Recent Blogs About "Harvard MBA"

There are only a few real rules in writing. In fact, there are so few rules to good composition that the best-ever book on the subject, The Elements of Style, is only 105 pages and tucks tidily into a Kate Spade handbag.

In business writing, and especially in writing essays for business school applications, there’s one big rule above all else: Answer the Question.

Most of you reading this blog have written business memos – even if your boss hasn’t specifically asked you a question, you know there’s a qu…

Welcome to the fourth installment of the Master Admissions 10-Tip Series on Getting into Business School. Now that you’ve started connecting with your inner rock star (and identified how that shows leadership), Tip 3, it’s time to start exploring.

Specifically, you want to start exploring different career paths. Clear career goals are the crux of a strong business school application. Gone are the days when you can tell an admissions professional that you…

Welcome back to the Master Admissions 10-Tip series. In the first tip, I recommended you start early, and in the second tip, I recommended you take inventory. Now it’s time to take the leap to connect with your inner rock star.

Leadership Goes Far Beyond Any Title
Every business school is looking for students who are leaders – and that definition of leadership is very broad. “Leadership encompasses more than managing people,” says the University of Chicago’s Rose Martinelli in her excellent blog, The Rose Report. You may not have had dire…

This is the time I don’t wish on anyone. I’m not talking to the MBA candidate who had their act together, applied first round and just came back from admit weekend. I’m talking about the candidate who applied second round, is pulling her hair out waiting for the drip, drip, drip of interview invitations, or already had the interview and probably didn’t blow it. But we have no information. It’s that feeling of, “Should I have applied third round to other schools?” Or, “Should I have re-taken the GMAT for a fifth time?” Here’s the worst: “Should I refresh the Business Week or Beat the G…

For many students applying to enter business school in the autumn of 2010, there’s nothing left but to wait. Round 2 has passed, but Round 3 still beckons.

MBA aspirants ask themselves whether it is worth it to apply in the third round, because of the widespread assumption that it is a waste of time. The answer? It depends. In my last blog post I mentioned a woman who applied only to Stanford GSB in Round 3 and was accepted. She was a middle-80% candidate, that is, her stats and experience fell within the middle 80% of the GSB profile. So it can happen.

But many students are aim…

It has been a crazy few weeks — application deadlines for the most popular application date “Round 2” have come and gone with one significant exception: Harvard Business School.

Indeed, the flagship MBA program has offered potential candidates an extra two weeks beyond Stanford GSB, Wharton and Columbia. Kellogg’s deadline is January 14, and NYU Stern, which used to be later in the month, moved its deadline up to January 15.

Dee Leopold, Harvard Business School’s director of admissions, put a note up on the admissions blog about HBS’s deadline. She offers some handy tips on essay …

Look at any business school’s website and you will see that the school’s primary goal is to teach leaders. “We educate leaders who make a difference in the world,” proclaims Harvard Business School’s mission page. Stanford’s leaders are “innovative, insightful, and principled.” Wharton says its leadership programs are “the heart of MBA life.”

Business schools want leaders coming in, and even better leaders coming out.
The good news for students applying for a business degree–and particularly for those who are struggling with their essays right now—is that the definition of leadership…

So much going on – coaching first-year students at Stanford Graduate School of Business on their Critical Analytic Thinking papers, advising applicants for Round 1 & 2, planning an essay-writing workshop for the Harvard Alumni Club. It’s exhilarating.

So instead I will turn to my favorite admissions blogger, Rose Martinelli, Director of Admissions at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She reports that it does pay to apply ahead of the deadline at Chicago Booth. That does not mean that it is true in the case of all schools; HBS reps have mentioned that they do not look…

It’s that time of year where MBA schools come to San Francisco. Below is a list of some programs that are coming this way. A few are going to Palo Alto as well. Many will also be at the MBA Tour on September 27 at the Hyatt Regency (Haas, UCLA, Ross, Yale, Cornell). I believe all will be at the Forte Forum on September 21 at the Hilton. Please note that this list is not exhaustive. Please note also that HBS has already come and gone.

(Links below need to be copied and pasted, apologies.)

SCHOOL DATE TIME REGISTRATION & MORE INFO

Columbia 9/8 6:30 – 8…

Last night at the high-ceilinged corporate offices of the Gap in San Francisco, Dee Leopold, head of the Harvard Business School admissions committee, held court with about 150 eager and aspiring students. Dee is particularly impressive, not only because she is head of admissions at HBS, but because she has been in this position for nearly 20 years.

The messages were clear, and she laid out a very specific lesson plan for potential applicants.

Dee talked about the three ways the applications board looks at a candidate: leadership, intellectual capability, and social/non-profit contr…