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HBS on-campus interview

I just finished HBS on-campus interview today and share with you guys my experience.

I got to the Admissions Office at around 10am and was given a package. Then I and other 4 applicants were brought by a student to a classroom and attended a class. I had a look at the case method by myself and I thought it was good. The atmosphere was vivid and the discussion was heated. (A pretty girl wore a bunny hat and ate bananas in class.) The professor played a guiding role and the students talked for roughly 70% of time.

After class, I took the interview for about 30 minutes. The interviewer didn’t have a list of questions. He only looked at my resume and asked me questions. The interview was a casual friendly conversation, not challenging or pressing as I imagined before. I summarized his questions in following three aspects:

Leadership

How do you think about leadership? How do you implement your idea of leadership? What do you do if you have differences with your teammates or superiors? What’s your long-term career plan back to China?

Contribution

How will you take use of your experience to contribute to HBS? How will you use your lawyer’s perspective in your MBA study? How can you actively participate and contribute to the case study method?

Difficulties

How will you deal with the MBA study since you don’t have a business background? How will you deal with numbers since you didn’t learn advanced mathematics in university?

I started my interview at 12pm and didn’t catch the student lunch. I took the information session in the afternoon. A second year student repeated all the main points same with those on HBS website.

All the questions were closely related with what I said. For example, he asked about my lawyer’s perspective because I said my undergraduate major was law. When I tried to connect my work experience with the case study method, he asked for some details. He also seemed to be interested in my undergraduate extracurricular activities and asked me to prove my leadership potentials from these activities.

My feelings and tips: HBS just wanted to use the interview to know the applicant better. So it is better to pay close attention to yourself and be familiar with your application materials. He didn’t ask why MBA or why HBS? He focused on how I could perform if enrolled. I think it is not necessary to remember some details of HBS and show off how you are familiar with this school. I think it is really important to focus on yourself and find the points where you match with and contribute to the HBS. Moreover, since the first characteristics they emphasize is leadership, it will be useful to stress your achievement in this regard. You needn’t have some leader’s title, but just tell something in which you play a leading role. If you don’t have business background, be prepared to say something that this will not negatively influence your future MBA study.

[分享]Had HBS interview yesterday

Just had my HBS interview yesterday with an alum. I had no time to prepare for this one, as I worked till 11pm on the day before, and was very busy yesterday whole day at work. But I did do the following:

1) re-read my HBS application and reference letters (if you have access)

2) Quickly look up the alum's background - you can normally guess his company name through his email address

3) Anticipate questions and write down key points - I don't like to write out the whole answer as I might forget how to say the exactly

I think the benefit of having an alum interview is that: 1. you will have less competition. The alum will probably interview only 1 or 2 candidates while the adcoms have to do dozens. 2. you have more time and more relaxed. No other interviews are scheduled back to back. But of course, adcom might have more say on the admission than an alum.

hbs shanghai interview share

有点忘记了，俺有些紧张当时：

1.    tell me more about your extracurricular. ( i was confused then because i had detailed them in my essay. )

2.    why choose my major

3.    what makes my college special to me

4.    why not work first but apply directly

5.    why hbs

6.    about my intern

7.    my passion

8.    my favorate book

9.    one person that i admire

10.   what is most important to me

11.   what i am proud of

12.   what makes me special

13.   is there any question that you think i should ask but i have not

14.   do you have any questions for me

HBS Interview (on-campus)

Was pretty nervous so I only had a snack bar, a cafe latte, and a bowl of soup before I drove to the school.  Decided to change in a bathroom there to avoid staining my new suits.  Interviwed with a very friendly lady from the admissions office and felt pretty good about it.  Will have to see what they thought of it.

Questions: (pretty close to the sequence of questions during the interview.  May have reordered one of two of them)

1. Why did you choose the company that you're with (I've only worked at one.)

2. Tell me about your role at work. (specific responsibilities, contributions to the team, and some results)

3. Tell me about a professional setback. (she said anything so I picked a small one and talked about what I did to address it including specific actions)

4. Why do you like developing others.

5. Tell me about a time when you enabled someone else to do their job.

6. How would your coworkers describe you.

7. Tell me about the biggest challenge that you have in leading your team.  (followup question was how do you motivate someone)

8. Tell me about your career vision.

9. Any specific companies that I see myself working at, post graduation.

10. What skills/expertise are you hoping to get out of the HBS education.

11. Difficulties that I might experience because I don't have a finance/business background.

12. In what ways do you see yourself contributing to your classmates' experience at HBS.

13. What do you see as your biggest challenge in a classroom (case-method) environment.

14. Tell me about xyz experience (something I mentioned in my essay).

15. Talked about my class visit and my conversations with HBS students/alums.

16. Anything she hasn't touched on.

17. Questions for her.

18. (don't remember when she asked this) Significant achievements/impacts in my team lead job.

19. (don't remember when either) Questions about a recent award that I got after I submitted the application.

20. (somewhere around the career vision) How HBS can open up my mind and help me find paths that are potentially more suitable for me.

There were a few more follow-up questions based on my answers.  I talked VERY fast (not a good idea but wasn't bad either) so it allowed us to get through a lot (she took 2 pages of notes) in 30 minutes and not allow me any time to feel nervous.  She knew my application very well and came with a list of thoughtful questions.

Probably sat in a weird position and my left leg fell asleep.  I could barely stand straight after the interview and almost fell right down the stairs.  Was really glad that the interviewer walked in front of me and didn't see me struggle down the stairs.

Good luck everyone!

Share Wharton/ HBS interview 2007.3

Wharton Alumni Interview 03/01/2007 12:00pm—12:40pm:

Overall impression: The interviewer didn’t take any note…looks like she considered it more of a required step to check out anything wrong with the applicant if there is. She dressed really casual…while I was sooooooo formal…haha~~

I think I didn’t do things wrong, although sometimes rambled a bit…but pulled myself back to topic quickly always…(I guess I was just too light hearted…didn’t feel even a little bit nervous…bad...). The good part I would think is I was all the way smiling and kept a steady pace and stable voice…fluent and clear in speaking. Yet the bad thing is i also didn't show the outstanding coz she didn't really inspire my interest to talk passionately...all questions were standard...and were not quite challenging. well...so I think the decision will be based on the competitiveness of my whole package.

1.      Walk me through your resume. Emphasize those team work and leadership experience.

Education – in and off-class learning; extra-curricular, what I did and what I learnt; part-time work(sales promotion, xxx internship) She asked about what’s specifically I did for the sales promotion work, what’s the biggest challenge, and where I got the job.

 Then she asked I did internship in xxx, and noticed my first and only company is also xxx. So why I chose to be in the admin. area in the beginning and why I transferred to other function. She then continued to ask how I managed to transfer from admin. Asked about PMI’s structure, Shanghai office structure. How many people I supervise.

2.  Why MBA ---I talked about my background and a little bit of my goal here, then I told her 3 reasons. 

   3.      Why Wharton ---I also gave 3 reasons…then she asked any Wharton alumni you know….haha…..fortunately I do know some…I said one alumnus helped a lot to give insight of the Wharton community….and then we talked about a class my friend doesn’t like….she drilled down to ask which class…

   4.      How to contribute to Wharton

   5.      How I will continue to reach my career goal if I don’t get into an MBA?

   6.      What I want to do exactly in my career xxx, general management or a particular part?

   7.      What kind of challenges I think the manufacturing industry faces ---I mentioned unfair competition….then she immediately asked what I mean by that…..so I gave an example…

   8.      Any question for her.

Application advice from an HBS MBA

I haven't been posting for a while. In all honesty, packing my things and moving to Boston from abroad as well as integrating into the program have been at the top of my list in the last couple of months.

I screened the posts and would like to share with you my two cents. I apologize if I miss out on any questions or comments. Please let me know and I will do my best to respond promptly.

MBA Rankings and surrounding discussions

Does it really matter which school ranks number 1, 2, 3….etc in a given year? I personally found that all schools at the top of any ranking are of high quality, however, each school has a more or less different objective and unique means to reach the desired ends. What was important to me was the following question: “Which school fits best with me given my personal goals?” In my case, Harvard resulted top of my list given my unique personal goals. For some of you out there, another school might suit your goals and personality better. Just give it a moment of thought – does there really exist an overall better or worse school?

Lack of technical expertise

HBS is a general management program. By definition, you will not engage into the deep seas of financial modeling in first semester, and, no-one here expects that. Other programs may put more emphasis on financial modeling - possible. What I have found here at HBS is the following: If you lack a financial background and want to become an investment banker, people take own initiative and acquire skills and capabilities by themselves after class (if not covered in class). Moreover, I believe that no MBA program in this world can spoon-feed you every aspect of everything. So, it is up to yourself – what you put into it is what you get out of it, and, this should not only hold for in-class material.

Some thoughts for Application

I do not claim to have superior knowledge because the entire application is a mere black box for me. However, I believe some of the following pitfalls are common, and that you should give it a thought.

First, don’t take the selling process too far. I know that everybody tries to put together the best possible application – however, if the person you are describing in the essays is completely detached from your real life personality, you might have just overdone it. Think about the following. The interviewer will have read your application before meeting you. If his/her expectations of who you are based on the written application is not at all congruent with the real life Joe – how likely is a positive admissions result ? You might want a friend or someone else read your essays and give feedback on consistency. Choose your person wisely, sometimes friends and family members simply want to be polite – but politeness and bad feedback doesn’t get you anywhere – except in the wrong direction.

Second, avoid mixed messages. Check your application for consistency. Just for sake of illustration an extreme example. If you praise yourself as a superb team player in every setting and your CV shows that your biggest interest are your chemistry lab in the basement of your home, you have taken chess to mastery and you have a stamp collection filling an entire book shelve. Or you claim to be a well balanced Joe, very social, spending a lot of time caring for family and friends, and your CV shows you are an M&A investment banker on Wall Street. There is nothing wrong with that but think about mixed message you might be sending.


Third, too narrow in the picture that you are describing. Be as comprehensive as possible (I know it is not easy given the word limits and the questions). For example, not all accomplishments need to be from work. Consider your professional life to-date covers only 20-25% of your lifetime. There may be aspects from undergraduate or high school that may be relevant. Moreover, choosing 3 partners, MD’s or senior managers as your recommenders is not going to add to creating a more comprehensive application. More information can be provided from a diverse base of recommenders (e.g. one senior manager, a direct supervisor and a peer, or, direct supervisor peer and direct report, etc.)

Fourth, don’t get lost in vague explanations and descriptions. It is both a waste of precious words and very boring to read. Make use of specific examples where you have proven your qualities to back your claims. If you claim something and have a hard time coming up with a good example – chances are high that you aren’t good at what you are claiming or that wishful thinking has set in.

Finally, rushing to meet the application deadline. Start early and take a couple of days/weeks to revisit, revise, consistency check, and polish your application. I personally underestimated this time and really needed to push hard to meet the application deadline. And no, you will never come to the point of saying “this is a perfect essay”. You can always find things to improve – don’t take it too far.

Good luck to all of you. Hope to see some of you on campus next year.

my harvard interview experience

The interviewer was an administrative or admissions staff. She is much nicer than I expected and had a personality. And the interview lasted more than 30 minutes.

The questions I encountered:
Why go to your first job?
Tell me about a time where you failed at your first job
Tell me about a time you helped someone else develop
How do you create accountability and create a strong team?
What part did you play in the ethical concer you mentioned in your essay?
How did the higher ups react to this situation?
How were you involved?
Why did you pick your recommenders?
What do you think your recommenders said about your strengths & weaknesses?
Why do you want to do your major?
Will you start a business?
What motivates you to succeed?
How do you think you are as a contributor to the community?
Anything you wished I had asked?

The air was better than I expected. Hope my experience be helpful to you!

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-10-31 15:49:45编辑过]

Interview Tips for HBS/Wharton/Kellogg

I think all 3 schools (HBS, Wharton, Kellogg) have very different style and focus. I used very much the same essays for all my applications, but I am a very passionate person so i guess none of the school really dislike this quality.

At interview, I "tailor-made" myself to be someone that fits perfectly with their culture (esp if you are interviewing with the adcom). At my Kellogg interview, I focus more on my contribution to community and my involvement at extracurricular at my undergraduate program. At my Wharton interview, I come through as a well-rounded person that knows what my career direction and goals are. Because my goal is to be an entrepernuer, I intentionally discuss a couple of business ideas with my interviewer. At my HBS interview, I make sure I am a very focus and confident person. My answers were very specific to the questions asked. Also I made up my mind on one decision/solution even though it seems like i haven't thought about every aspects of the business. When you use this approach, however, you have to provide very strong supporting on why you pick this decision/solution. Basically, you have to sound very analytical and confident.

In short, you have to slightly modified your style to make you "fit in" to the school culture. This is what "REAL MARKETING" is all about. It's about positioning the product (applicant) to fill consumer (adcom) needs.

HBS 面试经历

我参加的是校友面试，地点在校友家。事先联系了其他的HBS校友，了解了一点关于这位校友的大概情况。他是一位非常资深的人，已经毕业好多好多年了，现在的职位已经是C开头了。之前我还以为45分钟就可以结束了，如南瓜所料，前后我在人家家待了1个半小时。

这位校友看起来很面善，而且气度不凡，而且到底人家是见过大世面的，面试过的MBA，MBA申请人没有几千也大概有几百吧。感觉上不是blind面试，而面试官也没有彻底完全诵读我的申请材料。问的问题不是非常多，但是非常具体。

对于简历问得很仔细，每个职位干什么，管几个人，具体作些什么，都问了。另外主要的问题围绕三个主题来的：

1.       Leadership

2.       Contribution to China after graduating from HBS

3.       Career projections

Leadership

问我认为Leadership 的定义是什么，用几个词语表达表达；举两个Leadership的例子；怎么体现Leadership的；另外面试官自己还解释了对Leadership的理解。

Contribution to China after graduating from HBS

对于中国的形式，中方公司的竞争者等等，问了很多具体的问题，让我分析了一通――这部分还真是没法准备，只能是平时的积累了，就事论事，来招拆招吧。强烈反应了我最真实的想法。面试官应该是听过太多人要毕业回国的故事了，所以，就这个问题比较深入的讨论了一番。

Career projections

这个问题同对中国的贡献是联系在一起的。要找好一个切实的切入点作为今后的道路，不是容易的事情。

普通的why MBA这类的问题，都没有问。倒是聊着聊着其他问题，我说到了这个。

其他还聊到了弱点问题，而且人家还作了记录。

最后那个关于有什么问题可以问面试官的，因为我作过背景了解，所以问了一个相关的问题。让对方有说话发挥的余地吧。

这个校友呢，对于HBS的case method非常赞赏，解释了不少。

总得感觉是还凑合过得去了，前后准备了100个问题，今天被问到的只有2－3个，那些怪模怪样的behavior question都没怎么问到。非常感谢南瓜的帮助，前后讨论申请问题耗费她好多时间。结果如何现在已经不重要，慢慢等待吧。

[分享]HBS shanghai event 素描

不明白为甚么，堂堂HBS居然在那么破的地方开咨询会，为什么不选个Hilton那样的酒店的会议室？连画册资料也不发，主持的大姐的名片居然连她的名字都没有！校友看起来还不错，一共来了七个人。

NO1、 复旦硕士毕业，坦言自己英语不怎么好，当然大家都看出来了。中国证监会背景，现在自己做投资公司。

NO2、 香港人，现在在上海市政协，青联，还是复旦校董，带着一股子位高权重的霸气，连他的幽默感都是充满霸气的。不过说话还算实在。

NO3、英国美女妈妈，孩子六个月时侯进入HBS，以前是医生，现在在高盛。笑起来很漂亮！

NO4、美国人，属于老谋深算型，说话像念经，听不出激情，却让人把握不清底细，特别像是新闻发言人。也许是标准的金融型。

NO5、新毕业的美国小帅哥，太可爱了，坐着的时侯目视前方，面带微笑，双手叠放在胸前，非常有礼貌！在社科院研究小额信贷。

NO6、上海交大的哥哥，以前做汽车的。他和美女妈妈是答疑留到最后才走的，很友好。

NO7、迟到的银行家，脸冻得红红地，也是老江湖型，不过比NO2内敛。

地方虽然破，不过确实来了不少人，鬼佬就占了好大一部分。招生办的大姐讲的都是网上的，没什么新东西，全是特官方的。校友里面有几个敢说的，大姐连说了几个That’s not true… Don’t shake your head. 赫赫！大姐看起来似乎不如有的校友老练，有一个特别奇怪的提问者，站起来就说话，语气充满了质疑，怨愤，说了半天大家也没明白他什么意思。大姐很紧张，连说can we talk later? 倒是那个NO4镇定的回答了几句，很官方的说法，简直像极了发言人。后来我发现那个提问人是个忠诚的HBS fan，就是太过紧张啦，哈哈！

 [分享] HBS Interview Tips

Time: 30min. for Adcom interview, more than 30min for Alumni interview.

HBS Interview Tips:

HBS interviews (like MIT's) are based on your application. Unlike the blind interviews conducted by most schools, the interviewer has read your essays and other material already. They know your application better than you yourself do, So be very well prepared to answer anything that you've put down there
HBS wants to see fit. Have examples of leadership. Know why you want a case-method school. Always think about what they are looking for, what you are offering and what the concrete, compelling - interesting! - link is between you and the institution's needs.

Be ready to respond to any questions about weaknesses or gaps in your application.

Prepare to explain reasons behind your career choices, your motivations, and why you think you can succeed.

They frequently ask questions about what you do in your free time or personal reading.

Be yourself. I think they're looking to put a personality to an application.

Most importantly, remember you are leader, stress that point, No matter what questions she asks, tune your answer to that point.

Focus on preparing examples to answer questions on leadership, strengths and weaknesses and how you will accomplish your career goals. Read your app thoroughly, and if possible talk to your recommenders about what they wrote so you can be prepared to answer questions raised from your app package.

Come up with at least 2 examples of your track record on leadership, failures, achievement, strengths & weaknesses, goals etc.

Be intelligent in anticipating questions, but don't anticipate answers - they must reflect your true personality or you will fail. Don't forget the interview is also a personal interaction besides simply "selling" yourself to the adcom.

Be sure to answer this question, whether or not it is asked: Why would the school be proud to have me as an alumni?

A taste of HBS interview questions:

Prepare at least three questions for the interviewer in case being asked to.

Work/career related:

Tell me about your career. Why you made choices along your career - starting with what choices you had graduation.

When you find your first job, what are the criteria you used and why you ended up choosing the company you are working for now?

Why you chose your undergraduate major? Why Finance?

Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a client and how you resolved it.

Tell me about a time when you dealt with a difficult person at work/client. What did you do?

Tell me about a time when you were challenged at work.

What did you find most challenging dealing with your clients? What’s their problem?

Describe a time you had to implement a change and make your team follow you.

Can you describe to me what you do pretending I’m a lay person?

Why are you good at what you do?

What would be your dream job (if you had no considerations for money etc.)? What would you be doing if you had not taken your current job.

On short-term/ long-term goals. What do you think would be the challenge in reaching your goal?

On a scale of 1 to 10, compared to your peers, rank yourself in analytical ability. In drive? In confidence? In general, being better than people?

What kind of position do you see yourself in 15 years from now?

Looking back today, what is the one career decision that you think was wrong.

How do you maintain your passion in a place that lacks accountability?

Which company did I admire most and why

Ideally what would you like to achieve in your career.

What would I do with my professional career if MBA's did not exist.

MBA related:

How do you think of the application process? What do you learn?

How did you choose your recommenders?

What specific skills do you want to get out of this program (not just generally what will you gain)?

What would be the three things that you would want you future classmates to ask you?

What do you specifically have to bring to the classroom versus the many others who have done private equity and banking? What would you uniquely add to the HBS class?

What can you contribute to HBS, besides coming from China?

Since you applied, what has happened in your life.

How I will use my current skill set in my next career after business school?

What will be the biggest challenge for you in adjusting to life at HBS?

What makes you think that you are prepared for the academic rigors of XXX?

Leadership related:

Questions on leadership at work, leadership out of work, example of conflict.

What do you find about yourself (strengths and weakness) as a leader in your job?

"What leader in history do you admire most". Tell me about a good leader.

Tell me about how you manage teams. When you said you led a team, what exact people you are leading?

How would you discuss your leadership style.. collaborative or direct?

How have you helped someone else to succeed?

Tell me about a leadership experience where you had to depend upon another person/other people for success.

If someone approached me with an idea, would I take the risk of developing the idea if they would not?

Pls describe a time when you meet major setbacks? What’s impact of your failure?

As a junior person, how did you influence your clients?

How do you motivate people senior than you?

Since submitting your application, how have you continued to take leadership roles?

Personality related:

Tell me who you are.

What is a misconception people have when they first meet you?

What do you do in your free time?

Do you think you live in the shadow of your father?

If you can change one thing about your past experience (college, etc.) what would it be. What is something from your past that you wish you would have done differently and why? The experience can be from work, school, other activities, or from your personal life.

Asked a lot about choices I had made in my life. Why did I make the choices I did, what other options did I have, what other choices would I have made if I hadn't made the ones I did.

Who is a client you admire and why?

Describe a time you achieved a goal as an individual.

She asked me what I would ask me if I were in her shoes. What questions you prepared but I didn’t ask?