Calling all Harvard MBA Applicants: (2017 Intake) Class of 2019!

Guys, for these who are dinged - I invoke you to not let yourself be down by that fact.

As for me - I believe I can be your champion.

Dinged without interview with the following:

1) Degree in physics and engineering in top national university, GPA 3.9
2) GMAT 780 with one try (and 5 days of preparation), got some V mistakes - non-native English speaker
3) Winner of gazillion of national contests in maths / physics
4) Background: BCG + McKinsey, had one of the fastest promotions and top performance quartile at both firms
5) Essays checked by several HBS students and alums
6) References from BCG / McK alum and current senior partner
7) Bunch of extracurricular awards / etc (e.g. boardgame national champion, international management conferences and etc.)

Well, what can I do... Guess was not my day : ) Either today or when I was born white male in eastern europe : D

I know some absolute monsters that didn't get invited in R1... the consulting / PE cohort is ridiculously competitive.

Maybe you're overqualified haha

Dinged...but trying to keep a positive attitude about remaining apps.

Anyone who didn't get good news from HBS should absolutely stay positive about their remaining applications. Remember that the vast majority of people did not get interview invites from HBS. While I like the fact that HBS lets candidates know where they stand earlier than other programs, at the same time it's extra tough because MOST people don't get an interview invite, HBS is one of the top-three toughest programs to get into in the entire world, but yet it still somehow makes people feel less confident about the rest of their materials for other schools. It shouldn't. What happens with one school has absolutely no bearing on what will happen anywhere else. So have faith in your materials and yourself!

Good luck!

Dinged

But reading from Hertz gave me a big relieve, haha. Thanks bro for making my day better. Your profile is awesome and you know you could easily get into everywhere.

My HBS Interview Experience Review for an On Campus interview. Rating:**

My HBS Interview Experience Review for an On Campus interview. Rating:****

How is everyone preparing for their interview? Anyone planning to visit HBS campus for the interview?

That's what I thought before getting dinged without interview : D

I'm not sure if this post should make me feel panicked or optimistic about my own interview next week.
Regardless, I will be frantically preparing the next few days!

Don't forget that he finally got admitted to HBS. Perhaps his performance on the interview was not as bad as he felt initially.

Good luck for your interview. Do share your experience with us.

My two quick pieces of advice for the interview:

1) try not to get lost in the details in your responses and just give a concise, although complete, answer. If the adcom wants more details, they'll ask you follow up questions.

2) I came across this advice before my interview and keeping this in mind definitely helped me: The adcom is also seeing if you will be a good fit in the classroom (and part of the case method). Meaning, they will likely challenge your responses in some way (they did to a couple of my responses), but I think they want to see if you can quickly come up with support for your initial claim and hold your ground (like you would in the classroom). If i hadn't remembered this I may have thought my response was just wrong and it would have thrown me off. Instead, I stuck to my initial response and gave some more support for it. I think they liked that.

Good luck (and remember to not over stress)!


Sent from my iPhone using GMAT Club Forum

This is really helpful and good to keep in mind. I'm also someone who would likely assume they were just telling me I was wrong. My friend (who has given grad school interviews before) did a mock interview with me last night. It helped point out some week spots, so hopefully it goes well next week. I'll be interviewing over Skype because I cannot make it to Boston.

All great advice, I would mention that not interviewing in person is not a disadvantage. I did not interview on campus and was admitted.

Be confident, not cocky. Be concise, not short. Overall, be yourself.

Happy to answer any questions that folks have.

FROM HBS Admissions Blog: HBS Mission, the Case Method, and Diverse Perspectives

I feel fortunate to be affiliated with an institution with such a strong sense of mission. The HBS mission—to educate leaders who make a difference in the world—is at the core of all we do. It influences how we teach, how we learn, how we build community, and how we support one another. For the admissions team, the mission keeps us focused on crafting an exceptional class of leaders each year from across the entire world. We welcome applications from all people, everywhere, who share a passion for learning and making a difference in the world. This past week, I had the great pleasure of spending two days with our Round 1 admits during Admitted Students Welcome. This gave me time to reflect, again, on the power of bringing together a smart, diverse, and motivated group of leaders in a learning community. This is especially true at HBS since the case method thrives on diverse perspectives. Easy answers are hard to come by in the real world, so the case method and the broader learning model at HBS are designed to help you develop good judgment. Let me explain. Over the course of two years at HBS you put yourself in the shoes of hundreds of different business leaders facing big decisions. You debate with your classmates the best course of action, and you won’t always agree. But, you learn to listen, to respectfully make counterpoints, and to understand where someone else is coming from. Your professors expertly guide the conversation toward key insights, but much of the learning comes from your peers. The case method works because students bring different perspectives to the classroom every day -- perspectives shaped by their individual experiences, upbringings, world views, and aspirations. When I was a student, the most meaningful case discussions were the ones where I came in with a strong opinion about what the case protagonist should do, then walked out of the debate having totally changed my mind. Over the course of two years my classmates molded me into a better communicator, a person with more empathy, and a leader with better judgment. (Although I still have a lot to learn!) So this post is a (long-winded) way of reaffirming our commitment to assembling a class of remarkable leaders who will make a difference in the world, wherever they come from. The recent U.S. executive order restricting travel to America for citizens from certain countries does not change this, nor are we changing our admissions policy or practices as a result. While we have limited influence on visa and residency decisions by the government, we will do our best to make it possible for each admitted student to attend HBS (and we are working with our colleagues across Harvard University to ensure that the consequences of the order, as it is being evaluated by the judicial system, are understood). The case method, our community, and the HBS mission depend on it.

My take on interviewing at HBS and elsewhere (which has been reinforced by my clients' results) is that the main upside to interviewing on campus is that it gives you the ability to add some first-hand observations to your answers....i.e. "I sat in Prof A's class and was impressed by how the case discussion kept everyone involved and engaged" or "I had lunch with students B and C who told me such and such about their experiences which reinforced my beliefs about this school being a good fit for me because XYZ..."

It also has a signaling value of "this person cared enough to take some vacation days to fly out to Boston and interview in person" which may or may not carry weight with a particular school or specific interviewer at that school.