How To Get Into HBS? Part 1 Of 2

“How can I get into Harvard Business School?” That’s the first question that the majority of our clients ask. For more than two decades, Stacy Blackman Consulting (SBC) has guided more Harvard Business School (HBS) admits than any other program because the demand for the Harvard MBA is so high for our client pool. We are also fortunate to have multiple former HBS Admissions Officers (AdCom) and Directors come work for our team, as they find advising MBA applicants one-on-one through our consulting services extremely fulfilling and more impactful than the traditional AdCom role.

At SBC, we love hearing from our team of HBS experts about their experiences. While in HBS Admissions, “I had the privilege of meeting the brightest and most diverse set of people from all over the world, doing things I could never have imagined. I learned about new cultures, passions, and jobs and met people I would likely never have met under any other circumstances. The candidates were almost always dedicated, hard-working, and devoted to whatever they focused on. I was allowed an ‘inside’ look into people’s lives—the challenges and the triumphs. I was often amazed not just by what people accomplished but by what they overcame,” shared one of our HBS experts.

The New HBS Essays

The 2024-2025 HBS essay prompts, announced in June, are the first significant HBS application change in over a decade. The new essay prompts for the MBA Class of 2027 (matriculating fall 2025) are:

Business-Minded Essay: Please reflect on how your experiences have influenced your career choices and aspirations and the impact you will have on the businesses, organizations, and communities you plan to serve. (up to 300 words)
Leadership-Focused Essay: What experiences have shaped who you are, how you invest in others, and what kind of leader you want to become? (up to 250 words)
Growth-Oriented Essay: Curiosity can be seen in many ways. Please share an example of how you have demonstrated curiosity and how that has influenced your growth. (up to 250 words)

Why The Change?

The Stacy Blackman Consulting team has discussed possible reasons for the change in the essay prompt, and we believe it may have been triggered by the topics prospective employers ask about during the MBA student recruiting process for both summer internships and full-time employment. These qualities asked about are more essential now than ever because of the realities of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools and the elevated importance of demonstrated skills that predict which students will thrive in the recruiting process and in their post-MBA careers.

Our consultants, who are HBS graduates from years ago, reflected that the HBS essay prompts from over a decade ago were very similar to these new essay prompts. “The new essay prompts are basically a midpoint of what HBS’s application used to be over a decade ago and what it had become. Similarly, the most recent HBS essay prompt—which was a singular 900-word essay—was always a compilation of the same themes that are now being asked about in the current three-essay model. “HBS has always looked to essays to uncover refined behavioral qualities—much like their interview process for candidates who make it that far,” shared Margaret, an HBS grad on our SBC team.

How To Approach The 3 Essays

Before the essay prompts were posted live on June 25, the HBS admissions office explained that the new essay prompts are an “opportunity for applicants to bring their journey and future aspirations to life.” Yvette, an HBS expert on our team, shared, “Having three essay prompts aimed at unearthing a journey shows that the essays should build on each other within an overarching application strategy.”

The essays really are make-or-break for Harvard Business School, says a former HBS AdCom member on the SBC team. While many applicants have sufficient credentials to qualify for the program, the essays set the overall application apart and earn the interview.

“Go deep. Get personal. Make sure the reader feels genuineness and authenticity. Make them get goosebumps while they are reading,” our team suggests.

“At the end of the essays, the reader should feel so moved they immediately want to meet you. They can’t wait to get to know you better, hear your story, ask specific questions to learn more, be inspired, etc.”

The HBS essays cannot solely be a story of successes and accomplishments. It must leverage some creative theme or thread that acts as a mechanism to ensure your application stands out cohesively.

“I believe it’s true that all people, and therefore all admissions boards, love a great story,” says another former HBS AdCom member on our SBC team. For example, she still remembers the applicant who engineered a soccer ball that could be kicked around and then used to provide electricity for a short period of time.

“The essays are a way to bring life to your application and show the realness of who you are during what can be a dry process. However, it’s important that the three essays you assemble in total convey that you are genuine. It can often show through when it’s been fabricated or forced.”

Another HBS expert on the team shared a Lewis Carroll quote from Alice in Wonderland that she loves to use to inspire applicants starting out with their HBS essay planning:

“Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle.”

Competitive Stats & Career Are Table Stakes

In an episode of SBC’s B-Schooled podcast, we discuss how the essays should fill any gaps not already addressed by the other application components. In other words, don’t repeat what they already know.

Before thinking strategically about your HBS essays, consider what the admissions reader already sees within your application materials, including:

1) Resume, which includes achievements from career and college

2) Test scores and transcripts

3) Two letters of recommendation

4) The data form (online application) contains short answers that usually cover: meaningful extracurriculars, career aspirations, company, roles, responsibilities, significant challenges, and reasons for leaving each role, if applicable. Here’s an excerpt from the current 2024-2025 data form, which asks about post-MBA career goals:

The vast majority of the 10,000+ applicants to HBS each season are competitive in each of these four fundamentals. By the time the admissions reader gets through those application components, they likely already have an idea of what you’ll write about. Nonetheless, the reader will start each essay hoping to feel moved and inspired.

Don’t take the safe route. Don’t blend in with other applicants who look like you on paper. You don’t need to have done anything extraordinary, but you do need to have some engaging and differentiating qualities to fill in the blank spaces.

“The toughest part of the HBS AdCom role was knowing that we would have no choice but to deny admission to many extraordinarily intelligent, fascinating, and worthy people. There were simply only so many seats to go around,” says another former HBS Admissions Officer on our SBC team.

Are you curious about what our Harvard MBA experts recommend to elevate the following three crucial HBS qualities in your MBA application?

Habits of Leadership
Community Citizenship
Analytical Aptitude & Appetite

Check back in next Wednesday for part two in our “How to get into HBS” series!

Stacy Blackman Consulting’s B-Schooled Podcast is hosted by Erika Olson, Harvard MBA, and Chandler Arnold, Stanford GSB MBA. B-Schooled now has more than a quarter million downloads and 200+ episodes. Search and sort through our 200 B-Schooled podcasts.

About The Author

Stacy Blackman is the founder of Stacy Blackman Consulting (SBC). We are the only consulting firm in the industry that has a complete panel of former MBA Admissions Officers from the top US and European MBA programs. SBC holds the #1 ranking on MBAinsight, CollegeConsensus, ClearAdmit, BeattheGMAT, ExamStrategist and we are #1 out of 11 firms for the presence on our SBC team of former MBA Admissions Officers by Poets&Quants. Sign up for SBC’s E-Newsletter for valuable insider intel culled from the former MBA Admissions Officers on our team and real-time learnings: stacyblackman.com/newsletter Request a free MBA Advising Session call: stacyblackman.com.