I have a question about Harvard interviews. Unlike the adcoms from many other schools, HBS’ admission committee conducts majority of the interviews. My understanding is that the committe will be aware of the whole application at the time of the interview, including all of the essays that have been written by the applicant. Now my question is the following: what is your opinion about using the some stories from the essays to answer some of the interview questions?________________________________________

HBS INTERVIEWS.

You are correct that HBS interviews, unlike almost all others, are based on adcom having your entire app. in front of them, including essays, and not just resume.

Sometimes they say, “tell me about ANOTHER accomplishment not in your Essays. So be prepared for that.

But basically, you are overthinking this, often questions drill down on essays, e.g. “how did you get team to follow you when you did X, ” or “would you do anything diff. about situation in Essay X now?”

More often, questions are in some 3rd space, that has nothing to do w. app. E.g.,  where do you see yourself in 5, 10, 15 years? What will challenges be, what will you do if that does not happen???  How do you define sucess? How have you accomplished so many things? Tell me about greatest leader at work and why? Tell me about something you are proud of since application was submitted?

To the extent that Q could use Essay example, e.g. What are you most proud of? And you want to regurg. some story fr. essays, you need to be able to spin it towards impact and meaning? And then interviewer might cut you off, and say, “What else are you most proud of?” Bascially —you can assume interview knows app and essays, and DOES NOT WANT TO HEAR THAT STUFF. ALTHO IT ALL COUNTS. So, be prepared for answers about other accomplishments, other set backsk, other ways you were leader, but mostly be prepared for conversation to be in some 3rd space that oddly does not deal w. app much. That is most common outcome, alhto 10- 20 percent of time, they drill down on one or two essays. So be prepared for that too. 

  HBSGURU.COM DOES GREAT MOCK INTERVIEWS FOR HBS–I’VE INTERVIEWED MORE HBS KIDS THAN MOST ADCOMS!!!!

mildy silly article below, on HUFFINGTON POST,  about how Pres. Bush and the Wall St. mess will diminish HBS ‘brand”. Nothing serious here but  perhaps an indicator of early anti-Business School backlash. There is cert. pitchfork fury out there about Wall St. meltdown (count ME in) and if you are  smart but unfocused pup just about to graduate, or recent grad.,  and choice is  between law or business school, you might start tilting towards law.

 

As to Bush sullying the HBS brand? Fact is, that Bush never was really heavily identified w. HBS (and did not choose much staff from there) but Obama is connected to Havard Law School,and will have MANY cabinet, etc. picks fr. HLS and Yale –so the buzz might start tilting towards law school, same way it did during Watergate. Also, how many college seniors are heading for Goldman, Lehmann, Morgan, Bear etc. next year???? That has got to dry up the B school pipeline, and tip some kids to law school as well.  And if you start seeing Wall St. perp walks next year (again, count me in!!!), well, more brain power off to Law School, as all of a sudden being a Tiger Prosecutor starts looking like lot a lot fun. [It actually IS! I was a prosecutor. altho no tiger, but even hanging out w. the cops and nailing drunk drivers was fun!]

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ha, ha, he may be getting achievement burnout fr. all the superstars he admits.  Full story, in Careers section of WSJ, typical sociological froth.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122455219391652725.html

“They really do seem to want everything, and I can’t decide if it’s an inability or an unwillingness to make trade-offs,” says Derrick Bolton, assistant dean and M.B.A. admissions director at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. “They want to be CEO, for example, but they say they don’t want to give up time with their families.”

OK, SOME OTHER YOUNGSTERS HBS HAS TAKEN –MOST OF THESE GEEZERS ARE OVER 28 FROM THE LOOK OF IT.
ALSO, IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING WHO THE OVER 30 IS??????

Harvard Business School Names

New Life Sciences Fellows

BOSTON, Sept. 17, 2008 — Harvard Business School (HBS) announced today the first winners of its Life Sciences Fellowships. The Fellowship Program, established by the School in January 2008, awards $20,000 each to ten incoming MBA students with outstanding credentials from various disciplines in the life sciences.  . . . .The following members of the MBA Class of 2010 have received Life Sciences Fellowships:

• Mike Derse comes to HBS with eight years of experience in engineering research and medical devices. Most recently, he worked at Aqueduct Medical, where he managed the development and release of a product that reduces pain, swelling, and recovery time after cosmetic and other types of surgery. During a fellowship at Stanford, where he earned a master’s and bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, he invented a method for bonding thin film plastics used in drug delivery. After receiving his MBA degree from HBS, he aims to start a medical device company.
• Shawn Anthony is in the fourth year of Harvard’s joint MD/MBA program. As an undergraduate at Northwestern University, he worked on innovative nanotechnology applications in medicine, including nanofiber gels for stem cell delivery and tissue regeneration. He has conducted clinical research at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he evaluated the performance of orthopedic implants and the cost-effectiveness of a diabetes management service for critically ill patients. He recently completed a management internship at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he developed strategies to improve healthcare delivery. He plans to use his interdisciplinary background in engineering, medicine, and business to pursue roles as a physician and healthcare entrepreneur.
• Christian Hordo conducted brain tumor research at the Hospital for Sick Children as a graduate student in the Department of Medical Genetics and Microbiology at the University of Toronto. His work improved understanding of the fate of neural cells during brain tumor formation and offered potential insights for the development of future targeted cancer therapies. As an undergraduate at McGill University, he was an honors researcher at the Montreal Neurological Institute, investigating areas such as genetic mapping and brain development during infancy. He plans to work in biotechnology management or venture capital, assessing the potential of therapeutics in oncology and related fields.
• Before entering HBS, Karthik Ranganathan was a research scientist at PocketSonics, Inc., where he played a leading role in developing an inexpensive and portable diagnostic ultrasound imaging system. While at the company, he also was a visiting research scientist in the University of Virginia’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Before joining PocketSonics, he earned a doctorate in biomedical engineering from the University of Virginia. After receiving his MBA, Ranganathan would like to gain business experience at a healthcare-related firm and, ultimately, establish a venture to develop affordable solutions to pressing problems in healthcare.
• Tara Dunn has been immersed in healthcare and science for the past 11 years. She graduated cum laude in biology from Harvard University, then earned a master’s degree in drug regulatory affairs and health policy from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. She most recently worked in the healthcare strategy consulting and medical device industries. As manager of clinical and regulatory affairs at InfraReDx, Inc., from 2002 to 2005 she played a key role in obtaining first authorization for the company to sell its innovative coronary catheter in the United States.
• Alok Sathaye spent the last two years as a healthcare strategy consultant at Heath Advances, helping develop strategies to bring early-stage technologies in medical imaging, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals to market. Previously, he was a senior research scientist at Guidant and Boston Scientific, where he helped develop features for new pacemaker and implantable defibrillator devices through preclinical and clinical studies. He has coauthored numerous articles in major cardiology journals, and filed many patents for device-based medical therapies in the United States and Europe. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biomedical engineering from the Johns Hopkins University.
• Madhav Vasanthavada worked for more than four years in research and development at Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. One of his major contributions was to develop and implement an innovative manufacturing technology that helped Novartis launch a new treatment for patients with type 2 diabetes. With a Ph.D in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Rhode Island, he has published articles in scientific publications, filed patents for novel approaches to drug product development, and delivered invited presentations at pharmaceutical conferences. His career goal is to leverage his scientific and business leadership skills to drive pharmaceutical innovation.
• James McNally has focused on the biomedical optics field-namely, the use of light in medical diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Prior to HBS, he worked at Boston Scientific, developing endoscopic imaging systems for gastrointestinal and urological medical devices. He most recently was involved in the formation of a start-up commercializing an optics-based cancer therapy system. McNally earned an M.S. in optical sciences from the University of Arizona, where he researched the development of advanced imaging and spectroscopy tools for the study of cancer and heart disease. He graduated magna cum laude in electrical engineering from Princeton University.
• Sean Murray worked as a design engineer on a promising new surgical suction device at orthopedic manufacturer Stryker Corporation, where his research and development team was recognized as the company’s best in 2007. At Stryker, he also led a design team that produced a line of patent-pending disposable manifolds. Murray graduated as valedictorian of the University of New Mexico’s School of Engineering, and was one of 77 students in the United States awarded a Truman Scholarship in 2004 for leadership potential. He hopes to pursue a general management career in medical devices and biotechnology upon graduation.
• Ray Liu earned his master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, while conducting advanced research in DNA sensing to detect genetic and parasitic diseases. Before entering HBS, he worked at GE Healthcare, with roles in research, engineering, and project management. He spent the past two years in China, helping develop a global quality management system for the company’s new rural markets business, which provides vital-sign monitors for patients in developing countries. He plans to continue working in global healthcare development, focusing his HBS studies on international business and social enterprise.
• Antonio Perez is a Harvard MD/MBA joint-degree candidate. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard College, he most recently finished a clinical year at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he had previously completed a management internship in the office of the hospital’s president. His published research has focused on developing stem cell therapies for muscle diseases such as muscular dystrophy. A former Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow and Howard Hughes Medical Institute research fellow, he is interested in pursuing cardiology and healthcare administration. Ultimately, he aims to serve as president of a leading academic hospital system.
  

HBS AND AGE JIHAD.

FROM HER MAJESTY’S BLOG. FIRST OFF, THANK YOU, YOUR MAJESTY, NOTHING LIKE GIVING THE PEOPLE THE FACTS AND LETTING THEM DRAW THEIR OWN CONCLUSIONS. WE AWAIT SIMILAR CHARTS FOR GPA AND GMAT SCORES. LIKE WHAT IS SO HARD ABOUT THAT? KELLOGG ACTUALLY USED TO DO SOMETHING SIMILAR FOR GMATS, AND IT WAS VERY HELPFUL. I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE SAYING, “HEY, PUTZ, I GAVE YOU THIS, AND ALL YOU CAN DO IS ASK FOR MORE?” WELL, THAT IS  WHAT TRANSPARENCY DOES TO PEOPLE. MAKES ‘EM WANT MORE, LIKE FREEDOM. BUT P.S. THANKS AGAIN. I APPRECIATE IT, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.

OK, WHAT WE GOT HERE IS 102 ACCEPTS FR. CLASS OF 2002 + PRIOR, AND MY GUESS IS, IF YOU TAKE OUT WEST POINT AND USNA AND USAFA  SERVICE ACADEMY GUYS (TYPICALLY 40 OR SO) AND OTHER MILITARY TYPES (ANOTHER 15-20) YOU COULD HAVE BASICALLY ~50 ACCEPTS WHO ARE 28+ [SERVICE ACADEMY GUYS COMMIT TO FIVE YEARS, IN THEORY IF YOU GRAD IN 2003, YOU WOULD DISCHARGE IN 2008 AND COULD HAVE APPLIED FOR SEPT 2008 INTAKE, SOMEONE IN MILITARY CHECK ME ON THIS]. THAT IS A PRETTY SLIM NUMBER. ONCE YOU GET TO 29, 30 AND OVER……………..MAN, YOU ARE TALKING LIKE 50 PEOPLE, SOME 20 OR SO OF WHOM COULD BE  MEDICAL DOCS OR PH.D’S. THE NUMBER OF NON-MILITARY, NON-PHD, NON-DOCS IS REALLLLLLLLLLLLY SMALL. BUT ALL THAT SAID, I GUESS IT DOES HAPPEN. MY GUESS IS, INTERNATIONALS, FOREIGN MILITARY W. REQ. SERVICE [ISRAEL, SINGAPORE, TAIWAN, SWITZERLAND, ETC. ] AND YES, MAYBE 4 INDIAN I.T. GUYS, SPREAD OUT ALL OVER GOD’S GREEN EARTH.

Here’s a breakdown of when the Class of 2010 graduated from college/university by class year. Remember, all directly admitted college seniors have the option to postpone matriculation in order to gain work experience.

Ladies and gents, this is a huge country, densely veined with  leafy suburbs, those very suburbs  supporting upteen youth soccer leagues, and let’s face it, someone has to organize those leagues, and who better to do it then the Commando Soccer Moms of HBS.
MBA Moms Most Likely to Opt Out

A new study finds MBA moms more

likely than doctors or lawyers to stay

home full-time by Alison Damast

 According to a new study from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, a surprising number of HBS WOMEN  have dropped out of the labor force to become stay-at-home mothers, according to Berkeley professors Catherine Wolfram and Jane Leber Herr. Their study, titled “Opt-Out Patterns Across Careers: Labor Force Participation Rates Among Educated Mothers,” followed the career paths of nearly 1,000 women who graduated from Harvard between 1988 and 1991, using a rich set of biographical data culled from 10th and 15th anniversary reunion surveys.

By the time they are 15 years out of college, 28% of the Harvard women who went on to get their MBAs were stay-at-home moms, compared to only 6% of women who got medical degrees, the authors found. The study also looked at the career paths of Harvard women who became lawyers and found 21% chose to stay home with their children.

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STANFORD TAKES THREE LUCKY WINNERS OFF THE LATE SUMMER WAITLIST AND TELLS THE OTHERS TO GET OUTTA TOWN.  ACCEPTED KIDS ON THE YOUNG SIDE???

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This is the final update on the Stanford MBA Program waitlist process. We appreciate your understanding as we prolonged what was already a long process. Thank you for your cooperation and patience. We were able to make three offers of admission to waitlisted candidates this week. Those candidates have been notified of their admission.We do not expect to make further offers of admission, and will close the waitlist in early September.If you have questions, please email us at mba_admin@gsb.stanford.edu.We appreciate your cooperation this year and wish you the best in your pursuits.Take care,

Derrick Bolton
Assistant Dean and Director of MBA Admissions

Hi Sandy,

About the ‘Age Jihad’ at H . Does this apply to internationals as well ?  I know of several 27-29 year old Israeli guys who got in last year and for obvious reasons( army service),
this year the median age for Israeli candidates won’t be much lower. Any idea on how will H treat that sort of ‘old’ candidates ?

Thanks,
Jackla ( 27 y/o Israeli guy applying for ‘09 )

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Military exp. has always been a sidebar to the Age Jihad trend, cert. in cases of the 50 or so US military admits, often from Service Acads (West Pt., Naval Acad) where there is a five year service  commitment, those dudes are freq. on the old side, and I think for cert. specialties, like pilots, service commitment is longer, so all those TOP GUN guys are often near 30 or over when they apply.  How this plays out w. other military req. service, e.g. Israel, Norway (I think?), Switzerland, Taiwan, and few others (anyone????), not sure, but it would make sense that you’d get a break for req. military service, as facts you cite seem to indicate, that should continue forward next year. The fact that mil. service is a cut out to Age Jihad, just makes the real numbers WORSE, e.g. if you are older non-miliatry guy, your chances are even slimmer than numbers suggest b.c. a lot of the geezers are military, docs, Ph.D’s etc.

HBS AGE JIHAD: PERCENT OF HBS CLASS WITH 3 YEARS OR LESS WORK EXPERIENCE ENTERING IN  

2005–26,

IN 2008 –40 –GEE, GUESS WHAT DEMOGRAPHIC  THAT INCREASED 14 PERCENT OF BABIES CAME FROM?????

AGE JIHAD –OH NO, CLASS NOT GETTING YOUGER. BELOW, A POWERPOINT SLIDE FROM AN HBS PRESENTATION TO RECRUITERS, WHICH [CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG] INDICATES THAT FOR THE CLASS OF 2007 (ENTERED IN 2005), THE PERCENT OF GRADS WHO HAD UP TO THREE YEARS OF FULL TIME WORK EXPERIENCE BEFORE ACCEPTING POST-MBA JOB WAS

26–YET HER MAJESTIES POST –GAG, REPRINTED BELOW AGAIN, INDICATES THAT FOR THE CLASS OF 2010 [THE KIDS ENTERING THIS SEPT] THAT NUMBER IS ~40 PERCENT.

Professional Experience: % accepting new jobs and median base salary

Class of	2007
One year or less	2.4% $115,000
More than one year, up to three years	23.6% $115,000
More than three years, up to five years	55.1% $115,000
More than five years	18.9% $110,000

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This is probably an opportune time to address another frequently asked question: “Is Harvard Business School looking for a younger class?”

Here’s how the incoming class looks: we have 912 people expected to matriculate in September. 371 of these are what we call “within three years of college graduation” which means that they have graduated in 2008, 2007, 2006 and 2005. We keep track this way, not by age. About a dozen are coming right from undergraduate school - and another dozen were admitted directly from college but elected to delay matriculation in order to get some - or additional - full-time work experience. Many of the directly admitted college seniors have worked full-time already - all have had significant roles on campus or entrepreneurial experience. All directly admitted seniors are welcome to postpone their date of matriculation.

Back to the class profile and the original question. Do the numbers and I think you’ll find that 541 members of the class of 2010 have been out of college for more than 3 years. That’s more than the total enrollment in many business schools.

Are these numbers “quotas” or “targets”? No. We’ll still do our evaluation and selection the old-fashioned way: one folder at a time. Lots of attention to the written application and mandatory interviews by invitation only. We ask the same questions about every candidate we consider: Is this person a leader? Does he/she give evidence of ability to engage enthusiastically in serious intellectual and analytical work? Will this person invest as much in the educational experience of others as in his/her own?

So the answer would be that we think you can come to Harvard Business School and thrive earlier in your career than you might have heard via the grapevine. That doesn’t mean that those with more experience should be discouraged: apply when it’s optimal for you. When you can look at the questions we pose and feel eager to respond, that’s a good indication of readiness.

Have you heard any numbers on 2+2? I just got email, no interview, so rejected.My stats are GMAT 730 (49q 41v)GPA 3.45 con/math captain varsity crew, good summer work/male,american

What were they looking for?

Should I bother applying R1 to h/w/columbia?

============================================ 

HBS 2+2

NO NUMBERS PER SE, BUT I KNOW SEVERAL KIDS WHO GOT INTERVIEWS: AND OTHERS WHO HAVE SIGNED UP FOR MOCK INTERVIEWS. THE GOLDEN THREAD FOR THE ELECT, AS IT OFTEN IS W. HBS AND COLLEGE SENIORS [2+2 IS A VARIANT]  IS REAL, REAL HIGH GPA FOR STARTERS, YOU HAD THE REST, BOFFO EXTRAS, ETC. IN THEORY.  THE 600 2+2 APP FIGURE IS OUT THERE SOMEPLACE, BUT I AM NOT SURE IF THAT IS COLLECTIVE GOSSIP WHICH MIGHT HAVE STARTED HERE. AWILE BACK,  SOMEONE SAID THEY HEARD THERE WERE  600 2+2 APPS, AND THEN I ASKED THAT PERSON SOURCE OF THAT NUBMER , NEVER GOT AN ANSWER, BUT THE NUMBER SEEMS TO HAVE TRACTION AND IS QUOTED ELSEWHERE. I ALWAYS THOUGHT–AND THIS IS TOTAL SPECULATION BASED ON NOTHING MORE THAN THEIR OWN STATEMENT THAT ULTIMATELY THE PROGRAM WILL GROW TO ~90 KIDS, THAT THEY WOULD START W. A PILOT PROGRAM OF ~30, WHICH IS LARGE ENUF TO GET RESULTS AND SMALL ENUF TO MANAGE. THAT IS WHAT I WOULD DO, BUT AS YOU KNOW, I AINT THEM. BUT JUST TO USE THAT 30 NUMBER, I COULD SEE THEM INTERVIEWING ~80 KIDS TO GET TO 30, AND EXPANDING THAT 30 NUMBER IF THEY FELL IN LOVE W. MORE KIDS, WHICH IS UNLIKELY, AFTER A WHILE, IT’S THE SAME OLD SAME OLD, EVEN THO THE SHMUCKS ARE YOUNGER AND CUTER W. BRIGHT, BRIGHT FUTURES.  BUT I’M A HARD GUY, AND THEY PEDDLE OPTIMISM AS THEIR BASIC PRODUCT. THEY GOT ABOUT 400 POSSIBLE INTERVIEW SLOTS ON THE 2+2 SIGN UP SHEET, BUT THAT DONT MEAN SQUAT, ADCOMS LIKE NOTHING MORE, ESP. IN AUGUST, THAN TO ROLL IN, INTERVIEW SOME TOT AT 11, EAT LUNCH AND INTERVIEW TOT2 AT 2:30 AND HEAD HOME AFTER A HARD, HARD DAY AT THE OFFICE. WELL, THIS WILL WIND UP AS EGG ON MY FACE, BUT I AM SAYING THAT THEY ARE INTERVIEWING 80-100 KIDS TO GET 30-45. FEEL FREE TO QUOTE ME, BUT ADD IT IS A TOTAL GUESS BASED ON ALMOST NOTHING. ONE ADV. TO STARTING RAMPANT AND UNFOUNDED SPECULATION, IS THAT HER MAJESTY GETS WIND OF IT, AND  JUST CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE, AND BLOG/FOGS A CORRECTION, IN HER FASHION– SUCH IS THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD TO PROGRESS ABOUT FINDING SOMETHING OUT FROM HBS.   

NOT SURE WHAT TO TELL YOU ABOUT APPLYING NEXT YEAR AS SENIOR, DONT THINK YOU WILL GET INTO HBS, COLUMBIA MAYBE, BEST THING IS GET ALL A’S, GET A GOOD JOB, KEEP UP EXTRAS, AND APPLY IN 2-3 YEARS. SORRY. 2+2 IS REALLY FOR NOSE BLEED GPAS AND/OR BOFFO, BOFFO EXTRAS. SHOW STOPPING STUFF LIKE HELPING THE LEPERS.