Author Archives: Kyle Watkins

HBS application deadlines – MBA Class of 2017

By Kyle Watkins (last updated: August 25, 2014)

Harvard finally released its application deadlines for the HBS MBA class of 2017.

  • Once again, Harvard Business School’s first round deadline will be very early, as applicants will have to submit their Round 1 application by noon on September 9, 2014.
  • Round 2 applicants will need to apply by January 5, 2015 (before noon, Eastern time).
  • Round 3 candidates will have until April 6, 2015 (12pm) to hit the submit button.

Kyle Watkins recently wrote a post to help HBS applicants. You can read it here.

Good luck!

HBS Round 3 Interviews

By Kyle Watkins (last updated: April 16, 2014)

Harvard Business Schools will send out interview invitations to third round applicants on April 17, 2014 at precisely noon Eastern Time. Admissions results will be released in barely one month, so candidates should expect to be interviewing very soon. As a former round 3 applicant, I remember how exciting it was to go from submitting my application to receiving my offer in just 5 weeks.

If you receive an interview invitation at HBS, your odds of getting in are pretty high; the admissions ratio after the HBS interview is close to 60%. This is quite a good ratio, and a common saying is that at this point of the admissions process, your HBS offer is yours to lose.

Preparation is therefore essential, and we highly recommend that you have a look at the list of resources we have put together to prepare for the HBS interview.

Should you need help to prepare for your interview, please do not hesitate to let us know.
We offer interview preparation packages for HBS that have helped many successful candidates in the past.

In the words of one of our Round 2 admits: “I wanted to follow up with good news: I got into HBS! The interview itself was, as everyone says, totally impossible to predict (…), but the practice of being nervous and answering impossible-to-predict questions with you guys was invaluable and let me push past my (high) stress level.”

Harvard Tops FT’s 2014 Global MBA Ranking

By Kyle Watkins (last updated: January 29, 2014)

The Financial Times just released its latest MBA ranking. Harvard Business School (#1) and The Stanford Graduate School of Business (#2) kept their respective spots from last year, while Wharton lost its 3rd position to London Business School, one of the leading European MBA programs along with Insead (#5), IESE (#7), and IMD (#12). Interestingly, the Yale School of Management gained 4 spots this year, reaching the FT’s top ten for the first time in seven years.

3 years after graduation, Stanford’s alumni earn the most, with an average salary of $185,000 (+100% vs. the pre-MBA salary), while HBS graduates come in second with $178,000 (+113%). In Europe, LBS graduates lead the pack, with an average compensation of $157,000 per year (+107%).
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The Round 3 MBA Application

By Kyle Watkins (last updated: October 14, 2019)

I was admitted to Harvard Business School as a round 3 candidate, and although it made things quite difficult, I’m glad I didn’t postpone my application another year (I was already in my thirties when I applied to Harvard).

Like Harvard, most leading MBA programs in the U.S. still maintain a third admission round (R3) and frequently reiterate that they keep a few spots for truly outstanding applicants. While odds of admissions may be lower in R3, a decent 5% to 10% of any incoming class at Harvard Business School is assumed to originate from the third round. Round 3 should therefore be considered a suitable option for very strong candidates (with a good GPA and 700+ GMAT).

How to increase your chances of success in Round 3?

We recently held conversations with successful round 3 applicants from the HBS class of 2013. Based on their feedback and my own experience, we have compiled a list of 5 things you should know in order to maximize your odds of success as a round 3 applicant.
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MIT Round One Notifications

By Kyle Watkins (last updated: October 8, 2019)
On Friday December 20, 2013, MIT Sloan will be releasing its round one decisions, putting an end to a pretty busy week, during which Wharton (on December 17) and Booth (December 19) also released their first round admissions decisions. 

Notification time

Unlike HBS, MIT Sloan does not provide a lot of information about the exact time and manner candidates are notified, although admitted students should receive an email or phone call from the admissions team by 5pm EST.

Post-interview admissions rate

Although precise numbers do not exist, we estimate that post-interview admissions odds at MIT Sloan stand among the highest across top 10 MBA programs, at around 60%. Candidates who prepared well for their behavioral interview questions, should thus receive positive news on decision day.

Waitlisted candidates

Having dealt with the waitlist process at MIT Sloan, I vividly remember the emotional roller coaster I went through in the days following the decision notification. Having received strong words of encouragement from my interviewer at the end of our conversation, I felt pretty confident that I would receive a offer from that particular program. I was thus puzzled by the school’s decision to put me on their waitlist, and was unsure of what to do to end up getting a spot in their next class.

In order to help candidates who receive a waitlist notification, our co-founder, Kyle Watkins, recently wrote a post about dealing with the waitlist decision, and we dedicated one of our 10-step guides to “navigating the wailtlist process“. In some cases there might be steps that can be taken to maximize your chances, especially since MIT Sloan is one of the few schools that do not discourage candidates from submitting new material (“we encourage waiting list applicants to keep us updated on their situation and intentions. You are welcome to submit via e-mail only any additional information you feel will be helpful to us”). In a November 2013 wait list chat, the school clearly stated that “all applicants placed on the wait list should send 2-4 updates to show their interest in attending MIT Sloan. Updates should demonstrate evidence of professional success (new projects/results/promotions), updated test scores or additional coursework, and additional unofficial recommendations“.

We will try to centralize information from the school’s admissions team about the process along with anecdotes from other waitlisted applicants, so check our blog regularly for updates.

Dings: it’s worth re-applying

Months of effort and hopes will be torn into pieces for applicants who receive a ding notification from MIT. But it is important to quickly move on should the outcome of your application be negative. Although MIT Sloan usually does not provide individual feedback to applicants whose application is rejected (even post interview), the school encourages candidates to reapply  (“re-applicants are very important to us and you’re sending us an important message if you re-apply. We take this seriously, and we know you’ve probably passed up other opportunities to try with us again. We want you to know you’re getting the full consideration and the first chance at a spot in the next class. It’s important to know that re-applicants are successful in our process. We value your commitment to coming here, and we want students who are committed to MIT Sloan”).

In any case, stay positive. MIT Sloan decided to invite you to an interview. This means that you have what it takes to get into a top MBA program with maybe just a few tweaks to your application. If MIT Sloan is the one and only place where you can picture yourself earning your MBA, keep in mind that re-applicants odds of success are higher than those of regular applicants (“(…) typically the acceptance rate for re-applicants is a few percentage points higher than our average. So if on average we have a 12% acceptance rate, re-applicants are at about 15–16% acceptance rate”).

Next steps

If you have just received an admissions offer from MIT Sloan, congratulations! You are about to go on an amazing journey that will bring countless opportunities. Should you want to discuss how to best prepare for MIT, we will be happy to work with you.

For waitlisted candidates, we can guide you through the waitlist process, and answer any questions you may have about the steps you can take to increase your chances. This is particularly important at MIT Sloan, since the school expects waitlisted candidates to send additional material. Don’t let this opportunity pass! You may also find valuable content in some of our past posts.

Finally, we have provided ding reports to several candidates in the past, and have helped them secure interviews or admissions offers at other top 10 programs.

Just reach out to us should you be interested in any of these services.

The 4-Week MBA Application

By Kyle Watkins (last updated: October 14, 2019)

As we get closer to application deadlines, we tend to receive inquiries from MBA applicants who wonder about the possibility to put together a solid B-school application in less than a month.

Applying to a top business school usually requires months of effort, and GMAT preparation alone takes a minimum of 6 to 8 weeks for most applicants. Furthermore, picking, reaching out to, and managing recommenders can be extremely time consuming. Finally, most MBA programs require applicants to submit university or college transcripts; obtaining them can turn into a long struggle, especially for international students (who also need to translate their transcripts and convert their grades).

Our recommendation is therefore to submit your MBA application when it is ready, even if doing so implies applying at a later stage. This is usually a no-brainer for early birds who after considering applying in round 1 realize that they need a bit more time to polish their essays and therefore decide to apply in round 2. Although considered more competitive, round 2  gives them an opportunity to submit a much more robust application.

However, skipping round 2 and applying in round 3 is a much bigger chance to take because of the limited number of spots available at most schools. Postponing MBA plans one year is often not  an option for applicants who have spent months crafting their story and just want to go to B-School in the fall. If you haven’t started putting together your application and feel that you absolutely need to submit it before the round-2 deadline, here are 10 tips that may help you achieve the impossible.

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