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Harvard Business School To Merge September and January Entry Dates of MBA
Program
Beginning in 2001, All MBA Students Will Enter in September
In keeping with this commitment, HBS initiated a two-phase review of the system in April 1999. The purpose of the first phase of this review, which was completed in August 1999, was to design an evaluation process with input from representative samples of students, faculty, administrative staff, and recruiters through surveys, focus groups, and private interviews. The evaluation itself was then carried out in Phase Two with the aid of consultants under the supervision of a faculty steering committee.
After considerable study and deliberation, it was the recommendation of the steering committee that, beginning with the MBA Class of 2003 (which would begin the Program in 2001), all MBA candidates enter the School in September. This recommendation was approved at a meeting of the full faculty today, May 11.
In approving this recommendation, it was the faculty's view that the two-cohort system did, in fact, meet the School's original objectives of providing students with an outstanding educational experience, stimulating innovation and change in the MBA Program, and providing valuable experience and learning about program delivery. Students' evaluation of their experience in the January cohort has been consistently high and on par with that of students in the September cohort.
Innovation in the required curriculum (RC)has flourished since the initiation of the two-cohort system in January 1996. There have been scores of changes and experiments in the RC and seemingly countless smaller refinements of various sorts. Though not all of these were initiated in the January cohort itself, many first occurred in association with the two-cohort system. Admitting two separate cohorts per year doubled the School's opportunities to innovate and provided it with valuable learning and experience in the administration of the MBA Program. Directly and indirectly, the first year of the Program is better and stronger because of the steeper learning curve made possible by the two-cohort system.
Despite the excellence of the outstanding educational experience of the January cohort, however, applicants to Harvard's MBA Program continue to exhibit a strong preference for a September starting date. Furthermore, the cohort review identified a number of disadvantages associated with the two-cohort system. Among these were the compression of the required curriculum calendar and heavy use of scarce faculty and administrative staff time to deliver the two-cohort system. Although innovation in the RC continues, it no longer appears to be dependent upon the two-cohort system.
On balance, it appears that the most substantial programmatic gains to be had from the two-cohort system have already been achieved. Anticipated future gains appear low in relation to the ongoing costs of continuing to provide two entry points each year. Given strong student preference for a September entry date, it appears to be in the best interests of the broad HBS community to provide a single entry date in September for new applicants to the MBA Program.
Harvard Business School faces a new century in which the pace of change is accelerating at an extraordinary rate. Going forward, HBS will best be served by a willingness to examine all programs and delivery systems and to consider none as endpoints in the School's quest to provide the best possible structure for developing future leaders. Even as HBS explores new ideas and models, however, it remains dedicated to making the current two-cohort MBA program an extraordinary experience - both for those who are here now and those who will be joining the School in the months ahead. The faculty's guarantee to all students is to uphold the level of excellence that has made Harvard Business School the standard bearer in management education for more than ninety years.