Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Harvard Business School announced that all admissions interviews for the 2020-2021 application season will take place virtually. In a message on the Direct from the Director’s blog, Managing Director of MBA Admissions Chad Losee shared the following:
“I have said it before—the interview is a highlight of the application process for us. After getting to know you first through your written application, we finally get to have a conversation and learn more about you. Invariably the 30 minutes fly by.
“Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we have made the decision to conduct all of our interviews virtually during the 2020-2021 application year. We feel this approach best meets potential health and safety concerns while enabling us to get to know you and make admissions decisions.”
Losee also commented on the format of the HBS admissions interviews:
“Rest assured, the interviews will still play the same role in our admissions process. All interviews will continue to be conducted by our Interview Board—a small group of about 25 individuals, who are trained and conduct many interviews per year. For each interview, we prepare as we would for a case discussion—having thoroughly read your application and ready for an interesting and dynamic conversation with you. That will not change in our virtual interview format.”
The HBS team has had extensive practice with the virtual format. They have always conducted interviews online for candidates who could not travel. Moreover, this summer, they conducted interviews virtually for their 2+2 candidates.
The Round 1 deadline for the HBS MBA is September 8, 2020.
