1) Know where you can add value.Are you best suited for lifting sandbags, grassroots organizing, or high level analysis and strategy? Think about your strengths as a business student and see how they can be applied to the situation. It’s natural to want to do something “hands-on,” however there might be people better able to…
News
February 13, 2006
Grade Conflation
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Attending university in Britain, student politics meant snarling Marxists battling for all-vegan cafeterias and the right to collect unemployment benefits while studying. There would be a couple of wild-haired professors who tried to curry favor with the discontents, but on the whole rulings drifted down from on high carrying the strong odors…
News
January 30, 2006
Make Your 2nd Semester As Spontaneous As the Boston Winter Weather
Take a hint from the Boston weather, where it goes from a sunny 60-degree day on January 21 to a snowy 35-degree forecast two days later. Although things may seem monotonous at times, like the expected New England winter, your life during and after HBS is actually quite unpredictable. Admit it, even you couldn’t have…
News
October 31, 2005
"I Lost My Hello"
It happened sometime between my second martini and the sudden appearance of a new dinner guest at Balboa Cafÿ in San Francisco. Preston Death, the unsuspecting boyfriend of my friend Chrissy, leaned over to say hello, and I froze. Do I extend a hand? Go for a hug? Lean in for the single cheek kiss?…
News
October 24, 2005
Class Participation – Are You Doing it Right?
Over one hundred RC folks crowded into the Aldrich classroom last Wednesday afternoon to attend the WSA RC Class Participation Seminar hosted by Professor Frances Frei. Billed as a WSA event, the crowd was understandably predominantly of the fairer sex although there were a few courageous male souls who braved our stares and snuck in…
News
September 19, 2005
WSA Buddy Night: It's Raining… Women? Hallelujah!
If you happened past the Williams Room in Spangler Monday evening, you would have seen something incredibly rare at HBS: a room full of 200-some women. Just women. Not a man in site. Why? The Williams was host to the Women Student Association’s Buddy Night, during which each RC woman had a chance to meet…
News
May 9, 2005
A Lesson in Leadership: 2005 Class Day Faculty Winners
Four faculty members have been selected as 2005 Class Day Faculty Winners, honoring excellence in teaching: Joshua Margolis (RC), Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez (RC), Jan Rivkin (EC) and Youngme Moon (EC). The honorees were selected via a student poll administered by Anand Devendran, a member of the Class of 2005 Class Day Committee. Devendran remarked,…
News
April 4, 2005
EC Course Selection Starts Soon
Congratulations RC’s? Your wish is about to be granted. Since that long ago day in August when you were assigned a seat in an assigned classroom where you would sit for all your assigned class, you have craved one thing… Freedom of Choice! The freedom to choose a seat outside of the Worm Deck and…
News
February 22, 2005
Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz responds to criticism of President Larry Summers
In my 41 years at Harvard, I have never experienced a president more open to debate, disagreement, and dialog than Larry Summers. It is utter nonsense for professors to claim that they are held hostage to fear. Summers welcomes debate and controversy more than any president I have ever served under. Professors who are afraid…
News
December 6, 2004
NI Pulls Together and Wins Food Drive
The Food Fight arrived this year with little fanfare and hype. The annual event took back-seat to section retreats and company presentations, and overall, was not on the radar of many students. NI recognized it not only as a compelling opportunity to help others in need leading into the holiday season, but also as a…
News
December 6, 2004
An Introduction to Section E
On a Thursday night at Brother Jimmy’s, it is hard to distinguish a Section E student from the hordes of other RC’s drinking cheap beer from a can. We integrate well with others. But in our classroom, it is a different story. A lot of the “getting-to-know-you” at HBS happens between the hours of 8:40am-2:30pm….
News
October 12, 2004
Open Letter to President George W. Bush
On October 4, 2004, an open letter was sent to U.S. President George W. Bush, expressing deep concern over the state of the U.S. economy. This was not an ordinary open letter. It was a letter signed by 169 professors, hailing from some of the best business schools in the world, or in other words,…
News
September 13, 2004
Welcome from the Dean
Welcome to Harvard Business School. It is an exciting time to be on campus, and it is wonderful to have you here. You have embarked upon an educational journey that will, quite literally, transform your life. As you find your way over the next few weeks, let me offer a few words of advice. Make…
News
May 3, 2004
Editorial: Spring Fever
There’s just something about Spring. Yes, I realize that technically the first day of the season was over a month ago, but in reality, it hasn’t felt like Spring until about last Wednesday, when the torrential rains finally ceased. And oh, what a difference it has made! Sure, the arrival of Spring means that final…
News
April 20, 2004
The Joys of Negotiation
Recently all I have been able to think about is negotiations. I don’t know if it is the tedium of all of our other classes catching up with me, or the novelty of the competition, but I can’t seem to get the thought out of my head. I invariably find myself asking the check-out lady…
News
January 12, 2004
Useful E-mail Forwards Save the Day During RC Finals
HBS experienced an RC final exam period like none other this winter, with all first-year students emerging from exams with a look of sheer jubilation on their bright, triumphant little faces. “Ding, dong! The three is dead!” sang the happy students as they skipped out of Aldrich, certain that the administration would have to abolish…
News
December 8, 2003
Struggling Student Heads Up Professor Gift Drive
(Aldrich 712) Struggling student and former accountant Janet Moore, a border-line three in every class except FRC, has taken it upon herself to buy gifts on behalf of her section for every professor this semester, except Joe Cochrane, her FRC professor. “Everyone, I just want to let you know that I’ll buy all our appreciation…
News
October 14, 2003
Shades of Gray
Every year the EC’s breathe a collective sigh of relief about how much easier classes seem compared to the RC year. I remember hearing EC’s last year talking about the contrast. I assumed that the change is driven by familiarity with the case method, and a resulting reduction in stress. I didn’t think this applied…
News
October 14, 2003
Simple Pleasures
CEOs flying half the way around the globe to make your breakfast date, jumping out of bed at 7am each morning to discuss accounting, chatting with a brain surgeon about the virtues of the Beetle – having become accustomed to the ‘normalities’ of HBS, Emma Wilkinson (NH), takes a look at the less celebrated pleasures…
News
October 6, 2003
HUPD Raids Morgan Hall, Busts Theft Ring
(Morgan Hall) In what campus officials describe as a “game-changer in the fight against campus vice,” HUPD raided the offices of the TOM faculty late last night and were seen carrying large amounts of contraband out of the building, including laptops, bicycles, cartons of cigarettes and an illegal slot machine. Sources within HUPD confirmed that…
News
May 5, 2003
Section D Year in Review
What a great bunch of folks I got to know in Section D. A diverse group…gold miners, Broadway singers, Olympic athletes, cavalrymen, Tight Ends, prom queens, and class clowns. Quite possibly the perfect cross-section of the Class of 2004. Ambassadors and true representatives…solidly average in all aspects, but deficient in none. And that’s just how…
News
May 5, 2003
In the End,
We all consistently hear folks say that they don’t care about their grades. But how often is this the truth? I don’t really think I’m going out on a limb by saying never. There isn’t an individual at HBS that wants to get a 3. As such, every person does care about his or her…
News
March 31, 2003
EC Course Selection Starts Now
Spring Break is over, the FIN II final is rapidly approaching and (for many of the RCs at least) summer jobs have been found. So what could there possibly be that might prevent the outbreak of ultimate frisbee and soccer on Baker Beach? You’ll hear a lot about it in the coming days and it…
News
February 18, 2003
Academics, Grading & Exam
During orientation, I asked second years for advice on life at HBS. “Enjoy your time and don’t stress too much” was the answer I heard most often. This article is intended to help you do just that by explaining a few of the intricacies of academic life at HBS. While the academic environment is certainly…
News
February 3, 2003
A Summer Internship Saga
It was 9:30 p.m. on a Friday night in May, only eleven hours before my last final of the first year. I had just received a phone call from the company with whom I thought I would be working for the summer, and suddenly I was unemployed. So like any veteran first-year student faced with…
News
January 27, 2003
Grades? What Grades?
Tuesday, January 14, 2003. 2:39:59. Overheard in the hallway: “Yeah, Whatever, Man. I’m not going to check my grades. Who really cares? Everyone knows that they don’t matter. Plus, what do I care how I did on the LEAD exam? What do they expect with that kind of exam? There should be a rule that…
News
January 21, 2003
Thought Leadership Initiative Presentation Starts on Tuesday
Ever wish you could hear some of the incredible professors at HBS talk about what interests them in their research or learn more about their class but were unable to enroll due to capacity constraints? Now is you chance. Some of the professors in those doubly oversubscribed classes have agreed to speak as part of…
News
September 30, 2002
HBS Working Knowledge Recommends:
Quality Financial Reporting by Paul Miller and Paul BahnsonMcGraw-Hill, 2002 Remember when financial reporting was boring? Today, your career may be riding on your grasp of it. This book, written by two accounting professors, argues that your reporting should be as transparent for investors as the systems you use with workers, customers, and vendors. The…
News
September 23, 2002
Viewpoints: Getting The Most Out Of It
So here we are. September 2002. HBS. In front of us is a land of opportunities. Within us, this burning question: how to make the most out of it? If I may, here are some thoughts on how to have a fulfilling year.Let’s forget the traditional wisdom. HBS is not an MBA program dedicated to…
News
September 16, 2002
They Said What?
Welcome to the first edition for 2002-2003 of They Said What?, a featured column in Harbus Humor that relays some of the most humorous anecdotes heard around campus. We start the year off with the “Best Of” quotes from the 2001-2002 academic year. Whether you’re an RC or an EC, anyone who catches an entertaining…