Harvard Business School (HBS) Admissions Director Dee Leopold shared the details of some changes the school is implementing in its 2+2 Program, a deferred admissions program for promising college students.

Specifically, the program will now include ALL college senior applicants to HBS, meaning that no college seniors without full-time work experience will be admitted to HBS directly. All college applicants will be considered “deferred admission,” that is, a place in the HBS class after two years of work experience.

According to Leopold, there are no hidden messages about HBS strategy in this change. “It’s a mechanical change to bring all college seniors under the same 2+2 umbrella which will enable us to have a cleaner outreach message to this group,” she wrote. 

These changes will take place beginning with the next application cycle, for the 2+2 Class of 2016 Cohort. College students who will graduate between October 1, 2011, and September 30, 2012, can select from one of four application rounds in which to apply:

• Early Round: July 2011 application deadline; September 2011 notification
• Round 1: October 2011 application deadline; December 2011 notification
• Round 2: January 2012 application deadline; March 2012 notification
• Round 3: March 2012 application deadline; May 2012 notification

Leopold added that HBS hopes for each 2+2 cohort to be comprised of half students from engineering and science backgrounds and half representing a wide range of undergraduate studies. She anticipates that the 2+2 cohort size will remain between 100 and 125 students.

For more information on HBS’s 2+2 Program, click here.