Tag Archives: MBA interview

HBS MBA Admissions Interviews

By Kyle Watkins (last updated: December 17, 2013)

At precisely noon Wednesday October 9, 2013, HBS sent a first wave of interview invitations to many of its Class of 2016 applicants. On Wednesday October 16, at exactly the same time (noon), more invitations will be extended. Unfortunately, no one really knows how many.

Last year the school apparently sent most (some say close to 90%) of its first round interview invitations in the first batch. This year however many believe that the split might be more balanced between the first and second wave of invites. There is no solid basis for this assumption other than data publicly available on GMATclub and other MBA discussion boards. If you receive an invitation today, we would appreciate to read about it. So feel free to leave a comment below or send us a short email.

According to Dee Leopold, “there will also be some “Further Consideration” decisions. This means that [HBS is] unable to invite you to interview now, but [they] wish to keep your application under consideration. In Round 2, [HBS] will be either inviting you to interview – and you’ll move along on the Round 2 timetable – or “releasing” you. (…) There will be information in the Further Consideration decision letter about a contact person (…) in Dillon to answer questions and keep you informed. Of course, you may decline to stay in the process and withdraw your application at any time“. Harvard Business School will also be sending “deny” decisions to unlucky candidates on October 16.

We’d like to wish best of luck to everyone, and for the happy few who receive the coveted email from Dillon House today, it is time to prepare for the last step of your application.

In no time at all, the first group of candidates will indeed be up at Dillon House or at admissions outposts around the globe sitting down to their interviews with HBS admissions committee members. While we have been writing about the HBS interview process for a while on this blog, we thought it would be helpful to bring all of our resources together in one place:

What it’s like to interview at HBS: My own personal account of what it is like to interview at HBS, from receiving the email inviting me to interview to receiving the phone call congratulating me on my admittance.

Mastering Every Admissions Interview Question: Advice and tips on how to best prepare for an MBA admissions interview — at HBS or any other MBA program.

Post-Interview Reflection: Guidance on how to approach preparing for, drafting, and sending HBS’s 24-hour post-interview reflection email.

If you’re still looking for guidance, please reach out to us via our free consultation link or via [email protected]. We’re happy to help, even with last-minute questions and requests. Also make sure to give our MBA Matching Algorithm a try and let us know what you think.

HBS Round One Interviews

By Kyle Watkins (last updated: December 12, 2013)

[Note] For the latest information regarding HBS round one decisions, please check out our December 9 update.

According to the HBS admissions director, first round “interview invitations will be sent out via email on October 9 and October 16. Candidates invited to interview will receive detailed instructions about the sign-up procedure. The interview scheduler will go live the following day.

On October 16, candidates who will not be invited to interview will be notified of their release. A group of Round One applicants, possibly 100-150, will be placed under “further consideration.” These candidates will be re-viewed in Round Two and either be invited to interview or released on the Round Two timetable.

Round One interviews will be conducted between October 21 and November 22.. (…) In addition to on-campus interviews, we will be interviewing in New York City, Palo Alto, London, Paris, Shanghai, Dubai, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, and Santiago. Candidates who cannot travel may be accommodated via Skype.”

According to Mrs. Leopold: “Interviewing on campus is a great opportunity to get to see life at HBS, but the location of an interview is not a factor in the selection process.”

As a final note, your odds of receiving an invitation are actually fairly high (we’ve estimated that 20% of applicants receive an invitation to interview with HBS). If you are interviewed, you then statistically stand a 60% chance of being admitted. Know your story inside out, and make sure to start reading the Wall Street Journal daily to avoid being caught off guard by a question about a recent piece of news during your interview. Preparation will be key if you do not want to be among the 40% of interviewed applicants who end up having regrets.

Good luck!