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How you get into Harvard Business School
 

Ultima-RDK's picture
CD
(Orangutan, 309
 
Points)
 on 4/17/12 at 1:57pm
Staples+Easy+Button.jpg

WSO Community,

I recently came across an interesting interview with Dee Leopold, Dean of Admissions at HBS. It's a short article which details the acceptances of two applicants whom Dee Leopold interviewed herself.

She goes on to say she uses

"tricks to put nervous applicants at ease during their final hurdle, the mandatory interview. She'll tell them, for instance, that she's going to check her email, and invite them to jot down three or four questions she can ask them when she's finished."

What I found intriguing was the second of the two stories, excerpt below:

Dee Leopold:

I go down to pick someone up and bring her upstairs for an interview. And this other young woman I was watching from a distance, she stops halfway up the stairs and says, 'Wait, I need to go back downstairs.' She had told the person sitting next to her that she should just go up the stairs at 3:00. She said, 'I have to tell them no, someone will come and get you.'

"Those are the things that really get me," says Leopold. "Wow, when you're so young and self-absorbed and you can already think about somebody else, that's, like, really beautiful." Accept!

Sure, it goes without saying that you're going to need a GMAT of probably a minimum around 700ish, and a GPA near 3.5+...but are admissions interviews really that easy?

  • Do you feel this article is just a PR stunt to perhaps shift the public perception (whether right or wrong) of HBS / top business schools to mainly consist of cut-throat, highly competitive financiers?
  • Were there any things you said/did during an interview that you knew got you the acceptance?
  • So how about it monkeys, chime in with your b-school admissions processes and interviews, and let us know how it really is!

Sometimes lies are more dependable than the truth.
Febreeze's picture

I can tell you how to get

(King Kong, 1,158
 
Points)
 on 4/17/12 at 3:33pm

I can tell you how to get into my school if u want...

there's an entrance on 25th... AND 24th.

MBAApply's picture

It's a PR stunt. Adcoms are

EN
(King Kong, 1,018
 
Points)
 on 4/17/12 at 4:28pm

It's a PR stunt.

Adcoms are like politicians: good at talking out of both sides of their mouth.

Take everything they say with a huge grain of salt.

Alex Chu
www.mbaapply.com

professor's picture

See here some specific tips

(Chimp, 5
 
Points)
 on 4/18/12 at 2:52am

See here some specific tips for applying to Harvard MBA:
http://www.aringo.com/Harvard_MBA.htm

swbluedevil's picture

Pretty interesting article

O
(Monkey, 31
 
Points)
 on 4/23/12 at 8:32pm

Pretty interesting article from Poets and Quants titled "Who's applying to Harvard Business School and Who's Getting in?"
http://poetsandquants.com/2011/04/25/whos-applying...

Founder, Volunteer Forever
http://www.volunteerforever.com

redninja's picture

I go to HBS (although

CO
(Gorilla, 606
 
Points)
 on 4/24/12 at 3:50pm

I go to HBS (although graduation is right around the corner). It does not consist of cut-throat, highly competitive financiers. It's one of the most collaborative environments I've ever been in - people really go out of their way to help each other through classes and recruiting.

That said, Dee is definitely one of the most intense interviewers at the school. She's a really sweet person outside of the interview context (we see her on campus and at the gym all the time) but she does put on a pretty intense game face for the interview.

JohnAByrne's picture

There's a fairly lengthy

(Chimp, 2
 
Points)
 on 6/8/12 at 4:22pm

There's a fairly lengthy article on Poets&Quants that details the most recent webinar held by Harvard Admissions Director Dee Leopold a week ago on June 1. It includes her slides for the presentation and a long and valuable Q&A session she held with applicants. It's really a must-read for anyone considering Harvard this next cycle. Dee goes through the recent changes in the school's admission policies and has some pithy remarks here and there as well.

http://poetsandquants.com/2012/06/07/dee-leopolds-...

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