dmateer25 wrote:Hi Katharine, Puja, & Zack!
It's great to have you all answering questions on the forum.
I have a few questions.
What has surprised you the most thus far at HBS?
How is the internship hunt going? Is it better than you expected? Did you start preparing yourself for interviews as soon as you arrived on campus?
Great questions, I'll try to take them one at a time:
What has surprised you the most thus far at HBS?
I think the great people you meet... I don't consider myself a very "A-type" personality and I was really worried that my classes would be full of hyper-competitive bankers and cut-throat consultants, but seriously, everyone is so nice. The section really comes together like a family, and we work together to make sure everyone has the opportunity to participate in class discussions and learn. Sure we're all a bit competitive now and again, like when we were doing the "factory simulation" and we were all making crazy widgets to see who could make the most defect-free widgets, but it was all in good fun.
Internship hunt?
HBS actually does something really very valuable and smart to help ease you into recruiting your first year. First, they have a policy to keep recruiters AWAY FROM CAMPUS for the first two months. I've heard at some schools, as soon as you arrive you feel the heat from the recruiters, but HBS really wants you to spend some quality time figuring out what you want to do with your life and provides fantastic career coaches to help you along your way.
At the beginning of November, recruiting kicks off and the companies start coming on campus, and you all start to do the dance to see where you fit and who is interested in what you have to offer. But, no, we didn't have to start prepping right on day 1.
So, yeah, it is much better than I expected, especially considering the state of the economy... and we are really very grateful for all the hard work the Career Services office puts in to help us get ready and to bring the opportunities to campus.
