Harvard Business School MBA News

Published: October 14, 2019

Updated for 2019-2020! Clear Admit Interview Guides and Bundle Pricing

Whether you’re flying to campus now for an applicant-initiated interview, or practicing til perfection while anticipating an invitation, don’t wait to download the Clear Admit Interview Guides to ace your MBA admissions interview. Read more

Published: October 8, 2019

MBA News You Need: HBS Impact Investing Course, Yale SOM Women in Business, Berkeley Haas MBA Career Preparedness, and More from Dartmouth Tuck and UW Foster

Each week we collect all the MBA news that’s fit to print and provide a quick overview of the latest updates from top business schools around the world. Here’s your MBA News You Need digest for the week of October 7, 2019. Inside an HBS Course on Impact Investing Vikram Gandhi poses in an undated handout photo provided by Harvard Business School in Allston, Massachusetts, U.S. Susan Young/Handout via REUTERS. Impact investing is just one of several innovative courses Harvard Business School has added to its curriculum. Senior lecturer and Asha Impact founder Vikram Gandhi put together the course, “Investing in the 21st Century: Return, Risk, and Impact,” to teach the next generation about incorporating positive values about the environment, society, and government into investment decisions. “There has to be a way to do good at the same time as investing,” said Gandhi. “This is not about creating less wealth or making poor investments. You can make a difference and also bring in returns. Financial return is critical, but social and societal returns are equally important.” The course exposes students to the SPDR SSGA Gender Diversity Index ETF, going in-depth into the players, and how stock is aggregated. Other topics include financial monitoring and the evolving field of impact investing. To learn more, check out the interview with senior lecturer Gandhi on Reuters.com. Yale SOM Women in Management Club As part of welcoming the new Class of 2021, Yale SOM hosted a “Club Kick-Off Week," during which the Women in Management Club (WIM) gathered more than 100 students. One of the fastest-growing clubs at the school, WIM is a social and professional support network for women with the goal to unite students of all gender identities under a common cause: equal opportunities for all. WIM is a vast club overseen by more than 10 officers, which offers a diverse range of opportunities. There are committees on a wide array of topics, including alumni relations, professional development, admissions, diversity and inclusion, and more. Those committees span the entire university and overlap with the Celebrating Women at Yale initiative. Read more

Published: October 6, 2019

Top HBS MBA Interview Tips from Actual Interviewees

We know that many of you Class of 2022 hopefuls are eagerly awaiting your interviews with the Harvard Business School (HBS) admissions committee. To help you prepare, we’ve rounded up the top interview tips from experienced candidates, as reported in the Clear Admit Interview Guide. You can thank us—and them—by paying it forward and submitting reports of your own after you interview. Whether on campus, via Skype, or in any of several global hub cities, HBS interviews are all “non-blind,” meaning the adcom members conducting your interview will have fully examined and be familiar with your application. Let’s see what sage advice last year’s class passed on. Read more

Published: September 30, 2019

Real Humans of Harvard Business School’s MBA Class of 2021

In this edition of Real Humans, we are pleased to introduce a handful of MBA students who each earned a coveted spot in Harvard Business School’s Class of 2021. While this year’s Round 1 MBA applicants anticipate interview invitations, let’s get to know the latest set of students who made it through HBS’s highly selective admissions process. The MBA program at HBS received 9,228 applications last year, and 938 of that group matriculated this fall. The large class size at HBS supports diversity of Read more

Published: September 25, 2019

HBS MBA Interviews: When to Expect Round 1 Invitations

Harvard Business School has announced that Round 1 interview invitations will roll out on one day this year, instead of the typical two waves. The special date? Tuesday, October 1, noon Eastern Time. Based on the announcement in the Direct from the Director blog, Round 1 candidates may be invited to interview, waitlisted or dinged. Those invited to interview may then view available dates, times, and locations for interviews, but have to wait to sign up for interview slots until October 2 at 10:00 a.m. EST. Read more

Published: September 25, 2019

Admissions Tip: Understanding the MBA Admissions Interview – Part II

This is the second in a four-part series on the MBA admissions interview. You can view Part I here. Okay—now that you’re clear on open interviews and interviews by invitation, let’s get into some of the finer points. What’s this about blind versus non-blind interviews, you ask? Some schools believe strongly in the notion of blind interviews, which means that your interviewer will know nothing about you in advance of the interview other than what appears on the résumé you give them. Schools that fall firmly into this camp include Yale School of Management (SOM), Columbia Read more

Published: September 24, 2019

Chicago Booth Lands Top Honors on Forbes Best U.S. Business School Ranking

For the first time in Forbes’ history of ranking U.S. business schools, the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business took the number one spot. Booth’s meteoric rise followed the same path as Wharton did in the last ranking—both jumped from 7th to 1st in their respective rankings, and Wharton was also new to the leading position. Forbes’ biennial ranking focuses primarily on return on investment for MBA graduates. The organization surveyed more than 100 schools and 17,500 alumni from the Class of 2014 regarding their pre- and post-MBA compensation, career choice, and location. Responses received from 25 percent of those alumni determined schools’ ranks in terms of five-year MBA gain, which Forbes defines as “the net cumulative amount the typical alumni would have earned after five years by getting their M.B.A. versus staying in their pre-M.B.A. career.” They did exclude programs if their response rate was under 15%, or if graduates actually lost money after five years. (In 2017, there were 100 schools in the ranking; this year, there are only 61.) Booth landed top honors with a $94,400 five-year MBA gain, coming in $3,600 above the next highest school, Stanford GSB. While Stanford GSB’s Class of 2014 grads reported the highest total compensation of any other school—$250,000 five years post-MBA—the high cost of living in the Bay Area affected their net gains. Meanwhile, Chicago Booth’s Class of 2014 reported reaching an annual salary of $245,000. Two thirds of the Booth class had entered the lucrative fields of finance or consulting, with McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Accenture and Amazon scooping up most graduates. Read more

Published: September 19, 2019

CBS, HBS, INSEAD and More Meet to Discuss Diversity in Management Education

For today’s business world, “diversity” isn’t just a buzzword; it’s the reality. Firms are increasingly creating international teams, pushing for gender and racial balance, and advancing LGBTQ equality. That’s why leading scholars from ten of the top business schools in the world—including INSEAD, Columbia Business School, NYU Stern, and Harvard Business School—came together to have an in-depth conversation around the importance of diversity in management education. Read more

Published: September 12, 2019

Fridays from the Frontline: Expanding My Worldview Through HBS’s FIELD Global Immersion

First-year Harvard Business School MBA students take part in the FIELD Global Immersion course. Over the course of a semester, they work with a global business, which has a product or service issue to solve. Students are expected to choose a city or country they do not have prior experience with, and the course culminates in a weeklong visit to the business. There are so many reasons the study abroad component has become indispensable to the MBA education. To study abroad is an opportunity to understand–as current HBS student Reggie Smith wrote in a recent blog post–how to “innovate in the globally competitive 21st century economy.” Read on for a first hand account of the FIELD Global Immersion at HBS. The following piece has been republished in its entirety from its original source, HBS Blog MBA Voices. Expanding My Worldview Through HBS’s FIELD Global Immersion by Reggie Smith '20 Eight of us (six HBS students, a translator, and a driver) packed into a nine-passenger minivan for a winding drive through the bustling streets of Seoul. Our driver navigated us to a small office building as child-like anticipation grew in the van. The building was very clean and felt sparsely populated. We hopped in a small elevator and quickly arrived on the 7th floor. The open office floor plan had six rows of computers with the company’s CEO and the newest hire sitting practically shoulder to shoulder. We soon realized we had just stepped into the “Silicon Valley” of Seoul. Read more

Published: September 11, 2019

HBS MBA Round 1 Interview Invite Timing

If you clicked “submit” last week on your Harvard Business School MBA application, congratulations! Getting all of your admissions materials together and making the best first impression can be challenging. Now, you’re likely anxiously awaiting the next step in the process: an interview invitation. We are here to help you figure out the likely timing of Round 1 HBS interview invitations, based on our MBA LiveWire admissions tool and other historical trends. Read more

Published: September 2, 2019

MBA ApplyWire Spotlight: What Do I Need on the GRE?

We are back for another edition of MBA ApplyWire Spotlight, a series that highlights entries from MBA applicants as shared in Clear Admit’s MBA ApplyWire. This week, we highlight an MBA applicant with diverse international experience who sought advice on the GRE. Read on for more detail from a candidate considering Harvard Business School, INSEAD, London Business School, Stanford GSB, and UPenn / Wharton. Clear Admit’s resident expert, Alex Brown, opened the conversation: Read more

Published: August 25, 2019

Admissions Director Q&A: Chad Losee of Harvard Business School

It's hard to believe that the Round 1 deadline for Harvard Business School is next week! Before you submit your application, you'll want to read our Admissions Director Q&A with Chad Losee, the Managing Director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid. He walks us through the life of admissions, new and exciting developments at Harvard, the interview process and more. Losee applied to business schools in the Fall of 2010 and feels grateful to have been admitted to HBS. While a student at HBS, Losee developed his interest in higher education leadership as an admissions ambassador, through an internship in a university president’s office, and by completing a one-year fellowship at HBS after graduating in 2013. Losee remembers vividly what it feels like to go through the process of applying to business school. He and his team aim to make applying to HBS as simple, fair, and transparent as possible for all applicants. Read on for some rich details about the MBA program and more. Clear Admit: What’s the single most exciting development, change, or event happening at Harvard in the coming year? Read more

Published: August 19, 2019

MBA ApplyWire Spotlight: From the Navy to Investment Banking

A common goal among those planning to pursue MBA is changing careers. In this MBA ApplyWire Spotlight, we highlight a recent entry in Clear Admit’s ApplyWire from an MBA applicant hoping to transition from the navy to investment banking. As they plan to apply to Berkeley / Haas, Columbia, Harvard Business School, Stanford GSB, U. Chicago Booth, and UPenn / Wharton, they had some concerns that our community helped to ameliorate. Read on for the details. A community member kicked off the conversation: Read more

Published: August 13, 2019

MBA News You Need: Harvard and Yale Talk MBA Applications, Financing Tips from Tuck, and More from Ross and Darden

Each week we collect all the MBA news that’s fit to print and provide a quick overview of the latest updates from top business schools around the world. Here’s your MBA News You Need digest for the week of August 12, 2019. Read more

Published: August 12, 2019

MBA ApplyWire Spotlight: Family Business

It’s a family affair in this edition of MBA ApplyWire Spotlight, as we highlight a recent entry in Clear Admit’s ApplyWire. This week, we take a closer look at feedback for an MBA applicant with a background in family business, but hoping for a future at Dartmouth / Tuck, Georgetown / McDonough, Harvard Business School, or London Business School. Read on for the details. Our resident admissions expert, Alex Brown, addressed the issue of timing and brought up some other facets: Read more

Published: August 7, 2019

Episode 44: Insights into Harvard’s New Joint Degree, MS/MBA Biotechnology – Life Sciences Program

As Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria said, “The world needs more leaders able to bridge science and business.” The new joint MS/MBA Biotech: Life Sciences Program at HBS and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences aims to develop such leaders. During the program, students will learn to build business models to support scientific discoveries and development, to lead science-based organizations in research culture and organizational behavior, to make investment decisions to improve access to therapeutic services, and much more. So, what inspired Harvard to launch this—only its second—MS/MBA joint degree? Who should apply for this program instead of solely the MBA? What are the admissions requirements? What will the coursework be like? What are the potential career paths for MS/MBA Biotech grads? Read more

Published: July 29, 2019

MBA ApplyWire Spotlight: Needing the Numbers and More

As MBA hopefuls consider their chances at the leading business schools, many are posting to Clear Admit’s ApplyWire, an admissions tool for feedback on candidacy, school choice and more. This week, we shine the spotlight on two candidates. The first has some room for improvement with their academic stats while applying to Berkeley / Haas, Columbia, Michigan / Ross, NYU Stern, UCLA Anderson, USC / Marshall, and Yale SOM. Read on for the details. Resident expert, Alex Brown, took the stage, so to speak: Read more

Published: July 24, 2019

MBA News You Need: Non-traditional MBA Candidates Should Be Optimistic, Berkeley Haas on Global Leadership, Meet HBS Pride, and More from UT Austin / McCombs and Cornell / Johnson

Each week, we collect all the MBA news that’s fit to print and provide a quick overview of the latest updates from top business schools around the world. Here’s your MBA News You Need digest for the week of July 22, 2019. Non-traditional MBA Candidates Should Be Optimistic Non-traditional MBA candidates without undergraduate business backgrounds are often accepted to leading business schools, according to Vanderbilt Owen's MBA admissions committee. Whether your background is in the military, Peace Corps, Teach for America, or performing arts, non-traditional candidates have become more commonplace in many MBA programs. The truth is that business schools want a balance of candidates and appreciate a diverse array of perspectives. “I think by having people who have not been steeped in in corporate America—it’s really helpful to have outside perspectives,” said Rob Schickler, Associate Director of Admissions at Vanderbilt Owen. “The more diversity you have, the more groupthink can be avoided.” So, how do you ensure that as a non-traditional candidate you have the best chance of getting accepted into an MBA program? Read more

Published: July 15, 2019

MBA News You Need: New MBA Scholarships at LBS, Tuck Announces Interview Dates, HBS Recommends Summer Podcasts, and MIT Sloan Introduces New Faculty

Each week, we collect all the MBA news that’s fit to print and provide a quick overview of the latest updates from top business schools around the world. Here’s your MBA News You Need digest for the week of July 15, 2019. London Business School Announces New Full-Time MBA Scholarships Basant Kumar Birla, eponym of the BK Birla Scholars Program Kumar Mangalam Birla, Aditya Birla Group chairman and London Business School alumnus, has gifted his alma mater with a £15 million endowment, the largest endowed scholarship gift to a European business school. The program recognizes high-achieving MBAs who demonstrate leadership potential and honors the legacy of celebrated industrialist, philanthropist, and pioneer Basant Kumar (BK) Birla (1921–2019), who viewed higher education as a fundamental right for everyone. The eponymous BK Birla Scholars Program will fund 10 full scholarships for five full-time MBA students from India and five from the rest of the world. To be eligible, students must rank in the top five percent of the class, beginning with the cohort starting in the Fall of 2019. “It is an incredible gift to be able to honor B.K. Birla’s memory with this prestigious scholars program,” said François Ortalo-Magné, Dean of LBS. Read more

Published: July 15, 2019

MBA ApplyWire Spotlight: A Path of Entrepreneurship

With the 2019-2020 Round 1 and early admissions deadlines on the horizon, many MBA hopefuls are posting to Clear Admit’s ApplyWire, a platform for feedback from our community of top-tier applicants to help inform your final choice of schools and approach to admissions. This week, we take a closer look at an experienced entrepreneur interested in Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Stanford GSB, U. Chicago Booth, and UPenn / Wharton: Clear Admit’s resident expert, Alex Brown, kicked off the conversation: Read more

Published: July 9, 2019

Amid Burgeoning Online MBA Programs, Why Build? HBS Dean Discusses Value of Physical Campus

As the world increasingly moves toward the digital, why is it essential to invest in physical spaces? HBS Dean Nitin Nohria Last fall Harvard Business School opened its newest building Klarman Hall. It’s a gigantic space that joins several recently opened facilities, including Tata Hall and the Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center. These three buildings constituted a significant upgrade for the HBS physical campus, but was it necessary? According to HBS Dean Nitin Nohria, the answer is unequivocally yes. “I believe the buildings that make up our campus are more than just physical structures,” she Read more

Published: June 25, 2019

MBA News You Need: Harvard Launches Joint MBA/MS, Duke Fuqua Updates MBA Application, New Master’s at Yale SOM, and More from UCLA Anderson, and Michigan Ross

Each week, we collect all the MBA news that’s fit to print and provide a quick overview of the latest updates from top business schools around the world. Here’s your MBA News You Need digest for the week of June 24, 2019. Read more

Published: June 20, 2019

Fridays from the Frontline: What I Did Differently Before Reapplying to HBS

The MBA admissions process can be a humbling one. Many applicants to elite MBA programs seemingly tick all the boxes—an excellent undergraduate GPA, high GMAT score, robust work experience, poignant essays—but may still face rejection. However, one round of dings does not need to completely dash one's dreams—re-applicants often find success in subsequent admissions cycles, usually after a period of self-reflection and action to improve their candidacy. This week, we hear from current HBS student Arman Keshani, who shares his experience of getting rejected by Harvard and then taking steps to re-apply successfully. The following piece has been republished in its entirety from its original source, the HBS Blog. Read more

Published: June 18, 2019

MBA News You Need: New Stanford Toolkit for Entrepreneurs, HBS and SEAS Add Financial Aid for Joint MBA Students, Darden Summer Internships, More from Haas and Tuck

Each week, we collect all the MBA news that’s fit to print and provide a quick overview of the latest updates from top business schools around the world Here’s your MBA News You Need digest for the week of June 17, 2019. Read more

Published: June 11, 2019

MBA News You Need: $10M HBS Gift, Tuck Admissions Updates, Ross MBA Road Trips, and More From Kellogg and McCombs

Each week, we collect all the MBA news that’s fit to print and provide a quick overview of the latest updates from top business schools around the world. Here’s your MBA News You Need digest for the week of June 10, 2019. Read more