Last week, Harvard Business School’s Executive Director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid, Deirdre Leopold, held a much-anticipated online chat with BusinessWeek.
Highlights of the interview include:
- After many years of six to seven mandatory essays, HBS will be changing its approach, requesting two mandatory essays and a selection of three others from six choices.
- HBS will be more transparent in its decision-making process, keeping candidates up to date on when interviews are sent out.
- HBS does not frown upon repeated GMAT attempts and only looks at the score reported in the application.
- HBS received 7,400 applications last year, an increase of approximately 11% from the previous year.
- Re-applicants start ‘fresh” at HBS; when a new application is read, the candidate’s previous status is unknown. If the candidate advances to an interview a previous application may be read in order to get a more full picture.
A full transcript can be accessed via the following link: Admissions Tips From Harvard