How To Prep For The Harvard Business School Interview

About to have an admissions interview with the Harvard Business School? Or, for that matter, any highly selective business school?

Then, you’ll want to take a few minutes to hear what HBSGuru.com Founder Sandy Kreisberg has to say about the often jittery moment when you show up for that question-and-answer exercise.

In the 2013-2014 admissions season, Kreisberg did mock interviews with 130 HBS applicants, out of the 1,900 or so interviewed last year. That’s a pretty good-sized sample of the total to draw some smart conclusions from.

And Kreisberg has some fairly firm opinions about the pitfalls some applicants encounter when they are invited to interview. As he puts it, “the purpose of the interview is to flunk people. It’s to filter out people and not to select people. It’s not like you are auditioning for a symphony orchestra” where subtle differences will determine whether you get to play in the violin section or not.

THE MILITARY VETERAN IN SPECIAL OPS WHO WAS THROWN OFF BY A SIMPLE QUESTION

If you’re invited to an MBA admissions interview, believes Kreisberg, you are on your way to an acceptance. Only a misstep will get you a rejection. “So don’t flunk the interview. Don’t get lost. Don’t get nervous. Don’t show off, and don’t get affected.”

During our video Q&A, Kreisberg recalls one client who had to do his HBS interview via Skype from Iraq. He was in special ops, in the green zone of the country in the middle of the first war. “And obviously, the Harvard Business School was not going to interview in Baghdad during the war. So he was sitting there, waiting for his Skype interview to begin,” recalls Kreisberg. “Man, was he getting ready for his interview. He had cards about what he was going to do, and what his life plan was. He was psyched up. The Skype thing starts and what do you think the first question was?

Are you safe?

“And the guy later told me it totally threw him for a loop. He was ready to get into combat questions and rock and roll and the interviewer asked him a caring question. It destabilized him and he said he never recovered for the whole interview. He didn’t get in and he was a very qualified guy.”

HOW TO ANSWER THE MOST COMMON QUESTIONS AND WHY YOU SHOULDN’T FRET ABOUT THE ODDBALL ONES

In the video, Kreisberg goes through all the most common questions applicants are asked by HBS as well as some of the oddball questions and his strategy for handling them. He also has some basic advice for what not to wear and how not to calm your nerves.

“Don’t try to score points with your clothing,” he advises. “Don’t go for the ultra-Wall Street look, with the white collar and the blue shirt. Don’t wear a tie-bar or a $200 tie. Don’t try to make a statement with your dress.

“Get to the interview early. Just the act of getting over there will calm you down. That is the way you get into the zone. What you shouldn’t do is stay alone, living within your own echo chamber and imagining great answers to questions you might be asked. Being with other people is relaxing and helpful. This is the danger of a Skype interview or a telephone interview.”

DON’T MISS: HOW NOT TO BLOW YOUR HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL INTERVIEW

Questions about this article? Email us or leave a comment below.