HBS Taking 50 Off Round One Wait List

Harvard Business School began notifying round one waitlist candidates today (March 8) that it intends to invite roughly 50 of them to attend the school this fall.

In an email to the round one candidates, Assistant Director of MBA Admissions Dana Scalisi said “we have room in the class for about 50 candidates from the Round 1 wait list.” It’s not known how many applicants Harvard put on its wait list, although the school’s admissions office had previously said that 120 applicants who had been interviewed during round one were put on the wait list. Observers believe another 80 or so candidates were added to the wait list. That would mean that one of every four applicants who ended up on the wait list will be accepted in the first round.

But the announcement is yet another example of the transparency of Harvard Business School’s admissions process. Increasingly, Director of Admissions “Dee” Leopold is using her blog to provide significant guidance to applicants through every phase of the application process.

“We have been busy interviewing our Round 2 applicants these past few weeks and this will continue until next Tuesday, March 13,” Scalisi wrote. “I know you’ve been patiently waiting for something to happen, and the time is now – we will begin the process of re-reviewing our Round 1 wait list candidates, and hope to begin making final decisions on as many of you as possible.”

Scalisi asked applicants to confirm by March 12 via email their “desire to be considered for admission” to help the school make its waitlist decisions. “Please have the courtesy to be sincere in your response; if you have indeed made other plans, I would appreciate your letting me know so that we would seriously consider only those who would plan to matriculate if offered a place in the class,” she wrote.