Harvard Business School

Addiction and Financial Setback - Harvard MBA Leadership-Focused Essay Sample

• Leadership-Focused Essay: What experiences have shaped how you invest in others and how you lead? (up to 250 words)

Background Information: Through the changing economic and family dynamics of her father's mining business, the applicant finds her voice in a unique way, initially to find an audience for her underappreciated voice, and later as one of the youngest subject-matter experts in mining and commodities.  

Leadership Traits: Resilience, Authenticity  

2nd Generation Entrepreneur & Legacy - Harvard MBA Leadership-Focused Essay Sample

• Leadership-Focused Essay: What experiences have shaped how you invest in others and how you lead? (up to 250 words)

Background Information: An applicant shares the burden of legacy as the son of an entrepreneur and how he has accumulated his father's leadership principles in his venture.

Leadership Traits: Customer-Centric, Authenticity  

Creativity in Scarcity - Harvard MBA Growth-Oriented Essay Sample

Growth-Oriented Essay: Curiosity can be seen in many ways. Please share an example of how you have demonstrated curiosity and how that has influenced your growth. (up to 250 words)

Background Information: The applicant, an education major, recognizes that 70% of all students in Kenya don’t have a computer. The growth narrative is around the curiosity to overcome scarcity, which drives him to pivot from one solution to another. 

Curiosity: Behavior

Creative or Finance Career - Harvard MBA Business-Minded Essay Sample

• Business-Minded Essay: Please reflect on how your choices have influenced your career path and aspirations. (up to 300 words)

Background Information:  An applicant who has grown in her PE career is facing a dilemma: whether to continue in her finance career or pivot into her creative career, where she has over 50,000 loyal YouTube subscribers, and her videos have captured over 10 million views. 

Theme: Passion, Talent

2:3 Strategy - How to Improve Admission Chances to Harvard and Stanford MBA

This Strategy is not for those who are only targeting HSW schools. That is Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton. The Strategy applies to anyone who thinks that HSW schools are stretch schools and require considerable planning.

Let’s go back to the 2:3 or the 3:2 Strategy

2:3 or 3: 2 Strategy

Typically, applicants target 5 to 7 schools. Of the seven schools, 5 are schools in the top 10, with 2 or 3 from Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton. A big mistake that applicants make is to target Harvard and Stanford in one round itself.

MBA Admissions
MBA Admission Consulting
MBA Application
MBA Application Strategy

Harvard MBA Events - September 2025

In September 2025, Harvard Business School (HBS) will host a total of 20 MBA events, comprising 7 virtual sessions and 13 in-person sessions across its campus and abroad.

In-Person Events

The in-person events largely center on experiencing the HBS learning environment firsthand. Multiple Experience the HBS Case Method: Class Visits will take place on September 11, 12, 15, 18, 19, 22, 25, 26, and 29, where prospective students can sit in on a class session. 

M7 and Top 50 MBA - Essay Questions (2026 Entering Class)

We have collected the Essays of the Top 50 MBA programs for the 2026 Entering class.  In this in-depth essay analysis of the top 50 MBA applications, we cover:

Business School
Columbia Business School
Cornell University
Darden School of Business
Haas School of Business
Harvard Business School
IESE Business School
Kellogg School of Management
McCombs School of Business
MIT Sloan School of Management
New York University: Stern
Ross School of Business
Stanford GSB
Tuck School of Business
UCLA Anderson School of Management
University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Wharton School
Yale School of Management
MBA Admissions
M7 Schools
MBA Application
MBA Essay Questions
Top MBA

Harvard MBA Events - June 2025

In June 2025, Harvard Business School (HBS) will conduct a total of 16 MBA events, all of which are in-person engagements. 

In-Person Events

HBS will organize several Information Sessions, where prospective students can learn about the MBA program, hear an admissions presentation, and network with local alumni. These sessions will take place on the following dates and locations: June 2 in Baltimore, June 3 in Boston and Washington DC, June 10 in Miami, June 11 in Atlanta, June 23 in Frankfurt, June 24 in Berlin, June 26 in Istanbul, and June 28 in Tokyo.