As follow-up, do you have feedback on the following 2 issues:

1. If I choose the cover letter as one of the optional essays, would it be a good idea to focus on one single personal/background/non-professional area that I believe defines me to a large extent?

YOU COULD –AS NOTED, NO WRONG ANSWER, AND IF THAT AREA CONTRIBUTES W. REST OF YOUR STORY AND GIVES ADCOM NEW INFO ABOUT YOU, IT GETS DIGESTED HOLISTICALLY W. OTHER ESSAY ANSWERS (AND PEDIGREE, STATS) AS PART OF BIG PICTURE. YOU MAY NEED TO POSITION TALKING ABOUT IT AS ONE OF PRIM. REASONS YOU WANT TO GO IN SOME WAY, SO IT IS A NOMINAL COVER LETTER. OTHERWISE YUO MIGHT DO BETTER SHOEHORNING IT IN TO E.G. DIFFICULT DECISION, ENGAG. W COMMUNITY ETC.  BUT AS NOTED, THEY DONT CARE WHAT THE NOMINAL QUESTION IS, THEY CARE ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY AND HOW IT ADDS UP.

2. For the accomplishments essay, could one of them be related to a very recent EC ( i.e. started this fall ), but that I feel particularly proud of in terms of both initiative and impact?

SURE. DONT OVERTHINK THIS, E.G. THEY WILL SMELL OUT THAT I JUST DID THIS B.C. OF APP.  READING APPS, ONE OFTEN DOES NOT TAKE THE ENERGY TO DEAL W. CHRONO (E.G. WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN) AND EVEN IF YOU SAY,

“LAST FALL, I STARTED XYZ ORG, ….” THE LAST FALL PART DOES NOT GET PROCESSED, READER IS PAYING ATTENTION TO ORG AND WHAT YOU DID.

I’ve heard from current students that some people hear back from Wharton early.  Do you know anything about this i.e. how early, typically which students?

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there have been times  in recent years where W has sent out acceptances, by email (and maybe phone) like 24 hours before the announced deadlines.  If some doobie has some spare time,please dig out like Wharton Round2 thread fr. any of prior two years, and I believe you will see peeps posting like, JUST GOT IN, etc., like day b4 official date.  Sorry to post this, b.c. it is just going to cause a lot of worry. Someone might post this Q. to FanaticalFan or some Wharton official and see what ‘official’ policy is this year. 

 I’ve always given HBS its props for NOT RELEASING any accept messgages except how they state they will, via emails sent on Deadline Day, and I have tweaked Bolton at Stanford  for his pointless, egotistical  and anxiety-making habit of calling everyone starting 24 hours earlier. so you sorta wait around all day waiting for phone to ring, just so Bolton can play Santa Claus and get to talk to 200 shrieking accepts like those magazine lottery winners,  while the whole world worries. Does not seem very Stanford to me, quite frankly. Sure, you could make some bogus case about the personal touch etc, but read next para about HBS practice, which is personal and not anxiety making.

HBS sometimes calls accepts AFTER the fact, like in next coupla days, just to say congrats and any questins (caller is often the adcom who interviewed you), but that is WAY diff., and Her Majesty does do a Bolton in  a handful of cases where  kids are accepted off grid, e.g. WL kids who get called for  interview, in like Jan,  and get accepted two weeks later on some random day in Feb., or some round 1 kid who gets   interview notice on Dec 10th and interview is at HBS  on Dec 18th and then gets call fr. the Palace like on Jan 8th w.the good news–it happens, like twice a year, often the result of string pulling of some kind by the candidate

Any news on the last 50 invites for HBS? 

On monday I was invited to a women’s networking event at HBS for potential candidates.  Does that mean they are still reading/reviewing my app and I’m still in consideration? Or did they send these out to all female candidates?

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those  last 50 invites are dribblng out-you just dont hear about them b.c. too scattered–getting invited to one of those HBS gal fests runs on a dif track entirely fr. adcom decision making.  You can get invites to events like that after you are dinged, or famously last year, the very day you are dinged. Email 1–DING. Email 2–Please join us ………

seriously

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I have another question - for HBS, do some optional essays carry more weight than others? As I am starting my app essays, I have trouble deciding which optional essays to choose. Would really appreciate your advice.

Thanks again.

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bottom line: NO, BUT read this b.c. reasons are impt.

hmmmm, career vision essay rarely gains you any points, but most peeps answer it–and my guess is, of admitted class, sorta 80-90 pct will answr that Q, altho it rarely adds value, since it is just just made up fluff.

Engagement w. a commmunity essay is exactly what they are looking for in essays–how you have impacted group trhu leadership, outcomes, working w. others, etc. innovation. 

It is pzzble to do cover letter as sorta carer vision plus a bit of self-selling, and alhto I advised against that when Q’s came out, I have since (after reading about 100+ apps of interw’d kids, perhaps more than any single HBS adcom person at this pt, or cert as many ) seen in cases that Q being effective,altho reg. career vision wld have been as effective IMHO, if done ‘correctly’ e..g saying why vision is sig., in some personal and smart way,  and not just wasting 80-100 wds on generic why HBS slag–altho again, many admitted kids have that slag.

Diff decision only works if it explains something impt and adds to your life story.

Undergrad exp is effective if you use it to do Stanford sorta DISCOVERED WHAT IS IMPT rathter than generic and silly victory lap –also suggested if you actually need to explain odd grades etc. altho that can be done in 500 character box they give you.

BOTTOM LINE: the vast maj. of both applicants and admitted kids do 1.Engage w. Comm and Career Vision. That being said (a la Larry David), in the immortal words of HBS adcom (I dont recall who) THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A WRONG ANSWER. Meaning if you answer Undergrad Acad. Exp Q,and spend all your time telling life story and goals –w. barely a thin connection to college, and info in that answer is valuable to adcom, well, they dont care, they are just reading along in some open-minded way trying to find out info–and fact that your val. info is not responsive to the Q, who cares. 

BTW, after reading 100+ HBS apps of interviewed kids, including the detailed, mantra full, and authentic ones of my own clients, and the lazy and off point and often unclear ones of otherwise superstars, I get the feeling that: 1. not all readers have the same response to tech essay quality (alas); 2. profile, pedigree, and age and stats count WAY MORE than any essay jive (alas) 3. If there were NO ESSAYS and class were selected on just app and recs w. out essays, outcome wld be sorta 80-90 pct the same (and maybe higher). Altho that 20 pct, plus applicants and conspiring adcoms, who push essay importance, keep a whole industry (my industry) afloat.

Indian MBA stats that are pretty useless. Unless you want to know why Desi apps to Australia have fallen off a cliff, or want some pot-thumbing for the GMAT (vs. other unnamed exam). Data on EMBA and Part Time MBA programs hard to make sense of, but I take it that EMBA apps are down.  How many total b school applications were there last year, and from how many kids:Graduate management programmes participating in the 2009 GMAC survey received nearly 230,000 completed applications from approximately 75,000 candidates?

hmmmmm, 3.06  apps per applicant–that makes sense.

India remains attractive for B-school aspirants

Chitra Unnithan / Ahmedabad November 23, 2009, 0:30 IST

Foreign universities may be going the extra mile to lure Indian students abroad, but a new report reveals that Indian students who aspire for a Master in Business Administration (MBA) degree continue to find the country an attractive destination for higher studies.Consider this. The Indian School of Business (ISB) has overtaken Harvard Business School for the first time in terms of schools/programmes to which Asian citizens sent score reports, according to the 2009 Application Trends Survey. It was conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), which owns and administers the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT).

While the US tops the wish-list of Indian students chasing their management education dreams with 74,948 scores (56.87 per cent) sent, it’s India that follows with 21,440 scores (16.27 per cent). The UK came third with 10,909 (8.28 per cent) scores, states the report.

And the recent closure of bankrupt colleges in Australia coupled with the “bashing” of Indian students appears to have hit the country badly. The island nation received only 2,072 scores (1.57 per cent) from Indian students this year to stand seventh in the list of Top 10 countries.

The survey also states that the per cent change of score reports sent by Indian citizens to Indian schools increased by 23 per cent from testing year (TY) 2008 to TY 2009. In TY 2008, Indian citizens sent a total 127,916 score reports to 10 countries, which increased 3 per cent, or 3,870 score reports to 131,786 in 2009.

“In 2008, the US spearheaded the growth in the number of applications for full-time MBA programmes, whereas, it appears that growth in 2009 was primarily driven by programmes located in other world regions across all MBA programme types,” the report states.

The study further stated that the applications are down to half of the executive MBA programmes while the average number of applications per programme declined 25 per cent. Part-time MBA programmes experienced two distinct trends — nearly half (45 per cent) of the programmes reported an average decline of 22 per cent in applications, and 42 per cent of part-time programmes had an average increase of 40 per cent. This translated into an overall positive change of 7 per cent in part-time programme application volume, despite the fact that slightly fewer programmes reported an increase in applications than those that reported a decline.

Flexible MBA programmes continued to attract more applications — two-thirds of such programmes surveyed (66 per cent) reported an increase in application volume; the average participating programme received 14 per cent more applications in 2009 than in 2008, the report further states.

Graduate management programmes participating in the 2009 GMAC survey received nearly 230,000 completed applications from approximately 75,000 candidates. Created in 1954, GMAT is the only standardised test designed by business schools specifically for graduate business and management programmes.

The IIM Bangalore recently joined 178 leading business schools from 19 countries, which accept GMAT. In India, ISB, Great Lakes, SP Jain, MICA, TAPMI, IIM-B, among other accept the GMAT scores. The GMAT exam is offered the year-round at more than 450 test centers in over 110 countries. In testing year 2009 (July 1, 2008-June 30, 2009), a record number of 265,213 exams were administered.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/india-remains-attractive-for-b-school-aspirants/377292/

What exactly is meant by “blowing” the interview? Just how badly do you have to do to blow your interview - i.e. is a mediocre interview terrible? Thanks.

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At HBS blowing interview is getting lost in answers, hearing yourself talk in disbelief of what you are saying, getting confused, being unable to answer questions because you got crossed wires in your brain, one of which is selling yourself and not answering Q, the other of which is starting too far back and not reaching answer, and the 3rd of which is monitoring the other two and causing you to look pale and nervous.  Not being able to present vision, or account for project you are engaged in, or explain clearly why you attended X University for undergrad but instead do some jive about your family, and mix it w. half unclear allusion to not getting into to other place, then changing topic to wanting to live near home, etc. etc.

Another way to blow it is just to appear robotic, over-scripted, tinny, aggressive, creepy, slimy, etc. AND THAT DOES NOT REQUIRE OVERT MOVIE VERSION OF THOSE TRAITS, JUST CONT. SUBTLE HINTS AND ONE OR TWO OVERT ACTS, LIKE SAYING E.G. YOU LIKE CASE METHOD BECAUSE YOU LIKE TO BE AGGRESSIVE IN ARGUING YOUR POV, instead of saying you like to test your own views w. perspectives of others. 

Same at Wharton as to creepy etc. w. added liability of not being able to do Why Wharton, why NOW (and not last year or next year) why MBA, what major and other baloney Wharton jive.  Plus how Wharton will help you, and goals Google map.

How to blow Stanford int: call barrista in Starbucks, “girlie” and then tell alum that your Health Care is great, so like, what’s the problem??? Then while sitting there, note great rack on gal one table over.

Noting great rack of interviewer ………..depends.  Not good if interviewer is female.

 

ONE MORE THING ABOUT B SCHOOL INTERVIEWS:

The biggest mistake folks on this board and applicants in general make about B school interviews is TO MODEL THEM ON JOB INTERVIEWS.  When inter. for a job, company usually interviews 6-10 and sometimes more (30 at campus), to fill ONE or TWO SPOTS. PLUS first campus int. is often  just gateway for what then becomes MANY MORE INTERVIEWS at higher levels.

MAny applicants conflate that whole job  interview process of initial campus interview and intense follow up interviews, dinners, etc. etc. over days,  with the 30 minutes of b school interview, and imagine the b school interview is like protracted JOB interview process  all crushed into one super charged event.  But the numbers are all different. Post interview accept rates at b school are WAY higher than in job interviews (most of which YOU DONT GET). ANd the b school interviews  mean less, THAT IS WHAT APP IS FOR.  In ideal world, b school admission process wld more closely model job process, but the numbers are just staggering. Goldman and Bain do not HIRE 1000 PEOPLE EVERY YEAR FOR ENTRY LEVEL PROFESSIONAL GIGS. B schools depend on the extensive app for major source of info, w. interview as reality check. Employers depend on bare resume for screening device, and full interviewing for decision making. BIG DIFF. DONT CONFUSE THEM.

Digressing from the topic of our dream HBS classmate PZ, wanted to ask a question about Wharton. You have said that the interview for HBS is very important (i.e. stuff it and you’re out), but that it doesn’t carry much weight at Stanford (i.e. ultimately DB gets to pick the class).

What is your take on the interview at Wharton? Is it similar to Stanford?

Thanks in advance!

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no, it is hybrid, if you blow interview w. adcom on issues like Why Wharton, Why MBA, or otherwise show lack of awareness of the program, that can be damaging, as can spaz outs, body odor, etc. or their verbal equals.

As with all interviews, at H/S/W, the upside is not as high as you  Cary Grant types out there might imagine. If you nail interview, well that is better than blowing it, but it does not add super whole lot into mix, esp, if you were marginal, and other kids w. better stats but not Cary Grant charm managed a credible performance.  Also, the W mix is complicated by fact that lots of interviews done by slap-happy alums, whom adcom does not fully trust (nor should they).

Another issue– and in the past– A TOXIC ONE, is the dead meat cohort. IN prev. years when Wharton interviewed 50 pct of all apps and then accepted like 25 pct of those, LOTS of kids went into interview WITH NO CHANCE OF BEING ADMITEED, even after Cary Grant performance. Lots of reports of GREAT GREAT INTERVIEW but still dinged. Just search for DEAD MEAT on this thread to see ENDLESS discussion of this, and not very effective rebuttal fr. Fanatical Fan (wharton adcom type) saying it was not the case, BUT IT WAS. 

 My understanding now is that post interview accept rate is up fr. 25 to sorta 50 pct, e.g. they are interviewing fewer kids but taking more (someone who has actual figures, which are semi official and floating around, pls post). That changes the dynamic a bit, in that MOST (I do not think all) interviewed kids are pzzble admits, but as with other schools, not all interviewed kids are equal, you come trailing your stats, pedigree and story,and after interview tizzy fit (of prep, event, and post-mortum) evaporates, AND IT DOES,  those elements remain, and come into prominence again.

Bottom Line: dont blow interview, dont confirm any negs on app (limited exp, not really clear about why MBA, nerd) but given choice between 1. Real Solid app + ”goodish”  interivew w. no boners  vs. 2. Ok/ Marginal App and Great int–guess who wins???? And the awful truth is, they got a lotta lotta kids who are 1. Plus if great interview is w. student or alum, well, it could be discounted, since neither know what the hell they are doing (in deep recesses of adcom mind).

NICE CRIMSON STORY ABOUT MILITARY AT HBS
NOTE: 60 vets at hbs is usually ~40 service academy and 20 other (ROTC, etc) http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2009/11/12/veterans-military-business-students/
At HBS, Veterans Day Means Thanking Classmates William N. White, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER

Published: Thursday, November 12, 2009

Harvard honors the veterans who have returned to the Business School after serving to earn their degrees.

Before coming to Harvard Business School, Christina D. Hruska flew Air Force reconnaissance missions over Iraq. Matthew A. Isenhower served as a force protection officer on a Navy destroyer. David C. Crabbe led Marine transportation units over explosive-lined roads in Anbar province. And Melissa A. Hammerle gathered tactical intelligence for the Army in Baghdad.

While many students enter Harvard Business School after jobs in large corporations, consulting, or finance, about 60 students—three percent of the school—come from careers in the military.

“We’re a tight knit group,” said Hruska, who is the chief financial officer of the Armed Forces Alumni Association, the main military organization on the HBS campus. “In this day and age where wars are part of the military experience, that ties us even closer together.”

LEARNING TO LEAD

Multimedia

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After deployments to Iraq in 2005 and from 2006 to 2007, Crabbe began to consider what he wanted to do after leaving the Marine Corps. He had effectively been in the military since enrolling at the United States Naval Academy in 1999 and was looking for a change, he said.

After looking at several companies, his focus shifted to business school, Crabbe said. One executive and former military officer that he met recommended HBS. Crabbe said he realized the school was a good fit because, above all, it has a stated goal of educating leaders.

“People from the military have been shaped by different things,” said Deirdre C. Leopold, HBS managing director of MBA admissions and financial aid, in an April interview. “We like to consider ourselves a transformational experience. Some military people have already had one.”

While there is no preferential treatment of military applications, Leopold said, veterans tend to provide robust answers to questions about leadership.

In his first deployment to Iraq, Crabbe led a unit of 45 marines as a motor transportation platoon commander. At dark every other night, Crabbe’s unit would leave friendly lines in dozens of trucks laden with supplies, sometimes driving all night to reach their destination. The threat of roadside bombs, mortars, and sniper fire was constant, Crabbe said.

“You’re 23 years old and kind of thrown into the fire,” Crabbe said. “You have high stakes decisions, high stress, and not nearly as much information as you’d like. It’s something you have to do.”

A ‘STARK CONTRAST’

After flying missions across the world during seven years in the Air Force, Hruska decided to change careers. She spent a year doing engineering research before deciding to apply to business school. She said she was drawn to the supportive group of veterans at HBS.

In addition to herself, Hruska’s 90-person section has two other military veterans: a former Army Ranger and a former aide to General David H. Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, according to Hruska. The other nine sections also have about three veterans each.

In class discussions, Hruska said, the military voices bring a unique perspective that students with different backgrounds appreciate.

“Everybody stops. You could hear a pin drop,” Hruska said of when her fellow veterans speak. “Their experiences are in stark contrast to what everyone else has done.”

Other students said that they especially appreciate the veterans’ contributions in leadership classes.

“Most of them have been leading groups since graduating from college,” said Erik J. Lampe, a first-year business student. “They lend the class a good point of view.”

SUPPORTING ROLE

Scott A. Snook, an associate professor of organizational behavior at the Business School and a West Point graduate, serves as an informal mentor to students who are making the transition from military to civilian life.

Several years ago, Snook began what he called “Scott’s Thursdays,” a weekly gathering when ex-military students could come to talk.

“It was a way to connect more closely with students,” Snook said, adding that sessions would often overflow his office and last for hours.

The administration also strongly supports the school’s military community, according to Matthew K. Ahlers, a former submarine officer and co-president of the Armed Forces Alumni Association.

Ahlers said that the school’s leaders pushed for Harvard to participate in the federal government’s Yellow Ribbon program, which provides funds to allow veterans to continue their education.

Veterans can also receive financial aid through dedicated Business School fellowships, such as the Timothy T. Day Marine Corps Entrepreneur Fellowship that helps pay for Crabbe’s time at HBS.

“I couldn’t think of a more veteran-friendly business school,” said Isenhower, the Navy officer who also served in the military’s worldwide command center beneath the Pentagon. “It’s a great opportunity and a great time to be here.”

CELEBRATING VETERANS

To honor veterans both within and outside HBS, hundreds of business students gathered last night on the HBS campus at the annual Veterans Ball. Former officers mingled in the crowd in their formal uniforms, and students viewed a display of body armor, helmets, and medals that their classmates had worn on deployments overseas.

Several students said they attended to support their friends and section-mates who were veterans.

“I’m happy with the outpouring of support HBS shows its veterans,” Crabbe said. “They really respect what we’ve done.”

—Staff writer William N. White can be reached at wwhite@fas.harvard.edu.

Where do Stanford interviewees stand after the interview.

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pretty much where they stood before the interview. Unless you tell interviewer to hurry up because you need to get home in time to catch Glenn Beck, or ask about Obama’s so-called birth certificate, Stan interviews are rarely much of a factor. Bolton once admitted as much but then back peddled. It is mostly pub. relations for the school, a way to keep under-employed alums happy and purposeful, and LATELY, after they ASK and find out you were also interviewd by HBS, a slightly oily sales job.