The start of a new year is when many MBA students and graduates reflect on their careers and consider fresh opportunities.
As you think about what is next for you—and how to most effectively get there—check out the following five articles about managing one’s career and job search in 2026.
Now is the time to get ready for the HBS admissions interview, which is crucial step in your application process. mbaMission’s Devi Vallabhaneni, a Harvard Business School graduate and former HBS MBA interviewer, has more than 20 years of experience in MBA admissions and readiness. She has conducted thousands of real and mock HBS interviews with candidates across all industries, geographies, and backgrounds and with a wide range of personal stories. As mbaMission’s Managing Director and HBS Interviewer in Residence, she works directly with applicants on their business school applications. In the next two sections, Devi shares some of her insights on the HBS interview, then offers some of her best tips for performing your best.
Harvard Business School (HBS) offers applicants to its 2+2 program almost 1,000 words with which to take control of their narrative and share their character and values. Yes, you can find ways to present those aspects of yourself in your resume or short answers, but those avenues are inherently limiting. In your essays, you have a lot of latitude with which to convey your best stories and qualities, especially with the program’s first two prompts—one on life experience and the other on curiosity. We encourage you to be thoughtful about your approach and brainstorm your ideas, considering the full spectrum of all your experiences. These essays do not have one “right” answer that HBS is expecting to know and deliver (if there were, HBS would just ask you to write on those “right” topics).
You might have seen my video on the MBA admissions year that was 2025. To recap, I talked about some of the disruption to the admissions environment that occurred as a result of the Trump administration’s ongoing battle with American universities. We are speculating that application volumes dropped significantly among international applicants in 2025. Just as the season should have started ramping up last year, the tariff story took off, causing significant uncertainty. And owe assume that the tariffs and AI also slowed domestic applications.
The GMAT score is the sole piece of data that is truly consistent from one candidate to another. Therefore, many MBA applicants place undue emphasis on it, when the test is only one of several important aspects of a person’s application. In extreme cases, some candidates even consider quitting their jobs to focus on the GMAT full time—not a great idea!
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Click here for the 2025–2026 MBA Essay Tips
