MBA

I know I promised an update about interviews. They are in full swing on campus and elsewhere. We are still sending out interview invitations - maybe 50 or so more may go out before December 15 - plus waitlist invitations to some of those who have not received an interview invitation. In terms of "where" these interviews might be held, we anticipate they would likely take place on campus in Boston during December or via telephone.

We also want to share with you the list we just compiled of the undergraduate schools represented in the last three classes at HBS.

Greetings!

We continue to send out interview invitations to Round 1 applicants. As I said before, I don't know how many are still to go, but it is a significant number. The timing of when you receive an interview invitation is no reflection on the "strength" of your candidacy.

We do not send out interview invitations on Saturday and Sunday!

A note about the waitlist - remember, this year we are making Round 1 decisions before we see Round 2 applications. On December 15, I expect there will be a significant number - maybe 100 or so - of invitations to join the waitlist to candidates who have NOT been interviewed. As we review Round 2 applications, we may be inviting some of these candidates to interview in the Round 2 interview timeline.

I'll do another update next week.

Greetings. We're already deep into round 1 applications. As the leaves begin to turn colors (shameless plug for our spectacular foliage in New England) our board members burrow into their offices or study carrels in the library and we're drinking lots of coffee in Spangler in order to keep us on schedule.

We expect to begin sending out interview invitations on October 16. This year we may not be trying to send as many out on one day as we did last year... maybe more like a not-scientifically-measured stream until December 15. We really (really, really, really) don't know how many will go out on any given day. If you call and ask, we will say exactly that.

Interviews will take place during the month of November in Boston and in other hub cities. Detailed instructions to candidates about how to sign up for interviews will be included in their email invitation from us.

Don't worry about whether our email will get lost and we'll give away your interview spot. We don't do that. We'll find you. We've been doing this for a long time and we haven't lost anyone yet!

I will post updates whenever I think it would be helpful and others in our office will keep you current through Twitter and Facebook.

And I'm hoping that I can devote one post each week to answering your questions.

1. Why do business schools ask so many essay questions?

Good question! And remember, as always, I can only speak for HBS. I haven't seen any studies that correlate essay writing to the ability to effectively lead complex organizations. I think that the emphasis on essays is somewhat of a vestigial remnant of a time when we didn't conduct interviews. All we had to get to know candidates was what they provided in a written application - and we wanted to get to know them well.

They are still a very valuable part of the application, but they are only one component. The fact that we only have four essays - and you have a choice about two of them - is a definite change from the days when there were EIGHT required essays!

2. Why is the career vision question optional? It's required for most schools.

I think it's a great question that may be extremely helpful for you to ask yourself before you embark on an expensive (in many ways) MBA Program. When it comes to being valuable in our selection process, we find that the vast majority of our students may have a general idea of what they might want to do post HBS, but are very open and curious to explore many different career paths. As a School, we make a big investment in encouraging that exploration and helping students through a rigorous self-assessment process. We try to avoid sending a signal in the application process that we think that process should be completed pre-business school. I think that having this time for exploration is a major advantage of a two year MBA program.