Harvard Business School has started handing out R1 interview invitations. As our loyal readers know, Harvard only invites a small percentage (~20-25%) of candidates to interview – ultimately using this small pool to build its incoming class. See our prior posting for details on this process.
For those of you who have been fortunate enough to receive an invitation, it is vital that you prepare accordingly. This is an aspect of the admissions process that is frequently overlooked. We’ve included a partial list of sample questions below in order to help you get ready. For those of you who haven’t yet heard, fear not! HBS will continue sending out invites for several weeks – right into the Christmas holiday period.
HBS Interview Sample Questions
-Tell me about a recent leadership experience since submitting your application.
-What is your leadership style? What qualities should a good leader possess?
-What is your best leadership example?
-What have you learned from good leaders? Who is your hero?
-How do you determine success?
-Why general management? What is your vision for the x industry?
-Why have you chosen to get staffed on x projects at work? How did you accomplish this?
-What other avenues did you consider pursuing after college?
-What is the single most important thing you have learned over the past few years?
-Describe something you have fixed or want to fix at work.
Other HBS Interview Resources
HBS Interview Report (from a Clear Admit client)
More sample questions (from the Clear Admit blog archives)
More HBS interview tips (from the Clear Admit blog archives)
BW Discussion Forums on HBS (a thread to discuss R1 apps to HBS)
Studylink HBS interview discussion (moderated by Clear Admit)
A blogger’s review of his HBS interview
Q&A from last year’s ‘web conference’ on the HBS site
Brit Dewey (BW interview)
Best of luck to everyone who applied to HBS in R1! If you have questions about the interview process at HBS, feel free to post them to our discussion thread on the subject.
