Harvard MBA Deadlines 2025-2026

The Harvard MBA deadlines for the 2025-2026 admissions season are presented in the table below.

The Harvard Business School admissions committee is operating on two rounds of deadlines this year for applicants hoping to join the HBS Class of 2028.

To be considered for a round, applicants must submit their applications (including recommendations) by 12:00 PM Eastern Time on the day of each deadline. Applications received after noon on September 3rd will be considered in Round 2. Those received after noon on January 5th will not be considered at all.

Harvard’s 2025-2026 deadline for the HBS 2 + 2 program, which allows college students to secure a spot at HBS prior to gaining pre-MBA work experience, was April 22nd, 2026.

For the 2026-2027 admissions season, the full-time HBS MBA deadlines will be in September 2026 and January 2027.

Required Materials

The 2025-2026 application will be live in the summer. A complete HBS MBA application usually comprises a complete online application form, unofficial transcripts for undergraduate and graduate coursework (official transcripts are required after acceptance), a valid GMAT* or GRE score, a response to the required essay, a current resume, two recommendations, signed acceptance of HBS policies, and the $250 application fee (the fee for current college students is $100).

Candidates who attended an undergraduate institution where English was not the sole language of instruction must also submit TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE scores to demonstrate English language proficiency.

*From the HBS website: “Note on the GMAT Focus: Writing is an essential component of the MBA program. Therefore, to be admitted to HBS all students must have an official writing assessment. You can satisfy this with a valid GRE, GMAT 10th Edition, or English language test score. If you only submitted the GMAT Focus, which lacks a writing section, HBS will contact you at the interview stage about taking the separate GMAC Business Writing Assessment. If you wish to take the GMAC Business Writing Assessment before knowing your interview status, you will be able to do so beginning July 2024. Because the written application has opportunities to showcase your writing abilities (e.g. essays, short answers), you will not be at a disadvantage if you do not include the GMAC Business Writing Assessment before you are invited to interview.”

When Does HBS Issue Interview Invitations?

Harvard Business School conducts interviews by invitation only. And of course, the admissions committee notes that if invited, applicants must interview to receive an offer of admission. The admissions team notes that MBA interviews are 30 minutes long, and are conducted by an admissions team member who is familiar with the candidate’s application.

HBS does not provide information about when they will issue interview invitations more than a few days in advance. However, we can make some guesses about when candidates might hear based on past applicants’ updates to our MBA Livewire tool.

Looking at the past two admissions seasons, Harvard tends to begin issuing Round 1 interview invitations in the first days of October, and continues throughout that month. Meanwhile, the earliest Round 2 interview invitation reports come through LiveWire in the last days of January or the first days of February, and continue into early March.