What To Expect From Your Harvard Business School Interview

by Marquis Parker, Steven Rao, James Hu, David Santos, Frank Tobler, Jeffrey Hu, Michael Medrano, and Brian Nguyen

This chapter is a free excerpt from The Best Book on Top Ten MBA Admissions.

I didn't have the typical interview experience. I didn't fly to Boston, like normal; they actually brought someone out to L.A. to do 10 round one interviews. I was really fortunate because I interviewed on the first day of interviews for round one and I was the second time slot. That meant my interviewer wasn't tired yet, and wasn't sick of random people coming in and saying the exact same thing.

I got lucky because Harvard only sends people from the Admissions Committee, and this guy in particular was not your typical Harvard guy. It turns out half the year he works as a Napa Valley wine grower. He was a Harvard Business School graduate who got sick of working in consulting and so he spends six months in Napa writing wine reviews, and to make sure he has enough money he goes and works the other six months for the Harvard Admissions Committee. He's a part time worker. That makes him a little more relaxed than all the other recruiters.

Right when I walked in he told me to loosen my tie, relax, put my feet up. The interview was really relaxed. Honestly, I think when it comes time for Harvard, and I can't say this for every school, they've already validated that you're smart. They just want to make sure that you aren't a terrible person.

I've heard that 6 out of 10 people who interview for Harvard Business School get in. Of the four that don't, you either don't get in because A) you can't speak English well enough, B) you're extremely arrogant, or C) you're extremely dry. As long as you show you aren't one of those three things, you have a pretty good shot of getting in, generally.

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Want to get into HBS, GSB, Wharton, and other Top 10 MBA programs? Marquis Parker, Jess Wang, and Mike Medrano, all top MBA students, share their secrets!
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