Harvard Business School has announced the MBA application deadlines for the 2023 Entering Class (2025 graduating class). The school had continued with the tradition of keeping two deadlines as against three seen in peer schools. The first deadline is on 6th September 2023, and the 2nd deadline is on 3rd January 2024.
Harvard MBA Deadlines
• Round 1: September 4th 2024
• Round 2: January 6th 2025
Note: F1GMAT's Harvard MBA Essay Guide with Essay Examples has been released. Download it here
In this HBS MBA Application breakdown, we cover:
• HBS MBA Application Fee
• HBS MBA - Personal (Geographic Background - Strategically Use it)
• HBS MBA Family Background
• HBS MBA Resume - 2-Page Acceptable
• Employment - Up to 3 Employer Data
• Post-MBA Goals: 70-word Description
• Education: International Applicant (No Need to fill the 4.0 GPA Scale)
• Activities - Extra-curricular, Community Engagement or Family Business
• Awards and Recognition
• HBS MBA Essay
• Test Scores
• Harvard MBA Recommendation Letter Questions
• Supplemental Info
• Military Experience
HBS MBA Application Fee
The application fee for the Harvard MBA Application is $250. If the amount is a significant burden for you, there is a link to submit a fee waiver in the form, provided you fill out the first section - the Personal Information page.
HBS MBA - Personal (Geographic Background - Strategically Use it)
The page covers Name, Address (Mailing/Permanent), Geographic Background, Email, Phone Number, Biographical Information, Citizenship, and Optional information.
The information that is required is standard except for the Geographic Background. If you have read our tips on Personal Branding for MBA Admissions, you would know that any information that could help you stand out from the crowd should be leveraged thoughtfully.
Geographic Background: The section requires that you fill out all cities, states, and countries that you stayed from birth to the age of 18. This is an incredible opportunity to add additional context or validate your multi-cultural exposure or the unique narrative that you might have used in the Essay. There is also a 250-character (40 Words) additional context section. Use it strategically.
HBS MBA Family Background
The page asks for details of the family, including siblings. The important differentiator is the additional family context that has 250 characters or a 40-word section for those who are first-generation college students. The adversity narrative could be tweaked further if you can articulate some specifics of funding your education if that was a challenge or embarking on a unique journey academically if your performance in college were in the top 1%.
HBS MBA Resume - 2-Page Acceptable
Harvard supports a 1-2 page resume that includes employment details with location and dates added to each chronological entry. Applicants with less than 2 years of full-time experience are discouraged from applying, and those who are undergraduate students are encouraged to apply for the 2+2 Deferred MBA program that allows students to accept the admissions now and join later with at least 2 years of work experience.
There is a dropbox where you have to mention if you have any gap years. If selected as yes, you have to fill a 1000 character (250 words) section mentioning the reasons for the gap.
Employment - Up to 3 Employer Data
The first data point that gives a hint on how the Harvard MBA admissions team thinks, is the total number of Employers that are allowed to be added. For applications with 3-5 years of professional experience, anything more than 3 employers is a red flag. Harvard only allows adding up to 3 employers.
If you are switching jobs every year – it demonstrates a lack of self-confidence, poor teamwork, and desperation to hit a compensation range that is respectable with your peers in college or network.
Compensation: The motivation to switch if entirely is driven by compensation is again a red flag. The school will look closely at the Title if you have made sacrifices on accepting marginal increment in salary (2-3%) with each offer or switched more than 3 employers. If the title is not too different or the compensation doesn’t improve with each jump, it is a clear indication of your inability to work in a team environment.
Inflating Compensation: Another stretch strategy that applicants use is to add the bonus part of the payment, including relocation bonuses, into the salary data. Harvard has clearly discouraged applicants from doing so.
Annual Revenue of the Employer: A crucial data point is the annual revenue of the Employer. With the data, it is easy to estimate the utilization of each employee and the growth potential of the company. The skillset required for a start-up, a mid-tier, and a Fortune 500 company is completely different. Your post-MBA goal (if you mention it in the essay) should match with the skills you have acquired in your professional experience. It should not be too ambitious or tame.
Post-MBA Goals: 70-word Description
For those who are worried about the open-ended nature of the Harvard MBA Essay, the post-MBA Goals page allows you to mention the industry function and even offers a space to include the post-MBA goal as a short-term description (70 words) (500 characters).
Education: International Applicant (No Need to fill the 4.0 GPA Scale)
The admissions team has clearly articulated that if your transcript does not have a 4.0 scale GPA that US universities use, mention 0 (zero) instead. Also, there is a section called class rank (your rank in the class undergraduate/graduate. If you don’t have that information or if grades make it impossible to find such a metric, leave it blank.
Transcript: The school also asks to upload the transcripts. It should not be copy-protected (digitally signed) or password protected. Print, scan and then upload the pdf or as an image file if any protection is added to the transcript.
Non-degree Coursework: For coursework that did not culminate in a degree, you don't have to provide a transcript. But you have to mention course name, institution offering the course, date of issuance and the grade.
Pell Grant Recipient: You have to mention whether you are a Pell Grant recipient. Although the school clearly indicates that admissions to the program are not influenced by the need of the applicant while also balancing the narrative with a reminder that several generous scholarship offers exist for need-based applicants.
Activities - Extra-curricular, Community Engagement or Family Business
To demonstrate your skills outside professional experience and connect the narrative you have shared in the essay, leverage the activities section. The page allows a maximum of three activities, with the most important added first. Activities that demonstrate organizing skills, community engagement, family business, or unique extra-curricular from your parent/family position & circumstances could also be mentioned as an activity.
For highly engaged applicants, mention other activities in the resume.
Awards and Recognition
The school allows only 3 Awards and recognition. The uniqueness of the page is that there is a question that asks for the ‘basis of selection’ (200 characters) (30 Words). Strategically demonstrate your multi-functional expertise. If you have used one underlying theme (leadership) – highlight it through the awards.
We recommend diversifying the traits with the Awards and Recognition – communication, leadership, and one functional expertise, with the most dominant personality trait added first.
HBS MBA Essay
For the essay, there is only one mandatory question that you have to upload in PDF format.
Business-Minded Essay: Please reflect on how your experiences have influenced your career choices and aspirations and the impact you will have on the businesses, organizations, and communities you plan to serve. (up to 300 words)
• Leadership-Focused Essay: What experiences have shaped who you are, how you invest in others, and what kind of leader you want to become? (up to 250 words)
• 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)
- Read Previews of F1GMAT's Harvard MBA Essay Examples
- Download F1GMAT's Harvard MBA Essay Guide for the Complete Version of the Essay Examples
Essay Examples
- Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay Example – Crypto As a Tool for Good
- Harvard MBA Growth Essay Example – Learning from the Best
- Harvard MBA Curiosity and Growth Essay Example – Military & Search for IMPACT
- Harvard MBA Growth Essay Example – The American Dream
- Harvard MBA Curiosity and Growth Essay Example – Scarcity
- Harvard MBA Growth Essay Example – Drug Addiction and Gaming
- Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Life Starts at NO
- Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Growth through Collaboration (AI in Healthcare)
- Harvard MBA Leadership Essay Example – Small Business Values
- Harvard MBA Leadership Essay - Non-Profit (South Africa)
- Harvard MBA Leadership Essay Example & Mental Health – Building Awareness
- Harvard MBA Leadership Essay Example – Trauma, Healing & Finding Authentic Self
- Harvard MBA Leadership Essay Example: Addiction, Setback and Leadership Mantra
- Harvard MBA Leadership Essay Example - War, Immigration and Starting Over Again
- Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Breaking Away from Family Business
- Harvard MBA Career Choice Essay Example - Creative or Finance
- Creative Problem Solving: HBS MBA Business-Minded Essay Example
- HBS MBA Business-Minded Essay: Private Equity and Power of Community
- HBS Business-Minded Essay Example: Minority Entrepreneurship
Test Scores
The school starts with a disclaimer that GMAT or GRE score is not the only important factor in MBA admissions and subtly hints at those who are obsessed with optimizing the score to work on other aspects of the application – extracurricular, volunteering, and building a strong work experience. However, the latest Harvard MBA class profile shows that a median GMAT score of 730 is the safe score. You have to submit the test scores (even if it is unofficial) before you submit the application except for Online GMAT Scores.
Don’t Superscore: The school also has clearly indicated that you can’t mix and match the best verbal, quant, or IR scores from multiple GMAT takes.
Unofficial Score: The Harvard MBA team doesn’t demand the official GMAT score during the time of application. For those who are targeting a better score can leverage this by retaking the GMAT just in time and target the 750-770 range and submit the unofficial score. Do note that the time to process and review your application will be delayed accordingly as the school has to match the unofficial with the official score.
Harvard MBA Recommendation Letter Questions
The applicant is required to submit two recommendation letters. One from a direct supervisor and another from an associate, supervisor (non-direct), or a university professor who can comment on your leadership skills.
Q1) How do the candidate's performance, potential, background, or personal qualities compare to those of other well-qualified individuals in similar roles? Please provide specific examples. (300 words)
Q2) Please describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have given the applicant. Please detail the circumstances and the applicant's response. (250 words)
You can change the recommender by removing the person from this page and adding a new supervisor.
Note: The school has clearly mentioned that an endorsement from an HBS alumnus has no added advantage.
Supplemental Info
There is an additional 500-character information section to clarify any uncertainty or ambiguity in the information shared with the application. The admissions team has clearly warned against using this space as an additional essay or endorsement. Although the school has not demonstrated any reason for collecting this information, motivation to join a top school could be measured with the participation in the school’s pre-MBA interest programs like Summer Venture in Management Program (SVMP), Virtual Peek Experience (VPE), Virtual Venture in Management (VVM). Pre-MBA preparation course like HBS Online (HBX) Credential of Readiness (CORe), HBS Online (HBX) Business Analytics, HBS Online (HBX) Economics for Managers, and HBS Online (HBX) Financial Accounting also shows your readiness to fill the skill gap for the rigor of a top MBA program.
If you are early and in the strategizing phase, try to create enough touch points to stand out and demonstrate interest.
Military Experience
By default, military MBA applicants have an application fee waiver provided they were on active duty on a full-time basis and haven’t transitioned to a civilian role in the past 12 months. To confirm this status, military applicants should submit a copy of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) Leave and Earnings Statement or a letter validating the claim from an HR or a personnel officer. For international military applicants, only the latter is required.
Read: Tips for Military MBA Applicants
You must agree to the fine print declaring that you haven’t been convicted of any serious crime.
I hope you liked my breakdown of Harvard MBA Application.
For help with the MBA application, Subscribe to F1GMAT’s Essay Review Service or start a conversation with me - Atul Jose, the Founding Consultant (F1GMAT)
