In a post to her blog, Harvard Business School (HBS) Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Dee Leopold informed anxious Round One applicants that 750 invitations to interview went out yesterday. Her office will extend a total of around 850 invitations by the January 21st notification date for Round One, she continued.

“I can’t predict when this additional 100 invitations will go out nor to whom,” she wrote. Candidates who receive later invitations may not have extensive options to interview in hub cities, she noted, but HBS will do all it can to try to schedule convenient interviews.

Review of written applications will continue up through the January notification date, and the Admissions Board will continue to discuss cases throughout that period. Leopold anticipates that an additional 100 Round One candidates who have not received invitations to interview will be offered places on the wait list in January. These candidates may be invited to interview as their cases undergo further consideration.

“We are trying to be as transparent as possible about this anxiety-producing process,” Leopold wrote. “I hope I am clear in my continued message that this is a ‘selection’ process designed to bring a talented and diverse mix of students into the classroom,” she continued, adding that HBS receives many more qualified candidates than it can admit.

This year’s approach differs rather dramatically from prior years at HBS.  First, the school is being a lot more transparent about the number of invites and overall timing/mechanics of the process.  Second, the fact that HBS has released the bulk of the invites on a single day departs from their past approach of letting the invites trickle out in smaller batches.  From where we sit, both of these developments are extremely positive, as this blog has long been a major advocate of transparency in MBA admissions.

Our congratulations to the lucky 750 applicants who received interview invitations yesterday. For those still waiting to hear, stay positive! Best of luck!

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