HBS SVMP

Harvard Business School hosts a Summer Venture in Management Program ("SVMP") program for undergraduate students. Only rising seniors who've secured summer internships are allowed to apply. From what I've read it seems to be a very competitive program to get into, yet a very profitable one. I am very interested in applying as I am sure I'd learn a great deal and it would look good on my resume. I was wondering if any of you have had any experience with or know anything about the program, how difficult it is to get in and how do employers feel about it. I come from a top 20 school but don't have a stellar GPA (~3.6ish). The program has a slant on bringing in minorities which might help as I'm Hispanic. I'll also be interning in an M&A group this summer at a MM IB (think something along the lines of Piper Jaffray). Also, the program is in the middle of the summer so I'd have to take a week off from my internship. I don't know how people at the bank might react. Is there a tactful way to bring up the fact that I'd like to do this (the employer needs to fill out a form for my application). I don't want to fall behind the other interns...should I offer to work an additional week at the end of the summer? Thanks for your input!

http://www.hbs.edu/mba/svmp/index.html

 

I know a few people who have done the program. The program didn't seem "difficult" to get into, as none of the people I know who got in are very impressive. Though I'm sure if everything else is there (ug gpa, work exp, etc) SVMP will be a nice edge to get into HBS.

I will say though, the 2 people I know that went to the program last summer during their BB internship did not get offers. Your work will say it is fine, but the reality is, are you really fucking serious that you want to take a week off from a 10-week job interview when the rest of the class is giving 150% every day this summer? You have to be realistic, and SVMP just isn't a "once in a lifetime" type opportunity.

Get other opinions though, obviously. I would strong discourage it though if you want a job offer.

 
International Pymp:
A week doesn't seem like it would do a whole bunch for a resume (particularly if there's already some other good stuff on that resume)... it might just bother your employer

My resume is OK. GPA 3.7, study abroad experience (GPA there 3.95, not included in regular GPA), internship at BB in controllers this summer, junior, non target top 25 business school/top35 overall school in the nation. No previous internships in finance, but have had other internships.

Would Harvard SVMP look good for FT? Again, since I'm doing BO for the summer I wouldn't accept a FT offer, I'm going to be doing a lot of networking and studying over the summer to get into banking, so looking to do whatever possible to make my resume better. However, if the general consensus is that this program won't really do anything, that I won't bother my bank with this.

 

This is kind of a delayed bump, but I wanted to get this on record for future people googling this info up. I got into SVMP and found out that it accepts 80/3000. So yes, it is quite competitive. You also need an internship to even be eligible for the program at all. Yes, it's only 1 week. However, putting "Harvard" at the top of your resume next to education experience is still an attention grabber. The people there are amazing too; there are like 12 Googlers this year and lots of Stanford kids.

 

don't expect too much out of it...............I think that's what you probably need for the answers.

I see that you hope SVMP to be a turnaround for your resume--it is likely not going to be one, because it has no degree, no HBS alumni privileage (SVMP has some of its own but you'll have to find out).

If your undergrad GPA sucks, fix that with harder work and internship and leadership experiences. Those will be helpful for finding IB jobs or anything really. There isn't too many easy ways out, and I wouldn't count SVMP as one

 
shuang19:

don't expect too much out of it...............I think that's what you probably need for the answers.

I see that you hope SVMP to be a turnaround for your resume--it is likely not going to be one, because it has no degree, no HBS alumni privileage (SVMP has some of its own but you'll have to find out).

If your undergrad GPA sucks, fix that with harder work and internship and leadership experiences. Those will be helpful for finding IB jobs or anything really. There isn't too many easy ways out, and I wouldn't count SVMP as one

Depending on what your schedule is like, you can try to mitigate that by taking some graduate level classes. A couple A's in quantitatively focused 600 level classes can go a long way towards making your story work in addition to helping to put the adcom's mind at ease as to whether you're a good enough student to hack the workload.

 
The Sour Patch Kid:

I've heard great things about the program! People who get into the SVMP program have a pretty ridiculous success rate when applying to HBS. If I remember correctly, there was a thread about this a couple of weeks ago. You could check that out. Did you apply this year?

This is slightly misleading. SVMP attendees do have a high admit rate to HBS, but you have to consider that the credentials to get accepted to SVMP are on par with getting into HBS (in terms of the relative difficulty/competitiveness). The people who get accepted to SVMP are likely those who would have a good shot at getting into HBS regardless of whether they went to SVMP or not.

As for your question, OP, my recruiter said that the firm would definitely allow me to attend SVMP and miss a week of my SA gig, however, she advised against it. She basically said that I would be missing the 2nd week (week after training), which is when SAs meet their teams and get up to speed on their project, and as a result be slightly behind my peers.

 

Ok cool ill search for that previous thread.

And ya I applied this year! I wonder what the acceptance rate is. My profile is pretty strong for the program but I haven't been able to find out any stats from previous years.

Did you apply as well??

 

I applied this year as well! I was actually surprised there were no online discussions about the people who apply/ get into this program. Do you know how competitive admission is?

 

Zzari: thanks for the info. My internship actually begins after the svmp program is over because I am on the quarter system at school. Our quarter ends in mid June....

Did you apply to the program? Or do you know anyone has done it in the past?

 

Daza: no idea about the competition... I couldn't find any stats from previous classes at all. I've seen quite a few profiles on LinkedIn from past participants but other than high GPA I couldn't find much in common between them. Many different backgrounds, internship industries, colleges ranging from ivy to complete non target, etc....

 
Ard:

Daza: no idea about the competition... I couldn't find any stats from previous classes at all. I've seen quite a few profiles on LinkedIn from past participants but other than high GPA I couldn't find much in common between them. Many different backgrounds, internship industries, colleges ranging from ivy to complete non target, etc....

I remember reading somewhere (unverified) that there are usually like 3000 applicants per year for this program.

 

Yeah, I haven't been able to find much info either. I did talk to two past participants, and they had really high GPA's, past internship experience (>2), and could talk about situations where they'd clearly stepped up as leaders (I know I'm basically repeating what HBS's website says haha, but there wasn't anything too specific). Btw since I just joined I can't message people, but can you message me?

 
Best Response

I am an SVMP alum. A bit of what I'll say here will repeat what I mentioned in that thread about Foxworth getting into HBS with a 570 GMAT, but it's worth saying again.

The program is phenomenal. It is immersive, overwhelming, and inspiring. I wasn't one to blindly drink the HBS Kool-Aid beforehand, and I'm certainly not the fervent worshipper that Brady became so famous on this forum for being, but it is literally a game changer. It does an incredible job recreating the MBA experience for seniors who love business. (In that sense, it's different from 2+2 in that the deferred MBA entrance is designed to get people who otherwise would not have considered business school, whereas SVMP explicitly targets students pursuing business in many different arenas.) It's surprising how a two-year experience can be encapsulated in a one-week program, but you get the whole thing, both academically and socially. The classroom experience is unparalleled, in my opinion, and the caliber of people there is equally remarkable.

What makes the classroom such a vibrant and engaging experience is the diversity of the voices represented. I'm not talking about the standard "admit URMS because society has failed them so far" idea of diversity that the entire affirmative action bandwagon has so tragically stamped into the average person's mind, I'm talking about the true notion of diversity: a breadth of experience, background, and interest that coalesces to make any discussion so much more dynamic than you'd believe.

I won't be able to make it to the reunion weekend before this year's SVMP program (and everyone from my year is harassing me about it), but for anyone going this year, buckle up, it's awesome. I'm so jealous.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

I did SVMP, and will be joining MBB in the fall. The program itself is phenomenal, but the opportunity cost of that week is pretty great. Most of the individuals who did the program had impressive F500 internships, but not too many were MBB/IB. This is definitely something that you would want to bring up to HR, as they can give a more accurate answer on the feasibility of this move. If you're staffed on something light, or will be doing more than one project, it may very well be doable. If you're smack dab in the middle of some intense case, that's a different story.

MBB focuses on making the intern experience as pleasant as possible, so I think that BCG would be far more receptive to the idea of you doing SVMP than say... a bank. What are the start dates of SVMP, your internship, and which office? PM me if you want to maintain discretion. I might be able to offer you more in depth guidance on how to proceed depending on the region you're in.

 

I'll cosign redninja. I believe the yield for SVMPers that apply to HBS later (all other stats being competitive) was some ridiculous number.The associate director told a few of us about it during our week. I think BCG will be receptive to you doing it. Summer associates are like 2nd in the pecking order under partners lol. @Redninja, PM me. You in the alumni association?

 

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