HBS 2012 - Calling All Applicants

applying summer round for 2+2

You might enjoy this

A Shrewd Undergraduate's Guide to HBS Admissions

Published, THE HARVARD CRIMSON, On 4/20/2008

Sanford Kreisberg is the founder of hbsguru.com, a business school admissions consultancy. He has advised scores of Harvard graduates about applying to HBS over the past 10 years . . . .

1. Try to have a high GPA and do not fall for the canard that the admissions committee is aware of hard courses, and will give you a break. They are aware of A, B, and C. They have no idea if Post-Modern Feminist Approaches to Derivative Trading is a hard course or a gut. Take a lot of guts, and use the extra time to explore extra activities. Do not innocently engage in learning for 'learning sake' --although certainly say you do. Do not take introductory Arabic or Chinese because they sound contemporary and important, especially when most kids in those classes will be native speakers looking for guts. Do not take some super-duper math course because it sounds 'interesting.'

2. Try to have a high GMAT, but HBS is not obsessed with this; they are more concerned with your GPA, and will not get too shook up with a 680 or even a 660 GMAT if they 'otherwise love you' and that can apply to even non-minorities. A 720 GMAT is normative, a 750 won't help you as much as you think, and a jumbo 770+ is a nice touch, especially if a keystone of your application is that you are smart or quanty.

3. Be strategic about extracurriculars: try to be a leader. Try to find an issue where you can lead based on interests or identity politics. Think about Miss America, where each finalist has some 'signature' issue like overcoming learning disabilities or improving inner-city education. Get a signature issue of your own. Leading a club based on your ethnicity, personal concerns, diseases, or political ideas is good. Try to be innovative and expand the organization’s programs and membership.

4. Be a work in progress. HBS is obsessed with 'transforming' its students, so the persona you should present in your application is someone who is both focused and accomplished, yet open to change. You don't need to be overly interested in business per se; rather, you need to be interested in the intersection of your personal passion, signature issue, or academic interest with the potential social impact. Thus, if you have a passion for biology, you would do better presenting yourself as someone interested in how biology can cure disease among groups a, b, or c, rather than someone obsessed with Biotech companies and their relative stock values. HBS will "transform" you into the latter.

than someone who has been obsessed with business ever since your grandfather gave you 100 shares of General Electric for your 10th birthday. HBS is looking for science and artsy kids who otherwise, without HBS's wonderful “2+2” program, never would have thought about business, and would have gone to (gasp) law school. So, be a techie who was happy being a nerd until, poof, “2+2” came along, and then you discovered you could be a business nerd. Think transformation.

6. In your essays, show what makes you tick; the essays are not brag sheets. Don't list what you did so much as account for how you were effective getting others, like professors and other students, to help you. Think Tom Sawyer. Get the others to help you paint the fence. Don't brag about raising money for charity, but explain how you convinced 20 other kids to help you raise money for charity.

hey sandy, thanks, i have read almost all of your articles about MBA admissions in the past two months.

you have been shaping the way i have written my essays with your advice

I am thinking of putting in HBS as one of my stretch schools ... but it might be too much of a stretch ... hopefully this forum would thow up some information which will make the decision easier for me.

YES IT WILL. FOR OPENERS JUST TELL US YOUR STATS, AGE, WORK HISTORY AND EXTRAS, AND FOLKS ON THIS FORUM WILL OFTEN TELL YOU IF THEY THINK YOU HAVE A CHANCE.

Hi Sandy,

I'm a newbie here and want to start by seeking your opinion on what my chances for HBS are.

GPA 4.0/4.0 (small private college here in US...)
Major (CS)
WE (IT with two major investment banks...3.5 years combined)
GMAT (TBD...Sept 2011)
GRE (1420 Q 730/V 690)
Concentration (Entrepreneurship, PE/VC with high interest in emerging markets)
Extracurricular (Mainly working with special needs kids consistently all through college , nothing much since then as work doesn't leave much time)
Age 29.... I know , work-experience and age "don't match"...had a hiatus in college education due to personal/family issues

hey sandy, what should letters of recommendation say about a 2+2 applicant? any specific advice which could be helpful? thanks

[quote="jay4den
Age 29.... I know , work-experience and age "don't match"...had a hiatus in college education due to personal/family issues [/quote]

dunno, not looking like an HBS admit, age is one drawback and lack of prestige jobs another, and nothing drving you in. The hiatus is not helping and altho one wished it could be turned into a positive, that is prob. not the case here, in the cold light of adcom decision making, vs. the warm glow of adcom road shows.

Thanks Sandy...but can you shed more light on " lack of prestige jobs another, and nothing drving you in" ? Per prestige jobs , do you mean job as a function of age ? and I don't get the "nothing drving you in part".

I really appreciate your candid views

for the HBS class entering in 2010 (last year) Dee Leopold, the adcom head (aka her royal highness) said on her blog the following

GMAT Score Range 510-790
Middle 50% GMAT Score Range 710-750
Average GMAT 724

for class entering in 2011, e.g THIS SEPT, her majesty reported on her blog the following:


GMAT Score Range 490-790
Median GMAT 730

Based on what you know intuitively about gmat distributions, and using the data above in any way, and adding to the mix some good guess work, what do you think the average gmat score is for the class entering in 2011, the one which has a median score of 730??
Do you think it is higher or lower than 724 and why?

Considering applying...probably R2 so my application has improved by then...

GPA: 3.9 undergrad (econ/psych), 3.9+ grad (MA in social and quantitative psychology)
GMAT: 770
WE: 3 years at matriculation (venture capital)
Post-MBA plans: brand management
Female

Kinda sad VC is down. Though it's not clear from these numbers if acceptance rates among venture capital applicants are down or if applications from vc's were down (the industry has really contracted in the last few years).

In for R1...let the fun begin!

blg529 - I have similar stats as you. Yes VC is down but I think there's a lot from the job that you can draw from / reflect. I'm applying R1. Profile below:

WE: 4 years at matriculation (bulge bracket ibanking + VC)
GPA: 3.91 Computer Engineering + Finance (Top 3 engineering school)
GMAT: 770

Best of luck to you and others applying!

I still have to take my GMAT so I'll know afterwards if I can even dream of HBS as a stretch school, but I would certainly love to give it a try. Good luck to everyone!

Good luck folks

You didn't point out that of those 7 percentage points off finance, 5 percentage points went to manufacturing.

I also spy a subtle increase in representation from Africa and Central/South America and a decrease for Europe. Folks from emerging markets were more popular.