Harvard Business School 2+2, Analyzed and Getting In

I found two quite tasteful pieces written by a history undergrad at Harvard analyzing the stellar HBS 2+2 program. Well thanks to Diana.

Harvard Business School 2+2, Analyzed
by Diana Kimball

I've been thinking a lot about why Harvard Business School, venerable institution that it is, would suddenly decide to recruit college juniors who are "not on a business trajectory" through their new 2+2 program, which will provide its lucky admits with a career coach and guaranteed matriculation after 2 years of work. HBS 2+2, to give you some background information, is theoretically aimed at liberal arts majors who are on the brink of deciding where their life's going to take them. Business schools—unlike law schools, medical schools, or arts & sciences grad schools—hardly ever admit students right out of their undergraduate degree, normally requiring a few years of work experience. Danger! What if Harvard Business School is losing shining, moldable stars, dripping with unformed analytic potential, to these schools?

Except, HBS never seemed to see perceive that as a problem. Until now. What happened?

The Internet. That's what happeend. A business degree used to be a prerequisite to jumpstarting most high-powered careers, at least in the corporate world. Now, a lot of brilliant college grads (or college dropouts) don't need to go to law school, medical school, grad school or business school in order to make a name for themselves. They just start a company like Facebook, and after a few years of feverish programming, they're household names.

This is not okay with Harvard Business School.

HBS is an exclusive club. But when it's excluding the it-crowd—22-year-old future self-made billionaires—what happens to their club? It loses some credibility. HBS needs the world to perceive a Harvard Business School degree as the mark of greatness, but that mark is only as valuable as its reputation—which is created by the people who hold degrees, and diluted by the degree-less success of their drop-out counterparts.

2+2 is their solution: catch them while they're young. Take the whiz-kids who have the potential to be great no matter what, and brand them before the secret gets out. By the time they graduate, they're locked into the brand. Fortunately, HBS still has enough cred that it's a mutually beneficial relationship. The future entrepreneurs of the world probably could use a little schooling, and they could certainly brandish their HBS club badges to great effect—in a corporate world where that badge still means something.

But all in all, I'd say it's HBS that stands to gain the most from this deal. Five years out, when the first branded 2+2 class graduates, HBS will hand them degrees, and claim that they're bestowing passports to the future. The real secret is, this future is happening no matter what. The passports are increasingly irrelevant. But maybe, just maybe, Harvard Business School can keep this fact quiet and maintain their relevance in the twenty-first century, by hitching themselves to the inevitable stars.

Harvard Business School 2+2: Getting In
by Diana Kimball

Two weeks ago, we talked about Harvard Business School's new fast-track program for college juniors, HBS 2+2. Since then, quite a few people have stopped by this website wanting to know more. This week, I'm going to take a look at the million dollar question:

Who will get in to HBS 2+2?

I'm an undergraduate at Harvard right now, and I've been watching HBS 2+2 pretty closely. I think I have some answers . However, before we get started on the Magical Mystery Tour of HBS 2+2 Admissions, I'd like to point out one very important fact: we don't actually know who will be admitted, because no one's been admitted yet. The very first round of applications isn't due until July; frankly, not even HBS knows who they're going to admit. So, before you get too nervous, remember: anything's possible. These are not definitive answers, because very few definitive answers exist.

That said, there are some pretty substantial clues.
(Hint: liberal arts majors, women, and geeks are in demand.)

But before we dive in, here's a rundown of what HBS 2+2 is all about:

1. Apply in July after your junior year of college.
2. Receive acceptance/rejection by September of senior year.
3. Team up with a career coach who will help you find a job that's allegedly right for you.
4. Attend HBS 2+2 Summer Program in the summer after college.
5. Work two years at your job, with another HBS 2+2 Summer Program between Year 1 and Year 2.
6. Matriculate at HBS after two years of work.

(Check out this graphic timeline on the HBS 2+2 website for more details.)

Two years of work, two years of school. 2+2. It's a pretty great deal, for the students and for HBS. But who will be lucky enough to get in?

Officially, HBS 2+2 is looking for liberal arts majors who are juniors in college—those "not on a business trajectory." Do Economics majors count as being "on a business trajectory," or not? At a prospective students event for Harvard Business School three weeks ago, an admissions officer answered this question by saying that "We consider Economics majors to be liberal arts majors"—therefore, Economics majors are fine. However, "business majors," which exist at some colleges, are not the 2+2 target audience. "They don't need our resources," according to the admissions officer.

Also, despite a Wall Street Journal article that implied the opposite, HBS 2+2 is not just for Harvard undergraduates. Far from it. Whatever HBS's other motivations are for 2+2, they're pretty serious about using 2+2 to "increase diversity" in the class of 2013 and beyond.

The Wall Street Journal article offered a final clue: stellar women candidates are very much in demand.

"By providing deferred admission, 2+2 will also help Harvard Business School attract more women applicants, says Carl Kester, deputy dean for academic affairs. The demographic is one that M.B.A. programs in general have historically struggled to recruit. 'Young women who are considering an M.B.A., but believe they need for five or six years of work experience before applying, are often faced with concerns about when they might start a family,' he says. 'By comparison, many professional-degree programs can be completed in less than five years.'"

So far, we have the following...
____
Official Characteristics of the Target HBS 2+2 Candidate
1. Junior in college.
2. Liberal arts major—not business major. Economics is okay.
3. "Not on a business trajectory"—could benefit the most from HBS's resources.
4. Women and other traditionally difficult-to-recruit candidates are valued.
____

Now, we get into more speculative territory. At the same prospective students event three weeks ago, the admissions officer said something interesting about leadership. Paraphrased:

"We're looking for the same qualities of leadership in 2+2 candidates that we look for in our regular admits. However, when most people think of the word "leader" they think of the person who's in charge of everything—in charge of a million clubs and publications. We're certainly looking for those people, but we're also looking for different kinds of leaders. You could be a thought leader, for instance—someone who's on the cutting edge. Or you could be a leader in terms of excelling at actualizing other people's ideas and making them happen."

Who are "thought leaders," and what does it mean to be one? It's hard to say, and I think that HBS probably operates on a policy of "we know it when we see it." However, I have one guess, substantiated by some of their targeted advertising:

They're going after geeks.

I haven't seen everything on the Internet, by any means, so this is a very biased observation. However, I did notice a few weeks ago that HBS 2+2 was advertising pretty heavily on BoingBoing—bastion of geekdom, palace of blogging. I've heard that BoingBoing is the third-most-read blog on the Internet, so advertising there seems like a logical step. But let's think about the audience there—certainly not your "traditional" business school candidates. We're talking computer science students, future founders of Internet startups, and yes, a lot of pretty regular people who just love weird things, antique ephemera, and free culture. (Of BoingBoing's readers, I'm definitely in the third category! No computer science superstar here.)

Those look like big ads to me, and I think that demonstrates at least some level of targeting. However, if anyone has encountered these ads elsewhere on the Internet or in print, I'd love to hear about them.
____

Right now, HBS 2+2 is a big mystery; I think the number of people who come to this website looking for answers shows just how big that mystery really is. And if you read my last HBS 2+2 article, you'll know that I think this is a calculated move on the part of Harvard Business School—it's just hard to tell exactly what that calculation is. While I certainly don't intend this post to be the last word on HBS 2+2 admissions, let alone a true guide to "getting in," I thought it was worth laying out what we already know:

Liberal arts majors,
Students "not on a business trajectory,"
Women and members of other traditionally-hard-to-recruit groups,
"Thought leaders" and actualizing leaders
And quite possibly geeks
—in their junior year of college—
constitute a good chunk of Harvard Business School's target audience for HBS 2+2.

So while we may not know exactly who Harvard Business School's 2+2 program will admit, we do know who they're hoping will apply. And I'd venture to say that that's better than nothing.