HBS 哈佛商學院 Taking questions

[mackill]

Dear friends,

又到了第二輪的申請旺季，記得當初申請HBS的時候相關資料和學長姐都不多，提供大家一些關於哈佛MBA的第一手經驗，希望大家不要因為台灣學生不多而放棄申請，哈佛需要更多努力務實的台灣同學！

1) General Management Focus
在HBS大部分的課程都是以總經理或部門經理的角度出發，以個案分析的方式切入相關的主題和架構。另外大概80%的同學都有擔任總經理或創業的中長期目標。

2) Highly interactive learning method
100%個案教學，每天課前必須準備兩到三個不同產業的公司個案，自行分析並且擬定解決方案，在80分鐘的課堂上和90位同學討論／辯論／分享。在過程中有很多機會重新考慮自己的方案並且提出別人沒有想到的論點或看法，最後過濾出真正有用的知識。除了可以＂知其然且知其所以然＂之外，對於英語溝通和表達都是非常好的訓練。

3) Outstanding and close-knit community
雖然每年收900個學生，但是分成10個section，第一年90個人全部一起上必修課，就像90個人的小學校一樣可以搞的很熟，除了每天上課在一起之外，還有很多課外活動，要感情不好也難。另外教授也很優秀並且充滿實務經驗，也很願意在課業或未來就業上幫助學生找方向。

這三點是我感覺最強烈的特點，如果大家有其他的問題，我也會盡量回覆。

另外，十二月底我和一年級的同學們回台灣也會主辦HBS info session in Taipei, 有興趣的朋友請email: hbs.taiwan@gmail.com，附上您的中英文姓名, email和連絡方式，我們會確認時間地點並回信給各位！

希望大家都申請順利成功！

[appliedbio]

以下是我在Chasedream看到的文章
和各位分享一下

[轉貼自chasedream論壇]
I recently attended the on-campus info session (offered daily at 4pm, I think) and thought I'd share a few interesting things I heard. The discussion was probably 75% about the admissions process. Most of the attendees were applying in Round 2. There was one adcom member there to answer questions.

- Interview invitations for R1 will continue to go out up until January 16th, but will slow down now that they are busy conducting interviews in addition to reading applications.
- When you submitted makes no difference on when you get read. Even if you submit 2 weeks early it doesn't get printed until the day after the deadline, and it's random printing order.
- Interesting: interviews are typically a "we like you and want to confirm if you are a good fit" or "we think you're a good candidate but we have some questions about undergrad/work experience/etc".

She also reiterated that the three things they're looking for in a candidate are:
1. Habit of leadership
2. Intellectual capacity for growth/intellectual curiousity (I can't quite remember how she worded that)
3. Evidence that you will contribute to the HBS community and quite specifically, are you the type of person that others will want to be around.

Finally, I'll add that I completed my interview and it was far easier than I'd thought it would be. For weeks I felt like I should be preparing, but ultimately that wasn't really necessary - just be familiar with your application (they said the same thing at the info session). I felt like the interviewer and I had a rather informal discussion and none of her questions were tough to answer, and no odd ball questions like "what book are you reading right now" or "what would you do with 20 bricks". She had handwritten notes of questions to ask, and those were entirely focused around my work experience. Most were "tell me more about this..." and I had only one "tell me about a time when..." which was easy to answer. I also came away feeling like she had truly valued my time and enjoyed talking with me....they're good at this! :)

I strongly recommend the HBS tour and info session no matter what part of the process you're in. I found that I learned a lot more than what I'd read on the website and was surprised by how open and candid they were in the info session.

Best of luck to everyone! It really does sound like there are still plenty of interview invites still to go out...

[specky]

Very useful info appliedbio. I"ll wait for the invite (if any) patiently......

[mackill]

thanks appliedbio,

the description about interview is quite consistent with my experience,
the interviewer had specific question about my working experience and she'd like to get more data points out from me.

i wasn't even asked the question of "why HBS, why MBA"...

and i think class visit can be really helpful, please come and join if you have time.

[Ivy-Canada]

你好, 我想請問一下, HBS有一篇essay是問 "What global issue is most important to you and why?". 這篇文章admin是希望看到我的analytical skills to explain why something is important to me 還是希望看到if I did something to contribute to the global issue that is most important to me? 我文章的重點應該放在為什麼這個global issue對我來說很重要? 還是要放在我對這個我覺得很重要的issue貢獻了什麼?

謝謝回覆!

[mackill]

Ivy

這個問題是今年的新問題，我認為應該是兩者都有耶，不過我不認為你需要太analytical證明之類的，也許多寫一點why it is relevant to you and how do you want to address it? if you've already done something about it will be even better!

[Ivy-Canada]

Thanks for your reply mackill. 還有另外一個問題是HBS是喜歡哪種類行的candidate? 從他的essay題目看來很著重在leadership and culture. 不過每個MBA不是都重視leadership 跟diversity 嗎? HBS跟其他的MBA schools 除了case study教法的不同外, what truly distinguishes HBS from the other schools?

[MarkHsu]

In my humble opinion, you don't need to address why HBS because HBS is HBS. You will notice that for this year's HBS essays, the goal's essay is optional.

If you are asking why HBS , then you're probably not the type of student that HBS wants.

[mackill]

Ivy,

HBS喜歡的Candidates並沒有一定的類型，反而需要許多不同經歷背景的學生，入學審查的三大要素是：
1) 領導經驗和能力 2)學術表現 3)志願服務的意願和經歷
另外我個人認為對於國際學生來說，英文能力和跨國際經驗也很有幫助

詳細的條件可以看
http://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/admis ... teria.html

針對Leadership和Diversity, 從HBS的Mission: To educate leaders who make a difference in the world 可以發現HBS的課程規劃都是以培養未來企業，政府或是各種組織的領導人才為主。所以在招生時就希望能夠找到有領導潛力的學生，並且希望他不只是為了自己的利益而領導，還要能關心社會公益跟世界其他地方的困境，進而有所行動。

Diversity則是對於和自己不一樣的意見、想法和經歷都能夠有所尊重。以我個人的經驗是在這裡可以遇到各種不同背景優秀的同學老師，大家可以暢所欲言的發表自己的想法，而所有人也會聽進你的意見並且尊重。

HBS的個案教學法強調的是主動學習，花越多時間研究學到的越多，而且上課時候得和大家搶著發言，有條理的陳述自己的意見和佐證，一年多下來我的英文表達能力進步超多，任何時候被點到發言都可以在眾人面前長篇大論，這是當初我沒有想到的收穫。

除了個案教學法之外，我們有一百多位專任的教授，二年級的選修課非常豐富，如果你對任何一個議題有興趣都可以找到有研究的教授，甚至請教授指導專題研究。教授的人脈也非常有用，常常上課都會請到個案公司的經理人現身說法。另外有創業中心，醫療產業和社會企業initiative，學校投注大量資源在這些課題上，學生都可以參與。

最後是整個哈佛大學和商學院提供的資源－HBS有獨立的大校園，33棟建築物都是專屬於商學院，超高級教室，宿舍，兩個學生餐廳。今年是HBS創校一百週年，每年900個畢業生的人脈無可比擬。求職方面有超supportive的Career Office，數十位專職顧問可以預約職涯規劃諮詢，許多大公司都一定會來HBS校園徵才，不用到處跑informational interview。

想知道更多的話，請報名12/27說明會吧！
http://www.formosamba.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=27749

[chateau]

Hi Harvard asks for three recommandation letters. I wonder if you have any preference regarding the recommanders? I know that at least two of them should come from direct supervisors, does it leave more flexibility for the third recommanders, say peer/colleague or professors?

PS: I registered for the information session but haven't recived any confirmation yet. Could you kindly check? My email is chicelodie@hotmail.com

[mackill]

chateau,

for sure you can ask peer / colleague to write the 3rd recommendation, but make sure they understand / familiar with you enough, had some experience working with you and able to answer those questions!

we are still in finals now, will process confirmation later to everyone!

thanks!

[chateau]

Hi Mackill,

Thank you for answering my question despite your busy schedule. Good luck for your finals!!