HBS Interview Experience – Daniel’s Perspective

Getting invited to interview at HBS is a significant milestone in the MBA application process. It signals that the admissions committee sees real potential in your story and is ready to learn more. But with that opportunity comes pressure. The interview is fast paced, deeply personalized, and designed to explore the decisions behind your experiences.

To give you a clearer picture of what it can feel like, we are sharing a real HBS interview experience. Daniel, a recent admit walked us through his interview day from the class visit to the post interview reflection. Please note the name has been changed to protect client privacy.

Before the Interview

I participated in most of the interview-day programming and started with a class visit — partly out of genuine interest and partly because I suspected it might become the opening question. It did. The interviewer began by asking what I thought of the session that morning, which gave me a natural entry point to reference a prior HBS class I had attended on an earlier visit that was highly relevant to my work experience. 

If you’ve never been in a case-method classroom before, attending your first session on interview day can feel disorienting. Most applicants haven’t read the case and may feel lost in the discussion. My class sounded like it was going to be technical, but the discussion centered more on the strategic implications behind the numbers. Understanding the purpose of the case-method helped me follow the discussion without having read the case and later articulate takeaways from the class in my interview.

After class, I had about an hour before my interview. I spent the first part reviewing notes and the rest visiting with other applicants. When the time came, an admissions officer gathered around 10 of us and guided us upstairs to the waiting area. This marked the true beginning of my HBS interview experience.

The HBS interview followed the standard two-on-one format. One interviewer opened with a light joke and the expected question about the class visit. She briefly explained how the conversation and post-interview process would work before diving in. The majority of the questions were career-related and focused on understanding my leadership and strategic thinking (i.e. whether I thought about the secondary and tertiary consequences of my decisions). Some questions were also geared towards experiences that I referenced in my essays that they wanted to know more about. 

Approximate topic breakdown:

• ~85% professional experience and industry exposure
• ~10% meaningful extracurricular involvement
• ~5% leadership approach
• ~5% more casual closing topics 

Some representative questions included:

• You mentioned a professor who influenced your interest in investing – is that what led you to help launch a student-run initiative? How did you secure faculty support for that effort?
• When you joined your firm, what stage was it at and what did the team look like?
• How does your post-MBA goal of returning to your firm get you closer to your long-term career goal of entrepreneurship? 
• You’ve experienced different market conditions in your sector – what has that been like?
• What challenges are organizations in your space most focused on today?
• How do you see technology, including AI, solving the industry’s problems?
• How are you leading others in your current role?
• What would your ideal summer internship look like? Would you return to your firm?
• Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?

I felt comfortable with the format, though I was surprised by the level of notetaking — roughly five to six handwritten pages in about 25 minutes. The interviewer was clearly tracking the key points I wanted to communicate, including those not captured in my written application, but it was briefly distracting at times.

What Happened After the Interview

Right after the interview, I stepped outside and voice-to-texted everything I could remember. Most candidates then attended a Faculty Lunch & Learn, which offered insight into how cases are developed and refined – and how often class discussions actually reach consensus.

I also attended a session focused on entrepreneurship across Harvard, since I have long-term interest in building ventures. I skipped the campus tour and student conversation because I had already visited and spoken with several current students. Instead, I used that time to start my post-interview reflection and joined friends for the Halloween festivities on campus. These closing moments helped me process the full arc of my HBS interview experience.

Final Thoughts on the HBS Interview Experience

The process was far more friendly and conversational than I expected. The interview was serious but not “stone-faced” as people often describe. In the more casual moments, like the opening and closing, the interviewers were warm and approachable.

Advice for future candidates:

• Know your organization, industry, and decision-making rationale cold.
• Expect deep follow-ups on your professional experience, especially if you come from a niche or specialized background. Presumably, your specialized background is what sets you apart so they will want to understand your unique perspective. Think about: what is an insight that only someone who has been working in your field for as long as you have would know? Don’t be afraid to share it when the time feels right.
• Throughout the interview, you are constantly balancing giving an executive-level answer and being analytical. Practice conciseness but also don’t be afraid to dig a layer deeper.
• Don’t expect to use the STAR framework for every answer. I found that the questions, for the most part, were not conducive to using traditional interview response frameworks.
• Relax and have fun. It’s easy to say in hindsight, but the more relaxed you can be, the more you’ll meet the moment.

Keep Reading

HBS Interview Experience – A Candid Look at James’s Story

The HBS Interview – What to Expect, How to Prepare & Sample Questions