HBS Admissions Essays for the Class of 2015

HBS Admissions Essays for the Class of 2015

Jun, 26, 2012

This is the forth in series of eight posts. My analysis of the HBS Application for the Class of 2015 (and 2+2 Class of 2017) consists of:

1. Changes to the HBS application
2. An overall introduction to HBS
3. Who should apply to HBS?
4. Essays
5. Recommendations
6. Interviews
7. Post Interview Reflection
8. 2+2 Program

My comprehensive service clients have been admitted to the regular HBS MBA for the Classes of 2014, 2013, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2005 and one 2+2 client admitted to the Class of 2014. My clients’ results and testimonials can be found here. In addition to providing comprehensive application counselling on HBS, I regularly help additional candidates with HBS interview preparation. I have worked with a large number of applicants from Canada, Europe, India, Japan, other parts of Asia, and the United States on HBS application. I think that this range of experience has helped me understand the many possible ways of making an effective application to HBS. In the posts in this series, I provide insights based on that experience.

THE ESSAYS
In my previous post I discussed who should apply to HBS.  In this post, I will first discuss the essays initially by considering the three primary stated criteria and one overall consideration that HBS uses in selecting candidates because this will form the basis of a successful admissions strategy. I will then discuss the specific essay questions as well as the brief MBA question that HBS asks in the application form. I then provide some suggestions about how to look at the HBS application as whole. Finally, I provide some writing advice. Be warned, this post is long.  I suggest skimming it first to figure out what you need from it. Since HBS is providing such a short set of essays this year, I figured I should respond in the opposite manner.


Part 1: Four Ways HBS Evaluates Applicants
My objective when working with each of my clients is to help them identify the best content in their essays, resume, interview and other application components to show fit for each school they apply to. My approach is to understand the audience that is being communicated to because the only objective of your application is to communicate effectively to your audience, the admissions committee.
The following table summarizes what HBS is looking for (Diversity, Habit of Leadership, Analytical Aptitude and Appetite, and Engaged Community Citizenship) and the possible places where you can demonstrate these in your initial application (Interview and post-interview not considered below):

What HBS is looking for and how you can demonstrate this in your application

These four core ways that HBS evaluates applicants need to be communicated in your application, but given the very limited essay set this year, it is unlikely that you will focus on all four criteria in your essays.  Below, I will discuss which criteria your essays should focus on. HBS makes their own core selection criteria clear: 
Please read “Who Are We Looking For?”


Diversity
Instead of looking for an “ideal” candidate, HBS invites applicants who bring a variety of skills, accomplishments, and aspirations to form a very special community. To create a dynamic environment that mirrors the breadth and depth of our world economy, we seek diversity. Our promise to our faculty and to every student here is to create a class of 900 students who come from as many different backgrounds and perspectives as possible.
This overall intention to create a highly diverse class significantly impacts HBS admissions’ decisions. The critical thing is that you demonstrate why you are unique and how you will add to the diversity of the class.  In your essays you need to show what makes you stand out.   Especially in the third round and for applicants who are waitlisted, the diversity consideration will greatly impact their overall admissions result.  In the first and second round there is more room for selecting candidates, but by third round and waitlist, it is all a question of rounding out the class to maximize the diversity of the backgrounds and perspectives represented. Especially if you think your academic, personal, professional, and/or extracurricular experiences are not inherently unique, it is very important that your essays demonstrate what makes you stand out. 
Some ways of demonstrating diversity that my clients have used successfully include the following:
-Being the first person or kind of person to do something
-Being the youngest person to do do something
-Making an original contribution to something
-Having an unusual family, academic, personal, or professional background
-Unusual skills or talents
-Extensive international experience
-Receiving prestigious awards or scholarships
-Typically, even post-MBA goals might be used for this purpose, but given the brief space in the application for discussing goals, it will be challenging to do so in this year’s application
Keep in mind that diversity is a matter of interpretation and presentation and it is each applicant’s responsibility to best demonstrate how they will add value to their classmates. One of my jobs as a consultant is always help my clients identify ways that make them distinct even if they think they are not special. I operate on the assumption that everyone is unique.

Habit of Leadership
As I have discussed in my second and third posts in this series, the mission of HBS is to educate leaders.  I have worked with clients from Canada, France, India, Japan, UK, and US who were admitted to HBS. They had a diversity of educational, extracurricular, and professional backgrounds, but were united by one thing: In one or more aspects of their lives, they demonstrated this habit of leadership. HBS takes a very broad view of what they are looking for:
We recognize – and welcome – leadership that may be expressed in many forms, from college extracurricular activities to academic or business achievements, from personal accomplishments to community commitments. We appreciate leadership on any scale as well, from organizing a classroom to directing a combat squad, from running an independent business to spearheading initiatives at work. In essence, we are looking for evidence of your potential.
Even if a set of business school essay questions does not necessarily explicitly ask for you to show your potential for leadership, it should still be accounted for. Leadership is no easy thing. Nor is it obvious. The worst possible thing is to conceive of leadership as simple formal responsibility or a title because this conveys nothing about the person in that position. While some applicants will have held formal leadership positions, many will not. Formal leadership positions are great to write about if they involve the applicant actually having significant impact, making a difficult decision, being a visionary, showing creativity, or otherwise going beyond their formal responsibility, but the same is true for those showing leadership without having a formal title.
If you are having difficulty really understanding leadership, I have a few suggestions:
1. One great place to read about leadership, and business in general, is Harvard Business School Working Knowledge.
If you are having difficulty really understanding leadership, I have a few suggestions:
1. One great place to read about leadership, and business in general, is Harvard Business School Working Knowledge.
3. If you have not done so, I suggest reading relevant essays in 65 Successful Harvard Business School Application Essays: With Analysis by the Staff of the Harbus, The Harvard Business School Newspaper. Reading these essays should help you to understand the great diversity of topics that are possible and not only in terms of leadership.


Engaged Community Citizenship
While “Engaged Community Citizenship” might take the form of leadership, it is quite distinct:
So much of our MBA experience – including the case method, section life, and student-organized events – requires the active collaboration of the entire HBS community. That’s why we look for students who exhibit the highest ethical standards and respect for others, and can make positive contributions to the MBA Program. The right candidates must be eager to share their experiences, support their colleagues, and teach as well as learn from their peers.
HBS and other MBA programs are looking for students who will make a contribution. This really makes sense because of the collaborative nature of MBA education. While professors play an important role in the classroom, students learn from each other on a continuous basis both inside and outside of class. An MBA education is very much one based on relationship building. One of the chief functions of an MBA admissions committee is to select people who will be good classmates. The director and the rest of the committee have done their job properly if they have selected students who can work well together, learn from each other, and if these students become alum who value the relationships they initially formed at business school. Given that two of the major takeaways from an HBS education are the relationships that a student forms during the program and access to the alumni network, HBS is looking for candidates who will fully engage with others.
The essay questions that HBS asks do not require one to directly discuss contributions. Actually in most HBS essay sets in the past, community engagement is not directly requested. I would argue, in fact, that even if a school does not ask an applicant to tell them what he or she can contribute, the applicant should make that clear in the essays by showing clearly the ways one has added value to others, teams, organizations, projects, etc. Interviews are usually a further opportunity to discuss how one will make a contribution.   It is important to show engagement with others in your essays, in your interview, in your post-interview essay, in your application, and in your resume.  You should also make it a point to get your recommenders to discuss how you add value to the team, to whatever “community” (A workplace is a community) they worked with you in.
Engagement in a community may take many different forms.Over the years, I have found the following types of activities to be very effective for MBA applications:
-Volunteer or social activities at work, whether it is actually organizing them or participating in them.
-Volunteer or social activities at school, whether it is actually organizing them or participating in them.
-Volunteer or social activities outside of work or school, whether it is actually organizing them or participating in them.

-A volunteer activity related to your post-MBA goals

-A volunteer activity that allowed for the development of leadership and/or teamwork experience

-A volunteer activity that put you in contact with people who are quite different from you in terms of nationality, income level, and/or educational background
-An international volunteer or social activity
-Active involvement in an alumni organization
-Active participation in a sports team
-Active political involvement (Not just voting or knowledge of politics, but actual activities)
-Participation in an orchestra, band or other musical group
-Participation in drama or dance
-Organizing trips or other activities for a group of friends
-Serving as the leader, organizer, or active member of a team-based educational activity such as a seminar, project, or overseas trip
The above are just some possibilities.
Some people will no doubt worry that they lack extracurricular activities to demonstrate such community citizenship, but in my experience there is always some way to demonstrate this. Part of my job is to help my clients identify such activities and communicate about them effectively.

Analytical Aptitude and Appetite
Harvard Business School is a demanding, fast-paced, and highly-verbal environment. We look for individuals who enjoy lively discussion and debate. Our case and field-based methods of learning depend upon the active participation of prepared students who can assess, analyze, and act upon complex information within often-ambiguous contexts. The MBA Admissions Board will review your prior academic performance, the results of the GMAT or GRE, and, if applicable, TOEFL iBT and/or IELTS, and the nature of your work experience. There is no particular previous course of study required to apply; you must, however, demonstrate the ability to master analytical and quantitative concepts.
As I discussed in the previous post in this series, HBS is a highly competitive and challenging academic environment. It is not for anyone.  “Analytical Aptitude And Appetite,” what can more generally be thought of as academic potential, will be very easy for some candidates to demonstrate without ever writing an essay on the topic. You must demonstrate your analytical intelligence somewhere in your application. Yes, a solid GPA and GMAT are enough for that purpose, but if you think your academic record and GMAT are weak, I do suggest demonstrating your high analytical aptitude and appetite in your essays. Also, whether you address your analytical abilities in your essays, for most applicants, it would also be very useful to have one or more recommenders discussing this.
Some effective ways to demonstrate analytical intelligence include the following:
-Solving a complex problem at work, school, or elsewhere
-Discussing the successful completion of complex analytical tasks
-Breaking down a complex problem that you solved and communicating it a very brief and clear way
– Demonstrating great personal insight into ones weaknesses, failures, and/or mistakes
-Showing the ability to learn from weaknesses, failures, and/or mistakes
-Showing the ability to learn and master something highly complex
-Demonstrating a high level of creativity
Some effective ways to demonstrate analytical intelligence include the following:
-Solving a complex problem at work, school, or elsewhere
-Discussing the successful completion of complex analytical tasks
-Breaking down a complex problem that you solved and communicating it a very brief and clear way
– Demonstrating great personal insight into ones weaknesses, failures, and/or mistakes
-Showing the ability to learn from weaknesses, failures, and/or mistakes
-Showing the ability to learn and master something highly complex
-Demonstrating a high level of creativity




Part 2: The Two Required Essays

• T Tous les jours à tous points de vue je vais de mieux en mieux

(“Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better”)
–Émile Coué de la Châtaigneraie
When I read these essay questions- 
Tell us about something you did well. 
Tell us about something you wish you had done better. 

-they made me recall the above mantra-like statement that Coué used as part of his method of optimistic autosuggestion. As an optimist, at least I try to be one, I have loved this quote since learning it when I was in high school. I think these questions are written with the same underlying optimism as Coué’s mantra because they based on the idea of continuous improvement. HBS is a place for promising people to become better.  This year, HBS is asking applicants to very open-ended questions that reflect this spirit.  Actually, I think anyone (including your grandmother and a relatively intelligent five-year old) could answer these questions.  In past years, HBS has asked questions that simply were more specific and that could prove difficult to answer. In past years, applicants had to provide many stories/examples/anecdotes in their essay set. For example, last year, applicants had to write about 3 accomplishments and 3 setbacks and that was only in the first two out of four essays!  If you are applying this year, you are lucky because you only need to write about two situations. Just make sure they are your best stories!  And remember that you are writing stories that need to be easily understood by your readers.  



Tell us about something you did well. (400 words)

This is your best accomplishment essay. It should be that accomplishment that best demonstrates your leadership, community engagement, and/or analytical strengths. It might also demonstrate what makes you unique and will add to the diversity of the class. It needs to be a story that help admissions really understand you beyond what they have read in your resume and application form.  It needs to be story that shows you at your best.  Keep the following in mind:

Something I did well: Brainstorming and Strategy Grid

(To use the above table for yourself, simply copy and paste it. I checked it on both Google Docs and MS Word and it works.)

Tell us about something you wish you had done better. (400 words)

In prior years, HBS has asked applicants to write about their failures, mistakes, and setbacks. Except for the Class of 2014 application where applicants had to write on three setbacks, applicants have usually had to just write on one topic. The same is true this year.  What is nice is that the question itself is very open-ended.  What is difficult about the question is that it is open-ended. To help you overcome the difficulty, I think it is worth considering some of the two basic types of situations that you might write about it:
1. A successful situation where you could have done better. I think it is important to understand that you might very well discuss a situation where you basically succeeded, but where there was significant room for improvement. It is important to remember that you need not write about a total failure type situation. In this type of essay, you would want to identify what you did right and what you could have done better, explain why you could have done it better, and then you might also provide an example of subsequent time when you did it better.
2. An unsuccessful situation. You may have failed completely or only partially, but the situation is clearly not one where you performance was effective. This is the classic failure, mistake, or setback essay. In this type of essay, you would want to explain what you could better and why. 

Now that we have discussed the essay questions and also considered the core criteria, it is time for you begin selecting content. The table below can be used for determining what part of your application will cover each of the four core criteria.

(To use the above table for yourself, simply copy and paste it. I checked it on both Google Docs and MS Word and it works.)

In the next post in this series, I discuss the recommendations.