HBS MBA Admissions Interviews: Logistics and Content

HBS MBA Admissions Interviews: Logistics and Content

Feb, 02, 2021

This is the first of three posts I provide advice for HBS Admissions Interviews.  This post discusses logistics and content. The second post focuses on strategy. The third post focuses on preparation. These posts post have been completely revised from my prior posts and reflect the reports I have received from clients over the past several cycles since those for the Class of 2018 (Fall 2016 entry). It also reflects the changed way I advise and prep clients for HBS.

 

At the time of the blog post (February 2021), sixty-seven of my interview-only and comprehensive service clients have been admitted to HBS since the entering class of 2008 (I had prior clients admitted between 2001 and 2007 before establishing my own service). My clients’ results and testimonials can be found here. In addition to providing comprehensive application consulting on HBS, I regularly help some candidates with HBS interview preparation only. My clients admitted to HBS come from all over the world with high concentrations in India, Japan, and the US.

 

This post just describes the HBS interview with some brief analysis. In the second post, I will get really abstract, analytical, psychological, and otherwise deep. In the third post, I will be very practical, which is good since that post is on self-preparation.  If you are familiar with the logistics and contents of HBS interviews, you can skim/ignore this one. It is here mostly for those who need to some grounding in the basics before jumping into my usual guru-level goodness.  Through I think it is a good idea to  review my advice on the post-interview reflection at the end of this post even if you are not interested in what follows.

 

LOGISTICS

The interviewers are members of the MBA Admissions Board.  Some have been around forever (or something like that), others arrived yesterday but whatever the case, these people stick to their interview protocols and do a better job than any other school at being fair and giving each person who is interviewed a fair hearing.  Honestly, I think they are the best MBA admissions interviewers on the planet.

 

Scheduling your interview: HBS oversees interview slots often fill quickly so if you are invited, please select your preferred slot as quickly as possible. If you prefer to have as much prep time as possible, I suggest you schedule as quickly as you can.  As all interviews are currently Zoom interviews, whatever you may have heard about certain officers covering particular geographies does not seem to have been applied consistently in Round 1 for the HBS Class of 2023.  Specifically the admissions officer, Sarah Lucas, who typically travels to India did not interview all of the Indian candidates and Eileen Chang, who typically travels to East Asia did not interview all Chinese, Japanese, and Korean candidates.  Therefore,  you should not assume you will have any particular interviewer and will not know who it is until the session starts. The good news is that there is little difference between the way each interviewer conducts interviews. That said,  if you are Indian and get Sarah or are East Asian and get Eileen, your interviewer will have greater area knowledge but this is something you will not know until the interview starts.

 

All interviews last 30 minutes and rarely exceed that time.

 

All interviews are currently being conducted online via Zoom.  Make sure your Zoom setup is good to go.  See here for my advice about.

 

CONTENT

The HBS interview content is quite distinct from what you would find in a typical MBA interview at schools like Booth, Columbia, INSEAD, Kellogg and Tuck. It is even more different than the behavioral interviews conducted by MIT and Stanford. The HBS difference is that each applicant will be asked questions specific to them. Prior to the Class of 2018 (2016 entry), while HBS interviews were always personalized, the reports I received from clients contained more generic questions. These days the questions each applicant gets is more tailored.

 

A few things to keep in mind:

1. You have to be prepared for answering questions about anything you have done that is accounted for in the application. You can expect a few questions related to your academic and personal background so you have to be prepared to handle a full range of questions but don’t be surprised if you only get a few or even no questions in this area.
2. You will need to be able to switch between micro/personal level and big picture questions as this can happen often. If you are a non-native English speaker, chances are even greater that you will be in an interview where the number of questions asked is extremely high (maybe not so much of a deep dive at all) because the admissions interviewer is testing your English ability: In particular, your fluency. They want to make sure you can handle the HBS classroom.  Still, HBS is famous for going in relatively deep with follow-up questions, so you have to be prepared for that as well.
3. You need the ability to both explain and evaluate. By explain, I mean you should be able to provide both  (1) detailed and succinct answers and (2) anecdotal examples (tell stories) to address a great range of questions.  By evaluate, I mean you should be able to interpret and give an opinion when asked for one.
4. Don’t be surprised if much of your essay contents are not discussed in the interview but rather only few points might be referred to. After all, they want to learn things about you they can’t find in the essay, so don’t think it will your script. Your resume is more likely to be worth your intensive review.

 

While I can’t provide a real interview report,  I have described  what to expect in an interview. I would also say that the reports I have seen on online are usually too brief and don’t generally reflect the actual interview because to do so would be too revealing. It would very risky for an applicant to put up a real report on an HBS interview because the questions are too applicant specific.

 

How it will start:

-The interviewer will briefly explain how the interview is structured.

-The interviewer will likely begin asking you questions either about something in your background or by asking you about your recent work. Examples:

“Tell me about X college experience”

or

“Tell me about how (your current work, current project, Project X mentioned in application) is going.

 

-If the interviewer starts with educational or other personal background questions, they are likely to do for a few minutes before switching to asking about professional experience related questions.  Expect 1-3 personal questions before the switchover to professional questions.

-If the interviewer starts with professional related questions, which are often updates at work, they are likely to focus on professional questions for most of the interview and you can expect only a few personal related questions at the end.

 

The primary focus of HBS interviews is on the applicant’s professional experience.   While other subjects are discussed, based on reports I have seen, the vast majority of questions in  all recent interviews was related to professional experience. You still have to prep for the full range of questions, but a great deal of attention should focus on your work experience, your industry, and your company. They want to see your ability to discuss and explain your industry and company beyond your own role. This is an interview that is used to determine your fitness to be an effective participant in the class and hence the focus is content related to how you could contribute your experience in class discussions.

You need to be able to do the following for all of your employers:

1. Explain and evaluate the nature of the business.

2. Explain and evaluate the industry overall and the competition.

3. Explain key concepts related to your industry and role/function.

4. Explain and evaluate your role in each function you held in the company.

 

In other words, you should be able to explain and evaluate the above in a way that would parallel how you might use your knowledge in class at HBS. 

Below is an example set of questions reflecting the above.  We will assume that the applicant has worked at two companies.

“What is the project that you are most recently involved in?” 1-2 followup questions

“Tell me more about your involvement in… another project/organizing recruiting/ supervising a team/ other examples that focus on the applicant’s role. 1-2 follow-up questions.

“How did Covid impact your company and your work personally?” ( I assumed this question would be asked in Round 1 interviews  and I used in some of my prep sessions. It was asked in some of the reports I have seen).

“What is the best part of your job?” 1-2 followup questions

“What have learned about your company as the result of your time there?” 1-2 followup questions

“Who are your company’s competitors?” 1-3 follow-up questions

“Why did you leave your prior employer to join this company?” 1-2 follow -up questions

“When you are at prior employer, tell me more about your involvement in… another project/organizing recruiting/ supervising a team/ other examples that focus on the applicant’s role. 1-2 follow-up questions.

“How would you describe the difference in the work environment between these two companies?” 1-2 follow-up questions

“Can you explain more about X (X is something complex that is at the core the applicant’s work)?”  1-5 follow-up questions

 

What else will be asked:

-Your goals are likely to be asked about but don’t be surprised if you are not asked about why MBA or why HBS. You might be but there is a good chance, you will not be asked that.  So you have to prep for it.

“Where do you want to work post-MBA?” “Why?”

But be prepared for “Why HBS?” or “Why do you need an MBA” (these are both topics you can always bring up if asked if there is anything you want to discuss, see below)

 

–If no personal questions have been asked, you might get something related to your hobbies, interests, or background:

“Why do enjoy doing X?”

“Tell me about your involvement in X activity/group/organization/sport/team.”

“What do you in your free time?”

 

-Typical MBA  interviews questions that are commonly asked but don’t be surprised if you get none of these:

“What are you good at?” (What are you strengths?) or “What is one thing you are good at?”

“What aren’t you good at?” (What are your weaknesses?) or “What is something you want to get better at doing?”

“What is something surprises people about you?”

 

-At the end of the interview, be prepared to be asked if there is anything else you want to discuss or questions you wish the interviewer had asked you. Have possible topics ready for this. Good topics for this:

1. Something you really wanted to discuss but did not a chance to.
2. Why HBS if this was not asked.
3. Discussion about extracurricular activities that highlight something that shows  leadership potential, teamwork skills, intellectual abilities, readiness for HBS, or something else you think HBS really needs to know about you. For example, gaining a new skill or making a big impact in a volunteer activity.

 

Please keep in mind that my discussion above reflects what MBA applicants get asked but for 2+2 applicants the contents will be different because there will be less focus on work experience. I don’t work with many applicants for the 2+2 program so I don’t have enough reports to write this myself. For a description of a 2+2 interview, see here.

 

After the interviewer, you will have 24 hours to write a post-interview reflection.   The prompt is:

“What was the highlight of your interview and why did this resonate with you? Is there anything else you would like to share now that you’ve had time to reflect on your interview?” (300-450 words)

This is your chance to further emphasize a key aspect of yourself covered in the interview.

To best determine what to write about,  I advise my client that  right after their interview they write up a full report on the interview so they know what they discussed and so that we can determine what should go into the post-interview reflection. I suggest you do the same even if it is just for yourself.

The reflection has mandatory and optional parts to it. Optional is really just that, if you don’t have any concerns, don’t create some.  Focus on the main point of the question (discuss a highlight) and thank the Admissions Board, but everything below is really optional.

1. Resonating Highlight; Focus on a specific aspect of the interview that you want to further emphasize. This should be something positive as a highlight is positive. Something that resonates is something that you feel a connection to. For example, if you enjoyed discussing a particular project because it highlighted your ability to make an impact, that could be a good topic. A great conversation regarding your industry or a specific issue might also be the basis for this answer.  (MANDATORY)
2. Address any concerns you have over what you said or failed to say in the interview. Sometimes you think there is something you could have said better better or did not say and want to address it.  (OPTIONAL)
3. Elaborate on issues that you want to highlight that were not sufficiently focused in the interview or application. (OPTIONAL)
4. Discuss something you especially want to highlight to the rest of the HBS Admissions Board even though it was discussed in the interview.  Just keep in mind that they are not asking for you to summarize the interview.  (OPTIONAL)
5. Provide a brief assessment for how you think the interview went. (OPTIONAL)
6. Thank the Admissions Board and your interviewer in particular. (MANDATORY)

 

Essay length for this varies, but I would say 200-500 words is common.

 

Best of luck with your HBS interview! If you want to do interview prep with me, please see here.