HBS CLASS 2011 TAKING QUESTIONS!

HBSClass2011

interview vs. offer 大约是2 vs. 1

superbaby01

2 vs.1 好像是对于整个pool的。对于Chinese student也是这样吗？去年录了那么多，但是没有听说同等数量的人拿到interview却最后没有拿到offer 啊？

HBSClass2011

因为HBS没有单独针对Chinese student发布面试人数和录取人数的数据所以interview vs. offer的比例只能是估计

“听说”的信息在准确性上当然都是要打上一定折扣的 个人不认为这个比例对于中国申请者而言会有太大的出入

crispypeach

Several specific questions, just trying to scheduling the time:

1 I can see that application fee should be paid once we submit application. So how long does it usually take for electronic payment reach B-Schools? Will little delay matter?

2 When do you usually ask testing centers to send iBT and GMAT scores to ensure they can arrive in time. if delay occurred due to system problems, will the application be considered in the next round or AD can forgive several days' postpone?

3 How about transcript. I learned that the school requires us to self-report first. but I wonder whether we still need scanned version during application, and whether we need to mail official ones directly from university upon admission.

Thanks a lot!

HBSClass2011

1 I can see that application fee should be paid once we submit application. So how long does it usually take for electronic payment reach B-Schools? Will little delay matter?

It should be instantaneous and you shouldn't experience any delay in the payment process if your credit card is valid.

2 When do you usually ask testing centers to send iBT and GMAT scores to ensure they can arrive in time. if delay occurred due to system problems, will the application be considered in the next round or AD can forgive several days' postpone?

here comes the answer from FAQ in HBS website (http://www.hbs.edu/mba/faq). I highlighted the part you might be interested.

"What is the latest date test scores will be accepted?

When submitting your application, you must report the unofficial GMAT or GRE score given on the day of the test. This is the only score that the Admissions Board acknowledges. Your official score report may arrive from Pearson (for the GMAT) or ETS (for the GRE) after the deadline dates, and this score will be used for verification purposes. GMAT and GRE scores are valid for five years."

The requirement for iBT is the same: you should at least have the unofficial score to report when you submit your application and the official report can arrive after the application deadline as it's used for verification purposes. Please note that since you need to wait a couple of weeks to get your iBT score after you take the exam so you need to schedule your iBT at least a few weeks before the application deadline.

3 How about transcript. I learned that the school requires us to self-report first. but I wonder whether we still need scanned version during application, and whether we need to mail official ones directly from university upon admission.

again, answer from FAQ:

"How can I submit my transcript?

There are two ways to submit your transcript, either through a self-reporting Excel-based transcript form found within the application or uploading a scanned transcript. Please do not mail a hard copy of your transcript.

You may upload an "unofficial" or student copy of your transcript; however, we will request an official copy for verification purposes should you be admitted to HBS."

[此贴子已经被作者于2009/7/30 12:10:12编辑过]

HBSClass2011

To Crispypeach and all:

When to submit the application is a classic question. HBS won't review the application before the round deadline so you probably don't want to submit your application too soon. But submitting exactly at the deadline day/hour is annoying and risky since a lot of people are doing the same thing so the HBS's server tends to be overloaded and jammed.

HBS Admission Committees are, of course, aware of the last minute traffic problem and have the record of staying a few hours late after 5pm at the deadline day to rescue applicants that couldn't make the 5pm deadline becuase of server delay. But the committees are doing it only because they are nice people and certainly they don't have the obligations keep doing so.

So the good idea is probably to submit the applcation a few days before the deadline and give yourself abundant time and assurance for successful submission.

To keep yourself updated of the application process please follow the admission director's blog

http://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/blog.html

Add the webpage to your favorate, or submit to RSS feed following the instruction in the webpage. That's the place you can get the latest update on whether committees will be able to stay a bit late after 5pm again, and many other valuable information such as director's thoughts on Essays/Recommendation letter quetions, official announcement of the time HBS issues interview invitations, etc. You certainly don't want to miss it if you're serious about HBS.

Hope it helps.

[此贴子已经被作者于2009/7/30 12:52:09编辑过]

HBSClass2011

回复babyland 发到邮箱的问题 （也请大家以后如果不是非常私人的问题的话，都以帖子的形式发出来，你关心的问题应该有很多朋友都很关心的）

1、请问作为被HBS录取的学生，你们认为HBS最需要什么样的学生？最缺乏什么？也就是最希望看到学生带给HBS什么？ 在申请过程中，是否同HBS的前辈们交流过这个问题或类似的问题？他们的看法如何？

每个人对此都会有不同的理解。我个人认为HBS的admission criteria里面已经概括得很好了：

http://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/admissioncriteria.html

也就是三条：a habit of leadership; capacity for intellectual growth; engaged community citizenship.

很多人对于商学院的admission criteria都是一看而过不以为然，认为来来去去说的都是什么leadership,　intellectual之类的大路货。实际上仔细研究下你会发现HBS就会把leadership放在第一点来说然而，比如，Stanford会放在第二点，Stanford的第一点是Intellectual vitality. HBS说leadership会说a habit of leadership而Stanford会说demonstrated leadership potential. 这两个商学院的措辞完全不同，在深入看HBS和Stanford对于每条criterion的解释更是风格迥异。对HBS的理解在网上CD上搜一下都很多，很多帖子都说得很透彻，但是真正要对照联系自己的情况，我认为还是少不了亲自去HBS网站上翻个底朝天，毕竟第一手的资料最真实可靠。
2、大致研究了一下HBS的课程，感觉对finance focus的多一些，但是看普遍的评论是HBS比较强调general management，不知道实际的情况如何？是否有机会从HBS的在校生那里得到过一些指点？

HBS第一年的课程是必修，涉及各个方向，为general management的最好体现；第二年的课程是选修，根据个人兴趣很多方向都有很精彩的课。不知道你为什么会感觉对finance会比较侧重？

crispypeach

请教一道Essay： What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you?

这道题目的要求感觉和其他学校的Career goal还是有区别。不知道是不是应该理解成HBS更希望自己的学生的理想是和民生、民族大义等结合在一起的。

比如说我想做Marketing 的Consulting Firm，这个目标也和以往自己的经历比较相关，有逻辑。但是要撤到民族大义上面就比较困难了，即使我真的有比如投资贫困地区基础建设的愿景，可能找不到以往特别的经历Support。

这个时候应该怎么办呢？是放弃比较有逻辑的Career Goal投身于民族事业？还是说只需要把自己的Goal说的逻辑务实一点就好？如果这个Goal比较不那么的民族大义，是不是也可以考虑避开这道题目？Adcom会Care吗？

谢谢！

Xinking

请教一个托福考试的问题. 我在国内读的本科, 在美国读了2个master degrees(一个是在常青藤), 在美国又工作了1.5年. GAMT 730. 我要不要再考托福呐? 怎么理解strongly encouraged?

学校网站是这么说的: Candidates who received a master's or Ph.D. degree from an English-speaking university are strongly encouraged to submit the TOEFL IBT and/or IELTS.

hbs2008

请教一个re-application的问题。

去年申请了HBS但是没有录取，今年打算重新申请。看了HBS网站上面说re-application的流程好像和第一次申请没有区别的。HBS也没有要求说明今年和去年比你最大的improvement在什么地方。不知道我理解对不对？

今年我提交的四片文章和去年内容大致一样，可能替换掉三个最重要的事情中的一个，然后其他的做一些小的修改，但是主要的故事没有大的改变的。去年TOEFL低于109，今年达到了标准，另外GMAT高了一些。这样可以吗？还是Essay也需要有大的改变，比如换一些故事，或者在Optional的essay里面重新选择两篇或一篇？

谢谢！