Harvard Business School Essay Question Analysis 2010-11

Please find below the instructions and essay questions from the HBS website along with my analyses:

Essays for the Class of 2013

As an opportunity to present your distinctive qualities, your essays are an important part of your MBA application. You will be asked to submit your personal statements online with the balance of your application materials. Essays should be single-spaced. Please limit your response to the length indicated.

All applicants must submit answers to four essay questions. The first two questions are required of all applicants. The remaining two essays should be in response to your choice of the next four sub-questions.

Joint program applicants for the Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Kennedy School must provide an additional essay.

Essays:

• What are your three most substantial accomplishments and why do you view them as such? (600-word limit)

Analysis:

The classic HBS question. Accomplishments mean achievement and impact. In what ways have you stretched yourself, gone above and beyond, and made an impact on others? The examples you choose should represent you well, meaning, as much as possible, combine professional examples with an academic, community or personal example. However, your own combination will depend on your own experiences. Do not force a weak example simply to diversify your stories. Try to find a balance between quality and diversity.

• What have you learned from a mistake? (400-word limit)

Analysis:

HBS wants to know how self-aware you are and how willing you are to learn from your mistakes. That is the main point of this question, not how badly you have messed up. So be honest in the mistake you choose and don’t be afraid of showing a weakness. Describe what you did wrong, but show how you handled it and what you learned from it.

Please respond to two of the following (400-word limit each):

1. What would you like the MBA Admissions Board to know about your undergraduate academic experience?

Analysis:

This is a question designed more for recent graduates who have fewer professional experiences to talk about. If you had a rich undergraduate life and you didn’t attend university too long ago, this may be a good option for you. I often get asked if it is okay to talk about non-academic experience. My answer is yes, as long as you are not talking only about your club and sports activities. That is, your answer needs to discuss your academic and intellectual work even if you want to talk about other activities as well. Questions to think about: What kind of a student were you? Were you intellectually curious? What kinds of intellectual pursuits did you have? If you were also active outside the classroom, talk about that too: leadership, community involvement, etc. Your experience as an undergraduate student will give the admissions board an idea of what kind of HBS student and leader you might be.

2.   What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you?

Analysis:

This is more or less the standard goals essay, although many people ask me why HBS uses the expression “career vision” instead of “career goals” which is used by most other schools. HBS wants to know more than just the concrete things that you plan to do after graduation (e.g., become Director of Marketing); they want to know what your mission and career plan and path are (e.g., serve consumers in developing countries through a position as Director of Marketing). “Vision” is what you see for your future: what do you hope to do, what are the steps you will take to get there, what fundamental value, belief or desire is driving this career path for you? However, don’t get overly anxious about this essay question; if you write all your essays well, this goals essay should not be any different from the goals essays you write for other schools. The one difference between HBS’s goals essay and that of other schools, though, is that you don’t need to spend a lot of time convincing them why HBS is your top choice.

3. Tell us about a time in your professional experience when you were frustrated or disappointed.

Analysis:

This is a completely new question for this year. Through this essay the admissions committee wants to see how you deal with setback, when things don’t go your way. As usual, choose an episode and give enough context to explain what frustrated or disappointed you. Then focus on the main message, which is how you reacted and dealt with the situation. Please keep in mind that, if you choose to write this essay, you’d need to use a different story from the mistake essay above. The two topics sound similar but are different.

4. When you join the HBS Class of 2013, how will you introduce yourself to your new classmates?

Analysis:

Another brand new essay question. Keep in mind that this is a self-introduction to your future classmates. Reading between the lines, it means that it’s alright to cover some more personal topics here as well. What would you say to your new classmates – what would you like them to know about you? Cover the different areas of your background, values and personality but make sure you do more than simply regurgitate your resume. Let the reader get to know more about you as a person here.

Joint degree applicants:

• How do you expect the joint degree experience to benefit you on both a professional and a personal level? (400-word limit)

Analysis:

This is a straightforward question asking you to talk about why you need the joint degree/joint degree experience. They want to know how studying for both degrees will help you professionally and personally.

Tags: advice, HBS, MBA deadlines, MBA essay questions

Harvard Business School Application Deadlines for Class Entering 2011

The following is from the HBS blog:

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Class of 2013 – Launching the Application Season

from HBS MBA Program

Below are the key dates for the upcoming application season:

Round 1
Application deadline – Friday, October 1, 2010 at 12:00 noon EST
Decision notification – Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Round 2
Application deadline – Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 12:00 noon EST
Decision notification – Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Round 3
Application deadline – TBD
Decision notification – TBD

We are “TBD” on Round 3 – final dates will be determined in early July as we assess how much of an overlap we need with the 2+2 application timeline.

The application for the Class of 2013 will go live the week of June 21. To view the essay and recommender questions now, please visit the Written Application page on our website.

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For more information on HBS admissions, please visit their website at http://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions

Stayed tuned this week, as I’ll post my analyses and tips for their essay questions. If you really can’t wait to see the analyses, you can check out my post from last season here: http://www.revecounseling.com/blog/?cat=12

A few of the questions have changed but the rest are the same.

Tags: HBS, MBA deadlines

Harvard Business School Essay Questions and Deadlines 2009-10

 

HBS released their 2009-10 essay questions and deadlines a few days ago.  There have been some changes in both the deadlines and essay questions. For anyone who’s been following the HBS applications, you’ll notice that their Round 1 deadline is earlier this year and their Round 2 deadline is later than usual (great news for me as a counselor!). As for the essays, some of the questions have changed and the new questions, I believe, reflect the information HBS wants given the current economic situation we’re in. For example, for the first time HBS asks for a “cover letter” essay which is the standard document you send to employers when looking for jobs.

While you may still be working on your GMAT and/or TOEFL, you should start thinking about these essays whenever you can.  HBS is not an easy application to work on first and so I recommend that you get your feet wet by working on some other schools before starting on HBS. This means that, for first round applicants, you’ll need to start early.

What follows below are the deadlines, instructions and questions, alongside my analyses.

Deadlines (all 17:00 EST)

Round 1: October 1, 2009

Round 2: January 19, 2010

Round 3: April 8, 2010

Essays (text from HBS website http://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/writtenapplication.html)

Essays should be single-spaced. Please limit your response to the length indicated.

All applicants must submit answers to four essay questions. The first two questions are required of all applicants. The remaining two essays should be in response to your choice of the next five sub-questions.

Joint program applicants for the Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Kennedy School must provide an additional essay.

Essays:

• What are your three most substantial accomplishments and why do you view them as such? (600-word limit)

Analysis:

The classic HBS question. Accomplishments mean achievement and impact. In what ways have you stretched yourself, gone above and beyond, and made an impact on others? The examples you choose should represent you well, meaning, as much as possible, combine professional examples with an academic, community or personal example. However, your own combination will depend on your own experiences. Do not force a weak example simply to diversify your stories. Try to find a balance between quality and diversity.

• What have you learned from a mistake? (400-word limit)

Analysis:

HBS wants to know how self-aware you are and how willing you are to learn from your mistakes. That is the main point of this question, not how badly you have messed up. So be honest in the mistake you choose and don’t be afraid of showing a weakness. The bigger the mistake, the better in many cases. Describe what you did wrong, but show how you handled it and what you learned from it.

• Please respond to two of the following (400-word limit each):

1.  What would you like the MBA Admissions Board to know about your undergraduate academic experience?

Analysis: This is a question designed more for recent graduates who have fewer professional experiences to talk about. If you had a rich undergraduate life and you didn’t attend university too long ago, this may be a good option for you. I often get asked if it is okay to talk about non-academic experience. My answer is yes, as long as you are not talking only about your club and sports activities. That is, your answer needs to discuss your academic and intellectual work even if you want to talk about other activities as well. Questions to think about: What kind of a student were you? Were you intellectually curious? What kinds of intellectual pursuits did you have? If you were also active outside the classroom, talk about that too: leadership, community involvement, etc. Your experience as an undergraduate student will give the admissions board an idea of what kind of HBS student and leader you might be.

2. Discuss how you have engaged with a community or organization.

Analysis: They are interested in knowing about the “team” or “people” person in you. If you were on a sports team, university club, or other community activity, this may be a good question for you to choose. The key expression here is “engaged with” which implies interaction and involvement.  Be careful not to write an essay that simply focuses on leadership and achievement and what you did to or for others; they want to know how you involved yourself with the target community or group. Did you motivate people? Coach them? Teach them? Inspire them?

3. Tell us about a time when you made a difficult decision.

Analysis: They want to know the logic and self-awareness you employ when making important decisions. In hearing about the process that you went through to make this decision, they can also learn about your maturity and personal values, which ultimately would form the basis of your decision making. Talk about the decision and elaborate on how you went about making that decision. The example you choose could be professional, community or personal.

4. Write a cover letter to your application introducing yourself to the Admissions Board.

Analysis: This is a clever essay idea that has long been the staple MIT essay question. Here you’ll need to know the conventions of writing a business/professional cover letter which is your self-marketing piece. Traditionally, employers read cover letters before moving on to resumes when looking for people to hire. They are more likely to move on to the resume if they like what they read in the cover letter. Therefore, you need to promote yourself in this essay and make the admissions board interested in you. Points to address: Who are you in a nutshell? What are the highlights of your background? What achievements and impact have you made? Why are you seeking a place in the MBA program at HBS and why are you a good fit/how would you add value? This is the place where you try to “stand out” from the rest of the applicant pool.

5. What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you?

Analysis: This is more or less the standard goals essay, although many people ask me why HBS uses the expression “career vision” instead of “career goals” which is used by most other schools. HBS wants to know more than just the concrete things that you plan to do after graduation (e.g., become Director of Marketing); they want to know what your mission and career plan and path are (e.g., serve consumers in developing countries through a position as Director of Marketing). “Vision” is what you see for your future: what do you hope to do, what are the steps you will take to get there, what fundamental value, belief or desire is driving this career path for you? However, don’t get overly anxious about this essay question; if you write all your essays well, this goals essay should not be any different from the goals essays you write for other schools. The one difference between HBS’s goals essay and that of other schools, though, is that you don’t need to spend a lot of time convincing them why HBS is your top choice.

Joint degree applicants:

• How do you expect the joint degree experience to benefit you on both a professional and a personal level? (400-word limit)

Analysis:

This is a straightforward question asking you to talk about why you need the joint degree/joint degree experience. They want to know how studying for both degrees will help you professionally and personally.