupings until she comes to a final decision. For some reason, this image really makes me laugh! Please let my pink folder end up in the "right" pile!!

I had pretty senior people do it, and they told me the interview would be a formality and they would get me in. so lucked out in the process it seems. thanks for support.

Awesome, congrats then! Our chances just went down ever so slightly!

Are you related to someone famous, or have some other connection?

C'mon guys. Bit of scepticism on this one.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWdD206eSv0[/youtube]

Haha, that's what I thought. Let's say you have those amazing connections into HBS. Why would you go on the internet and let everyone know that you are gaming the system? Either you are a first rate, arrogant d*** that will give HBS a bad reputation in the future or you are just having fun spilling lies on the internet. In any case, I think schools these days try to make an effort to keep legacy and nepotistic admissions more to a minimum, although arguably there will always be people that can game the system.

I am applying in R2 for 2+2-not done my gmat as yet getting the essays together-is it a good time to apply-looks like it's a bleak year for B schools-or am i wrong?

BTW is there any round that's more advantageous to apply in? or is everyone gonna have the same chances?

As noted in article above the interview mostly DINGS people, HBS uses it to filter out people who 1. cannot speak English, 2. who would not be a productive member of case method discussion, a more subjective category, which usually means that you gave canned or insincere answers in the interview. When Dee gives feedback to dinged candidates, it is almost always the INTERVIEW that she mentions. Her typical remarks are, We did not feel you were in the moment, answers seemed scripted, etc. or words to that effect. If you think you did well in the interview, you probably did, unless you were self-delusional, most people know when they screw up the HBS interview (but not all). They take 6 out of 10 peeps interview (1000 out of 1800).
About 2 out of 10 screw up the interview in some way, the rest become real tuff judgment calls bases on class mix, country and gender mix, how you do vs. your cohort (consultants), need for science and manufacturing types vs. finance types, etc. With rare cases of admits with pull, etc. (rec later by powerful donor, alum, hiring partner) legacy (does not count much by itself) etc. Often real, real subjective brew Ms Leopold has to manage, and you would not want to press her on last admit fr. each category vs. first ding fr. same category, what are the diffs?? Nor could you expllain that either in any compelling case if you were she.

Ugh - this is such a horrible time... the agonizing wait. I interviewed almost a month ago and it's so easy to replay that interview over and over again wishing I used a stronger example here or there. Alas, no going back. Only keeping my fingers crossed for a positive decision in December.

Sandy - your response above is helpful to put that into perspective. The interview is less about getting yourself in, it's more about not getting cut.

@HBSguru.... love your direct style, your track record and approach...

but sometimes reading your posts, and blogs, and edits... I sometimes wonder how you ever passed 5th grade....

(hoping not to start a flammatory thread... but I dont know what others think)

Dear Harvard Business School,

Once you've rejected me, it kind of adds insult to injury when I'm still on your Google AdWords remarketing campaign.

Getting sick of seeing HBS ads everywhere I go on the web!

Cheers,
That girl you rejected in round 1

This wait is slowly killing me. The next three weeks are going to pass by so slowly. How are you all dealing with the anxiety?

Totally agreed - it is actually very painful. Feel like we should just sleep for the next 3 weeks and wake up on 12/12...

Anyone else interview in California?

Random question, but did anyone who interviewed receive a response to their thank you note from their interviewer? Am not talking about the post-interview reflection obviously..

I dont think we are supposed to. They gave us a generic email to reply to.

I did interview in CA. Did anyone else get Dee's email about what to expect next?

I treated the reflection itself as the thank you note to my interviewer.

Did you all send a thank you note to the generic email provided in addition to the reflection?

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