HBS Launches Unique Deferred-Admission Program
YOUNGER FACES IN STUDY GROUPS: The typical MBA student has five years of job experience; the new program welcomes those with two.
Photo by Susan Young
HBS has unveiled a groundbreaking deferred-admission program for outstanding college seniors who want an MBA but who would benefit from work experience — two years in the new program — before arriving on campus.
“No other business school offers anything similar,” says Dee Leopold (MBA ’80), managing director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid. “This is a bold program that is trying to do three things: talk to a new group, deliver a new message, and offer new timing.”
The program is aimed at second-semester college juniors with significant leadership potential who are beginning to explore career opportunities. Applications are due by July 1, with acceptance decisions delivered in September.
“By reaching this group of talented students sooner, we think we can have an even greater impact on their lives and their careers,” says Professor Joe Badaracco, senior associate dean and chair of the MBA Program.
For many college students, the versatility of an MBA degree is simply not well understood, says Leopold. “We know HBS grads are out there doing amazing things in all walks of life,” she explains. “But when college students hear MBA, they think it means getting dressed up in a suit and reporting to a cubicle. They don’t know what an MBA can do for them — that it’s a degree that can take them virtually anywhere they want to go.”
Most students who do consider pursuing an MBA assume they must first have quite a few years of work experience before applying. At HBS, the typical MBA student arrives at age 27, though the School accepts — and will continue to accept — a small number of college seniors directly into the program each year. “We still think HBS is optimized by having work experience,” says Andrea Kimmel (MBA ’03), associate director of MBA marketing. “At the same time, we want to assure students that in many cases, two years is enough.”
To assist students in getting work experience, the deferred-admission program will provide career counseling, which begins during the senior year of college and extends through two on-campus summer programs prior to matriculation. Students also will have access to recruiters from leading firms that have expressed an interest in hiring from the deferred-admission pool.
“As students go through their senior year looking for a job, this credential — knowing that they are going to HBS in two years — can lead to making authentic choices instead of positioning themselves for business school admission,” observes Leopold. “They can now ask, what do I want to do, not what do I have to do to get in.”
To promote the new program, the admissions office has planned visits to some thirty campuses across the country and the School’s first venture into Internet advertising. Promotional links to program information will appear on Facebook, the popular social networking site, and on college newspaper Web sites, says Kimmel. HBS hopes to attract fifty or more successful admits with the inaugural recruiting effort.
“Young men and women today enjoy a far wider array of training and career options than ever before,” says Dean Jay Light. “With this new program, we want to be sure we continue to reach the outstanding future leaders who really will make a difference in the world.”
