Harvard Business School Interview Questions

Graduate interview

Have you been invited for an interview at HBS? Here are Harvard Business School interview questions from four different candidates.

The transcripts come from clients of Sandy Kreisberg, founder of HBSGuru.com, who prepares more than 100 applicants for internships and mock interviews each year. In all likelihood, Kriesberg conducts many interviews with HBS candidates, except for a few people on the HBS admissions team who actually conduct 30-minute sessions.

His sample size—100+ out of 1,900 interviewed in any given year—gives him a unique perspective on who makes the cut and who doesn’t. His advice on how not to blow a Harvard Business School interview is worth checking out.

Harvard Business School interview questions from four candidates

The questions an MBA applicant receives at a Harvard Business School interview can vary greatly because each session is tailored to the individual candidate. At HBS, interviews are 30 minutes long and are conducted by a member of the MBA Admissions Board who has reviewed the candidate’s application. Typically, one admissions officer asks the questions while the other takes notes.

It is important to remember what HBS is looking for in a successful candidate, whether through an interview or an application to get an interview. According to HBS, there are three main things every candidate should have: leadership skills, analytical skills and appetite, and engaged community citizenship. All three should be subtly reflected in an interview response.

The following are four recent examples of very different candidates: a project manager, an analyst at an investment banking firm, an analyst at a private equity firm, and the US Army.

Interview questions for project manager

How has covid affected your work and industry?
Do people work at home?
Are you working at home?
how was it?
What technologies are you using to connect with your remote colleagues?
Do you find that some people adjust better to remote work?
Ok let’s get out of covid.
What was the most interesting project you worked on this year?
What role did you play?
how did you get out
Looking back on this project, what would you do differently?
How do you handle pushback?
Have you received unfair criticism in your opinion?
what did you say?
What would you say was the most valuable feedback you received so far?
What were the circumstances?
What kind of leader do you aspire to be?
Besides managing your time, what will be difficult at HBS?
What would be less difficult?
How do you think you’ll be different after your two years at HBS?
We welcome applications from many highly qualified applicants in your industry:Why should we accept you?

Interview questions for an investment banker

How has covid affected your business (lots of follow up on my impact on deals, customers, colleagues, etc.)?
Tell me about your favorite deal, your most difficult negotiation, and a past deal–and why?
How do you market yourself to investors?
What is your company’s ‘secret sauce’?
What types of investors are attracted to your company and why?
What was the biggest challenge in raising money?
Tell me about a time when you had an impact on someone else.
When you think about the roles you’ve had – deal maker, working with your portfolio companies, team leader and fundraising – which one is the hardest for you and why?
Ever wanted to run a company full-time?
How might your impact be different as an investor and as a CEO?
How did you learn about HBS?
What do you want me to ask you about?

Interview questions for a private equity analyst

You can talk about the latest deal on your resume (multiple follow-up questions).
What are you doing in your current role?
I see you’ve worked in different offices, and different continents at your bank, what are some of the cultural and operational differences? Which office do you enjoy the most?
How would your supervisor describe you?
What constructive feedback have you received in the past?
What did you learn in JOB 2?
Tell me about your goals. Where do you want to work? What can you see yourself doing if these goals are not achieved?
What do you get from an MBA?
What have you thought about doing your exchange semester in D? 1
Can you tell us more about living in A and B?
Can you tell us about Extracurricular A?
Is there anything else you would like us to know?

Interview questions for military VET

What made you decide to join the military?
Tell me about the team you’re working with now. Multiple monitoring – what is team culture, who is the ‘leader’, how do we make decisions?
Give me two words that your teammates would use to describe you.
What constructive feedback have you received from your teammates?
What were the goals you set for yourself in the military?
When did you decide to pursue an MBA and why?
What are you interested in doing?
What is a company you are interested in working with and why?
Is there anything else you would like to tell us about yourself?