A Talk with Harvard's Admissions Director
An excerpt from the Q&A:

Q: HBS interviews all admitted candidates, with the help of about 80 alumni interviewers. Do you have sense of how much of your applicant pool gets interviewed?
A: Dewey: We don't have a target for how many people to interview each year. So it really depends on the quality of the applications. As we review the applications, we determine who are the strongest candidates, and interview them.

Q: So last year, what percentage of applicants got an interview?
A: Dewey: I don't know off the top of my head. But of those who were interviewed, I'd say at least half were offered admission.

For the full version of this Q&A

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Comments from Student 1:
Scheduling the Interview: The interview invite came complete with detailed instructions about where and when my interview would be.

Location of interview: On campus as they requested.

Preparedness of Interviewer: Extremely well prepared. The admissions officer had clearly thoroughly read my application and asked questions that used my application as a launching pad.

Interviewer University affiliation: Admissions officer.

Atmosphere: It felt intense but that was more about me, and being at Harvard and knowing how important the interview was, than anything they did. The interviewer was very personable and was not intimidating which is all you can ask.

Questions asked:Talk about an impact I have had on a person or an organization.Why Harvard?Why do I want to leave my current job? (which is traditionally a post MBA job)

Length of interview: Precisely 30 minutes.

Any additional comments: Don't freak out if you get asked to go to the school. Being based in New York, and given that a lot of interviews were done in New York, I was concerned that being asked to go up to Boston was a bad sign. However, the interview was easy and I was accepted so I don't think it matters where they ask to interview you.

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Comments from Student 2:
My Harvard Business School interview was, shall we say, not quite positive. Firstly, interviews are conducted at the discretion of the school, and all successful applicants are interviewed. The pressure to get into HBS is obviously quite intense, but if you are summoned for an interview, you have a strong chance of being admitted. On the day I arrived in good time but feeling decidedly nervous, and I think it showed. I met my interviewer, a lady named Deirdre from the admissions board, in the lobby area of one of the school buildings on a Saturday afternoon at 1pm. Due to the fact that there was a conference taking place in the building, my interview was actually conducted in a hallway with a full-blown melée raging all around: conference delegates milled past us while we toiled through a series of questions that were more adversarial than the ones I'd encountered at Tuck.

The session began with my interviewer congratulating me on reaching this stage of the application process, and informing me that the interview would not make or break my overall chances of getting into HBS. She also warned me that she had precisely 30 minutes to spend on the interview. I did not get the sense that she had looked at my information. We spent the first half of my allotted time going through my resumé, with me clarifying what my then-employer's line of business involved and the leadership roles I had played thus far in life.

The remainder of the interview seemed to involve the interviewer honing in on my key weakness, that dreaded liberal arts background, and asking the same question in various guises over and over – given my lack of literacy in the language of accounting and finance, how could I ever hope to succeed at a school like HBS? I am usually perfectly at ease discussing this matter – in fact, awareness of this knowledge gap, not to mention my strong desire to gain experience in the financial services sector, fuelled my decision to swap a successful career in sales and marketing for a spot at a top business school – but put on the defensive, and in that noisy hallway, it seems I failed to set the interviewer's mind at ease about my willingness to roll up my sleeves before the start of term, take preparatory classes if necessary, and work myself silly to make sure I not just got by, but excelled in these areas.

True to her word, Deirdre wrapped things up at 1.30pm on the nose. She volunteered her email address and asked me to get in touch if I had any additional questions about the school. I left the interview feeling disheartened and frustrated, knowing I hadn't adequately represented my capabilities. I did send a follow-up email with a couple of questions, but never received any response. I was disappointed, but not at all surprised when HBS turned down my application.

In summary, if your target school gives you the option of interviewing, you'd be crazy to miss it. While it's true that your interview is a golden chance for you to reinforce your candidacy, it's also a critical opportunity to get an inside look at the school and assess whether it's the right fit for you.

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