This content provides expert advice on how to successfully navigate the Harvard Business School (HBS) application, focusing on the new essay prompts and common applicant pitfalls. It emphasizes authenticity, self-awareness, and showcasing unique experiences to stand out in a highly competitive process.
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well hello everyone this is John burn
with poets and quants Welcome to our
webinar on how to tackle the Harvard
Business School
application uh there are many of you out
there who want to apply to Harvard in a
typical year uh the school may get as
many as 10,000
applications uh and accepts probably 12
133% at most uh in a given year so it's
highly selective and to help you get
over the hurdle we have the one and only
Carla Cohen a
former associate director of admissions
at Harvard Business School who is now a
director at for tuna Admissions and one
of the members of the dream team of
former NBA Gatekeepers at the top
Business Schools so welcome thank you
John it's it's great to be here and I
appreciate that that introduction and at
Harvard we have some new essays this
year uh Harvard doesn't typically change
things uh very often so this is a big
deal let's go through them one by one
how do you suggest tackling them you
know there's a business-minded essay for
example how do you tackle that it's a
great question and so that's the first
question that they have is is to really
focus on um my my advice is to focus on
key moments and
experiences that have shaped your career
and so this one is very much a
short-term and long-term um goal
articulation um where you're going to
map out a plan um and so it's important
to really zero in on what are those
moments that have pointed you in the
direction of the trajectory that you're
you're planning to go on and give a
little bit of context um to help them
understand your decision- making there
so much about what exists at HBS is how
to make better decisions in fact that's
what the whole case method is predicated
on so they want to get a taste of how
are you going to make this decision um
with respect to this investment of uh of
going to to HPS if you're lucky enough
to be admitted and um and so the that
would be I think the core element is to
clearly articulate the specific moments
um that have shaped that and then helped
them understand where the momentum is coming
coming
from right and then there's a leadership
focused asay how do you how do you
tackle that one yeah this one is you
know again Harvard is a place even
though the essays have changed it's it's
going to be looking for Community
engagement appetite and aptitude and
Leadership is is the core measures um to
determine who's a good fit and so this
is where you can really Flex on your
leadership style or moments where you've
let initiatives this doesn't necessarily
have to be work related so especially
given that the first one is going to be
um almost certainly professionally
focused this one you can show both
perhaps the community engagement side as
well as certain moments that you have
really shown within whatever spaces that
you've been in they want to see
individuals that were um you know
whatever you do in whatever environment
it is better for your presence and so
usually this takes on the form of
demonstrating examples of leadership so
whether that is you you know saw an
opportunity that that others didn't
within a nonprofit that you're
supporting or you came up with an idea
um and got it off the ground there's
many different ways that leadership can
show up there's formal and informal so
my advice is to to look at it doesn't
necessarily have to show up on a resume
it can be solving problems with
colleagues it can be smoothing over
disagreements or it can be improving
morale um increasing engagement within a
team um positive attitude can be a force
for for strong leadership as well um as
well as optimism but um examples yeah
these are these are tight so you have
only you know uh you don't have the
length that you did before no and then
there's the growth oriented essay the
third one yeah John you and I shared
yeah this is our favorite I think um
between the my favorite actually
absolutely because you're you're you're
gonna demonstrate creativity when did
did creativity lead you to pursue
something different interesting that
pushed you outside your comfort zone and
how did that change you um so you want
to think about examples and this is you
know again the theme throughout all of
these is the show versus the telling so
you want to come up with these examples
that demonstrate these ideas that you're
looking to convey um it's it's much
easier to to it's easier to say that
this you know interesting idea or this
curiosity was what inspired my
involvement in ex or you can just detail
so specify the situation and uh talk
about the different steps that you took
that led you in that direction and then
show the reflection here you have um a
bit of space to to talk about how this
how this opened up your mind maybe you
had never maybe you're seeing something
in a new way for the first time whether
that's um a challenge that you faced a
problem and so this is this can come
from any area of your life um and so I
think that's why it is an opportunity to
really stand out yeah totally so now is
there a recommended structure for these
essays or should you be free form I
would recommend because it's both tight
just to to organize yourself you've got
to be disciplined to use a structure the
the standard is to do introduction body
and conclusion so essentially in the
introduction you want to briefly sort
Define the context as well as present
the experiences that you've been through
and then you want to give it you know
the the actions decisions and other
elements that have made up the you know
the thing that the idea that you're
introducing and then you want to tie it
all together at the end with the
conclusion so what did you learn from
these experiences um you know this
sounds a bit abstract but I think it
makes more sense in the context of you
know being able to just launch in with
something so it does feel a little bit
like a mini traditional essay in that
sense but you want to have that
structure you want to be organized um
and so that's how I would suggest
approaching it and should they focus on
work rated examples or can you be very
personal and outside of work or or what
you can be personal even when you're
talking about professional experiences
you can reflect on you know maybe there
was a certain situation at work that
really challenged you and that could be
something that inspired you to move up
to the next level or it can be something
that inspired you to move to a different
industry or firm um and so you can be
personal about and and you want to be
human um the most difficult part about
um and I've said this many many times
but it it remains true and especially
with there's been an increase in MBA
applications um I know you guys reported
on this recently but um you're going to
have to really stand out so being
personal and drawing from the heart can
be embedded in any of the essays that
that you're approaching so that it both
you know feels real because it's true um
and so that personal side of it what is
really driving you what is leading you
to make the decisions that you're making
where are you headed at the end of the
day HBS is a place that wants to educate
leaders who make a difference in the
world so that's a pretty personal thing
along with the you know Mary Oliver poem
that they they always Showcase with
individuals around like what do you want
to do with your one Wild and precious
life this is a community you're almost
joining a family so there's a bit the
personal elements can be in mesed in it
not every essay needs to be personal you
can have some that are more um
structured and focused in the sense that
they don't necessarily go in that
direction um but it helps to connect
with the reader when you can be personal
one thing that struck me about the new
essays is how short they are like the
business-minded essay is only uh up to
300 words the other two in leadership
and growth
limited to 250 words each so is there
actually room for storytelling here
absolutely um so don't let the you know
the shortness or the the length um sort
of parameters that they will and they're
tight you know that this isn't just a
suggested link you will not be able to
go over you will you know input your
text into the application form so you
have to be disciplined um that almost
demands that if you're going to stand
out that you have to tell a story you
have to be better at kind of structuring
um and weaving and storytelling elements
um you can start you know the any of
these or you know I would suggest like
using different tools like whether it's
dialogue or you know um a sort of hook
element at the beginning of something to
draw the reader in to maintain their
interest and uh and and then also keep
the the story moving so that they're not
falling asleep okay you've read
thousands of MBA essays uh for from
people who are trying to get in the
heart in school what are the most common
mistakes you've seen I think the most
common mistakes that that people make is
that they repeat um information that is
already included in other parts of your
application so what I loved um you know
that was really this this was pushed
forward in the last you know version of
their essays which is not lost on the
readers now which is what more do you
want us to know and so keep that idea in
mind too that it's almost more helpful
to start with the main application first
because you're going to give them a lot
of information before they get to the
essays and so you don't want to just be
rehashing things that they already know
you want these essay to be expansive um
that's number one I think the other
element is that they try to um focus
only on professional and it's a laundry
list of successes the the Forgotten
element in a lot of these and and this
is broadly for many MBA applications is
the power of you know stumbling you know
it may be that it's only focusing on successes
successes
there's always concern when you would
hear or look at an app like him where
it's like this is a little too perfect
right where it's like everything has
always been smooth you always knew
exactly what you wanted to do and
everything always worked out that's not
really how life works and that's also
not very interesting and as many of the
professors have talked about it's the
ability to adapt that um you know versus
the strongest or fastest or smartest
surviving to you know borrow from
Darwinism but that was something that
was pressed forward by the school is
that they're looking for this
adaptability quotient and you your best
teachers can be failures so that both
shows vulnerability which allows you to
build trust with the reader and connect
you don't have to just you know list
your failures either but you want to
show some vulnerability there so those
are the two key things that I think a
lot of folks will will miss and and they
look a little bit too brochure like
versus Being Human there are no perfect
candidates right I mean none so any
final tips here for a Harvard Business
School bound
applicant I think you want to be deeply
reflective um as you're looking at what
is different about me when I look at my
peers the mistake too to kind of circle
back to the question that you just asked
but also in terms of guiding this
process moving forward is to have in
mind that avoid the temptation to look
like everybody else um there is this
sense that oh my friend who got in this
was their strategy so I want to apply a
similar approach and they don't want to
see the same person again the more
distinctive you can be
as long as your goals align and the
purpose of what you want to do with your
life is also aligned with what um HBS
offers which is a general management
degree it's not just Leadership School
it is um they're great in leadership but
you want to make sure that you're able
to show both that you are someone who is
self-aware self-awareness is critical
and that you're reflective on your
experiences and have evidence to show
that when you set your mind to something
that you're able to accomplish it that
doesn't mean that everything always goes
perfectly but it's that combination of
self-awareness that you can demonstrate
at different parts of the application so
look at everything and take every piece
of the application seriously don't just
focus on the essays although they are
absolutely essential and critical and
can be the defining Factor oftentimes
people will over index on the essays and
miss other opportunities to really sell
themselves to the committee and to make
um an impact on the reader so you want
to be memorable tell the truth um the
truth always tracks and um and remember
that being vulnerable is is powerful and
can help level up your application um
don't be generic don't be vague I think
if you're cliche you fall into a trap of
you know you don't want anyone rolling
their eyes like I've heard this story a
million times before so no has lived
with any other person like everyone has
their everyone has their own unique
experiences so really focus on the
distinctiveness that of the differences
versus um trying to be blend in with the
crowd that's great advice so Carla if a
candidate wants to uh reach out or find
out more from Fortuna admissions what
should they do they should go to the
website um the Fortuna website they can
contact us for a free consultation and
uh yeah we hope to help support many of
the folks out there who are confused by
this process it is very confusing so
appreciate you being here John and
helping to elucidate a lot of these
issues and uh thanks for your time today
Carla thank you so you've been listening
to Carla Cohen who is a director at
Fortuna admissions the dream team of
former NBA admission Gatekeepers of
course Carla as I mentioned before was
an associate director at HBS admissions
so she knows the end and out she's been
on the committee she you know she's been
in the room where decisions are made uh
check her out this is John burn with
poets and quants [Music]
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