HBS has released its updated application requirements and deadlines for their full-time MBA.
Round Application Deadline Decision Notification
Round 1 04 September 2024 10 December 2024
Round 2 06 January 2025 26 March 2025
This year’s application features significant updates from previous years, asking applicants to respond to three short essay prompts on business, leadership, and growth rather than submitting one open-ended personal essay.
At HBS the essays are a critical component of your application and provide an opportunity for you to show those character traits that Harvard values. HBS puts a strong emphasis on character and service, with a longstanding mission “to educate leaders who make a difference in the world.” The program also expressly calls out community values including, “trust and mutual respect, free expression and inquiry, and a commitment to truth, excellence, and lifelong learning.” Dean Srikant Datar describes one of his aspirations for the school as “...stretching HBS and its learners beyond notions of merely personal success toward becoming, collectively and individually, driving forces in redefining the role of business in society around the world—addressing inequality, exclusion, climate change, and other intractable problems.”
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)
You will want to anchor this essay in the past to show the admissions committee what you’ve already done, learned, and achieved and how those experiences have prepared you to do what you say you want to do in the future. To fully satisfy the objective of this prompt, go into your backstory and detail the key moments that influenced you and the formation of your goals. Your resume will provide a general overview of your professional path to date, but this is your chance to provide a deep dive into your most pivotal experiences. Once the reader has taken this trip to your past, your proposed path forward, which will include your career goals and the impact you plan to make, will make much more sense.
Take a look at our writing process to help you craft a strong narrative.
See also: Anatomy of a Successful MBA Application: Show Meaningful Professional Experience
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)
This essay asks you to share how experiences from your past have influenced your current views on leadership, but you only have 250 words, so it will be more impactful to focus on just one. Which experience prompted the most significant evolution in your perspective on leadership? How did your views change as a result? What have you determined matters most when empowering and inspiring others?
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)
Don’t be afraid to show a little personality as you respond to this prompt. While you can focus on an aspect of your professional life, this is also an opportunity to discuss a topic you feel passionately about outside of work.
To get started, think about instances when you have entered a flow state or gone very deeply into a subject matter. Keep in mind that the topic or activity itself matters less than the personal growth that has resulted from your experiences. So choose something you feel authentically passionate about rather than what you believe the Admissions Committee wants to see.
Once you feel confident with what you want to write about, take a deep dive into one specific instance in the topic or activity. Then explain its role in your life. What has it taught you about yourself, about others, about the world? How does your ongoing curiosity and exploration in this area continue to inspire your growth?
Related:
Essay Guide 2024-2025: The Writing Process
Essay Guide 2024-2025: Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley