-
Target Test Prep 20% Off Flash Sale is on! Code: FLASH20
Redeem
The HBS Interview – Two Real Life Experiences
If you applied to HBS in Round 1 this year, October 6th is a big day – HBS interview announcement day. We sincerely hope that you received the news you were dreaming about. If you did, be sure to schedule your HBS interview as soon as possible as spot can fill up quickly. And congratulations!
If you weren’t granted an HBS interview, you may have been notified that your application will be under ‘further consideration’. This means that the adcom will reconsider your application alongside those it receives in Round 2, and you may be invited to interview in early February. This also deserves a hearty congratulations!
If neither of the above apply to you, you may have been given an ‘early release’, HBS’ euphemism for a ding. It’s stings, there’s no getting around it. But know that being granted an interview is extremely competitive – only around 20% of those that applied fall into this bucket. Take a moment to wallow but then look to the future; it’s likely that you’re still waiting to hear from a number of awesome programs.
If you received an HBS interview invite or are just curious what the experience is actually like, you’re in luck! We got the scoop from two former clients who travelled to campus for their HBS interview (and were ultimately accepted). Note that HBS is still offering a Zoom option this year, but they are also returning to in-person interviews on campus and in select cities worldwide. Zoom is fine if an in-person interview isn’t feasible for you, but, in our experience, nothing beats a true face-to-face connection.
HBS Interview Experience #1 – Rachel
At her scheduled interview time, each interviewer came into the waiting area and called the candidate to which he or she was assigned (kind of like a doctor’s office…or a spa). After being called by her interviewer, for the first five minutes, Rachel expected someone else to walk in the room. After all, HBS is known for its two-on-one interviews. However, that never happened. It was a one-on-one! Later Rachel found out that almost everyone who interviewed that day had a one-on-one. She was told that the candidates who interviewed the following day, on a Monday, were more likely to have a two-on-one interview. In addition, note that the dean is also an interviewer! If you interview with him this year, Rachel was told that you would have a two-on-one with the other interviewer primarily taking notes.
Opening the discussion, Rachel’s interviewer invited her to sit down, not across the table but instead in chairs turned towards each other – very casual. She then explained the process and talked about how she had read all of Rachel’s application materials. Like most candidates, Rachel felt great to hear that someone had invested as much in reading her app as she had in preparing it! The interviewer explained that after the interview, she would prepare a report, Rachel would submit her reflection, then the application would be reviewed in its entirety.
Then they moved on to the questions. Rachel estimated that approximately 5% of her interview was spent on a large extracurricular that she had in college, 85% on her career in consumer packaged goods (CPG), and 10% on her goals. Here’s a sampling of the questions they asked:
- The interviewer noticed that a very large leadership commitment in college was only mentioned in one bullet point, so she asked for more information
- How did Rachel decide to work for the company she worked for right after college (Rachel very effectively parlayed her college experience into how she chose her career)
- How did that company meet or not meet Rachel’s expectations and what advice would she give someone looking to work there – the good and the challenges. Note that the interviewer cited a specific story that Rachel had given in her essays, which made Rachel feel good – she had caught the adcom’s attention in the essay!
- Describe in more detail the challenge cited in Rachel’s latest job. This question referenced the descriptions that Rachel put into the application form itself where she was asked to cite a specific accomplishment and a challenge for each position she listed
- Explain how Rachel’s company was tackling the latest trends in health and wellness (her company is not known for healthy products)
- How is Rachel’s company’s relationship with Wal-Mart and how does she navigate meetings with them
- The interviewer noted that both of Rachel’s recommenders cited similar pieces of feedback, so she asked Rachel for examples to explain her areas of weakness. Rachel had not seen her recommendations, so initially this was stressful as she hadn’t been aware of what they had written
- Describe your career interests (note that she was not asked “why MBA” or “why HBS”)
- Did she want to work for a big or a small company after graduation (Rachel wondered if they had a bias towards big companies, but in our experience, they are simply interested in how you’ve thought about this)
So, what advice does Rachel have for you? Her number one piece of advice was to schedule your class visit and such for another day. She felt like after the interview all she could think about was the interview itself and writing the post-interview reflection. She was glad that her class visit was the next day because she felt like she could really engage versus just worrying.
She also said to relax. Rumors have it that sometimes HBS has pretty aggressive interviewers. Rachel talked to many people during her two days on campus and only one person had a more “hostile” interview (e.g., he was asked how he thought his goals could possibly be attainable – they told him his goals seemed unreasonable, etc.). Everyone else with whom Rachel spoke had a friendly interviewer.
HBS Interview Experience #2 – Former Client, In His Own Words
I showed up a few hours early, signed in, and grabbed a coffee and breakfast (which I was too nervous to eat). I went through my whole application online and my resume on my laptop as I had heard that anything is fair game at HBS vs. just the resume as with some other schools. Once I felt confident, I went to the pre-interview room and immediately started talking to my fellow interviewees, which really helped me relax and get a better feel for my fit for the school. Then, 15 minutes before our interview time slot, a Taylor Swift song came on, which was the signal for a smaller group of us to head upstairs to the interview rooms. Once up there, I immediately made myself a cup of chamomile tea. I was the only one. Then, we all started chatting again until we each got called in for our interviews.
I had two people present in my interview. The first one introduced herself as the actual interviewer and explained that the other person was a representative from the career office who was there to observe, take notes and opine on my candidacy, but was not going to ask any questions. Still, I made sure to address them both when answering.
Before the interview started, my interviewer said that she wanted this to be a discussion rather than a formal interview. She said that she found my essay very inspiring and thanked me for sharing my story. She asked me to expand on my essay and reinforce how I was able to turn my life around and what I learned from my experiences. She then asked me to clarify my academic background as I have an unconventional path to graduation.
After my personal and educational background, we moved over to my resume and she asked me to expand on a deal I had listed, including my leadership role and how I sourced the deal. Then she asked me about the performance of my group, how we did last year, and what we were focused on this year. This would likely stump most banking associates, but it was fair game for me because I had written on my resume that I was involved with business planning for my group.
Then we moved on to my extracurriculars. There was an awkward moment where she thought I had contradicted my application, but I was able to quickly provide context and we moved on. She asked, “why an MBA, and why now”, and then “what are you still working on” (i.e., your weaknesses).
Then, she ended with “is there anything else we didn’t touch on?” Rather than use this prompt to ask a question, I used this to tell her “why HBS”, since that did not come up in the application or interview, but I thought I had a few unique reasons to justify my fit and I wanted to show how much time and research I had dedicated to learning everything about the program.
When we were done, the representative from the career center walked me out. I took this time to talk to him about the case we had discussed in my lecture visit and mention that the company discussed was one of my dream employers. I also knew that the founders of that company were HBS alumni from my own research, so I made sure to mention that. I am sure it did not tip the scales, but I wanted to get in everything I could.
We hope you found those real life HBS interview experiences helpful! If you will be interviewing and feel a mock interview would help you prepare, please don’t hesitate to reach out. And good luck!
Recent Articles
Archive
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009