Who's going for R1? Essays posted just this morning. What's everyone's take? Current HBS Students active on forum :thumbup: DefyingGravity - HBS'16

I'm torn on this. I love the transparency, but I recognize that HBS's transparency (and early timetable) actually raise the hype up to 11. The result is a process that feels great for those who receive good news and like a kick in the pants for those who don't. From a pure marketing/strategy perspective, it's genius. EVERYBODY knows HBS's big dates. P&Q and all the admissions consulting blogs write articles and tweet about the process. So if you've applied, there's this gigantic build up to high noon on Day 1 of invites. And because they're the first out of the gate, the invite is a double whammy: there's the initial thrill of "Holy crap, I actually got invited to interview by a school!" plus the feeling of "Holy crap! The GREAT WHITE WHALE of b-schools just invited me to interview!" I like all four of the schools I applied to a lot and would be thrilled to attend any of them--but because HBS was the first school to respond to me at all, that invite really got my heart racing. (There's no doubt in my mind that this process helps contribute to HBS's astronomical yield.) Of course, the flipside is brutal. Because of the hype, the letdown is going to feel bigger for anyone who doesn't get a good news email. Worse, because they're first out of the gate, no applicant is going to be able say "well, at least I have an invitation from ____________." The week you don't get an HBS invite, there's nothing (yet) to hang your hat on, so you just feel crappy. I know that no one who hasn't received an invite wants to hear a pep talk from someone who did, but I wouldn't sweat it. Whether you like the process or hate it, most people who apply are going to end up having a really crappy week in early-mid October. (Believe me when I say that I was fully expecting to spend last week moping around, feeling anxious as hell, and whining about the $250 I wasted on the app.) Hopefully all of you stuck in that boat won't have to wait long before hearing good news from another school. Good luck!

Any speculation as to why we've had such a lower % of people on here get interviews? It could be that people just aren't updating their statuses, of course, but otherwise it's incredibly low--much lower than past years. I would assume that with 500 people we would get pretty close to the overall averages but 5% getting interviews is not very many at all...