HBS Info Session
I attended the Harvard Business School info session in New York today. The session was scheduled from 6pm to 8pm and started promptly at 6:05pm after people had settled down. HBS was kind enough to arrange for some refreshments and snacks considering that people had come after work. One guy had flown in from Lebanon (apparently a 12 hour flight) just to attend this event.
The session was setup in an auditorium on the 12th floor of the Citigroup building and was full for the most part. The admissions committee members gave a powerpoint presentation which talked about the leadership focus, general management education and so on (stuff that most people know). That was followed by a video of campus showing professors talking, students in class and the gym and so on which was packaged pretty well and was nice to watch for the 3-4 minutes it ran. The admissions officer pretty much said the same things as seen elsewhere, be honest in your essays, its about you, tell us your story beyond what your transcript and resume indicate, apply early but only when you feel ready, interviews are mandatory, funding is available, loans are guaranteed, lots of housing options available on campus ...
A career services officer then briefly ran through some placement numbers for the Class of 2005 by job function and location. This was followed by a Q&A session conducted by 5 alums who were present. They talked about what they did before HBS and what they were doing now, underlined the essence of people and study teams at HBS, the strong network. The alums were very friendly and gave crisp but thorough answers to most questions except to some stupid questions like "How long should I prepare before I apply?", "I work in an investment bank in London and studied in the London School of Economics and am a lawer, should I apply to HBS?"
To such questions the alums politely responded with the standard "It depends on your goals and your vision for your career and your life. We cant answer that for you."
Overall, I didnt learn much that I didnt already know from my research on HBS, however the Q&A with the alums was insightful and I could relate to some of the experiences and challenges they brought up that people face at HBS. They were extremely proud of being HBS alums and the loyalty and allegiance clearly showed. After the event, I somehow managed to spend 5 minutes with an admissions officer to ask some application specific questions before she had to run to the next info session at 8:30pm. I would be happier if they had made arrangements for personal time with the alums instead of them taking questions from a vast audience, something that I found very useful at a previous Wharton info session. Today was well worth the trip and I had a good time nevertheless.
The session was setup in an auditorium on the 12th floor of the Citigroup building and was full for the most part. The admissions committee members gave a powerpoint presentation which talked about the leadership focus, general management education and so on (stuff that most people know). That was followed by a video of campus showing professors talking, students in class and the gym and so on which was packaged pretty well and was nice to watch for the 3-4 minutes it ran. The admissions officer pretty much said the same things as seen elsewhere, be honest in your essays, its about you, tell us your story beyond what your transcript and resume indicate, apply early but only when you feel ready, interviews are mandatory, funding is available, loans are guaranteed, lots of housing options available on campus ...
A career services officer then briefly ran through some placement numbers for the Class of 2005 by job function and location. This was followed by a Q&A session conducted by 5 alums who were present. They talked about what they did before HBS and what they were doing now, underlined the essence of people and study teams at HBS, the strong network. The alums were very friendly and gave crisp but thorough answers to most questions except to some stupid questions like "How long should I prepare before I apply?", "I work in an investment bank in London and studied in the London School of Economics and am a lawer, should I apply to HBS?"
To such questions the alums politely responded with the standard "It depends on your goals and your vision for your career and your life. We cant answer that for you."
Overall, I didnt learn much that I didnt already know from my research on HBS, however the Q&A with the alums was insightful and I could relate to some of the experiences and challenges they brought up that people face at HBS. They were extremely proud of being HBS alums and the loyalty and allegiance clearly showed. After the event, I somehow managed to spend 5 minutes with an admissions officer to ask some application specific questions before she had to run to the next info session at 8:30pm. I would be happier if they had made arrangements for personal time with the alums instead of them taking questions from a vast audience, something that I found very useful at a previous Wharton info session. Today was well worth the trip and I had a good time nevertheless.
posted by MBA Pundit at
11:36 PM
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