Harvard MBA Events - October 2026

In October 2026, Harvard Business School is hosting 31 MBA admissions events that include 13 international events, 6 virtual events, and 9 US events.

Overview

In October 2026, Harvard Business School (HBS) lists 31 MBA admissions events on its registration calendar, and every one of them meets in person. Nine take place on the Boston campus. The other 22 are off-campus sessions, with 9 at US universities and city venues and 13 spread across Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany and Mexico.

The month opens on Friday, October 2 with an MBA Program Open House in Hawes Hall and ends on Friday, October 30 with a lunchtime information session at UT Dallas. The European swing starts in Dublin on October 7 and finishes at Humboldt University in Berlin on October 16, after which the admissions team travels to Mexico City and Monterrey on October 19 and 20^[1]. 

HBS releases Round 1 decisions on December 10, 2026, and Round 2 applications are due on January 5, 2027, so the October calendar serves applicants preparing for Round 2.

In-Person Events

On-Campus Events

The MBA Admissions team hosts three MBA Program Open Houses in Hawes Hall, at 37 Harvard Way in Boston, on Friday, October 2, Friday, October 9 and Thursday, October 22. Each open house runs from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time and pairs a campus tour with a full MBA Program information session, with check-in from 2:30 PM and a requested arrival by 2:50 PM.

Class visits run on six October dates: October 2, 5, 15, 16, 19 and 29. October 2 is the last day of the EC window, the elective curriculum taken by second-year students, and RC visits, which place visitors in required-curriculum classes for first-year students, begin on October 5 ^[3]. Each class visit lasts 1 hour 40 minutes, starts with check-in on the first floor of Hawes Hall 15 to 20 minutes before class, and is limited to one visit per person per year for visitors aged 18 or older. HBS does not accept walk-in or stand-by visitors, and the school cancels registrations for late arrivals. Applicants who want context on the case method before sitting in a class can read F1GMAT's Harvard MBA program overview.

U.S. Regional Events

HBS Admissions holds 9 off-campus events in the United States in October. The first is a Sunday, October 4 session at George Washington University's Phillips Hall in Washington, DC, from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM EDT. On Wednesday, October 7, HBS appears at Top Business Schools Present in Atlanta, a multi-school stop at the Scheller College of Business from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

In Chicago on Tuesday, October 13, Jana Kierstead, Executive Director of the MBA and Doctoral Programs and Alumni Engagement and Development, leads a fireside chat at 111 W Washington St from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM CDT. Northwestern hosts an HBS session in the Arch Room of Norris University Center on October 14 from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM CDT. On Tuesday, October 27, the admissions team holds a Lunch & Learn at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Career Center at 11:30 AM CDT and an evening session at Purdue's Heine Pharmacy Building at 6:30 PM EDT.

Texas hosts the last stops of the month. Rice University in Houston holds its session on Monday, October 26 from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM CDT. Two days later, the Austin session meets at J.P. Morgan, 405 Colorado St, from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM with an admissions presentation and local alumni, and the UT Dallas session in Richardson follows at noon on Friday, October 30. The university sessions introduce 2+2 deferred admission, a pathway that lets college seniors apply now and enroll after two to four years of work, alongside the Peek programs and the Summer Venture in Management Program (SVMP).

International Events

HBS Admissions holds 13 international information sessions in October. Ireland comes first, with a session at Trinity Business School on Wednesday, October 7 and a city session at The Dean Dublin on Thursday, October 8. University College Dublin's Lochlann Quinn School of Business closes the Irish leg at noon on Friday, October 9.

On Monday, October 12, HBS runs lunchtime sessions at Imperial College London and the University of Manchester, followed by an evening city session at the Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars from 6:30 PM BST. The London evening session had reached capacity when F1GMAT checked on October 2, and new registrants join a waitlist. The University of Oxford session follows on Tuesday, October 13 at Wellington Square from 5:30 PM BST.

Germany has four sessions. The University of Mannheim hosts HBS in the Mannheim Baroque Palace on October 13 at 7:00 PM CEST, and the Frankfurt city session meets at Marienturm on October 14 at 6:30 PM. 

Berlin hosts two sessions, a city session at betahaus Moritzplatz on October 15 and a campus session in Lecture Hall 1072 of Humboldt University's main building on October 16. 

In Mexico, the Mexico City session meets at the Nu México offices in Polanco on Monday, October 19, and the Monterrey session follows at Corporativo Alfa in San Pedro Garza García on Tuesday, October 20, both from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM local time.

Visitor Center

The MBA Admissions Visitor Center in Hawes Hall is open on Monday, Thursday and Friday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM^[3]. Those days match the October class visit days, so visitors can stop at the Visitor Center before or after a class.

Virtual Events

HBS lists 6 virtual events for October on its events page, and five of them are hosted by HBS on Eastern Daylight Time. 

On Thursday, October 8, HBS alumni discuss career changes in "Can I Really Pivot My Career with an MBA?" from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM. 

Current students who entered through the 2+2 Program hold an Ask Me Anything on Wednesday, October 14 from 5:15 PM to 6:00 PM, and the MBA Admissions team hosts "MBA's in the Age of AI" on Thursday, October 15 from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM.

Current students host a Life at HBS Virtual Chat on Tuesday, October 20 from 5:15 PM to 6:15 PM, where they share their backgrounds and answer questions about student life. On Wednesday, October 28, a member of the MBA Admissions team leads a 2+2 Program Information Session from 12:00 PM to 12:45 PM, covering admissions, financial aid and the deferral period for college seniors.

The remaining virtual event is The MBA + Master's Tour Middle East on Tuesday, October 6, a fair run by GMAC, the Graduate Management Admission Council. The HBS events page lists it as an in-person Middle East event, while GMAC's event page lists the venue as a virtual event from 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM Gulf Standard Time, with HBS among the attending schools. This guide follows GMAC's listing.

How to Register and Visit

Each row in the schedule links to its own registration page on apply.hbs.edu, where HBS collects contact details, education history and career interests. Every HBS registration page states that registration or attendance plays no role in the admissions evaluation.

Class visitors register for a specific time slot, check in on the first floor of Hawes Hall 15 to 20 minutes before class, and stay for the full session. HBS does not allow mobile phones, photos or video in class. For the international and regional sessions, the times on each registration page are local to the venue, so applicants in other time zones should convert the start time before planning travel.
 

Harvard MBA Admission Events - October 2026 Schedule

Notes on the October 2026 Admissions Cycle

• Round 2 applications are due by 12:00 PM ET on January 5, 2027, with decisions on March 25, 2027. HBS considers applications received after the Round 1 deadline in Round 2 
• The 2+2 Round for deferred admission applicants closes at 12:00 PM ET on April 28, 2027, with decisions on June 30, 2027 
• RC class visits run from October 5 through November 23, and the EC class visit window ends on October 2. The October 2 class visits were at capacity on publication day, with waitlist registration open.
• HBS also lists Interview Day programming in Boston on October 21, 22, 23, 26, 27 and 30, including class visits, Faculty Lunch & Learn sessions, Founder Spotlights and student chats. F1GMAT left these sessions out of the schedule because HBS runs them for applicants on campus for interviews.
• F1GMAT excluded the October 22 "Unlock Your MBA Future: Exploring Top Northeast MBA Programs" webinar, where HBS joins the panel, because its host is an admissions aggregator.
• The HBS November calendar already lists MBA Program Open Houses on November 13 and 20, an information session in Nashville on November 16, and Insight into Deferred Enrollment MBA Programs sessions at Duke, NC State and the University of North Carolina on November 17 and 18

Related F1GMAT Reads

• Harvard MBA Essay Tips 2026-2027: Prompts and strategy for the three HBS essays, built on Class of 2025 placement data.
• Harvard MBA Essay Examples: Twenty sample essays organized by HBS prompt.
• Harvard MBA Curriculum Analysis 2026: The required first-year courses, including the new Data Science & AI for Leaders requirement.
• HBS MBA Cost 2026-27: Tuition, total cost of attendance and how need-based aid works at HBS.
• Harvard MBA Salary by Industry (2025): Class of 2025 placement shares and compensation by industry.
• Harvard MBA ROI 2026: Payback years by pre-MBA industry under two salary scenarios.
• Harvard MBA Admissions Interview: Interview format, sample questions and the post-interview reflection.
• Harvard vs. Stanford MBA ROI: An NPV comparison of the two programs for applicants holding both on their list.

References

1. Harvard Business School MBA Admissions, "Event Registration" ↩
2. Harvard Business School, "Application Dates," MBA Class of 2029 and 2+2 Deferred Admission tables. 
3. Harvard Business School, "Visit," MBA Admissions Visitor Center and Class Visit Program sections. ↩ ↩