I had my interview on the phone. The lady was really nice. Right at the start of the interview, she told me that there will be no time for me to ask questions and that she would take exactly 30 minutes. She did.
I didn’t get many of the standard questions that I had read on this site or on others but preparation was definitely the key – I didn’t hesitate to answer questions and overall felt well prepared. Harvard prefers to do all its interviews via adcom rather than alumni so be prepared for someone who has heard all the answers before and is not looking for the cookie cutter. They are very professional but pleasant.
Also note that my note above about not getting standard questions was driven by the fact that HBS interviews are very much focused on what you have put in your resume and application. You’ll see from the nature of the questions below. What I found useful is to spent half a day before the interview pouring over your application and picking up questions that you think they might ask. If there is anything that stands out in the application, you can bet they will ask you a question about it.
So my questions were (this is not a complete set):
- Given what you know now, if you could go back to university and pick your subjects, which ones would you do?
- Tell me about your involvement in your family business?
- Tell me a little bit about that industry and what some of the issues and challenges faced?
- Tell me about something outside work – e.g., Extracurricular activity A or B?
- What is the key challenge you see that Charity A [picking up the charity that I am involved with] is currently struggling with?
- How would your colleagues describe you?
- What did you find surprising about your job at X?
- Tell me about a time when you raised an unpopular idea?
- Is there something about you that hasn’t been addressed in your application?
Good luck everyone!
