How to get B school results, the F. Scott Fitzgerald   way.

Just got a Kindle, and, ahem, was hip enuf to figure out: 1. how to download free books, including the Scott Fitzgerald novel below, 2. How to clip parts of that book to my Clip File; 3. How to transfer my Clip file to my PC, so I could then repost the Clip here.

Gentlemen (and ladies),  we have here the famous scene in The Near Side of Pardise where Fitzgerald’s hero and alter-ego Amory Blaine receives notice fr. the Princeton Registrar’s Office as to whether he had managed to Pass or Flunk Out of Princeton, after a semester of debauchary and diversion. It was well known to undergrads in that day  that one did not have to actually  read the notice sent from the Registrar, since those who passed received a letter on PINK paper, while those who flunked out, received a notice on BLUE paper.

Below is suggested, in this season of getting results, as some romantic advice about how to handle this anxiety-to-the-max momment. Altho I once had a client in Australia who got his Wharton results at noon (midnight in Australia) at a bar, and had a table-full of spirited friends around his laptop to cheer him on.  As you may know, in Australia, they don’t really need excuses to start drinking, let alone what happens when there is, in fact, reason to celebrate.  

Our Fitzgerald hero, whom we meet outside his dorm, shouting up to his room-mate, well, let’s pick it up from there . . .

---

This Side of Paradise (Fitzgerald,F.Scott (Francis Scott))
“Oh, Tom, any mail?” ”Yes, your result’s here.”

His heart clamored violently.

“What is it, blue or pink?”

“Don’t know. Better come up.”

He walked into the room and straight over to the table, and then suddenly noticed that there were other people in the room.

 They seemed to be mostly friends, so he picked up the envelope marked “Registrar’s Office,” and weighed it nervously. “We have here quite a slip of paper.”

 ”Open it, Amory.”

 ”Just to be dramatic, I’ll let you know that if it’s blue . . . my short career is over.  Watch my face, gentlemen, for the primitive emotions.”

He tore it open and held the slip up to the light.

 ”Well?”

 ”Pink or blue?”

“Say what it is.”

“We’re all ears, Amory.”

“Smile or swear–or something.”

There was a pause . . . a small crowd of seconds swept by . . . then he looked again  . . .and another crowd went on into time.

“Blue as the sky, gentlemen. . . .” 

Janus wrote:

Has anyone (Sandy the HBS Guru, I’m looking in your direction!) ever attempted to compile a list of who had “tough” and “easy” interviews and if there is any correlation between that and admission?

yeah, I have compiled this list, and many others, based on the ~300 mock interivews I have done over the past 3 years: conclusion=NO PATTERN. Superstars sometimes get hard interviews (and blow them) while marginal kids get walk me thru your resume interviews, with no tuff guy questions about
1. WHY WE SHOULD TAKE YOU? LET’S HEAR YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH!
2. WHAT WILL BE HARDEST FOR YOU HERE, GIVEN X AND Y ON YOUR RECORD?
3. WE GET LOTS OF KIDS FROM YOUR BACKGROUND, MANY WITH BETTER SCORES, ETC. WHAT MAKES YOU SPECIAL?
4. IF YOU WERE HEAD OF TOYOTA NOW, WHAT SIX THINGS WOULD YOU DO?
5. TELL ME 3 MORE MISTAKES?
6. DESCRIBE SOMETHING COMPLEX TO ME IN REGULAR PERSON TERMS (A FAVORITE Q OF HRH LEOPOLD)
7. DESCRIBE A TIME WHEN YOUR VALUES WERE COMPROMISED AT WORK?
8. WHAT IS THE BIGGEST RISK WE TAKE IN ACCEPTING YOU?
All of the above tuff questions, which you think they might hit the marginal candidate with, but they don’t. Folks who get questions like that, and more stressful interviews are JUST NOT LUCKY. There is no rhyme or reason for stress/difficult questions–but if you get hit w. a barrage of them, and get confused or demoralized, it can damage your chances.
ALL THAT SAID, MOST INTERVIEWS AND INTERVIEWERS ARE SUPER NICE AND DONT REALLY STRESS YOU OUT, BUT IT HAPPENS. 

hoffeman wrote:

Program: MBA 2+2
Area of interest in MBA: General Management, Strategy, Finance
GMAT: prep scores around 710 but I am taking it in June so hopefully a better score than that.
GPA: 4.0 GPA - Bachelor of Science in Engineering - #1 ranked school in Sweden internationally
Work experience:
- Web master for a nonprofit organization, Production/Assembly in a medium-sized corporation, Quality assurance in a laboratory for a large corporation
Nationality: Swedish
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Extra-curriculars/community: Excellent in Undergrad, founded a case-studies group for students, various volunteering in students for students activites on campus.
Other: Exchange student in the US the year 2006/2007, Excellent score on Cambridge’s international entrepreneurship assesment

Do you think I will stand a chance?

1. Is there a reason you are 22 and a junior in college, e.g.
23 at grad, and then after 2 years, 25 or 26 at matriculation to HBS, which is OK, but most 2+2 kids a bit younger?
2. HBS will like 4.0 at top school, esp. in Science. And assuming an OK gmat or gre score you would be in the running, and I cert. suggest applying.
3. Acceptance will turn on “X” factors: what they think of your jobs (not working for blue chip companies is issue), extra currics –webmaster for non-profit is better than nothing but really kinda lame for a techie, they prefer ACTUALLY DOING STUFF WITH OTHER PEOPLE, BEING CHANGE AGENT, WORKING W. SPECIAL NEEDS, POOR, LEPERS, MINORITIES, ETC.
4. I dont usually say this, b.c. it is not as true as I wish it were, but in your case, outcome is going to depend on how you spin or position all this into something that interests them, along lines of business leader who makes a positive impact on society and evidence you HAVE DONE THAT and CAN DO THAT–esp. evidence you have done that: in story you tell above, there are seeds of that positioning, and maybe more which you did not include, but that, along w. solid gmat/gre is what you will need. As presented above, you are real smart and real nice guy who has never been too strategic about managing your resume or career. MEANING YOU ARE NORMAL. But HBS looks for connected kids who got the secret handshake about how to do good and look good earlier in life. You may pull this off, but it is going to take some strategy.

DOUBLING DOWN W. DEE LEOPOLD, WHAT DOES IT MEAN????

 I heard having an interview with Leopold means ur chance of admission is doubling down…
not becoz of u, but i guess it’s becoz she’s esp. harsh in selecting students…
but good luck to you!!!!

hmmmmmm, ‘doubling down’ w. Her Majesty is my phrase, originally used on my blog and Biz Week boards, and what I mean is that if you interview w. Dee Leopold (HRH) and she likes you, you are in, if she dont like you, you are not in, the decision sorta gets made in her head right there, unlike any other adcom, where they write a report, and then it gets considered holistically w. your app and everyone else, of course, Dee is doing that too, but in some unpluged way. It is possble to have so-so interview w. reg adcom and get in, based on whole story, but if you have so-so interview w. Dee, and it leaves bad aftertaste, Buy-bye, similarly, if you have boffo interview w. reg. adcom, that could get devalued in reg. admission process, but if Dee flips for you, well, good chance you will be in. Of course, you are thinking YOU will be the one she will flip for, soooooooooooo, many out there hoping to get Dee. Hmmmmmm, IMHO, she is a gal who has seen a lot of applicants and heard a lot of stories, and seen how a lot of boffo stories have turned out (some not so boffo)–so chances of sweeping her off her feet, not as likely as you might imagine, altho, sure it does happen. ON DA OTHER HAND, while being totally professional, etc. etc. she is, ahem, ahem, unlike funny and patient and lovely person you may have seen at Forums etc. someone w. both a trigger wit and a trigger response to little annoying things you might say, soooooooooo chances of setting off an internalized spike of INSTANT DING ANGER, are out there. All that said, in most cases with her, you neither sweep her off her feet, nor cause an explosion, and she is a warm and sensibile interviewer who does not throw curve balls and let’s you sorta reach your own level, and the only gaffs, are those you cause yourself. She dont pressure you. So not a bad person to draw for the interview, but BEWARE of Instant Dingma Gonna Get You minefield.

HBS 2+2 STATS FROM DEEP WITHIN THE HBS WEBSITE
[quote]Class of 2014*
Admissions
Total Applicants 844
Admits 115
% Admitted 14%
Women 39%
International 27%
Countries Represented 17
Testing Information
Complete Range
of GMAT Scores 510-790
Average GMAT 727
Range of GRE Q 690-800
Range of GRE V 560-800
Average GRE Q 767
Average GRE V 679
Average GPA** 3.75
Educational Background
Engineering & Natural Sciences 50%
Humanities & Social Sciences 44%
Business Administration 6%
Undergraduate Institutions Represented 51

*These numbers are subject to change.

**Excludes GPAs not on 4.0 scales.

source: [url]http://www.hbs.edu/mba/profiles/classprofile_2+2.html[/url][/quote]

stop the presses, no news from HBS about the WL. Eileen Chang learns to put dates in these letters, unlike ones last year.

NO ONE WILL BE TAKEN OFF WL TIL APRIL 6TH!!!!!!!!!!!! 

March 1, 2010
 

Hello Everyone:
 

It’s Eileen Chang from the MBA Admissions Board at HBS. As it is the

first of March, I’d like to provide you with another process update.

Given that I had indicated in last month’s message that we will becommunicating decisions to as many of you as we can on April 6, I don’t really have anything too noteworthy to add this month. We are currently in the middle of reviewing round 2 applicants and begin conducting round2 interviews today. Some of you on the waitlist who have not already been interviewed may have been invited to interview this round.
 

The most common inquiry we received since our February update was concerning admission to other programs and the timeline of our decision process relative to the need to respond to other business schools. We will not be able to provide a decision to anyone currently on the waitlist before April 6. As a result, we understand if you need to make other plans and wish to remove yourself from the waitlist. Please do so

by emailing my colleague Dana Scalisi at dana_scalisi@hbs.edu.
 

For those who are wondering, the number of people who will be admitted from the waitlist will depend entirely on what we see in round 2. I hope to be able to share more information on this in my update next month.
 

Until then, thank you for your participation on our waitlist.
 Sincerely,

Eileen Chang

MBA Admissions

Harvard Business School

Soldiers Field Road

Dillon House

Boston, MA 02163