Calling all HBS Fall 2009 Applicants

Most programs are in reality 18 months... two nine months sessions with a three month internship between them.

Correct me if I am wrong..

~Sam

But the B-week School profiles term "other" programs to be 21 or 24 months. Can it be possible that HBS has an 18 month course 'with' internship??

https://www.clearadmit.com/sg_hbs.html

Does anybody know whether this guide for HBS from Clear Admit is worth the money?

I thought the UCLA Anderson guide I bought was pretty good. I would say worth the money.

Gang..i am reviewing my essays..and i kinda fell that HBS questions dont really ask much about the individuals uniqueness..i mean there is no opportunity in the essays to really talk about my unique background..i feel its a plain vanilla name your top3 accomplishments, what did you learn from your failure..talk about your undergrad experience..talk about your career vision..

well i feel they should have at least allowed 5 essays.. 4 is just not getting my personality out in paper..

what are your thoughts???

Hi fresinha,

I think the key component of HBS essay #1 is "...and why do you view them as such?" This would be a good opportunity to insert a unique aspect of your application, i.e. "Accomplishment x is important to me because I learned growing up in Mexico that..."

If you have any unique stories to share from your undergraduate experience it may be worthwhile to mention them as well. An example I will mention is having devoted a lot of time tutoring while in school, and of course explaining the motivation behind doing so.

Although I agree with you that the essay questions may not lend themselves to key differentiations as much as other schools', I do believe there is plenty of opportunity to sprinkle in short anecdotes (even if its one sentence) throughout your essays.

It specfically mentions undergraduate academic experience, not extracurricular

with 600 words i am afraid you cant really say much in essay 1..

I feel that HBS should have allowed a 5th essay maybe they should have allowed 3 of the 4 optional essays..

like...i really love Kellogs and even wharton questions they really allow me to set myself apart.

I am afraid HBS is really looking for people with numbers..i.e high gmat, high gpa and not much work experience..


Lets discuss essay 1. 3 biggest accomplishment and why do you think they are big?..in 600 words.. so the obvious would be ...i am a fresh college grad working in a PE firm and structured a $billion deal..and thats why i feel its important..cus its $billion..

i view tutoring as another form of learning course material, and therefore consider it an extension of my academic experience. point well taken nonetheless

fresinha, i believe the overall strategy for any set of essays remains the same. determine the unique aspects of your application and then identify places to intricately weave them into your answers. you need not go into incredible detail.

just my $.02 really

Have you guys uploaded your transcripts yet? I filled out the transcript form, but don't see the slot for the additional school (if I took courses at a community college, etc.). The form says to mark such classes with an asterisk and to list the additional school in the appropriate space below. Unfortunately, the form doesn't seem to have a space dedicated for the additional school. Any thoughts?

All --

What are everyone's thoughts regarding essay 3.1? Is this an essay to explain some odd circumstance for why you got a 1.9 GPA your soph year? Or is this truly an essay where I can talk about other things (e.g. I graduated in 3 years -- why did I do this? why did I TA and tutor classes? etc...)

Thoughts?

Matt

I think the keyword is "academic experience" , this to me does not mean what you did in undergrad, or for you to explain away a GPA. To me this is more about your classes and what you learned.

I agree. I do not think it's the best place for a defensive sort of explanation. That is probably best suited for the short "anything else you'd like to tell us" part of the data form.

How's everyone doing on R1 apps? We're in the home stretch!

I am almost 90% done with my final review of essays..2 of my 3 recommenders are done..actually called my 3rd recemmender to inform him that he would be serving as a backup now..i am pursuing another recommender, if I can get a letter from him it will go a long way..so I am debating if I should wait out till R2...

I am almost 90% done with my final review of essays..2 of my 3 recommenders are done..actually called my 3rd recemmender to inform him that he would be serving as a backup now..i am pursuing another recommender, if I can get a letter from him it will go a long way..so I am debating if I should wait out till R2...

all done as of october 1...let's get this party started!