getting into paradise

Maybe savoring London Broil with mushrooms au vin--overlooking stately red-brick Georgian buildings, blooming impatiens and manicured carpets of grass--is your thing.

Maybe a six-figure salary sounds nice.

Maybe the Harvard Business School (HBS) is for you.

On the other side of the Charles River, a short hike over the Weeks Footbridge, lies Eden. The trick, of course, is getting past the gatekeepers.

The good news: HBS is looking to diversify. The school hopes to increase the number of women and minority applicants and is accepting candidates from a wider variety of academic backgrounds than ever before.

Mixed among the requisite sample of McKinsey alums in dark suits are eager company presidents fresh out of college, a biking tour guide from California and a Navy officer.

But though getting in no longer requires late nights on Wall Street or a degree in economics, it still takes something next to a miracle: Only one out of eight makes it into the garden.

Knowledge of Good--and Not-So Good

Deciding to apply is the first step.

"The Harvard Business School is probably the most powerful private institution in the world," begins David W. Ewing in his 1990 book, Inside the Harvard Business School.

The 90-year-old "cathedral of management" also has one of the most competitive atmospheres, least intimate environments and least faculty availability outside class in the business school world, according to this month's Business Week magazine.

It's an evaluation confirmed by current students.

"HBS is not a low-stress environment, especially after college. There's not a lot of direct support, either--you have to book your own faculty appointments, and grading is largely determined by the final exam," says Joshua B. Marks '97, an HBS second-year. "With 1,600 students, HBS assumes you can look after yourself."

The magazine named HBS No. 1--in cost. Including foregone salary, the price tag of a Harvard MBA is $196,923.

The rewards for those who make it through the gauntlet are substantial, however. The median starting pay--salary, bonus and other compensation--for the HBS class of 1998 was $145,000; and each HBS graduate garners, on average, four job offers.

God Willing

Business Week recently likened the business school experience to Dorothy's trip to Oz.

Admissions is the tornado.

With seven essays, a rigorous evaluative interview, three recommendations and an average GMAT score of 680, the 94th percentile, the weather is rough out there.

In the essay portion of the application, applicants describe a time they failed, as well as an instance where their values were challenged.

Not surprisingly one of the most selective schools in the nation, HBS waded through 8,061 applications to decide the about 1,000 admitted students to its MBA program. 905 said yes, the highest yield among business schools.

Getting an interview is a very good sign. Extended to just 15 percent of applicants, an invitation means "we liked what we saw, and we want to learn more," says Jill H. Fadule, managing director for admissions at HBS.

The actual interview is a chance to show off.

"This is marketing," says one HBS second-year. "Sell yourself and sell yourself well."

But it can be a tough sell.

The interview "was extremely tough, almost comical," says Timothy R. Lipsky, now an HBS second-year. "[He was] grilling me to see if I would crack."

Lipsky advises to "be genuine, be honest, be sincere and distinguish yourself."

Natalie A. McCullough, a first-year MBA candidate, was a geology major at Stanford who did environmental consulting for three years and then led bike trips for a year-and-a-half before applying to Harvard.

She gained broad exposure to the business world through her consulting job. She gained intimate knowledge of one company through her bicycle adventure.

The "compelling story" she needed to pitch to the admissions committee became entrepreneurial; McCullough told the admissions committee she ultimately wants to run her own business.

In addition to clarity of purpose, Fadule says applicants must show how they have "motivated and inspired other people--people who are different from you."

Applicants should present their "whole selves," she says.

"Don't prepare by reading annual reports or financial dictionaries," Marks urges. "Prepare by thinking about what you wrote in the application, why HBS is the right school for you, and why entering that fall makes the most sense for your career. Be able to argue how HBS will help you accomplish your goals."

After the interview, the school's decision arrives within two weeks.

Gen-Ed 105, No; VES, Yes

According to the Class of 2000 Prospectus, many admitted students hail from the other Ivies, as well as MIT and Stanford.

But Harvard College is the school's largest feeder, with 5 percent of the HBS class of 2000 a member of "the fellowship of educated persons."

Going to the undergraduate institution across the river greases the wheels during the application process, in part because admissions officers are familiar with the inner-workings of the College and know how much time and effort goes into being, say, an executive at Harvard Student Agencies.

But there is a downside to applying from Harvard: The admissions office knows which classes are the guts.

"We know the wonderful student organizations, we appreciate the rigor at Harvard [College], and we have good information about some of the less-taxing courses," Fadule grins.

The HBS admissions office gives far less weight to grade point averages because, Fadule says, a 3.0 at West Point is much more impressive than a "B" at Harvard. HBS officials instead direct their attention to the rigor of courses taken.

"We have insights into [Harvard] transcripts," Fadule says, noting that a record of "four years of blood, sweat and tears" displays much more about a candidate than one number.

The B-School is not just for finance majors anymore.

In fact, only half of the current student body is made of what would be considered "traditional" students. Increasingly, MBA students come from disciplines far afield of the typical feeder concentrations of economics, accounting and business administration.

In the class of 2000, undergraduate majors include literature, art history, psychology, anthropology and film.

Fadule says it is not a matter of the department that determines admission, but the focus and drive with which applicants pursued their field and how it factors into their future plans.

McKinsey and the Peace Corps

Work experience that showcases leadership ability is more important than any particular position.

While 46 students hail from McKinsey & Co. alone, and there are sizable contingents from Goldman Sachs, Bain, Andersen and Morgan Stanley, the admissions office insists there is no required pedigree.

"Perhaps half the entering HBS class comes from banking or consulting. That means that the other half has 'untraditional' backgrounds--whether [that is] technology, social service, or manufacturing," Marks says.

"You need to show on your application that you're a superstar, and it's tough to be a superstar on Wall Street."

Being president of a company is not enough. The admissions committee wants to know what kind of president.

"We care more about who you are than what you are," Fadule says. "The Peace Corps, investment banking--as long as you're choosing it for the right reasons."

But whether an applicant hits Wall Street and spends two years working 100-hour weeks, runs a company or takes a tour of duty in the Armed Forces, the near-universal consensus is that time-off is almost mandatory to apply successfully to B-School.

"Harvard recognizes leadership, management and accomplishment," says Alton D. Delane, who spent six years in the Navy before joining the HBS class of 1999.

Applying right after college "is not really an option," McCullough says.

The average time between undergraduate schooling and business school is around four years, the median age in the class of 2000 is 26 but for every rule there is an exception.

Marks, for example, ran a computer dealership as an undergraduate and spent much of his time "on the road, visiting clients, working with computer manufacturers and organizing contractors."

Marks, who entered HBS as a 20-year-old and was dubbed his section's "baby," discovered during college he "didn't have the management skills to grow [his] company. I knew I needed an MBA, and quickly, to get the financial and operational skills necessary to advance my career."

He applied only to HBS and never looked back.

"I had several years of team leadership under my belt from running a business," Marks says. "Also, my dealership had serviced real companies with real problems--so I'd been exposed to a lot of different management styles and corporate environments."

But even Marks cautions that HBS is not for everyone, and it is definitely not a place to take lightly.

"Unless you're 100 percent committed to getting your MBA, wait," Marks says. "Don't think of HBS as a two-year 'delay' while you figure out what you want to do, because you won't have the drive to keep up."

Diversifying the Portfolio

The Business School is one place where the gender gap has been slow in closing. Of all the University's graduate schools, HBS has the lowest female-to-male student ratio.

Women make up 30 percent of this year's class, the highest in history. The number was 6 percentage points lower two years ago, one of the least impressive in the nation. Fadule says she hopes the figure will reach 40 percent.

But reaching that goal could be difficult, thanks to recent publicity. According to BusinessWeek's survey, HBS dropped this year from fourth to fifth in the magazine's annual ranking of business schools in part because students were unsatisfied by the school's slothfulness in disciplining six male students who sexually harassed fellow classmates.

And the school didn't make Working Woman magazine's top 10 list of the best business schools for women, with the magazine also citing Harvard's "slow disciplinary process" after the incident.

To be more proactive in attracting female applicants, HBS is increasing special events for prospective female MBAs, including panels led by female faculty members and student leaders.

While she says "we don't have a quota," Fadule and her office, in conjunction with the Women's Student Association (WSA), have launched outreach and marketing efforts to attract female applicants.

Amy Martin, WSA vice president for admissions, says she is sending out letters this week to every HBS student, seeking the names of potential female MBAs from whom the admissions office could solicit applications.

The last year's publicity seems to have blown over, and some students say they can feel a difference in the school's attitude toward women.

"Despite the numerical disparity, I find it to be a pretty open place," McCullough says, citing panels and mentoring opportunities developed by the WSA.

And WSA Co-President Julie-Anne Collart applauds the administration's recent efforts, noting "a number of substantial strides in the past year to improve the environment on campus for all students, including women."

Tempted?

Once the bastion of white, male economics majors, HBS is changing its student body, ushering in a more diverse group of "leaders for the new millennium," Fadule says.

To its students HBS offers tremendous amounts of capital and an awe-inspiring list of networking contacts, not to mention the promise of an affluent lifestyle after graduation. And now for more than the usual suspects, Eden is just a walk, and an application, away.