Harvard MBA Students and Alumni Publish Books of Advice
Harvard MBA applicants can now draw on the resources of Harvard Business School alumni and the school’s student news organization, The Harbus, who have both recently published books of advice. The alumni have produced a book called If I Knew Then, which provides life advice on leadership, wealth, charity, and career building. The newspaper has published a book in PDF format of advice for Harvard MBA applicants that, among other pieces of admissions wisdom, provides information about interview experiences of current Harvard students. The book is called the Unofficial HBS Admissions & Interview Guide. Although some advice in both books may apply only to Harvard, both contain advice that would be useful to MBA applicants, students, and recipients at many different schools.
If I Knew Then was written by Arthur Buerke and contains advice from the Harvard Business School class of 1963. Members of the class of 1963 include CEOs and board chairs of Fortune 500 companies, a U.S. Senator, and a two-term governor. They provide advice like “honor and respect those who work for you” (Paul Hines, former CFO of William E. Simon & Sons), and “have the discipline to limit work hours” (John McCarter, President Emeritus of Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History).
The Unofficial HBS Admissions & Interview Guide contains advice more specific to MBA applicants. Student advice for interview preparation includes: “don’t forget to get your message across,” “know your story and practice explaining key achievements that you mention in your resume or essays,” and “watch [a video of yourself practicing a response] to assess your body language, tone.”
The books are not cheap. If I Knew Then sells for $72.51, and The Unofficial HBS Admissions & Interview Guide costs $65. However, you can get some of the advice from both sources for free. The If I Knew Then companion website features alumni advice, and The Harbus newspaper published a story with some of the advice from the guide on the day that Harvard Business School sent out its first invitations for admissions interviews for the year.
