HBS Interview: A Complete Guide

Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate B-school of the Harvard University of Boston, Massachusetts. The name Harvard in itself is a glittering nomenclature to be a part of in the realm of academia. Harvard Business School, which offers the best business programs, is not an easy institution to get into, and has an extensive process of applications and interview rounds for students worldwide.

Let us delve into the interview process of an HBS program and the prep that goes on behind it:

Format and Structure
The students who qualify for the HBS interview round are invited either through Skype or called on campus for an in-person interview. The interviews usually last for around 30mins, and are conducted by the Harvard MBA Admissions Board Members who have comprehensively gone over your entire application, studied your profile thoroughly, and curated questions specifically for you. In addition to the interviewer, there is also an observer present in the interview.

What does the Adcom look for?
Most students who get through to the HBS interview round are brilliant, so you have to be the best of the best to qualify the HBS interview process. The adcom is mainly looking for intellectual curiosity, introspection and deep insight into one’s life experiences, authenticity and spontaneity, and essentially a conversational tonality in the HBS interview discourse. The student must be ready to have a free-wheeling discussion on absolutely anything even remotely related to their field of interest; stimulating, thoughtful, and comprehensive discourse is impressive. Just dig deep and make sure each answer is well-thought and richly woven.

Post-Interview Reflection Essay
Although previously, interviews were sort of the last lap of the process and nailing it would give the student some relief, now there is one last step after the interview in itself. This is the post-interview reflection essay, and this essay must be submitted by the student within 24 hours of the HBS interview’s completion. Detailed instructions for the reflection essay are also given to the students.

Thus, the sole binding factor for the student to remember is that the Harvard business school interview process is to unearth the person beneath the stellar academic scores. The adcom’s aim is to dig into the student’s mind, life, and personality and learn about their experiences and potential.

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