Following yesterday’s blog posting on the HBS admissions glitch, here is the latest news:
1) HBS sent the following email out to applicants yesterday:
We understand that some users of ApplyYourself, the on-line application and decision notification system we employ, have inappropriately attempted to access decision information about their own applications before the specified notification date. We take this abuse of the ApplyYourself system very seriously. Such behavior is unethical and inconsistent with the behavior we expect from high-potential leaders we seek to admit to our program. We want to assure all applicants, however, that:
- HBS decision information housed within ApplyYourself is neither complete nor final until our application notification dates
- The application information that all applicants and recommenders submitted to us has been, and continues to be, secure
We appreciate your interest in Harvard Business School, and we want to underscore to all our applicants our commitment to make and communicate our admissions decisions in the most rigorous, fair, and secure fashion.
Sincerely,
Brit K. Dewey, Managing Director of MBA Admissions & Financial Aid
Harvard Business School
2) HBS also posted the same message to the Business Week discussion forums, creating a thread entitled “Statement from the HBS Admissions Board“. This thread set off an intriguing discussion with dozens of applicants and observers weighing in on the situation – providing for some fairly interesting reading. There is also another thread in the Wharton student2student forums that is covering this subject.
3) The debate in the MBA applicant community, seems to center on whether or not HBS will/should “punish” those applicants who used the procedure to check their admissions status in advance – or whether HBS should focus the blame on ApplyYourself, the vendor of the admissions software. The following posting makes a case against punishing applicants who attempted to see their result: http://forums.businessweek.com/bw-bschools/messages?msg=61842.62.
4) In other HBS news, the school sent off the following marketing email to all female applicants and prospects (seemingly encouraging visits and R3 applications):
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: HBS MBA Admissions
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 11:04:02 -0500
Subject: Greetings from MBA Admissions
To:
Greetings from MBA Admissions.
If you are new to our application process, you may not know who I am: my name is Alison McCarty, and I am the Assistant Director of MBA Admissions responsible for outreach to women.
I am writing to women who have applied to HBS during Round 2, or who intend to apply during Round 3. This can be an anxious time for those of you in the application process, so I thought it might be helpful for you to have a status update.
We are in the process of evaluating Round 2 applications. As we are finishing reading applications, we are beginning to extend invitations to interview. This process will continue through our Round 2 notification date of March 30, 2005.
Meanwhile, the Round 3 application deadline of March 9, 2005 is rapidly approaching. A brief reminder for Round 3 applicants: all of your recommendations must now be submitted on line. If your recommenders have not submitted yet, please remind them to do so by the round deadline.
We will continue to schedule class visits through April. There are still classes available for visiting next week. If you are planning a visit later in March, bear in mind that our students do have a spring break: try to check early for available dates in March. To plan your visit, please use our scheduling tool at www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/visit.html.
If you have questions about the application process, I encourage you to email mba_questions@hbs.edu. If you have questions about student life at HBS, please feel free to contact our Women’s Student Association officers by sending a message to wsaadmissions@hbs.edu. Courtney and Kelly are happy to share their experiences, and are compiling a list of frequently asked questions which we hope to circulate in March.
With best wishes,
Alison McCarty
Assistant Director, MBA Admissions
Harvard Business School
