I’m getting ready for the interview that I suspect will come sometime during the next 2-3 months. The content I bought at HowToGetIntoHBS.com includes a list of “40 questions asked by the admissions board in actual HBS interviews” that I’m going through. Whether or not these will be the actual questions asked this year, who knows, I don’t, but they seem to serve as a good starting point.
Most of the questions appear to be professional in nature, such as “What is a typical day like at your job?” or “What would be your ideal job?” but some are academically related, such as “Why an MBA?” and such. Maybe I’ll answer a few of them here. I’m going to keep the answers brief and to the point though. I suppose the interviewer might ask for more detail if he wants to know it.
What would you do if you didn’t do an MBA now?
Continue running my business.
Why HBS?
I want to be a leader, and I think HBS has the best program out there for people who want to be in leadership positions.
What would be your ideal job?
Turnaround CEO.
What unique qualities do you bring to HBS?
This would be a hard one. “Uniqueness” is a relative quality, and since I don’t know much beyond what I can guess about the other applicants I can only give my unfounded opinion. I would guess that most students at HBS will not have had the entrepreneurial experiences I have, most will not be skateboarders, most who are originally from the US will not have lived in a foreign country for two years nor speak a foreign language, and most will not be members of the LDS Church.
What’s the structure like at your current employer?
I own the company, I order people around, and sometimes they do what I say, although whether they do it because I told them to or it’s merely coincidental I’m not sure.
What gets you up in the morning?
Coffee. Oh wait, I’m a Mormon.
Is there anything else you haven’t been able to convey that you’d like to?
This one will be interesting. I guess I better know my application pretty well and have something prepared. Right now my mind is still frazzled from the application and I have a hard time coming up with a desire to even think about anything related to applying to HBS.
Did you find the HowToGetIntoHBS packet useful? The site looks like a cheap car sales site, but I’m curious…but not $97 curious unless somone else confirms that it has any value.
Well, I was rejected so you have to take any advice I give on what will help you to get in for what it’s worth, but had I been accepted I would say it was well worth $97. In fact, even if he raised the price to $100 I’d still say it’s worth it.