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!!!!

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

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.

Sandy, what is the basis for you saying that HBS is taking younger students?

If you did not in to Hor S, it may help to look in a mirror,but if that does not tell you anything, look at your driver’s license.

Sandy–If HBS currently has less than 10% of the allotted slots available for interviews, would you say that the remaining interview invites go to underrepresented minorities, legacy applicants or other unique applicants to help even out the class based on the make up of round 2 applicants?

Whats your opinion on the Wharton interview questions, esp the leadership + failure questions. Is it ok to cite same examples as written in essays (given that the interview is blind) or shall I cite other instances? Is there are any cons of citing other examples than the one written in essays?

hmmmmmmm, those questions are not critical on W, except in some generic way, as to how yo present in general. Worry more about goals, resume walk thru, why mba, why W? etc.  Some interviewers actually write down content of answer [nerdy compulsive types, not a small number of W. alums + 2ndyrs, esp types to do interviews ] so that could be communicated to adcom WHO DOES HAVE YOUR ESSSAYS, also, if you interview w. kid at school, that kid cld be at the table when your file comes up, soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, a better practice is to have either a dif. answer than in essays, or a really expanded one. Sometimes Q is also a bit diff: e.g. tell me about a failure at work, or team failure, or recent failure, or failure to get along w. someone, or failure to finish a crossword puzzle [38 across, 7 letters for B School Virgil, ans. HBSGURU] SOOOOOOO, it helps to have a laundry list of failures ready to throw in the game.

Hey Sandy,

Im a reapplicant for Wharton this year and just got an interview invitation. Im not very excited this time since  I was invited last year as well but I was denied admission afterwards. I guess I was “dead meat” last year, but do you know if my chances are any better this year since I am a reapplicant? I mean, do they ask “dead meat” for interview twice? I would reallly appreciate any input.

This may not have been directly addressed… how often are HBS interviewees dinged even after good interviews (ie didn’t even have a shot walking in)?  What are the typical reasons for why this happens?

In the spirit of Halloween, how about a couple of H/W Interview horror stories?

More conventional horror stories include getting mugged on way to interivew, auto accident, etc. etc. If that happens, you may have a silly and heroic urge to soldier thru and try to make the interview. I’ve seen this happen w. mixed results.  DO NOT DO THAT. CANCEL AND COME BACK ANOTHER DAY. ADCOM WILL FULLY CO-OPERATE, EVEN IF YOU ARE REPORTING MINOR ACCIDENT ETC. ALWAYS ARRANGE TO HAVE EMERGENCY PHONE NUMBER OF ALUM INTERVIEWER FOR JUST SUCH AN OCCURENCE. AND GIVE ALUM YOURS. AND ALWAYS HAVE ADCOM HQ PHONE NUMBER AS WELL.

HBS INTERVIEWS: thoughts on the back of a napkin.

Number of adcoms at HBS reading apps= ~15 (my own guess, based on lots of things)

Number of apps typically processed in one day per adcom =10 (”official” reading time per app. including note writing and summary, 40 minutes, actual time it takes to do this, 25 minutes, time it takes ME to do this, 5 minutes (altho I dont have to write notes, that would make it 10 minutes). Typical amount of actual time adcom spends reading apps. per day=  ~300 minutes, calling it 30 min per app, to account for shuffling papers, stirring coffee cup, email joke breaks,  nose blowing, and often, flushing.  Number of hours adcom works in day reading apps = 5.  That is actuallly A LOT, how many hours do YOU in fact really  work? Adcoms also go to silly meetings, travel a lot,  spend about 40 minutes a day telling each other, “no, those pants don’t make you look fat…..” call each other up to read particularly stupid essays out loud,  and do lots of other normal things, just like you and me.   

Number of apps in round one–for sake of argument, 4,000.

Number of apps processed by total adcom staff in one day –150, in one week =750

Number of week days since they started reading apps= 17 (could be more, adcoms sorta work 6 days a week and sometimes more in crunch periods, w. work braided into travel, reading stuff on planes, reading on weekends etc. etc. )

AT LEAST THAT WOULD BE THE PARTY LINE

You can do the rest of this math folks, altho my real guess is, above is UNDERSTATED  based on fact that most adcoms work 6 or even 7 days a week in terms of app reading. I also think that while 15 adcoms are hard-core app readers, the officer corp, including field marshall Dee Dee,  is also in the hunt, altho not on per diem basis,  so they got more like 18-22 people reading apps…. yadda, yadda. They may be able to churn thru 1000-1200 apps a week if they have to, AND IN FACT PROBABLY DO ONCE THEY GET DOWN TO IT, ALTHO THEY MAY BUILD UP TO THAT NUMBER, SORTA LIKE PERSON ON A TREADMILL  WITH ONE OF THOSE CARDIO SETTINGS.

 altho that by no means indicates that many invites are out, since there is admin delay, and some kind of 2nd level review……..and they probably spend some time synchronizing metrics etc. esp. for new readers, e.g. going around a table w. benchmark apps saying this is admit, this is not, this is sorta WL, etc. etc.

adcom vs. alum interviews, HBS and other places:

just want to make sure i won’t be stepping on my own foot if I reject the on-campus/hub interviews for an alumni one. it seems that most people want adcom interviews (adcom people more likely to fight for you etc)

As a rule, adcom interviews are more standard, it is not a matter of them fighting for you, that does not happen, it is a matter of  the downside, during the actual interview, when at times, alums are odd, ask unusual questions, are at times distracted by that day’s business set back, are jerks, are acting out their own feeling about the school,  only inter. 2 kids a year and have non-normative ‘grading’ etc. That is the real risk of alum int. It may not make a dif. but all things equal, I always reco the adcom–to protect the downside. Kids do not get IN because of  great interviews, if int. is solid, and app is solid you get in.  THEY GET DINGED W. BAD ONES. THAT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME. THE THING TO WORRY ABOUT IN HBS INTERVIEW IS NOT SCREWING UP. Don’t worry about hitting a home run, worrry about not making errors. You dont need any ‘hits’ at all, you just need to hit the ball hard when at bat, and not drop it when fielding. Sorry for stupid sports imagery, but WORLD SERIES FEVER here in Boston, not that this ol Brooklyn Dodger fan cares all that much.