HBS admissions officials are still putting the final touches on the Class of 2003-the final round of admissions acceptance letters was mailed earlier this month-but administrators are already bracing for its arrival, which they expect to be the largest one-time influx of new MBA students in school history.
With the end of the two-cohort system, the size of the class that will descend on cmpaus next Fall will mark a more than 50% jump over the number of August arrivals in each of the past six years.
In a special series starting today, The Harbus will examine the HBS community’s efforts to make sure the transition goes smoothly, looking at everything from the dining halls to the required curriculum teaching groups.
No one involved in the effort to make Class of 2003’s arrival go smoothly is downplaying the scale of the challenge. But administrators, armed with experience from before the two-cohort system was implemented in 1995, are voicing confidence that the transition will go well.
“One has to appreciate that the two-cohort system has actually been the exception, rather than the rule,” said Professor W. Carl Kester, who chairs the MBA Program. “We might have to get some of the kinks out as far as going back to that…but for most of the faculty, it will be a return to the norm.”
Click here for a look at plans for a mega-Crimson Greetings, and here for an update on other administrative changes in store for the Class of 2003.
