Harvard University, Graduate Business School Admission
Harvard University, Graduate Business School Undergraduate Program
Harvard University, Graduate Business School Application

The Facts

Harvard University is a rather large, private, and very prestigious institution located in the town of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The university has a combined graduate and undergraduate population of over 19,540 students, however, the university's Graduate Business School is significantly smaller, and is home to about 1,800 graduate business students. The entire currently enrolled student population has had an average of 4 years of full-time professional experience, a factor taken into serious consideration by the admissions committee when reviewing applications. Perhaps as a result of this fact, the average age of enrollment is around 27, however, ages range from 22 to 39. Approximately 8% of the currently enrolled students entered directly from undergraduate school, while about 10% of the students already have a graduate degree of some sort. Harvard's Graduate Business School is perhaps best known for its emphasis on leadership and enterprise building through the instillment of more developed communication skills, and a global understanding of the world today. The school offers graduate business degrees in the Master of Business Administration (MBA), as well as doctoral programs in business administration, business economics, information technology and management, health policy, organizational behavior, as well as a joint degree in law (MBA/JD). The school also has a concurrent degree program in conjunction with the Kennedy School of Government as well as cross-registration with other Harvard University colleges, as well as with the Sloan School of Business at MIT and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Some of the most popular programs of study include courses in the areas of marketing, competition and strategy, social enterprise, as well as entrepreneurial management.

Admission to Harvard's Graduate Business School is phenomenally competitive; last year, a whopping 10,382 students applied for admission to the school and approximately 1,012 of those students were accepted. Eventually however, only about 900 of the admitted students actually enrolled for the coming semester. The admitted students had an average undergraduate GPA of about a 3.6, as well as an average GMAT score of about 705. The admissions committee requires all applicants to have a minimum undergraduate GPA of at least a 3.0, as well as a minimum GMAT score of at least 550. Students are able to begin graduate course work in the fall only, and are notified of their admissions status approximately 4 weeks after the submission deadline.

Harvard's Graduate School of Business has 203 full-time faculty members, of whom 93% hold a doctorate degree. The average graduate business class numbers around 80 students, and the lectures often alternate with smaller seminary groups.

Placement Services

The Graduate School of Business has rather extensive placement services that are available to current students and alumni for an unlimited amount of time after they receive their degrees. These services include worldwide alumni clubs, the Office of Alumni Career Services, the Career Resources Center, as well as several online databases. Additionally, the average starting salary of the most recent graduates was around $90,050.

What's Good

"I really think the emphasis on the global business world is much to our advantage. It helps us keep a leading edge in the marketplace."

"You couldn't hope for better professors. They are all leaders in their respective fields and have extremely useful advice to pass down to us."

"The career services here are unparalleled. You feel very well taken care of."

What's Bad

"There is a lot of very intense competition here. It can get fairly nasty at times."

"Some of the lecture classes are too large for my taste. I would rather be in small groups where discussion is more important."

"Financial aid is a bit skimpy, and tuition is extremely expensive here."

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