My Conversation With an HBS Student

Today I had a phone call with a student at HBS, Ryan Buell. My web design firm built, hosts, and maintains the website for the Cyberposium at Harvard Business School, and this year Ryan has been our main contact. I told him of my application to HBS and he generously offered to talk with me on the phone and answer any questions I might have. This post contains a portion of what I learned, presented in a question and answer format.

Disclaimer: I did not prepare questions beforehand, nor did I record the conversation, so what follows is not verbatim and in some cases what I remember Ryan saying may be, in fact, distorted by what I thought I heard him say, or what I thought he meant when he said something. If anything appears incorrect to others who are familiar with HBS blame me and my memory, not Ryan.

Q: Is HBS really as busy as it is made out to be? Do you really work that hard?
A: Yes, it is a lot of work, and it is hard. I was already expecting it to be a lot of work, but I was still surprised at how intense it is.

Q: At 31, am I going to be the “old guy” on campus?
A: No, there are people who are pushing 40, although the average age seems to be mid to late 20s. At 31 you won’t feel at all out of place or “old.”

Q: I run a small company, but I want to run larger companies. Am I going to be pigeonholed because of my experience and therefore miss out on opportunities?
A: Absolutely not. Many, if not most, of the people here are trying to make a transition to something different than they did before.

Q: My religious beliefs are such that I do not study or work on Sundays. Is that going to be an inconvenience for other students I work with?
A: No. I can’t think of a situation I’ve ever been in where if somebody didn’t want to study on Sundays, or Saturdays for that matter, it would have caused any problems. People are extremely accomodating here, and your studies don’t require you to study 24/7. You could easily get by not even studying on Sundays.

Q: Do you live on or off campus and what has been your experience?
A: I live off campus. It’s more convenient for my wife’s job, and when we first came we weren’t sure we wanted to live within the HBS bubble 24/7. While it is nice to escape campus, I do feel that I miss out on some of the activities held on campus at night because I often don’t feel like making the trip back to campus to attend.

Q: I’ve turned in my application and am hoping to get an interview in the next few months. What can I do to prepare?
A: First, I would highly recommend that you come out to HBS rather than interview in your current city. Second, know your application. The person who interviews you will know your application better than you do, and will ask for clarification on any point that needs clarification.

Q: What are people like at HBS?
A: Until you come here you might have a stereotypical view of an HBS student/graduate, and part of that perspective might include their being a power-hungry snob. That’s not reality at all, however. Yes, people here are driven and ambitious, but they are not snobs, and nobody is out to beat you at anything. Everyone is very helpful, accomodating, supportive, friendly, and simply eager to get the most out of the HBS experience.