HBS Interview Preparation Tips

Congrats to Harvard Business School applicants who received an invitation to interview in early February!  As those interviews are currently taking place from mid-February to early-March, we wanted to provide a snapshot of interview preparation tips from our extensive experience working with HBS applicants.

General Tips:

• Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, HBS interviews have all been conducted via Zoom and will continue to be on Zoom throughout this year’s application cycle.
• The interview length is 30 minutes and they are conducted by an MBA admissions board member, which is a small group of about 25 members who have been thoroughly trained to conduct the admissions interview.
• The admissions interviewer will have reviewed your full application and will prepare specifically for each applicant, which allows then to dive deeper into your application. Consequently, it is important to be able to speak to deeper layers of your academic, professional and personal choices and reflect on those choices.
• Feedback we have received from Admitify clients is that the HBS interviewer asks follow-up questions based on your response to the initial question. See below interview question categories for an idea of where their questions may start; be prepared to provide further detail or perspective after addressing the initial question.
• A mandatory part of the interview process is the Post-Interview Reflection, which is due 24 hours after the conclusion of your interview. The reflection is not intended to be another formal essay, rather think of it as an email you might write to a colleague or supervisor after a meeting.  The Admitify team has extensive experience working on this component with our HBS applicants within the 24-hour turnaround time.

Interview Question Categories:

Academic Background

• Sample questions:
  • Why did you pick your major?
  • What were you looking for in picking jobs after school?
  • What surprised you the most about your college experience?

Professional Background

• Sample questions:
  • What is an example of a business problem at your company?
  • What is something you would do differently if you were the CEO?
  • What are your long-term goals and your dream company or job?
  • Why is your company’s culture the way it is? What could the company do better?

HBS Specific

• Sample questions:
  • How do you hope to be different after HBS?
  • Who do you specifically hope to learn from at HBS?
  • Why do you need an MBA from HBS to accomplish your goals?

Other Questions

• Sample questions:
  • What do you like to do for fun?
  • What else would you have liked to discuss?
  • Anything you would have wanted me to ask you?

If you need support for your HBS interview preparation, contact Admitify today!