After posting and deleting (by accident) the thread, here we go again Time to start HBS story... HBS, as promised, released essay topics for class of 2012. Very similar to last season except for Q4 (which I think is cool b/c one can show creativity/personality) and Q3. 1) ESSAYS (source: https://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/writ ... ation.html ) 2) DEADLINES (source: https://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/appl ... dates.html ) 3) PAST THREADS 2009: calling-all-hbs-fall-2009-applicants-63410.html 2008: calling-all-the-harvard-gurus-fall-49915.html 4) IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS (source: https://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/blog.html and https://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/inte ... tions.html and https://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/writ ... ation.html ) 5) GMAT CLUB CANDIDATES R1: STATS: Total applicants: 51 Invited to interview : 16 Matriculating: Admits: 11 Dings: 31 Waitlisted: 4 Unknown: 5 Admit: HCGirl10 - invited to interview Icarus - invited to interview Izen* nerdgirl - invited to interview PatrickBateman - invited to interview PBateman- invited to interview redrobot* sc - invited to interview forzviol motionny Biology - invited to interview Waitlist: sharstarz12 - invited to interview skkingdom - invited to interview 2010HereICome - invited to interview warriorM33 Ding: 2009mba2012 adude* all - invited to interview audacityofhope DucRR eteusch1 - invited to interview fzt39806 - invited to interview Gelopwez JordinT* javaexe laurenbcn mba4me2010 MBAgirl2010 mbahopes2009 - invited to interview milias pook oompm* shadowsjc - invited to interview sm332 river zyskind cublu2 LetsGoMets NCMBA2012 Deepauk sapphireka CarpathianRidge - invited to interview USMCCommO zaphod shacster - invited to interview Aldrak CANDIDATES: 2012dreams ACNguy bigfernhead cacky1983 cassie2012 CharlieChaplin chrisahn112 Comrade CrushTheGMAT csino david2008 duderanch ezekiel2517 gmatbschool gravity1914 guitarguru hohoo JamesT - invited to interview jcol jolt kokkiri latammc lionvish mschumy Noodles nutmba radeal spiritworld steeler99 stillhoping surychen taken20 thedeadlyone tq17749 R2: STATS: Total applicants: 52 Matriculating: Admits: 21 Dings: Waitlisted: Unknown: ADMITS: Anonymous13 biotechgirl bunny27 bwizzle Demonic11 fsj434 HERM3S heywhassup jag120 kohlia LB20 Magellan matanga mba2012lfh meridian17 oneschoolwonder pilot RonMexico TorontoGirl ttocsik waitinganswers CANDIDATES: 2012dreams AceofSpades aditi123 Aenigma agnok aj1545 andrewcs Ashish369 BangaloreKid baxter bwizzle cesc4 christinee co2012 colequinn con Demonic11 egy ezekiel2517 fall2010mba gkumar GoalMBA2010 GordonBombay gravity1914 HBS2011 hbsr2 HERM3S hokiegenius infanteed jankynoname jimmyfunk Jivana kohlia lakai777 LB20 lbiggs mba12tech mp2437 mustafaj nikheel nlt22 nutmba pochcc qaum RonMexico Skysurf slingfox tdave theDreamChaser triple5soul Turnpike westsew R3: STATS: Total applicants: Matriculating: Admits: Dings: Waitlisted: Unknown: CANDIDATES: 6) USEFUL STUFF a) Sandy's HBS advice: blog with plenty of info on HBS: https://www.hbsguru.com/blog/ essays' analysis: https://forums.businessweek.com/n/pfx/f ... &tid=10180 b) Forcefeed's application tips from last season: calling-all-hbs-fall-2009-applicants-63410.html#p464989 c) CS @ HBS essay advice: https://www.computersexy.com/blog/2007/ ... lishments/ d) Chat with Deirdre Leopold, Director of MBA Admissions & Financial Aid at Harvard Business School: https://www.businessweek.com/bschools/c ... 175992.htm e) Take it with a grain of salt! About social life at HBS: https://www.asktheharvardmba.com/page/3/ f) About case method: HBS website on case method: https://www.hbs.edu/learning/case.html Entry from Harvard Bound blog: https://myharvardmba2010.blogspot.com/2 ... dents.html Entry from Mark and Jie's Journey to B-School blog: https://markandjie.blogspot.com/2004_03_01_archive.html Entry from AGirlsMBA at Harvard Business School blog: https://agirlsmba.blogspot.com/2007/12/ ... ation.html g) Weaknesses of HBS educational model: https://media.www.harbus.org/media/stor ... storiestab h) Advice on leadership essay from AGirlsMBA at Harvard Business School blog: https://agirlsmba.blogspot.com/2007/08/ ... ssays.html i) BusinessWeek's "Make Your Leadership Case for B-School Admission": https://www.businessweek.com/bschools/c ... 219087.htm j) HBS on recommendation letters: Entry from June 17, 2008 on https://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/blog-all.html 7) OTHER INFO a) Link to 2+2 program: https://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/2+2/ . Note that it has different deadlines and app process. b) Class profile (2011): https://www.hbs.edu/mba/profiles/classprofile.html c) Additional class profile stats: https://www.hbs.edu/about/statistics/mba.html d) Podcasts: https://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/podcasts.html 8) DO I FIT? LIFE AT HBS - i.e. HBS blogs so that you can better understand the culture a) CS @ HBS - https://www.computersexy.com/blog/ b) Harvard Bound - https://myharvardmba2010.blogspot.com/ c) Inside HBS - https://www.insidehbs.com/ d) Sync - https://sync.bradleylautenbach.com/ e) Mark and Jie's Journey to B-School - https://markandjie.blogspot.com/ f) Will Hsu's HBS Bubble - https://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=wphsu99 g) AGirlsMBA at Harvard Business School: https://agirlsmba.blogspot.com/ h) Military to Business: https://militarytobusiness.blogspot.com/

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Calling all HBS Fall 2010 Candidates

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Magellan

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Schools:HBS - Class of 2012

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24 May 2010, 05:13

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stuckatfailure

Hi Everyone,
I would really appreciate it if Sandy the HBS guru or any HBS veteran applicants could give me some advice with regards to structure of the 3 accomplishment essay.
Should I number the accomplishments?
1) accomplishment 1
sub-essay
2) accomplishment 2
sub-essay
3) accomplishment 3
sub-essay
Or should they be embedded? So I will start the first sentence of each sub-essay with: "My proudest accomplishment is XXXX"
Would it be okay to do neither of above and just separate the sub essays into 3 paragraphs? The adcom could easily assume that they are 3 different accomplishments? Reason I ask is because the word limit is extremely restricting. Right now, I'm at 650 words after cutting it down from 1200. And every word counts..

Thanks for your help!

I did the same as suker but without the subtitles. Essays should be sufficently clear so that they figure out you list your 3 accomplishments

I know people who have done like me and people who have done like Suker. The "one embedded" essay will be very difficult to achieve. You loose some words with transitions which is not a good thing when struggling with word limit

stuckatfailure

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24 May 2010, 08:31

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Magellan

stuckatfailure

I did the same as suker but without the subtitles. Essays should be sufficently clear so that they figure out you list your 3 accomplishments

Thank you Magellan! But without transitions, wouldn't the essay be a little choppy? Is that okay?
Also, I was wondering if generally it's okay to go over the word limit? 625 - 650 words on the 600 word essay?

Thanks for your help!

mba2012lfh

Joined: 09 Mar 2010

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24 May 2010, 12:28

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I didn't number the accomplishments to save on words... I think you can make either way work. Also, mine were pretty choppy and that's fine... it is not meant to be a cohesive essay. A great source for the many ways this essay is done is "65 successful harvard business school essays". This book was extremely helpful in thinking through how to successfully structure my HBS essays.

The general rule is you can go 5% over the word limit. However, I did go ~40 words over on some of those 400 word essays... and still got in.

stuckatfailure

Magellan

stuckatfailure

I did the same as suker but without the subtitles. Essays should be sufficently clear so that they figure out you list your 3 accomplishments

stuckatfailure

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24 May 2010, 15:48

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Thank you! Kudos to you, and congrats on being accepted to HBS!

[quote="mba2012lfh"]I didn't number the accomplishments to save on words... I think you can make either way work. Also, mine were pretty choppy and that's fine... it is not meant to be a cohesive essay. A great source for the many ways this essay is done is "65 successful harvard business school essays". This book was extremely helpful in thinking through how to successfully structure my HBS essays.

The general rule is you can go 5% over the word limit. However, I did go ~40 words over on some of those 400 word essays... and still got in.

[quote="stuckatfailure"][quote="Magellan"][quote="stuckatfailure"]Hi Everyone,
I would really appreciate it if Sandy the HBS guru or any HBS veteran applicants could give me some advice with regards to structure of the 3 accomplishment essay.
Should I number the accomplishments?
1) accomplishment 1
sub-essay
2) accomplishment 2
sub-essay
3) accomplishment 3
sub-essay
Or should they be embedded? So I will start the first sentence of each sub-essay with: "My proudest accomplishment is XXXX"
Would it be okay to do neither of above and just separate the sub essays into 3 paragraphs? The adcom could easily assume that they are 3 different accomplishments? Reason I ask is because the word limit is extremely restricting. Right now, I'm at 650 words after cutting it down from 1200. And every word counts..

JnJThenMBA

Joined: 20 Apr 2010

Last visit: 30 Mar 2011

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27 May 2010, 08:57

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Anyone out there get accepted 3rd round? If so, when are your deposit deadlines?

markharmon

Joined: 10 May 2010

Last visit: 15 Jul 2010

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Schools:HBS R3 Wharton R1 w/int

WE 1: USN

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31 May 2010, 08:53

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JnJThenMBA

Anyone out there get accepted 3rd round? If so, when are your deposit deadlines?

Deposit was due May 27th at 5pm.

2010Ahead

Joined: 07 Apr 2010

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02 Jun 2010, 08:57

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That deposit deadline was helpful. Has anyone been accepted off of the Round 3 / Summer waitlist or know someone who has been following this recent deposit date? Thanks.

jdk61710

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07 Jun 2010, 11:10

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may be a silly Q:

does no interview = absolutely no admit?

waitie

Joined: 07 Jun 2010

Last visit: 15 Feb 2011

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07 Jun 2010, 13:54

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I'm also on the summer waitlist for fall 2010. does anyone know how many people HBS normally take from the summer waitlist? I think there are 23 of us going into June, right?

[quote="jdk61710"]may be a silly Q:

does no interview = absolutely no admit?

ANSWER: I think HBS interviews everyone it admits....

2010Ahead

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07 Jun 2010, 14:28

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I don't know if there is a solid average of people taken each year but I do know of people that have found out in July that they were in so it does happen. I thought there would be some movement after the deposit date but I haven't heard of any yet (although that doesn't mean it is impossible). In summation, I don't think there is any real way to gauge how many poeple will get in - especially for this year which had such an unexpectedly high volume of qualified applicants.

jdk61710: In terms of the interview to admit question, HBS does interview everyone it admits. You can be on the waitlist without an interview but you will be interviewed while on the waitlist if there is a chance you are going to get in.

waitie

Joined: 07 Jun 2010

Last visit: 15 Feb 2011

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07 Jun 2010, 14:36

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Thanks, ２０１０Ahead.
It's comforting to know that people from summer waitlist does make it in. I was also hoping that there would be some movements, but I guess we would never know for sure. I'm already thinking about re-application for next fall. Do you know if we need to ask 3 different people for the recos? It would suck to find 3 more people who know me as well as the ones I asked for this round of application....

2010Ahead

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07 Jun 2010, 15:04

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Glad to help bring a little hope...

In terms of your application for next fall, I think you can definitely ask the same recommenders and even very likely use very similar essays for questions that have not changed. For most schools including HBS, I believe when you reapply, the new application is reviewed independently. Granted, it makes sense to believe that the ad comm references the old application to make sure that if any specific areas of weakness were noted they have been improved.

I am not 100% sure on this so may make sense to call and verify, but I can't see why they would make you use new recommendations.

2010Ahead

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08 Jun 2010, 13:42

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FYI fellow waitlisters. On the HBS website they have posted that they let in 53 people off the waitlist this year so far. I believe at least 50 were let in in the weeks leading up to and day of R3 notification, so it could be possible no one from the R3 / Summer waitlist has gotten in yet.

JnJThenMBA

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15 Jun 2010, 07:24

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Waitie, 2010Ahead -

Any waitlisters hear anything?

waitie

Joined: 07 Jun 2010

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15 Jun 2010, 07:28

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Still nothing here. I was actually in Boston for the NBA Finals last week - walked around the campus, but didn't make any stop at the admissions office...not sure if that was the right call, but oh well....

I feel like the chances are getting slimmer day by day... Started to make alternate plans for this coming year now.

JnJThenMBA

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06 Jul 2010, 19:44

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Any waitlisters hear anything? It's getting crazy late in the game.

anon321

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29 Dec 2010, 13:21

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congratulations to all those who got in

Founder

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02 Sep 2023, 04:13

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Archived HBS Discussion

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Interested in current discussions? Feel free to dive into our dedicated HBS Forum for all fresh things related to the HBS MBA program.

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