The outcome of your admissions interview may well determine whether you will get enrolled in your dream university, so you’d better come prepared. In an unofficial guide, those lucky students who were admitted to Harvard Business School share the questions they were asked during their interviews. Let’s have a closer look.
The new and improved “Unofficial Harvard Business School Admissions & Interview Guide” includes 125 questions as well as tips on how to tackle each of them. The 80-pages long guidebook was published by The Harbus, a news organization run by MBA students. The guide offers a comprehensive overview of all the various questions an applicant may encounter, from common and simple ones to somewhat unexpected. The insight into the intricacies of HBS interviews was provided by students who made it to the hallowed halls of Harvard.
The new edition includes more questions than the previous two. The team behind the publication was anxious to make it a useful up-to-date guide that takes into account all the recent changes to the admission process. Up to 15 questions were added by students admitted in 2014. Since Harvard Business School had cut the number of essays leaving only an optional one, the interview grew in importance as an instrument of screening candidates. In an optional essay, you can’t elaborate on your choice of business school and your career plans, that’s why all these questions will be asked by interviewers.
All admissions interviews have something in common. The goal is for the business school to get to know you better so they can decide whether you will fit in. HBS is not an exception. Interviews are conducted by professionals who have been specially trained for the job. There are some typical questions which will always come up at any interview as well as some tricky and surprising ones designed to spur your creative thinking. Yet none of them is meant to deliberately confuse you.
Here are some examples given by HBS students.
- Tell us about yourself from a personal perspective.
- What was your motivation in choosing your college, major, and career path?
- How do your friends view you? What is your greatest flaw?
- How did your boss or a colleague of yours evaluate your work?
- In your essay, you’ve described your experience of working on a team project. What lessons did you learn from it?
- What is your approach to problem solving and leading a team?
- Could you tell us something surprising about yourself?
Still, the outcome mostly hinges on the quality of your preparation. If you’ve done your homework, you won’t be thrown off balance even by the most unusual question. For instance, they may ask you what makes you different from the other members of your profession they have previously interviewed. You can hardly fail this one if you know what makes you special. Perhaps, the interviewer will inquire what recent events have caught your attention. If you watch the news and read newspapers regularly, you’ll have no problems answering. If you’re not keeping up-to-date with what’s going on, you may find it difficult to come up with something relevant.
The guide provides many more examples. The interviewers want to know about the applicants’ plans and interests, the challenges they’ve faced, and the situations exemplary of their leadership abilities. They may ask what you will do if you don’t get admitted or even offer you to pose a question to yourself. Since you wouldn’t want to appear nervous or unprepared, it’s always nice to know what’s coming.
The answers you give are naturally very important, but the impression you make counts just as much. Here, The Harbus’s guide has got your back as well. Obviously, you should look your best, so make sure your suit is cleaned, your shoes polished, and your hair cut well before the interview. It’s better not to leave any unfinished business at work. Don’t forget to start preparing well in advance: most first-time applicants confess leaving too little time for GMAT training and application. The best way will be to take no less than two months for test preparation and three months for HBS application documents. Of course,it’s not impossible to get accepted even at the last minute – still, giving oneself as much time as possible makes the application process experience more enjoyable and satisfying.
To cover everything there is to know about the admission process, The Harbus offers another guidebook, available for download in PDF format. Called “Successful Essays to Get into Harvard Business School”, the book contains samples of essays written by students admitted to HBS. Every included essay has been analysed.
Those applying to HBS are also required to send an email to the admissions council within 24 of their interview. It should include their thoughts and insights pertaining to the experience. The Harbus editor-in-chief Nabil Mohamed believes this email actually helped him get a clearer idea of his goals for studying and future plans. After the interview, he understood that HBS gives its students a different perspective and makes them think out of the box. According to Mohamed, it was exactly what he wanted.
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