{"id":11014,"date":"2017-11-20T16:09:25","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T16:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/?p=11014"},"modified":"2019-08-30T16:40:26","modified_gmt":"2019-08-30T16:40:26","slug":"mba-myths-harvard-business-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/blog\/mba-myths-harvard-business-school\/","title":{"rendered":"MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: Harvard Business School is for Everyone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11075\" src=\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2017\/11\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-harvard-business-school-everyone-mbamission.png\" alt=\"Manhattan Prep GRE Blog - MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: Harvard Business School is for Everyone by mbaMission\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2017\/11\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-harvard-business-school-everyone-mbamission.png 1200w, https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2017\/11\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-harvard-business-school-everyone-mbamission-300x157.png 300w, https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2017\/11\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-harvard-business-school-everyone-mbamission-768x402.png 768w, https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2017\/11\/mba-admissions-myths-destroyed-harvard-business-school-everyone-mbamission-1024x536.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What have you been told about applying to business school? With the advent of chat rooms, blogs and forums, armchair \u201cexperts\u201d often unintentionally propagate MBA admissions myths, which can linger and undermine an applicant\u2019s confidence. Some applicants are led to believe that schools want a specific \u201ctype\u201d of candidate and expect certain GRE scores and GPAs, for example. Others are led to believe that they need to know alumni from their target schools and\/or get a letter of reference from the CEO of their firm in order to get in. In this series,\u00a0<\/span><\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">mbaMission<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> debunks these and other myths and strives to take the anxiety out of the admissions process.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><i><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Harvard Business School (HBS) offers an excellent MBA program\u2014this is largely a given, and we are not questioning that. However, what we <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">will<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> call into question is whether Harvard Business School (or any other school, for that matter) is right for <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">you<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Every year, we get a few calls from confused MBA aspirants who say, \u201cI visited Harvard Business School, and I am not sure if there is a fit,\u201d as if that indicates some sort of problem. Indeed, and this may be shocking to some, Harvard Business School is not for everyone\u2014particularly those who do not relate well to case-based learning, those who want a lot of flexibility in their first-year curriculum, and those who would prefer a small class size (HBS\u2019s Class of 2019 has 928 students, while the same class at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business, for example, has just 282).<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We hope that applicants will use this post as a jumping-off point to critically appraise their target MBA programs and determine which schools are indeed right for them. Start by asking yourself the following questions:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Would I prefer to be in a larger program, or would I feel overwhelmed by a larger program\u2019s size?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Would I prefer to be in a smaller program, or would that feel claustrophobic?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Would I prefer to be at a school with a flexible curriculum and a consistent stream of new classmates and where I could make my own academic choices early on?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Would I prefer to learn in a comprehensive core curriculum where I am, for a period of time, learning the same material as my classmates and where academics would provide me with a course structure?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Am I best suited for the case method, lecture method, or programs with strong experiential components? (And do I really understand what each entails\u2014for example, the teamwork and public speaking that is necessary within the case method?)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do my target schools match my academic objectives?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do my target firms recruit at my school?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are alumni well placed in my industry\/post-MBA location? (Are alumni even crucial to my career?)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do my target schools have facilities and an environment that appeal to me?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Again, these questions are just a start\u2014we could pose many more, but the point is that you will get far more than a brand from your MBA studies. You will gain an education and an alumni network in return for your investment of two years and thousands of dollars. You should therefore skip the rankings, determine what is important to you, and then do your homework to identify a program that truly fits your personality, needs, and goals. ?<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-9899 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn2.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2017\/01\/logo-150x150.png\" alt=\"Manhattan Prep GRE Blog - mbaMission Logo\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b><i>mbaMission<\/i><\/b><\/a><b><i>\u00a0is the leader in MBA admissions consulting with a full-time and comprehensively trained staff of consultants<\/i><\/b><i>, all with profound communications and MBA experience. mbaMission has helped thousands of candidates fulfill their dream of attending prominent MBA programs around the world. Take your first step toward a more successful MBA application experience with a free 30-minute consultation with one of mbaMission\u2019s senior consultants.\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/mbamission.com\/consult\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Click here to sign up today.<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What have you been told about applying to business school? With the advent of chat rooms, blogs and forums, armchair \u201cexperts\u201d often unintentionally propagate MBA admissions myths, which can linger and undermine an applicant\u2019s confidence. Some applicants are led to believe that schools want a specific \u201ctype\u201d of candidate and expect certain GRE scores and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[645523,645522,1362363,672694],"tags":[1362499,1362448],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-11014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apps-and-admissions-mba-2","category-mba-2","category-mbamission","category-partners","tag-harvard-business-school","tag-mba-admissions-myths-destroyed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11014"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11077,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11014\/revisions\/11077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11014"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=11014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}