HBS MBA Admissions Interviews: Preparation

 In this third of three posts I provide advice for HBS MBA Admissions Interviews. 

This third post focuses on preparation. The first post discusses logistics and content. The second post focuses on strategy.

 

At the time of the blog post, 101 of my clients (mostly comprehensive counseling plus those interview only clients I worked with for 5 hours, this does not include an even larger number of  HBS admits that I worked for only 1-4 hours on interview prep) have been admitted to HBS since the entering class of 2008 (I had prior clients admitted between 2001 and 2007 before establishing my own service). My clients' results and testimonials can be found here. In addition to providing comprehensive application consulting on HBS, I regularly help some candidates with HBS interview preparation only. My clients admitted to HBS come from all over the world with high concentrations in India, Japan, Singapore, EU, UK, and US.

 

In this post I apply what was discussed about HBS MBA admissions interviews in the prior two posts rather practically.  The objective of this post is to help you with both self prep and to serve as an overall guide to preparing for an HBS interview.

 

PREPARATION

In my experience, applicants who succeed at HBS MBA interviews go to their interview with a sense of confidence based on having done careful preparation. My clients who have failed the interview stage have often done so because of related reasons: lack of confidence and/or preparation.  Of course, there are times when the post-interview reason for getting dinged is never clear. The reality of having too many well qualified applicants means that many who would certainly make the post-interview cut don't, simply due to lack of available seats. While these issues could be the same for any interview, the reality is that HBS admissions interviews are more intensive than that of most other schools. Failure to take this interview sufficiently seriously is a recipe for disaster.

 

TAKE PREPARATION FOR HBS VERY SERIOUSLY! Any experienced admissions consultant will tell you that the HBS interview is one that really does require preparation even for those who previously aced alumni interviews.  My colleagues and I have often become depressed about cases where we had great applicants who did not take the HBS really seriously.  By the same token, our clients who really prep for this really do have a much higher rate of admission.  I have had clients who might do 5-20 hours of self-preparation for every hour of time spent with a consultant.  One of my clients admitted to HBS did 2 hours of prep with myself and another counselor and an additional 100 hours on his own. He already had been admitted to Kellogg and Booth, but knew HBS would be different.  It is certainly not uncommon for clients to do 40-50 hours of self prep and additional 1-5 or more hours of prep with consultants.  If you think that either your English ability and/or interview skills are somewhat weak, be prepared to do extensive practice both with other people and alone. The self prep component can be particularly effective if you are trying to cover a huge range of questions and also master telling your best stories.   If you have an online HBS interview, whether that practice is by yourself, with friends or family, or with a consultant, become comfortable doing interviews on Zoom.  For more about the technical aspects of online interviews, see here.

 

KNOW YOUR APPLICATION

You need to know your application very completely as you will be asked by the HBS Interviewer about its content.
Review your entire application (not just resume and essays, but everything including the transcript) very carefully and consider what your interviewer might ask you to explain more thoroughly. Remember: Anything is fair game. Assume that the weakest parts of your application will be topics in the interview. Assume the worst-case scenario and be very prepared to address their concerns.  If you have any academic weaknesses (low GPA, a relatively weak TOEFL, insufficient proof of a quantitative background), be ready to address those issues. Be prepared to tell new stories and alternative versions of the stories you told in your essays.  I especially recommend that you consider how every point on your resume might become a potential topic. A point I continually make to own clients who have been invited for the HBS interview is that proper preparation for this interview really requires that you look for all the weak points in your application: Rip yourself apart in order to try and determine what you need to be especially ready to address.  In addition, you should consider having one or more other people who can help you prepare for this and who will review your entire file. If you use any paid services, make sure that the mock interviewer (admissions consultant, admissions counselor, interview coach) will be reading your application first and developing a list of questions based on that review and with an understanding of what HBS asks, otherwise they are not really helping you prepare for an HBS interview. When I do mock interviews for interview-only clients, I always ask to read their applications if they are not doing a blind interview. For schools like HBS and MIT, which are never blind, reading the whole application (especially the essays) is critical for simulating the real thing.

 

 

ACTIVE INTERVIEW PREPARATION

I believe in the value of active interview preparation. That is to say, instead of focusing only what questions you might get asked, focus on what you want to say about yourself. A basic any school approach to this would be to connect key words and stories that you hope to use. Given that you can't know exactly what you will be asked, you can at least have prepared for discussing key things that you want to get across to the interviewer. By being a bit more scripted, you can reduce your visible nervousness and overexcitement and give a more controlled response. The following is an "any school" chart:

 

Active Interview Preparation Chart

Keyword: A selling point or even a weakness	Stories	Questions It Might Answer
Example: Analytical	Development of 6-sigma strategic framework for XXX, inc. Discovery of accounting errors during first year of work. Senior thesis on the S&L Crisis	Name three words that describe you (This would be one) What are your strengths?  Why? (This would be one.) How do you solve complex problems? How could you contribute to your classmates? What skill are you most proud of?

 

(You can cut and paste this into MS Word or Google docs)
In addition to outlining key words and stories as discuss in my general post on interview strategy, you actually more directly connect this to the specific three criteria  that HBS values in order to see how well you are covering each of the criteria in your interview preparation. The chart below will help you map out your own HBS interview strategy.

 

HBS Active Interview Preparation Chart

Keywords: A selling point or even a weakness	Stories	Business-Minded	Leadership-Focused	Growth-Oriented	Questions It Might Answer
Example: Curiosity	Development of 6-sigma strategic framework for XXX, inc.			Curiosity about how to solve for XXX. Studied 6-sigma as a way to do it.	-Tell me about a recent project you worked on -What are you good at?
Cooperative	Overcame team conflict when developing 6-sigma strategic framework for XXX, inc.		-Demonstrates consensus based leadership -Can lead others		-What are good at? -Tell me about a project that you’ve worked recently where you exhibited leadership.-What was like developing a 6-sigma framework for your team?

(You can cut and paste this into Google Docs or Microsoft Word and alter it to include more rows.)

 

To use the above chart: Try to develop 10 or so keywords and stories that relate to HBS's three criteria for admission. Don't forget to include weaknesses when you do so.  Your objective is be ready to tell your best stories as effectively as possible. Use the above chart to help determine which key words and stories will convey the most about you.  Remember that you want to use stories that are different from the ones you used in your essays. You might be asked about something in your application, which you should be prepared to discuss, but also assume you will need to provide new stories as well.

 

 

 

SOME OTHER THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

 

I. The questions you get will be specific to you and can be anticipated to a large extent.
As discussed in my prior posts in this series, the interviewer will come in knowing what they want to ask you.  If you take the interview I described in my first post (or look at full interview reports), it becomes relatively easy to project yourself into the same patterns of questions you find.  Doing so will allow you to practice more efficiently

 

II. Assume there will be at least one question for which you might not be ready for, but don't panic. Take a deep breath. Answer the question and do not become flustered. You need to always have a strategy for handling such questions. The first thing to do is take a second to think about the question. If you really need to, even say something like "Um, that is an interesting question and either just pause for a second to think or if necessary ask a clarifying question.   Next, keep in mind that the purpose of your answer is not to have the correct information but to provide an intelligent response.  Especially at schools like HBS,  where case study in class requires the ability to give an opinion based on little information, your ability to provide an intelligent and confident response is more important than whether your response is perfect, correct, factual, etc.

 

 

III. HBS interviewers ask follow-up questions. They don't do stress interviewing at HBS exactly, but they will question you intensely. They will be taking notes. Anything you say can be subject to inquiry, so speak concisely, answer questions precisely, and try to avoid voluntarily bringing up any topics that you really don't want to talk about. Assume the you will be asking follow-up questions, expect to be able to analyze/explain in a great deal of depth. During your practice sessions, figure out what kind of responses generate what kind of follow-up questions, so you can better anticipate what might come up in the actual interview.

 

IV. Time management is important. Reported interview length for all interviews is 30 minutes. HBS is totally consistent about this.  So part of effective preparation on your part, means really considering time management and not wasting time in the interview by providing answers that are too long. You want to make your answers are sufficiently deep enough but don't take too much time.  You need to brief when just providing fact-based answers and deeper when explaining something or telling a story.

 

V. Have Mock Interviews that reflect both the range of questions and various kinds of interviewers you might encounter.   If I do multiple mock sessions with the same client, I will use different scripts. You must prepare for a range of scenarios regarding the questions you will encounter. At HBS,  your interviewer will be someone you perceive as either friendly or neutral or a mix of the two.   Whether you are being made to feel good about the interview or not by the interviewer,  your  mission is still to convince this interviewer that you are right for their school.  While you may have some idea of the personality of your interviewer before you interview, chances are you will not. It is therefore particularly important to prepare for both friendly and neutral interviewers.

 

Best of luck with your HBS interview! If you want to do interview prep with me, please see here.

HBS MBA Admissions Interviews: Strategy

 This is the second of three posts I provide advice for HBS MBA Admissions Interviews. 

 

This second post focuses on strategy. The first post discusses logistics and content. The third post focuses on preparation.

 

At the time of the blog post, 101 of my clients (mostly comprehensive counseling plus those interview only clients I worked with for 5 hours, this does not include an even larger number of  HBS admits that I worked for only 1-4 hours on interview prep) have been admitted to HBS since the entering class of 2008 (I had prior clients admitted between 2001 and 2007 before establishing my own service). My clients' results and testimonials can be found here. In addition to providing comprehensive application consulting on HBS, I regularly help some candidates with HBS interview preparation only. My clients admitted to HBS come from all over the world with high concentrations in India, Japan, Singapore, EU, UK, and US.

 

This blog post is focused on strategy. What I mean strategy is that focuses on understanding the game your are playing and how to play it well. We will begin with the basics and then go into more complex considerations.

 

STRATEGY BASICS

I. MBA Admissions is a zero-sum game. The MBA admissions process is a competition for organizational entrance. Ultimately you are allowed to enter or are rejected. Interviews play a critical role in organizational entrance selection for jobs, internships, and, in the case, of some educational programs, admissions. They are simply one factor in the process. What we know about HBS interviews though is that applicants go into an interview with about a 50% chance of admission, which certainly better than the base  base rate of admission for all applicants. The interview is just one factor and a great interview does not necessarily result in admission. For more about rejection, see here. That said, you want to play this game as effectively as possible, so doing the best you can on the interview is critical because you have great odds of winning this game.

 

II. Interviews as gatekeeping. 

One may make the initial assumption that the role of an admissions interviewer is to be a gatekeeper. And this is certainly true, whether the interviewer is an admissions officer like at HBS, a student (like at Wharton, Booth or Kellogg), or alumni (like at  Columbia Business School, INSEAD, and London Business School). In all cases, the interviewers are trying to determine against set criteria (an evaluation form) whether the applicant fits the program.

 

III. HBS MBA Admissions Board Stated Criteria:

HBS has three stated criteria for who they looking for: Business-Minded, Leadership-Focused, and Growth-Oriented.  I discuss these three criteria here.   I highly recommend reading that analysis if you have not because it will help you understand that you need to demonstrate these criteria during your interview. You demonstrate these criteria not only through what the topic you are discussing but how you say it.

 

ADVANCED STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS

 

I. Can You Cope with the Case Method?

The following is directly influenced by reviewing many client interview reports, learning about HBS in general, and the history of HBS as discussed in The Golden Passport, Duff McDonald's comprehensive and controversial history of HBS.

I think the HBS admissions interview is directly connected to what is certainly at the core of an HBS education, the case method.  According to the The Golden Passport (chapter 6), it was under HBS Dean Wallace Brett Donham (1919-1942) that the case method became the "School's signature pedagogical tool"  and the impact of that is still felt today.  While FIELD was introduced a few years ago, the case method is very much at the core of what HBS does. The case method requires that each student have ability to make meaningful contributions related to the discussion of a particular case. Given that participation is mandatory and a core component of a student's evaluation and that lack of participation can be the basis for failing at HBS, the ability to perform well in class is critical.  The MBA Admissions Board fails if they admit someone who does not have the ability to survive in class.  In 2007 during my first visit at HBS, I had lunch a former client and two of his friends. Later that summer my former client informed me that one of those guys I met had been kicked out of the school due to lack of effective participation. He was not the only one that year.  There are always few who don't make it in every first year class.  Since this amounts to only a small number of people each year, the Admissions Board is doing its job to eliminate the following:

1. People who lack sufficient verbal skills to function at HBS. Beyond people with weak verbal skills,  HBS interviewers need to eliminate those who cannot effectively make quick analytical statements. The applicant maybe a great engineer/finance quant/thinker but if they can't perform well on the spot, they will not fit at HBS.
2. People who lack sufficient knowledge or ability to apply their knowledge to meaningfully contribute in class.
3. People who lack sufficient confidence to communicate in class.

I mention these three lacks because I think these are the criteria albeit stated negatively that are at the heart of what the MBA Admissions Board is assessing during the interview process. Therefore to win at the HBS interview you need to do the following:

1. Demonstrate strong verbal skills: For those whose native language is not English, this is why intensive self-practice is so necessary. But even for native English speakers, I recommend extensive self-prep. That might be 20-100 hours of self-practice going through as many possible topics as possible and most of this should be spoken practice. See the third post for details of that practice. I often find that non-native speakers take interview preparation more seriously than native speakers of English because they  don't really understand how challenging it can be to do in this kind of interview environment. Some people, regardless of English level, need to focus on improving mental and rhetorical flexibility to provide sufficiently effective answers, which is something that interview training can help with.
2. Demonstrate professional expertise: Whatever you have said about your work in your application, you need the ability to discuss in detail.  You need to be able to communicate clearly and succinctly and in as jargon-free a way as possible to highlight your ability to communicate with a non-expert. Ideally you should be able to provide deep insights into your work, your employer(s), and your industry.
3. Demonstrate confidence: Always remember that with MBA interviews in particular, the answers are rarely purely factual but involve telling stories and hence the most important thing is to appear confident regardless of whether you think your answer is good, mediocre, or complete bullshit.  Actually the ability to bullshit through questions one does not completely understand  and/or have a perfect answer to is a core kind of competence. Instead of worrying about the accuracy or quality of the overall answer you might simply focus on delivery.  And even if you think you are saying complete bullshit be confident about it. If you provide a confident and yet not totally accurate answer, you can always clarify it in the post-interview reflection. Remember you are being judged both on your answers and the impression you make, so even if your answer is not great, a strong positive impression can still result in a win.

 

II. Do you have an interesting perspective?

What distinguishes a merely acceptable candidate is that a great one will add a unique perspective.  I see this happen especially with clients who get to HBS you are really imperfect. They might have come from a second or third tier school, have only mediocre grades and/or GMAT or GRE test scores, come from a less famous company, or have a messy professional background, yet they bring something unique. The uniqueness is first realized by admissions in the application and then demonstrated in the interview. I make the operating assumption that everyone who makes it the interview stage is at least potentially unique and interesting.  My job as an interview coach is to make sure they bring that out when they practice.  If you unique expertise or experience make sure you can communicate that during the interview. Hopefully you will be asked about it but if not work it in. If it has already been accounted for in the application, figure out new ways of communicating in the interview. Be passionate about what you care about and make sure that you communicate that to the interviewer.

 

III. Are you mentality prepared?

There really is nothing to fear because HBS Interviewers are predictable and professional. HBS admissions officers stick to their role and don't focus on themselves. They are trained for their role, which is not necessarily what happens at all other schools.  In the case of HBS, an MBA admissions interview is customized for each interviewee by the interviewer after closely reviewing the interviewee’s application (resume, application form, essays, and recommendations). It is a closely timed exchange that lasts for 30 minutes. The questions come fast and the interviewer can ask follow-up questions about the interviewees’ answers intensively. Interviewees typically report that they are either neutral or friendly. HBS interviewers stick to their organizationally defined role and while questions are always personalized for the applicant, the topics and types of questions that are likely to be discussed are predictable, though the range of questions and the intensity of follow-up questions can vary greatly. You are playing a fair game: 

1. You are being judged by someone who comes in assuming your potential for admission. They have no hidden agenda, unlike, for example, a job interviewer who already has selected an internal candidate for the job but most interview outside candidates because of HR policies.
2. You will not be subject  to verbal abuse, hostility, or other negative unprofessional behaviors that occur frequently in job interviews (and less frequently in MBA admissions interviews with alumni). For almost ten years, I have asked my clients about their past job, internship, admissions and other interview experiences and many have had horrible experiences with interviewers who were rude, unprofessional, or otherwise really awful to deal with. Such experiences can leave a person with a negative attitude about interviewers, but you will not encounter this with an HBS interviewer.   (Unfortunately I cannot say the same thing about all B-School alumni interviewers because I sometimes get very negative reports o. But that is what happens when you don't really train interviewers or closely monitor them.)
3. You can anticipate but what you will be asked. While you cannot know the exact terrain that will be covered in your interview (the specific questions), you do know what the overall map (What is likely to be covered).  I have discussed this in detail in the first post.

 

Don't psych yourself out! It is particularly important that you don't worry too much about your perception of the interviewer's attitude as this can be a particularly good way to become nervous.  I have had too many reports of clients doing this with HBS.  Your interviewer maybe less friendly or more friendly, maybe more aggressive or less aggressive, but whatever their attitude focus on your answers.  Feel free to panic and cry after you have exited the interview, but avoid doing so during it. If you give an imperfect answer, move on and don't become fixated.

 

It is great when interviewers can make you feel comfortable, but not all do that.  It is important to understand that some interviewers maintain a neutral or unsupportive stance because they think they are being fair. In HBS interview reports, most of the interviewers are friendly/neutral. Whoever you interview with at HBS should not matter because you should focus on your performance, not the interviewer's reaction.  Since you cannot know what is going on inside an interviewer's head, don't try to think about it.  Especially if the interviewer looks tired or does not provide much facial or body language, there is no value in focusing your attention on them. Focus on what they ask you and your response. This is not a time to worry about making friends. It is not a date, it is an evaluation of your performance, so focus only that.  Some interviewers may think they are being neutral even when an interviewee may feel like the interviewer is actually being unfriendly. For example, I might feel as though someone is being mean or unfriendly regardless of whether the other person is actually intending to be that way. The point is to be effective as you can in the interview without worrying too much about what might be happening inside someone else’s head.  Also be aware of what might trigger you to feel uncomfortable. For example, if I know that unsmiling people make me upset, I can when encountering such a person, take a step back, and think, “Adam, this guy is making me uncomfortable, why?  Oh, he is unsmiling.  He must hate me. No, Adam, you don’t need to make that assumption. That is just your feeling, but unhelpful for what you want to get out of this conversation. Assume he is just the kind of person who does not smile much.” This is easy for me to write, harder to put into actual practice, but worth the effort if you can.

 

Finally, as mentioned before, confidence matters. Some people are just naturally confident or are really good at faking it, others are not.  Some may just have minor problems with sounding confident, others simply become nervous, and others have extreme anxiety which undermines performance.  If you feel that this a problem for you or you have been feedback about this, you need to address this issue.  For those who feel that their confidence issues cannot be overcome by practice, which is what I discuss in the third post, I'd like to tell you about how I worked with a client who suffered from extreme interview anxiety. This is shortened version of  part of my INSEAD Masters thesis, Taking Interviewing Seriously: A Clinical Protocol for MBA Application Interview Coaching.  Feel to ignore what follows, if you don't think it applies to you. Just go right to the third post!  Best of luck with your HBS interview! If you want to do interview prep with me, please see here.

 

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"JOHN"

John, a European male in his late twenties, received an invite from HBS, so he had extensive time to prepare, as he received his invitation on October 7, 2015 and he did not interview until mid-November.  After doing some initial self-prep (something I strongly advocate and provide materials for), John and I had our first practice on October 25.

 

What occurred in that first session was not what I had expected. Instead of becoming more comfortable with his responses through self-practice, he was extremely unprepared and began struggling for answers.  The struggle was reflected in both his speech and facial expressions. He broke down in the first session, which simply involved going over his answers to typical questions in an open style (not a mock interview). It was as if an answer was not perfect, he fell completely apart. While my Interview Experience survey had indicated that John’s behavior was highly dependent upon how the interviewer acted, John had immense anxiety about his performance, which was not what his prior interview experience had indicated, because he had done well on job interviews. I had anticipated that he would need practice but realized something much more serious was going on.

 

The first step when the coaching process breaks down, as it did with John, is for the coach to realize that whatever the expected plan for the session was, a new task needs to become the focus. The coach should move the client into the reflective space in order to deal with issue(s) that will impede further progress. In John’s case, the need was obvious, as his behavior was dangerously off-task. Directly acknowledging the issue was my first step. The next was to make John feel safe. Since asking questions that were freezing him up was not working, I asked him directly what was bothering him. He expressed a sense of being underprepared and that he felt at a loss for answers. His willingness to reflect on the situation was critical for creating a space for us to continue working. During the rest of the session, we discussed what would make him feel prepared. I got the impression that for him being prepared meant being perfect.  John seemed so rigid and wanted to have THE RIGHT ANSWER. Such answers simply don’t exist. There are many possible right answers or at least answers that are right enough. I thought that anytime his answer was not smooth he too often shut down and became flustered. His desire to be right and in control prevented him from just trying to answer a question.

 

Breakdowns continued to occur both during sessions with me and with one of my colleagues who reported on November 7^th that “he seems like a nice guy and his experience is very interesting, but that was literally one of the worst interview sessions I've had in recent memory.” Getting confirmation on a client’s behavior from a colleague helped me have confidence that my concerns were real and that John’s problem was quite serious.

 

I decided to continue using a relaxed approach focused on getting John to give a complete series of answers and restarting at any point where he broke down. Such breakdowns became occasions for helping him construct better answers.  The point to me was to convert his rigidity into flexibility but to do it gradually enough that he would not become discouraged. We had three subsequent sessions. Normally, one of my standard practices for HBS involves being a very neutral interviewer because this seems to be the worst case interviewer experience for those who have HBS interviews. (And from what my client respondents told me, no one likes neutral interviewers, whether for a job interview or an admissions interview.) However I did not do this with John as it would have enhanced his anxiety. John needed reassurance so that he could focus on performing. Instead of a mock session, we briefly discussed how to handle such a neutral interviewer. Prior to attending INSEAD, I might very well have been that neutral interviewer, but doubling down on someone’s anxiety is clearly creating harm. Instead I tried to create a safe space for John to practice a full range of questions in order for him to feel comfortable with his answers. Fortunately he reported that his actual HBS interviewers (there were two of them with one acting primarily as an observer) were friendly, which is the style I used for our mock sessions. He reported that, “I left the interview with a very good feeling. I didn't get stuck on any question and I just went with the flow.” He was admitted to HBS. Rather than working against his rigidity, accepting it and then building from it, as well as creating a place where he would feel safe seem to have been the key factors that enabled effective coaching.

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HBS MBA Admissions Interviews: Logistics and Content

 This is the first of three posts I provide advice for HBS MBA Admissions Interviews. 

 

This post discusses logistics and content.  This post also includes analysis of the Post-Interview Reflection. The second post focuses on strategy. The third post focuses on preparation. These posts  reflect the reports I have received from clients over the past several cycles since those for the Class of 2018 (Fall 2016 entry). It also reflects the changed way I advise and prep clients for HBS.

 

At the time of the blog post, 101 of my clients (mostly comprehensive counseling plus those interview only clients I worked with for 5 hours, this does not include an even larger number of  HBS admits that I worked for only 1-4 hours on interview prep) have been admitted to HBS since the entering class of 2008 (I had prior clients admitted between 2001 and 2007 before establishing my own service). My clients' results and testimonials can be found here. In addition to providing comprehensive application consulting on HBS, I regularly help some candidates with HBS interview preparation only. My clients admitted to HBS come from all over the world with high concentrations in India, Japan, Singapore, EU, UK, and US.

 

This post just describes the HBS interview with some brief analysis. In the second post, I will get really abstract, analytical, psychological, and otherwise deep. In the third post, I will be very practical, which is good since that post is on self-preparation.  If you are familiar with the logistics and contents of HBS interviews, you can skim/ignore this one. It is here mostly for those who need to some grounding in the basics before jumping into my usual guru-level goodness.  Through I think it is a good idea to review my advice on the post-interview reflection at the end of this post even if you are not interested in what follows.

 

LOGISTICS

The interviewers are members of the MBA Admissions Board or contract interviewers who often have other regular roles at HBS (some of have been doing this for well over a decade).  Some have been around forever (or something like that), others arrived more recently, but whatever the case, these people stick to their interview protocols and do a better job than any other school at being fair and giving each person who is interviewed a fair hearing.  The process of training to become an HBS interviewer involves observing interview sessions. That is why applicants will frequently report a second admissions member who was simply observing. For example, one of my clients was observed in 2024 by the new Admissions Director, Rupal Gadhia, when she was undergoing her training.  I think  it is as result of a rigorous approach to training that HBS interviewers are the best MBA admissions interviewers on the planet.

 

Scheduling your interview: HBS oversees interview slots will fill quickly so if you are invited, please select your preferred slot as quickly as possible.You will be invited for an interview and then the scheduling system will open up the next day. Even if it comes at an absolutely horrible time for you, I highly recommend getting access to that schedule and scheduling as soon as possible.  If you prefer to have as much prep time as possible, I suggest you schedule as quickly as you can.  There are three locations for interviews: Campus, hub, and online. Campus and hub interviews are conducted in-person.  For campus and online interviews you will have no idea who will be interviewed by.  For hub interviews, the interviewer may become known prior to your actual interview. In some cases, such as Sarah Lucas going to Dubai, this can often be predicted. The difference between a campus interview and other types of interviews is that campus will involve some additional informational activities for those invited, but this has no barring on the outcome.   If you prefer in-person interviews and have the money and time to travel to the hub or campus, you should do that.  If you prefer, online, do it that way.  For online interviews, see some technical advice here.  There is no inherent advantage in choosing one method of interviewing over the other two.

 

All interviews last 30 minutes and rarely exceed that time.

 

 

 

CONTENT

The HBS interview content is quite distinct from what you would find in a typical MBA interview at schools like Booth, Columbia, INSEAD, Kellogg and Tuck. It is even more different than the behavioral interviews conducted by MIT and Stanford. The HBS difference is that each applicant will be asked questions specific to them. Prior to the Class of 2018 (2016 entry), while HBS interviews were always personalized, the reports I received from clients contained more generic questions. These days the questions each applicant gets is more tailored.

 

While the admissions criteria for HBS were revised for the Class of 2027, there has been no noticeable change to the questions asked in Round One for 2025 entry. Given that being Business-Minded, Leadership-Focused, and Growth-Oriented were always core to what has been asked anyway, this is not a surprise.  That said, it is very much worth keeping those three criteria into consideration when preparing for HBS interviews.

 

A few things to keep in mind:

1. You have to be prepared for answering questions about anything you have done that is accounted for in the application. You can expect a few questions related to your academic and personal background so you have to be prepared to handle a full range of questions but don't be surprised if you only get a few or even no questions in this area.
2. You will need to be able to switch between micro/personal level and big picture questions as this can happen often. If you are a non-native English speaker, chances are even greater that you will be in an interview where the number of questions asked is extremely high (maybe not so much of a deep dive at all) because the admissions interviewer is testing your English ability: In particular, your fluency. They want to make sure you can handle the HBS classroom.  Still, HBS is famous for going in relatively deep with follow-up questions, so you have to be prepared for that as well.
3. You need the ability to both explain and evaluate. By explain, I mean you should be able to provide both  (1) detailed and succinct answers and (2) anecdotal examples (tell stories) to address a great range of questions.  By evaluate, I mean you should be able to interpret and give an opinion when asked for one.
4. Don't be surprised if much of your essay contents are not discussed in the interview but rather only few points might be referred to. After all, they want to learn things about you they can't find in the essay, so don't think it will your script. Your resume is more likely to be worth your intensive review.

 

While I can't provide a real interview report,  I have described  what to expect in an interview. I would also say that the reports I have seen on online are usually too brief and don't generally reflect the actual interview because to do so would be too revealing. It would very risky for an applicant to put up a real report on an HBS interview because the questions are too applicant specific.

 

How it will start:

-The interviewer will briefly explain how the interview is structured.

-The interviewer will likely begin asking you questions either about something in your background or by asking you about your recent work. Examples:

"Tell me about X college experience"

or

"Tell me about how (your current work, current project, Project X mentioned in application) is going.

 

-If the interviewer starts with educational or other personal background questions, they are likely to do for a few minutes before switching to asking about professional experience related questions.  Expect 1-3 personal questions before the switchover to professional questions.

-If the interviewer starts with professional related questions, which are often updates at work, they are likely to focus on professional questions for most of the interview and you can expect only a few personal related questions at the end.

 

The primary focus of HBS interviews is on the applicant's professional experience.   While other subjects are discussed, based on reports I have seen, the vast majority of questions in  all recent interviews was related to professional experience. You still have to prep for the full range of questions, but a great deal of attention should focus on your work experience, your industry, and your company. They want to see your ability to discuss and explain your industry and company beyond your own role. This is an interview that is used to determine your fitness to be an effective participant in the class and hence the focus is content related to how you could contribute your experience in class discussions.

You need to be able to do the following for all of your employers:

1. Explain and evaluate the nature of the business.

2. Explain and evaluate the industry overall and the competition.

3. Explain key concepts related to your industry and role/function.

4. Explain and evaluate your role in each function you held in the company.

 

In other words, you should be able to explain and evaluate the above in a way that would parallel how you might use your knowledge in class at HBS. 

Below is an example set of questions reflecting the above.  We will assume that the applicant has worked at two companies.

"What is the project that you are most recently involved in?" 1-2 followup questions

"Tell me more about your involvement in... another project/organizing recruiting/ supervising a team/ other examples that focus on the applicant's role. 1-2 follow-up questions.

"How did Covid (or some other major event) impact your company and your work personally?"

"What is the best part of your job?" 1-2 followup questions

"What have learned about your company as the result of your time there?" 1-2 followup questions

"Who are your company’s competitors?" 1-3 follow-up questions

"Why did you leave your prior employer to join this company?" 1-2 follow -up questions

"When you are at prior employer, tell me more about your involvement in... another project/organizing recruiting/ supervising a team/ other examples that focus on the applicant's role. 1-2 follow-up questions.

"How would you describe the difference in the work environment between these two companies?" 1-2 follow-up questions

"Can you explain more about X (X is something complex that is at the core the applicant's work)?"  1-5 follow-up questions

 

What else will be asked:

-Your goals are likely to be asked about but don't be surprised if you are not asked about why MBA or why HBS. You might be but there is a good chance, you will not be asked that.  So you have to prep for it.

"Where do you want to work post-MBA?" "Why?"

But be prepared for "Why HBS?" or "Why do you need an MBA" (these are both topics you can always bring up if asked if there is anything you want to discuss, see below)

 

-If no personal questions have been asked, you might get something related to your hobbies, interests, or background:

"Why do enjoy doing X?"

"Tell me about your involvement in X activity/group/organization/sport/team."

"What do you in your free time?"

 

-Typical MBA  interviews questions that are commonly asked but don't be surprised if you get none of these:

"What are you good at?" (What are you strengths?) or "What is one thing you are good at?"

"What aren't you good at?" (What are your weaknesses?) or "What is something you want to get better at doing?"

"What is something surprises people about you?"

 

-At the end of the interview, be prepared to be asked if there is anything else you want to discuss or questions you wish the interviewer had asked you. Have possible topics ready for this. Good topics for this:

1. Something you really wanted to discuss but did not a chance to.
2. Why HBS if this was not asked.
3. Discussion about extracurricular activities that highlight something that shows  leadership potential, teamwork skills, intellectual abilities, readiness for HBS, or something else you think HBS really needs to know about you. For example, gaining a new skill or making a big impact in a volunteer activity.

 

Please keep in mind that my discussion above reflects what MBA applicants get asked but for 2+2 applicants the contents will be different because there will be less focus on work experience. I don't work with many applicants for the 2+2 program so I don't have enough reports to write this myself. For a description of a 2+2 interview, see here.

 

After the interviewer, you will have 24 hours to write a post-interview reflection:

Reflection is an important part of the HBS learning model, so we want to get a
sense here of your real-time thoughts and learnings from the interview
conversation. It is not intended to be another formal essay!

You have 24 hours to complete this reflection. So, please take the time you need
to pause and think, but the actual writing should only take about an hour. There’s
no need to go through multiple drafts or get any outside help - we want the
reflection to be informal, unrehearsed, and in your own words. Please answer the
following prompt by uploading a document below.

Question: What was the highlight of your interview and why did this
resonate with you? Is there anything else you would like to share now that
you’ve had time to reflect on your interview? (Word guidance - 300-450
words)

This is your chance to further emphasize a key aspect of yourself covered in the interview.

To best determine what to write about,  I advise my client that right after their interview they write up a full report on the interview so they know what they discussed and so that we can determine what should go into the post-interview reflection. I suggest you do the same even if it is just for yourself.

The reflection has mandatory and optional parts to it. Anything else is optional.  Focus on the main point of the question (discuss a highlight) and thank the Admissions Board, but everything below is really optional.

Resonating Highlight; Focus on a specific aspect of the interview that you want to further emphasize. This should be something positive as a highlight is positive. Something that resonates is something that you feel a connection to. For example, if you enjoyed discussing a particular project because it highlighted your ability to make an impact, that could be a good topic. A great conversation regarding your industry or a specific issue might also be the basis for this answer.  (MANDATORY)

 

Anything Else:

-Address any concerns you have over what you said or failed to say in the interview. Sometimes you think there is something you could have said better better or did not say and want to address it.  (OPTIONAL)

-Elaborate on issues that you want to highlight that were not sufficiently focused in the interview or application. (OPTIONAL)

-Discuss something you especially want to highlight to the rest of the HBS Admissions Board even though it was discussed in the interview.  Just keep in mind that they are not asking for you to summarize the interview.  (OPTIONAL)

-Provide a brief assessment for how you think the interview went. (OPTIONAL)

 

Thank the Admissions Board and your interviewer in particular. (MANDATORY)

 

WHAT NOT TO DO: Don't write a summary of the entire interview as that is not helpful and not their question.

 

Essay length for this varies, but I would stick their suggested guideline of 300-450 words.

 

Best of luck with your HBS interview! If you want to do interview prep with me, please see here.

 

Shitty Essays are Nothing New: AI Just Makes It Easier to Create Them

 There is a significant amount of concern expressed about AI generated essays. The main reason I would be concerned about it has nothing to do with the graduate admissions process: Becoming dependent on AI makes people stupid. MIT's study on this issue is worth reviewing. See abstract (https://www.media.mit.edu/publications/your-brain-on-chatgpt/) and an interview with the primary researcher (https://www.media.mit.edu/articles/a-i-s-effects-on-the-brain/).  I would also recommend INSEAD Dean Mortensen's Have You Really Counted the Costs of GenAI? as it explains in detail what is lost by over reliance on AI specifically in reference to the cognitive skills required for success both academically and professionally. Note, my use of the word "dependent." I am no Luddite. I think AI is useful if used effectively. That is why I am not against using AI for making MBA or graduate applications. It has its place.

 

For MBA Admissions purposes in particular, my AIGAC colleague, Petia Whitmore, has put together an incredibly helpful article for all MBA applicants on how to use and not use AI. I will not repeat what she has written there.

 

Instead I want to make a different point: THERE HAVE BEEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE SHITTY ESSAYS AND AI IS JUST A VERY EASY WAY TO CREATE THEM!

 

I like the word "shitty" because it is captures the full essence of a bad essay: It stinks. Humans have been writing shitty essays forever. Hence AI, utilizing the corpus of content upon which it provides answers, will produce some shitty essays. Based on what I see it can certainly do that. Again, not all essays generated by an AI will be shitty, but if you don't have a human with the actual capability to judge what constitutes a non-shitty essay, problems will arise.

 

Some thoughts on the continued role of human incompetence in the essay writing process: What makes an essay shitty?

 

It fails to answer the question.  People have been writing essays that did not answer the question correctly forever.  Even with AI, I receive shitty essays from clients that totally fail to answer the question because (1) the writer did not use the correct prompts, (2) the writer did not insert the correct raw data for the essay, (3) the AI failed to really address the question being asked, and/or (4) the writer did not understand the question and therefore could not effectively judge the AI output. Only a person with good judgement can determine whether an answer is effective or not. Many applicants can certainly do that themselves, but not everyone.

 

It lacks strategy. Since MBA and other graduate admissions essays have only one sole objective, which is admission, you would think getting the strategy right would be easy. But this is the hardest part because what will work for one candidate will not work for another. That is often why advice from admits fails to help an applicant. Prior applicants (alumni and current students) tend to give advice based on their own experience. However, what got Jane admitted is not the same thing that will get Mary admitted. They are different people with different strengths and applying at different times. What worked at one point in time simply no longer always works at a different point in time.  AI can provide strategic options and help with brainstorming but it can't provide holistic judgement that fully accounts for a particular candidate.  Candidates and good advisors (professional or otherwise) must make the ultimate judgment about what will work best in an application now.

 

It is boring.  I have been an admissions consultant since 2001. The number of absolutely dull essays I have read and then helped a client make engaging is something I have never counted, but well into the thousands.  How to make a shitty boring essay:  Tell an obvious story that contains no real development, lacks detail, does not attempt to connect to the reader on an emotional/intellectual/mission level, but is perfectly rational in the most soulless way possible.  Often they are mere extended versions of a resume bullet point. Many people don't know how to tell a story, especially in writing. It is not a skill distributed evenly throughout the human population, which is why we value those who do it well. That said, story telling can be taught. I know because I have taught it to thousands of people over the last 24 years. However, AI's are not inherently good at storytelling unless you provide a prompt with such sufficient details that you might have well written it yourself.  They will tell a story for sure, but not inherently a good one.  If you don't know how to tell a story, chances are unlikely you will be inherently good at knowing whether an AI produced story is any good. I can say this because I have 24-year sample size that makes it perfectly clear to me that many people can't tell a good story about themselves without being taught how to do it.  A language engine, an AI, is not an aesthetic judgment engine and also not a judgmental reader, which is what required for judging a story.

 

It lacks sufficient details. This is a subset of boring to a certain extent but worthy of its own categorization here. For as long as I have been an admissions consultant, I have been impressed by the ability of some writers to be completely blind to the importance of detail in MBA essays. It is though they never read a news article, story story, or any narrative prose. No time provided. No company name. No characters in stories (such as teammates in an essay where the theme relates to teamwork). No details about how the applicant solved a problem, succeeded, failed, etc. No numbers to back up their arguments. An AI will certainly populate a story with detail, but that requires providing the AI with the detail or adding it later, which are both dependent on the human knowing they need to have such details.

 

It is based on bad argumentation, often found in the conclusion. A good example of this is an essay that discusses learning something when, in fact, what was supposedly learned, was clearly already known by the applicant because the actions that applicant took in the situation being described demonstrate that.  For example, an applicant writes about how he or she collaborated with a team by using their existing teamwork skills and then writes about how they learned the power of collaboration from this experience. It makes no sense, since they already knew how to collaborate, so they did not learn that. They already knew it.  False learning is any situation when you indicate that you learned something, but actually it was something that you already knew or others are likely to assume that you know. False learning tends to undermine the credibility of applicant in terms of their intelligence and honesty. A related form of this, which AI argumentation seems to produce is that an experience is reaffirming what the writer knew already. Reaffirming something is not learning something  either.  Again I have read thousands of essays that suffered from bad argumentation. Why wouldn't AI fix this problem? Because the world is filled with bad arguments and an AI can't always distinguish between a good and bad argument as both can be found in the corpus upon which it makes judgements.

 

Big Takeaway: Anyone can use AI, just like anyone can use a keyboard, but the result is still dependent on human judgment. If someone's human judgment skills are undermined as a result of an over-reliance on having an AI do their thinking, it is best that they never get into any kind of position of responsibility where they would be required to think because they will be unable to do through lack of practice. In this sense, AI rather than enabling the incompetent and lazy to gain entry into MBA programs will likely have the opposite effect if the reader is a discerning human being (I will assume that is the case with most admissions officers). The opposite is also true, those that are competent and hardworking and use AI effectively are likely to have a significant advantage in the admissions process and in their professional lives. At least is that is what I hope for, otherwise full corporate Idiocracy is likely to be achieved within my lifetime.

Wharton MBA Essay Questions for the Class of 2028

 In this post, I analyze the essay questions for the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for Fall 2026 admission. For my most recent posts on Wharton interviews, please see here.

 

My clients have been admitted to Wharton every year since 2002. Since I started my own counseling service in 2007, I have had 103 clients admitted to Wharton's MBA program (88 admitted to Wharton, 1 to Wharton Deferred and 14 admitted to Wharton Lauder). My clients' results and testimonials can be found here.

 

The thing I like most about Wharton is that they really do admit a very diverse class. The class size certainly helps, but beyond that, Wharton is a school where applicants are evaluated holistically and one need not be perfect to gain admission. Such factors as a less than stellar GPA, a less than super GMAT or GRE, being older (30+) or work experience in companies that are not necessarily prestigious are not inherent barriers to admission to Wharton's MBA program.  I have worked with clients who had such issues, but also had amazing strengths which helped them gain admission. This could also happen at HBS or only rarely at Stanford, but it happens more at Wharton. The school's diversity is also shown through the range of courses offered and the many international programs. Some people think of Wharton narrowly as a finance school, but to do so is to ignore the huge course catalog, numerous clubs, and diverse recruiting results.

 

 The deadlines are Round 1: Sep 3, 2025, Round 2: Jan 6, 2026, and Round 3: Apr 1, 2026.  

 

 

Big Changes to the Wharton Essays for the Class of 2028:

-Instead of writing 900 words max for Essay 1 and 2, you now have 550.

-Essay 1 is divided into 2 short goals questions with a total word count of 200 words. The Wharton related part of the question has been deleted:

"Essay 1: Two short-form questions
Essay 1 has been restructured into two short-answer questions, allowing candidates to focus exclusively on their professional goals.

• What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (50 words)
• What are your career goals for the first three to five years after completing your MBA, and how will those build towards your long-term professional goals? (150 words)"

-Essay 2 is unchanged in terms of content but is now 350 instead of 400 words long:

"Essay 2: Long-form essay
Essay 2 remains a long-form response but has been refined to center on the impact you’ll bring to the Wharton community, rather than how you’ll spend your time while in the program.

• Taking into consideration your background – personal, professional, and/or academic – how do you plan to add meaningful value to the Wharton community? (350 words)"

-The Recommendation requirements have also changed: Wharton no longer has its own questions but is using  GMAC's The Common Letter of Recommendation (LOR) and only wants one recommendation. This is big change because Wharton rec questions were totally different from the rest of the M7 and other US MBA programs.  This is very helpful to both applicants and their recommenders.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

1. They are focused on your professional goals and wanted them stated clearly.
2. They want to know how you will contribute to Wharton.
3. They DON'T want to know about overall plan for studying at Wharton and how that relates to your goals unless it is relationship to how you can contribute.
4. Given the very limited length of the essay set, your resume, which is always critical for any school, and the application form content as well as the recommendation are major ways they will be learning about you.
5. Except for Essay 2, this is extremely simple and fast application to complete if you are applying to other MBA programs and if this is not the first essay set you are working on.

 

 

"Essay 1: Two short-form questions
Essay 1 has been restructured into two short-answer questions, allowing candidates to focus exclusively on their professional goals.

• What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (50 words)
• What are your career goals for the first three to five years after completing your MBA, and how will those build towards your long-term professional goals? (150 words)"

If you have not written goals statements for other schools, this will be an extremely easy task. If you need to brainstorm goals, please see my Stanford or CBS posts.

 

 

What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (50 words)

Write as directly as possible what job you want immediately after graduating from Wharton.  Keep it simple and to the point. They are not really asking about why this is your goal, but rather what it is. They are not looking for a deep story here, just a direct and simple plan. Given the current job market, you better have a plan that makes them think you can achieve it.

 

 

What are your career goals for the first three to five years after completing your MBA, and how will those build towards your long-term professional goals? (150 words)"

They want you to connect what you will have done in the short-term (3-5 years) after your MBA to your long-term professional goals. In other words, what skills, experiences, network, etc. will you have gained in the short-term that will put you on the pathway to reaching your long-term professional goals and what are those goals?An effective answer will establish the connection to your short-term and long-term goals, explain what you will have gained in the short-term, and explain your long-term goals. While this is a very short essay, I would devote a sentence to explaining the reason/motivation for your long-term goals in about a sentence.

 

 

"Essay 2: Long-form essay
Essay 2 remains a long-form response but has been refined to center on the impact you’ll bring to the Wharton community, rather than how you’ll spend your time while in the program.

• Taking into consideration your background – personal, professional, and/or academic – how do you plan to add meaningful value to the Wharton community? (350 words)"

 

WHAT CAN YOU GIVE TO THE WHARTON COMMUNITY?

 

I have been an MBA admissions consultant since 2001 and the contribution question is one that I could explain to a client in my sleep.  I have done it on this blog many times before. Here is one of my old (2008) favorites, which includes a table that I have also used below.

One of the chief functions of an MBA admissions committee is to select people who will add value to the community.  The director and the rest of the committee have done their job properly if they have selected students who can work well together, learn from each other, and if these students become alum who value the relationships they initially formed at business school. Your contribution(s) need to clearly connected to the community. Maybe it will be through the way you work with others, the knowledge you share, or the activities you organize but make sure the reader can fully understand how this be a contribution at Wharton.  You should know enough about the Wharton community to show specific ways you might contribute.

Within the context of the Wharton application, Essay 2 is really one of the important places to show why you will add value to Wharton.  One way, I like to think about contribution questions is to use a table like the following:

CONTRIBUTIONS	Is it a personal, professional or academic experience?	What skill, value, or unique experience is being showcased?	So what will you contribute  to the Wharton community?	Is this special? Why?
Story 1:
Story 2:
Story 3:
adammarkus@gmail.com. Free to use, contact me if you republish it.

I use the above table for all types of contribution questions, modifying the categories to fit the question.  What this kind of table does is force you to think about exactly how something from your background is meaningful enough to add value at Wharton.

ADVICE:

1. Tell your best story or stories that highlight how you will add value at Wharton.  Help the reader understand what is special about you, about the story you tell, and the contribution you make.
2. You need to learn about a lot about Wharton. Talk to alumni and current students, attend online chats, and dig through the website and otherwise.  Google and network your way into Wharton expertise in order to be able to have really deep contributions. It is one of the schools that requires knowing a lot about it through networking with current students and alumni as well as looking at the program in depth. Wharton wants to be loved. It suffers from an HBS and Stanford inferiority complex. Comparatively speaking, the amount of engagement you should have with this school is very high compared to the rest of the M7 except CBS because this essay requires a significant understanding of how you will contribute to Wharton. For more about this issue, see How much do I really need to know about an MBA program to prepare a strong application for it? It varies!  It provides a comprehensive guide to this issue for Wharton, the rest of the M7, and many other top schools.
3. With respect to the kind of contributions you make, don't fall into the "Obvious Knowledge Trap."  What do I mean? Here is an example: "As my work on the Tesla/McDonalds Merger and Acquisition shows, I have deep knowledge of  finance and accounting which I will use to help my classmates without a finance background." This topic is bad for a number of reasons. First, that you have such knowledge will be obvious from your resume, application form and/or transcripts, so it is better to focus on something that the reader will not already know about you. Second just sharing knowledge is not enough, better to focus on how you would do that. For example, instead of writing about your knowledge of a topic, write about how you helped others learn something and how you will use that to make a contribution at Wharton. Then specify the Wharton specific context (Classes, clubs, activities, Learning Teams) where you will make that contribution.

 

SPECIFIC ESSAY 2 REQUIREMENTS: Since the question calls for contributions, my suggestion is to include at least two contributions.  The question does not indicate how many aspects of your background you need to focus on. So you can focus on one story from your background or multiple stories. In 350 words, I think 3 topics would be a maximum from your background to focus on but that 2 topics makes more sense.

 

ESSAY STRUCTURE:

It will depend on whether you cover 1 or more topics.   Here are two sample structures that I think are most common:

One Background Topic Essay Structure:

1. Discuss one personal, academic, or professional story.
2. Explain one specific and meaningful contribution that you will be able to make at Wharton based on what you do or learn from this story.
3. Explain another specific and meaningful contribution that you will be able to make at Wharton based on what you do or learn from this story.

Two or Three Background Topic Essay Structure:

1. Discuss one personal, academic or professional story. Explain at least one specific and meaningful contribution that you will be able to make at Wharton based on what you do or learn from this story.
2. Discuss another personal, academic or professional story. Explain at least one specific and meaningful contribution that you will be able to make at Wharton based on what you do or learn from this story.
3. Discuss another personal, academic or professional story. Explain at least one specific and meaningful contribution that you will be able to make at Wharton based on what you do or learn from this story.

Both of the above structures can work well for this kind of essay. It just depends on whether you want to cover one story in depth  and then show two or more contributions from it or show greater diversity of your experience and focus on 2-3 stories.  To tell a story about your background sufficiently and also explain what it shows you will add value at Wharton is very hard to do really effectively in less than 100 words, so 3 topics would be a maximum from my perspective. That said, I will encourage my clients to focus on 2 topics.

 

 

Additional Question (required for all Reapplicants): Please share with the Admissions Committee how you have reflected and grown since your previous application and discuss any relevant updates to your candidacy (e.g., changes in your professional life, additional coursework, extracurricular/volunteer engagements, etc.). (250 words)"

 

Reapplicants, an effective answer here will do the following:

1. Showcase what has changed since your last application that now makes you a better candidate.

2. Refine your goals. I think it is reasonable that they may have altered since your last application, but if the change is extreme, you had better explain why.

3. Make a better case for why Wharton is right for you.

For more about reapplication, please see "A guide to my resources for reapplicants."

 

"Additional Information: Please use this space to share any additional information about yourself that cannot be found elsewhere in your application. This space should be used to clarify information provided in the application or address extenuating circumstances (e.g., unexplained gaps or inconsistent performance in academic career, choice of recommenders, areas of weakness, etc.) that you would like the Admissions Committee to consider. Please note that this section is not intended to be an additional essay." (500 words)

Use this space to explain anything that can't be explained elsewhere in the application, but as the last sentence indicates they are not looking for an additional essay.  This is a great place to explain your choice of recommenders, a problem in your past (grades, gaps, etc), or to add in information about something you really think Wharton needs to know. It is completely fine to leave this space blank if you have nothing you need to add. This is not the place for a mini-essay on some random accomplishment, but for information or explanations that cannot be included elsewhere.  A list is fine. You don't need to write this like an essay but treat it like an administrative statement. Just fact-based critical information that fits nowhere else and that you want Wharton to consider.

 

Best of luck with your Wharton application for the Class of 2028!

-Adam Markus

HBS Class of 2028 MBA Admission Application: Joint Degree Application Essays for HKS & SEAS

 This will be a four part series of blog posts on the essays and rest of the application for admission to the Harvard Business School Class of 2028:

-The first post focuses on overall strategy, the 3 essays and the goals statement.

-The second post focuses on the application form questions. It will focus on helping you brainstorm and develop your content.

-The third post focuses on the reapplication essay.

-This forth post is on the joint degree application essays. This post focuses on the HKS and SEAS Joint Degree programs. 

 

My three-part HBS interview prep series starts here.

 

My comprehensive service clients have been admitted to HBS for the Classes of 2027, 2026, 2025,  2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2011, 2010, and 2009. My clients' results and testimonials can be found here. In addition to providing comprehensive application consulting on HBS, I regularly help additional candidates with HBS interview preparation.  Since I started my own counseling service in 2007 (worked with many admits from 2001-2007 when I worked for a company), I have worked with 100 successful applicants from Canada, Europe, India, the Middle East, Japan, South Korea, other parts of Asia, and the United States on HBS application. I think that this range of experience has helped me understand the many possible ways of making an effective application to HBS. l I can tell you is that HBS takes a truly diverse range of people. Some had high GPAs and a great GMAT or GRE scores, others had GPAs and scores well below the 80% range for HBS, but what they all had in common were strong personal and professional backgrounds that came out in their essays.

 

 

 

HBS offers a number of Joint Degree programs with the MBA, I am only focusing on the two that I am likely to ever advise clients on.  Unlike Harvard Kennedy School, where I have been helping clients gain admission for over two decades (albeit in small numbers), SEAS is a program that I have only helped a client with once and did not work out post-HBS interview. The app was solid. We still start with  HKS.

 

 

HKS MPP or MPA-ID Joint Degree: How do you expect the joint degree experience to benefit you on both a professional and a personal level? (400 words)

My clients admitted to HKS have include both those admitted to the Joint HBS/HKS program, GSB/HKS program,  and Wharton/HKS Dual Degree program. I have also worked with applicants who were applying only to HKS. HKS provides a very different kind of education from an MBA program, more academic and obviously looking at things through the perspective of public policy, international relations, development studies, etc. For the right candidate, it provides a complementary education to what they will encounter in an MBA program.

 

 

The key challenge of writing this essay is to not duplicate what you write in the HBS essays. Use this essay to explain the synergy that will be gained from doing both degrees. The professional part seems obvious enough (What skills will you gain? What network will you gain? How will it help you with your career objectives?) but the personal part sometimes confounds my clients. I tell them to think about it terms of the perspectives they will gain and from the opportunity to be enriched by a much range of ideas but also by the fact that those who do the HKS Joint Degree are their own tribe and establish close relationships in a very different classroom atmosphere than is offered by HBS. I encourage my clients who apply for this degree to talk with alumni and current students from the program in order to gain these kind of personal insights. Dig into the HKS program either the MPP or MPA-ID and explain why you think it benefit you.

 

 

I think it is especially important that you focus on the synergies created by doing both degrees for your future career. One need not have political ambitions to attend HKS, though that is certainly possible, but may have a large number of reasons for why it makes sense. For example if you are planning to work in a highly regulated industry, work directly with government (such as the case of some consulting firms), or are interested in solving complex public/private issues, HKS could offer what you need in addition to the MBA.

 

 

 

It is important that you well align the content of your Joint Degree Essay, HBS essays, and HKS essays for your own sanity but do keep in mind that your admission to these programs is separate and each program has own its admissions. At least for HKS, I don't believe that applying for the Joint Degree has any significant impact on whether one is admitted to HBS, at least I have never seen anything indicating this.  Which is to say that I don't think applying for the Joint Degree improves or decreases ones chance of admission at HBS.  It is an additional one year commitment, so just make sure you are ready to spend three years in school.

 

 

Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) Joint Degree

Essay Question: The MS/MBA program is focused on design, innovation, and entrepreneurship within a technical/engineering context. Describe your past experiences in these areas and your reasons for pursuing a program with this focus.

(Recommended: 500 words)

Keep in mind that your overall personal background should be in the main HBS MBA essays and not here. Make sure you effectively align the MBA essays, the SEAS essay, and the 500 character goals statement so that they support and don't overly duplicate each other, though some overlap (see below) is inevitable. The SEAS essay consists of two parts:

 

PART 1: Discuss past experiences with design innovation, and/or entrepreneurship within a technical engineering content. If you don't have any past professional, academic, or other experience in any of these areas, the program is not for you.  Assume that you should be spending at least half if not more of the essay providing an analysis of those experiences. Your resume and application form should back-up what you write about in the essay. My suggestion would be to highlight 2-4 specific ways your past experience demonstrates your fit for the program.

 

PART 2: Discuss reasons for pursing the program. The reasons would relate directly to your post-MBA objectives, so there should be some inherent overlap between this essay and what you write in the 500 character goals statement (see below regarding that). You should certainly justify why the program is right for you based on what you can read about on the program website.   I would also suggest reading a Q&A with the program's co-chair. When explaining why you want to attend a program, do not just make a series of dumb lists of classes or tell the program about itself, but explains what you want form the program.   You need not mention the names of particular courses as long as it would be clear to your reader that your learning needs align well with curriculum.  If you have a particular interest in a more specialized course or studying with a particular professor, it might be worth mentioning it as long as it is an explanation of why you want to study the subject and not based on circular reasoning;

 

 An example of circular (tautological) reasoning:  "I want to take Integrated Design because I am interested in learning about integrated design."This kind of circular reasoning is so common. Usually, it takes place within a paragraph consisting of many such sentences. They actually convey nothing about the applicant.  They are just abstract needs and will have limited impact on your reader.  The admissions reader wants to learn about you, not about their own program.

 

 

 An example of an explanation for why:  "While I have been exposed to some user design issues,  I presently lack the kind of comprehensive understanding of design issues that are critical to my future goals...."  A complete explanation would include additional details about the kind of issues that the applicant is interested in learning about and/or specific ways the applicant intended to apply what he or she would learn at Harvard to those goals.  By focusing on very specific learning needs and explaining those needs in relationship to one's goals and/or past experience, the admissions reader will be learning about you.

 

 

Just as with HKS, I would not assume any advantage in terms of admissions outcomes by applying for the SEAS Joint Degree.

 

Best of luck with your application to HBS!

HBS Class of 2028 MBA Admission Application: The Reapplication Essay

 This will be a four part series of blog posts on the essays and rest of the application for admission to the Harvard Business School Class of 2028:

-The first post focuses on overall strategy, the 3 essays and the goals statement.

-The second post focuses on the application form questions. It will focus on helping you brainstorm and develop your content.

-This third post focuses on the reapplication essay.

-The forth post is on the joint degree application essays.

 

My three-part HBS interview prep series starts here.

 

My comprehensive service clients have been admitted to HBS for the Classes of  2027, 2026, 2025,  2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2011, 2010, and 2009. My clients' results and testimonials can be found here. In addition to providing comprehensive application consulting on HBS, I regularly help additional candidates with HBS interview preparation.  Since I started my own counseling service in 2007 (worked with many admits from 2001-2007 when I worked for a company), I have worked with 100 successful applicants from Canada, Europe, India, the Middle East, Japan, South Korea, other parts of Asia, and the United States on HBS application. I think that this range of experience has helped me understand the many possible ways of making an effective application to HBS. l I can tell you is that HBS takes a truly diverse range of people. Some had high GPAs and a great GMAT or GRE scores, others had GPAs and scores well below the 80% range for HBS, but what they all had in common were strong personal and professional backgrounds that came out in their essays.

 

 

HBS REAPPLICANTS:

[Required] Please use this space to share with the Admissions Committee how you have reflected and grown since your previous application and discuss any relevant updates to your candidacy (e.g., changes in your professional life, additional coursework, and extracurricular/volunteer engagements). (250 word limit)

 

The reap essay was new to HBS for the Class of 2025 and is a great addition to the HBS MBA application. It makes a lot of sense to decide to what you will cover in this reapplication essay once you have a high degree of clarity about what will be covered in the three main essays and goals statement.

 

 

It is critical that you showcase what has changed since your last application that now makes you a better candidate.  In my experience working with many successful reapplicants to HBS, career growth and greater self-reflection are the two most non-test score based ways for showing improvement. A part of your self-reflection might be significantly altered career goals. I think it is reasonable that they may have altered since your last application, but if the change is extreme, you had better explain why here as the 500-character (approx 100 words) is not the place to explain that change. HBS is not into the "Why HBS Question" in their essays and interviews. For  schools like Columbia and Wharton, I generally recommend making a clear case for why you are better fit or can contribute more now. It is fine to use that same rhetoric in this essay, but less critical than really highlighting what has improved about you as an applicant in terms of professional, academic, and extracurricular/volunteer activities. For more about reapplication, please see the Reapplication section of my Key Posts page.

 

 

An essay of 250 words is long enough to write effectively on 2-4 topics.  My suggestion is that you view this essay as interconnected with the rest of the essay set. In other words, decide what stories or aspects of stories you are highlighting in all your essays and don't repeat the same thing about the same thing.  For example,  it t would be perfectly reasonable to mention the same topic, for example a specific work related accomplishment, where you focus on the leadership aspect in The Leadership Essay and focus on how it enhanced your understanding of  your industry  or highlights your innovative problem solving in the Reap essay.

 

Given that HBS is not focused on the why HBS question, please don't waste word count on HBS in this essay unless it is something really valuable to mention.  Visiting HBS or talking with alumni, for example, would not be worth wasting word count here.  On the hand, if you have something substantive to mention, feel free to mention. HBS is not especially interested  on contribution answers (they rarely if ever ask about how you will contribute at HBS during an interview)  so unless you have a specifically awesome contribution, don't bother with that either.

 

 

I think one of the great ways to use this essay is to cover something or things about you that you are not able to write about in your other HBS essays. For example if you feel like you really want to highlight a specific accomplishment that just does not fit into the other essays as long as you can show how it makes you a better candidate now,  you can write about it here.

 

 

Below is the Reapplicant Page. You will find further advice after that on some of the items mentioned below. 

 

Previous Application

 

Have you previously applied to HBS?

YesNo

How many times have you applied to HBS?

Please indicate the most recent entering year for which you applied:

Previous application program:

MBA2+2

Were you previously interviewed?

YesNo

Were you previously admitted?

YesNo

Were you previously waitlisted?

YesNo

 

 

 

With respect to the number of times one has applied, clients and potential clients often ask me about about whether it is possible to get into HBS if you have been rejected multiple times. The answer is yes. I have worked with clients who applied to HBS 2-4 times before and were admitted.  HBS has always taken a very positive approach to reapplicants and will admit those who have been rejected both with and without interview.   Do keep in mind that rejection in a prior year is not necessarily an indicator that one will be rejected in the current year. Improvements in your profile as well as an enhanced application can make a real difference.  Also keep in mind that you can get rejected for issues that don't relate specifically to you. For more about that see here.

 

One of the largest pools of reapplicants are those that previously applied to 2+2.  For such candidates, their situation will have changed so greatly that writing about what has changed is very easy as they now have work experience. It is entirely possible that such candidates profiles, goals, and key stories will have so greatly changed that the reap essay should focus on how the applicant has grown and matured since the 2+2. This is actually a much easier task than highlighting changes for someone who is just reapplying a year after getting rejected because the amount of change from being a college student to even someone with work experience is generally great.

 

 

I have not worked with someone who was previously admitted to HBS and is reapplying. I have experience with that  for other schools. In such situations I have recommended explaining why now rather than previously is the right time to enter the program. The argument involves showing what has changed, just like with any other reeapplicant, except the emphasis is explaining why you are now ready to commit to HBS.

 

 

If you have been rejected from HBS after interviewing there, please consider why.  In some cases, it may not be obvious to you.  If so, there is nothing to necessarily add into the essay about it.  On the other hand if you think you gave weak answers to a particular question, consider how you will mitigate that in what you write in the reap essay or in the other essays. If your English ability or communication in general was an issue, highlight how you have improved in that area. And if you know your interview was bad, please prepare better if you are invited again.  For HBS interview prep, please see here.

 

 

If you were previously waitlisted at HBS, don't assume it will be any easier getting in this time.  Waitlisted applicants could have made it in, but did not.  There is no inherent advantage to having been previously waitlisted at HBS because they look anew at a new application. Assume that there is something(s) you need to improve on and use the reapplicant essay to show improvement.

 

 

Best of luck with your new application to HBS!