HBS MBAs Gathering Essays To Sell

Alex Kleiner, editor of The Harbus

The Harbus is hoping to make the downloadable-pdf book available in March, a few weeks before the final Round 3 admission deadline of April 7 for the Class of 2016.  “It’s an ambitious deadline so it could slip past that, but we are targeting around spring break,” adds Kleiner. “Our hope is that it would be helpful to some people who will apply in Round 3 but also give a great start to someone who plans to start thinking about their essays during the summer with a goal of applying in the fall.” Each essay will also be accompanied by an “analysis” written by a Harbus staffer, following the format of the original book.

‘WE’RE JUST TRYING TO GIVE PEOPLE THE CONFIDENCE THAT THEY CAN DO IT’

Kleiner says The Harbus hasn’t yet decided what it will charge for the collection of essays. The 69-page “Unofficial Harvard Business School Interview Guide.” currently sells for $65. All the revenue goes in support of the non-profit organization that publishes the student newspaper and also funds The Harbus Foundation, which provides grant awards and consulting services to organizations promoting education, literacy, and journalism in the Boston metro area.

How does he think Dee Leopold, the managing director of admissions at HBS, would react to his project? “I am pretty sure she is aware that the essay book from a few years ago is still out there on Amazon,” he says. “The Harbus is a non-profit and we are trying to do our best to help prospective students get into Harvard. We are just trying to give people examples that will give them the confidence that they can do it. I don’t think it is too inconsistent with how it’s been in the past.”

If O’Keefe’s writing on leadership is an example of what is to come, it’s sure to be a revealing look at the winning essays of a new generation of HBS admits.

DON’T MISS: WHAT AN HBS INTERVIEW IS REALLY LIKE or HOW NOT TO BLOW YOUR HBS INTERVIEW