More Anxiety for HBS Applicants? by: John A. Byrne on May 23, 2012 | 6 Comments | 2,902 Views May 23, 2012 Copy Link Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email Share on LinkedIn Share on WhatsApp Share on Reddit Dan Bauer of The MBA Exchange Changes to the admission policies at Harvard Business School are expected to encourage more people to apply to its prestige MBA program but are unlikely to quell the anxiety of applicants who sorely want to get into the school. Thatās the fairly unanimous view of several leading MBA admission consultants. The consultants believe that Harvardās decision to cut in half the required number of application essays will likely reverse a two-year, post-recession fall in applications. But they argue that a new 400-word essay for applicants invited to interview will ratchet up the pressure on MBA candidates due to the 24-hour deadline Harvard is imposing to get the essay filed online. The admission changes, the most significant since 2002 when Harvard made interviews with admission staffers mandatory for applicants who passed a first cut, were announced yesterday by āDeeā Leopold, managing director of MBA admissiona and financial aid. She said the changes were in sync with significant changes in Harvard’s MBA curriculum as well as her belief that essays have been given too much emphasis in admissions. Leopold told Poets&Quants that she thought the changes would eliminate some of the anxiety MBA applicants typically feel as they go through the application process. āHARVARD APPLICANTS WILL BE MUCH MORE ANXIOUSā āAs far as reducing anxiety, Iām underwhelmed both with the goal and the execution,ā said Linda Abraham, founder of Accepted.com. āThe writing contraints can provoke more anxiety than the ability to tell oneās story,ā said Linda Abraham, founder of Accepted.com. āAnd I think that applicants will be much more anxious about the 30-minute interview and the 24-hour-max āwritten reflection of the interivew experienceā than they have been about the two essays that they no longer need to write without time pressure.ā Linda Abraham, founder of Accepted.com Abraham believes that any school would be hard-pressed to diminish the pressure most candidates at top schools feel over the application process. āApplicant anxiety is an outcome of an opaque, subjective, intensely competitive admissions process where a prized, scarce resource is allocated among largely Type A millenials,ā added Abraham. āHarvardās change, no matter how sincere and noble the motives, hasnāt changed anything about that process.ā āA WELL-CRAFTED THIRD ESSAY WILL HELP CLOSE THE DEALā Other consultants agreed. āThe 24-hour timeframe for the third essay adds some pressure for the applicant, but also is very appealing,ā believes Dan Bauer, a Harvard MBA who is founder and managing director of The MBA Exchange. āThis is an unprecedented opportunity for the individual to respond to rather than just speculate on what is most important to the admissions board as revealed in the interview. A well-crafted essay here will help close the deal for an astute applicant.ā Chioma Isiadinso, who had been assistant director of admissions at Harvard Business Chioma Isiadinso, co-founder of EXPARTUS School before launching her consulting firm EXPARTUS, thought the changes would lighten the schoolās workload because it would require admission staffers to read fewer essays. āI think this is good for HBS and not necessarily for applicants,ā she said. āThese changes are about helping HBS manage their admission resources effectively, weeding out too much outside influence and increasing application numbers given two years of declining application figures. I doubt applicants will consider a 24-hour, shot-gun essay reflection a stress-free application experience.ā āEVERY THOUGHT AND WORD WILL COUNT EVEN MOREā Some consultants, in fact, suggested that reducing the initial applicantās essays to just two 400-word statements imposes a different kind of pressure on MBA candidates. Bauer said it āmeans that every thought and word will count even more in making that critical first impression. Those individuals who know themselves and can integrate their past, present and future best will thrive. āThe focus of these new essay questions is similar to Stanfordās infamous question, āWhat matters most to you and why?,ā he added. āHBS is now providing a canvas for the applicant to paint a compelling picture rather than just respond to a narrowly defined, tactical query. Rather than just expanding on the resume, these new essays will reveal the individualās values, awareness and priorities in ways never before possible.ā Continue ReadingPage 1 of 2 1 2 Questions about this article? Email us or leave a comment below. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.