International students jumped through several hoops to get to campus this fall. Sapan Shah (MBA ’23) reports. “The answer is YES!” read the first line of the decision letter from HBS to successful applicants this year. As much as it was the culmination of years of perseverance and months of applications for candidates, it was…
Katherine Richardson (MBA ’23) reports on the school’s decision to increase class size for the classes of 2023 and 2024. Harvard Business School is welcoming the largest first-year class in its history this fall, increasing enrollment to around 1,000 students. This temporary adjustment will affect both the classes of 2023 and 2024. To accommodate the…
How does the first-year HBS MBA experience differ across the student population? A class-wide survey of second-year students sheds light on this question. HBS students are a diverse population—different demographics and life experiences have shaped each of our journeys to and at HBS. We, a team of WSA members, conducted a survey investigating the HBS…
Sripriya Kalidoos and Abhivyakti Dixit (MBAs ’22) report about EKTA 2021 at HBS The show must go on!—Announced Dean Datar as he kicked-off EKTA 2021. On Thursday April 15, the HBS community had a high-energy cultural immersion as students found themselves grooving to the tunes of Bollywood music. This year, South-Asian Business Association brought back…
The event raised over $22,000 for the nonprofit Breaktime to support ending young adult homelessness The HBS community grabbed their bags of popcorn on the evening of March 31, as they eagerly tuned in for the second annual HBS Got Talent show, a school-wide charity event and celebrated evening of entertainment. The event raised over…
Ziana Kotadia (MBA ’22) reports on the first DEI summit which brought together six business schools from across the country On April 7 over 1,000 students from 20 countries assembled to help answer the question “as an MBA student, how can I help advance diversity, equity, and inclusion—in my life and at my future organization?”…
Ziana Kotadia (MBA ’22) reports on the more than 200,000 survivors who are yet to see justice. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Sexual violence affects hundreds of thousands of women in the US every year. One out of six women in the US has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape, and…
Felipe Cerón (MBA ’22) interviews HBS professors about their failures and learnings. Following up on the past issue (in which we interviewed entrepreneur and HBS Professor Christina Wallace), we interviewed Professor Iavor Bojinov, who teaches TOM at HBS. He holds a PhD and an MA in Statistics from Harvard and a MS in Mathematics from…
HLS professor’s recent article on “comfort women” is amidst controversy, for arguing that the girls and women forced into sexual slavery during Japanese wartime were contracted prostitutes. Five HBS students share their thoughts on the importance of acknowledging history and its necessity for progress in women’s and human rights. By Christa Choy, Contributor, Lesley Kim,…
Samara Sone-Blank reports on the first time in recent memory when HBS commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day. January 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day that commemorates the genocide of Jewish people that took place at the hands of the German Nazis and their collaborators from 1939 to 1945. Although Jews were the major…
Ale Eguren (MBA ’22) shares his experience of the SIP Anatomy of a Badass and how Bozoma Saint John taught him to live a fuller life, and to live that life now. “The Anatomy of a Badass” was a week-long short intensive program (SIP)put together by Professor Frances Frei and Professor Francesca Gino. They invited…
Felipe Cerón (MBA ’22) writes about how HBS students defied the odds showcasing two performances to close 2020 on a positive note. 2020 was a different year from what people expected it to be. And that is the biggest understatement I have written this year. 2020 changed lives, tested lives, took lives and left an…
Felipe Cerón (MBA ’22) writes on how Covid-19 has transformed day-to-day campus life and how the HBS community is trying to adapt. What on Earth happened in the last few weeks? Cases and traces going wild, people quarantining all over, and consequently, administration taking more restrictive measures. Goodbye to hybrid classes; it was nice meeting…
As HBS hunkers down for winter vacation during a global pandemic, members of the community share why and how they plan to spend their holidays on campus. Most years, the winter holidays are a time for HBS students to unwind from a hectic first semester with many choosing to spend time with family or travel…
Poornima Hanumara, an HBS partner, reports on how some members of the HBS community celebrated a very unusual Diwali at HBS. It was an unexpected and pleasant 70 degrees in November, and we had the good fortune of having a space to gather safely during times of Covid-19. This was the perfect setting for Diwali—the…
Three ECs report on their experience of being part of the pioneering Dean’s Anti-Racism Taskforce (DART). The murder of George Floyd sparked national outrage and critical conversations about race and systematic racism in the U.S over the summer. It was also a wake-up call for HBS to put renewed focus on addressing racial equity “both…
Five women in the class of 2022 share with us their stories of leadership. There are so many different ways to welcome the class of 2022 and introduce them to the HBS community. We could talk about challenges, uncertainty, connectedness or innovation, but in the end, it all comes down to leadership. Sheryl Sandberg (MBA…
Israt Tarin (MBA ’22) reports on how the first ever virtual RC Olympics was organized and discusses the historic levels of participation by the RCs. An important component of section learning is to quickly break the ice and create a sense of camaraderie. It is no small feat in a normal year, and this year…
Rebecca Braun (MBA ’21) reports on the concerted efforts by the HBS Community to improve civic engagement and voter turnout in the upcoming presidential election. U.S. voter participation is low by both international and historical standards, and the youth of today are less likely to vote than both the Boomers we mock and our peers…
Project Lead Cray V. Noah (MD/MBA ’22) details the rallying effort that turned a grassroots response to the need for granular Covid-19 policy data into a nationwide endeavor and a federally endorsed research tool. When Covid-19 cases in the U.S. began to spike in March, the question “What is being done to stop the spread…
Tanishq Bhalla (MBA ’21) reflects on the “Perspectives on the COVID-19 Pandemic” symposium and shares key takeaways from the day. “This is really a horrific time we are in.” Ken Chenault (JD ’76), former CEO of American Express, quickly set the stage for Harvard Business School’s “Perspectives on the COVID-19 Pandemic” Symposium. He confirmed a…
MBA students issue a sincere plea to Fortune 500 CEOs: “Your decisions today matter.” As the COVID-19 crisis developed, we began hearing stories from front-line workers in our communities about the fear they felt when going to work. Many of these workers are our grandmothers, neighbors, and friends. What saddened us most was that their…
Tanishq Bhalla (MBA ’21) applies classroom lessons to reflect on the effects COVID-19 has had thus far on HBS and the global economy. What started as a mild inconvenience to a select group of RC students bound for FGI in China escalated within three weeks to a campus-wide shutdown and global pandemic. COVID-19 has shaken…
The Student Association is focused on increasing campus activation through new events and programming. SA Chief Events Officer, Rachel Brown (MBA ’20), gives insight into the makings of ‘SNL’. The night before students returned to class for Spring 2020, multiple calendar requests hit their inbox with the titles “SNL presents…”. Flash forward one week and…
Singapore, by Deborah Tan (MBA ’21) I miss Singapore most during Lunar New Year (LNY). Old Chinese songs warble from loudspeakers in wet markets, homes are alive with people visiting kin, and the color is red everywhere—fresh outfits, red packets, calligraphy signs adorning doorways. It feels like Thanksgiving and Christmas combined but better, because you…
To the Women Who Aim for Progress Rather Than Perfection As we celebrate International Women’s Day this month, I’m once again struck by how lucky we are to be surrounded by such a high density of remarkable women around us—women who inspire us to push through and be better versions of ourselves. I’ve been lucky…
A pocket-sized run-down of some of the best in Arts and Culture happening at HBS, at Harvard, and around town this month. 1) From the Student Association (SA): The SA teamed up with ArtRoom to host the Sheila Del Bosque Trio on March 2 for a night of jazz, refreshments, and conversation in…
Over 250 students insist that the incoming Dean of HBS commits to examining capitalism’s blindspots: climate change, inequality and the erosion of democratic institutions. There are many factors that should go into the appointment of a new Dean. Chief among them are virtues such as honesty, empathy, a respect for diversity, and an ability to…
Starting the New Decade, with Hopes and Reflections As we stepped into the new decade, I couldn’t help but think of last fall’s welcome address to RCs from HBS faculty. We were reminded that our time at HBS was not just an opportunity to gain the insights and skills to lead in the year of…
119 EC students traveled to the Middle East this winter break to learn about the changing economy of Saudi Arabia. The date was January 4, 2020 and the air outside King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was dry and crisp. In just a few minutes, the first of 119 EC students from Harvard…