HBS Interview: Principles for Life
How the Harvard Business School interview can be useful for success in life
A few years into my career, I embarked on the journey to business school. I narrowed my list down to 6 schools, with Harvard Business School at the top of the list. The process seems simple: you take the GMAT, get letters of recommendations, write an essay, and pass an interview. Except to be successful in this process, you must be thoughtful, meticulous, and prepared. Progressing to the interview stage at any business school is a feat, and getting an interview for admittance to Harvard Business School is no different.
I did it! I got an interview with the #1 business school in the world, but I wanted to go all the way. In the weeks leading up to the interview, I spent my days and hours meeting with round 1 candidates, answering practice questions, and reviewing my application in detail.
Although the interview had moments that were uncomfortable and nerve wracking, I left feeling pretty confident that it went well. Then, hours later when I began writing my post interview reflection, I felt that I had failed. I was too honest about my life decisions. I was too honest when asked about details of projects mentioned in my letters of recommendation. In the reflection letter, I ultimately chose to reference once point of the interview that I didn’t feel I had provided enough detail and background. I hit submit and left it to the admission gods to make their decision.
Weeks later on a rainy shuttle ride to Google headquarters, I received an email stating that the decision regarding my admittance had been made. I logged in to my Harvard Business School application and saw the words, “The answer is YES!”.
Anndrea Moore was going to Harvard Business School.
These memories were spawned by a text I received from a mentee who had received an interview for Harvard Business School’s 2+2 program requesting tips for the interview. It made me reflect on my interview experience and reminded me of what the program attempts to assess in that 30 minute interview. While the interview goals are lofty, they can also be applied to life. I went on an Instagram Story storm highlighting this, so I’m excited to share details in long form here.
In my opinion, the goal of the Harvard Business School interview is as follows:
1. Make sure you are who you say you are
2. Determine if you are reflective and know the “why” behind the decisions you make
3. Assess your future potential
4. Understand the value you will add to the HBS classroom and community
1. Make sure you are who you say you are
We can all make ourselves look good, but are you actually that person in real life? Can you add color and details to who you claim to be?! For example, I can say I built and launched X, but only the person who actually did it, can go into details about the process and actions it took to get there.
In my HBS essay, I mentioned a new hire training that I tested in North America and then scaled to other regions. My interviewer asked about where I got the idea for the training, how I determined metrics to track for the test, and how I got buy-in from leadership to do it. My experience thinking through the process, solving the challenges, and ultimately successfully scaling the program could only be answered by the person who actually did the work. Only I could go into detail of the conversations I had with my director, late meetings with the APAC region, and documenting the training with the Learning and Development team.
2. Determine if you are reflective and know the “why” behind the decisions you make
The best leaders are intentional. They know why they are doing something and can effectively communicate it to others, often enrolling them in the goal. They reflect on past decisions, life experiences, future goals, etc and consistently make time for it.
In preparing for the interview, I read my application back and forth asking the “why” question of myself. Why did I attend the University of Cincinnati? Why did I push back on my initial offer from Nielsen and request an offer for New York City? Why did I want to take 2 years away from the tech industry to go to business school? There were moments where I literally thought, “why did I do that?”. We all have reasons for the different actions we make, whether it’s a split decision or one that required well thought out planning. I’ve found the hardest aspect of this process is (1) communicating your whys to others and backing up your decision and (2) making time for consistent reflection. How do you accomplish these two aspects?
3. Assess your future potential
Life is short, but careers are long. Interests change, but core passions are consistent. It’s not about accomplishing a specific thing but ensuring that you take a growth mindset approach to life. Can you successfully pivot? Are you constantly learning?
I’m sure every student who attends HBS has a goal of being a CEO or has at least thought about it. While this is an amazing goal, this is not what the interviewer wants to hear. The interviewer is more interested in the “how” you plan to get there, and do they believe you have the passion and will power to accomplish any goal you set for yourself. Will you be able to overcome setbacks? Can you identify your weaknesses and strengths and keep improving upon them?
Life is short, but careers are long.
In my interview, my interviewer told me that my former manager gave me a perfect rating across all attributes, and she wanted to know why they did that. I had no idea and frankly was annoyed, frustrated, and embarrassed that he did. No one is perfect, and I thought he pretty much ruined my chance of getting in. I responded to her that the only reason I could think of was the fact that this manager saw my performance go from “needs improvement” to “exceeds expectations” across 2 quarters, a performance jump that is very rare at Google. I then shared why I underperformed in that one cycle and what steps I took to improve and exceed for the next. This was one way I exhibited in the interview that this is a consistent behavior.
4. Understand the value you will add to the HBS classroom and community
We are all unique with different experiences and skills. You need to know what those things are AND be able to communicate them to others. What is your value add, and why should someone care?
This is hard, and I struggle with this a lot. I’m the type of person who knows a little about a lot of things because I love to learn. I often find myself thinking “Oh I can do that”, and a lot of the time I’m good enough at it. However, it’s not what you CAN do, it’s what you are UNIQUELY POSITIONED to do. How can you do the thing you’re UNIQUELY POSITIONED to do over and over so that you are better at it than anyone else. I have a pretty good idea of what that is for me, but I’m still not 100% sure.
What is your value add, and why should someone care?
All applicants go to business school to get something out of it, but what we get out of it is directly attributable to who makes up your section and broader class. This is especially true about HBS given that we learn via the case method. Across the application process, the admissions team is literally building a learning community and experience based on who they admit. This means it is critical for you to understand your profile and what perspective you will add to that community. The interview is simply confirmation that you know what your value is. One aspect I honed in on during my interview is the fact that I understand people, from both the traditional consumer packaged goods lens to technology, based on my understanding of core metrics that are important to both.
While the Harvard Business School interview is focused on admissions, the goals for the interview can be used for so much more. It questions: how well do you know yourself? How do you look for ways to improve? How well do you show up to others? Ultimately, what. is. your. value. and how do you make sure others know it?
