Sandy’s Dos & Don’ts for Harvard Business School Interviews

Sandy Kreisberg, an MBA admissions consultant known as HBS Guru, has created his own list of dos and don’ts for applicants who have been invited to interview by the admissions office at Harvard Business School. This more irreverent list of suggestions, really a send up on the recently published 2011 Unofficial Harvard Business School Interview Guide, is a complement to his more substantive advice in How NOT to Blow Your Harvard Interview.

His two cents:

1)   Don’t wear ear buds, no matter how cool your playlist is, and don’t ask if you can finish eating this cookie.

2)   Cover up gang insignia.

3)   Don’t pack visible firearms, even if licensed.

4)   Don’t ask interviewer if it is okay if you ‘friend’ them after the interview.

5)   Similarly, don’t say, ‘Do you mind if I take a picture of us together and send it to my Mom right now?’

6)   Don’t attempt to sell interviewer lottery tickets, no matter how good the cause.

7)   Don’t give interviewer stock tips or inside information about your company, with a wink.

8)   Don’t say: 1. ‘You look old for this kind of work’ or 2. ‘You look tired. This must be exhausting’ or 3. ‘You look cute!’

And if you’re one of the few applicants who is interviewed by admissions director Dee Leopold, don’t say:

1)   ‘Holy shit, now it all comes down to this’ (even though true).

Do say:

1)   ‘Good afternoon, your majesty.’

2)   ‘You look young for this kind of work.’

3)   ‘Love, love, love those shoes! Where did you get them?’