Harvard Business School is one of the most prestigious business schools in the world. In fact, the first name that comes to mind when thinking of an MBA is Harvard Business School.
Apart from the 2-year full-time MBA, HBS offers Executive MBA programs, online programs, and 8 doctoral programs. HBS is a business school that originally used the case method as the primary method of teaching. It was designed to prepare students to face real business challenges.
However, the current HBS MBA curriculum is a mix of case methods and experiential courses. The school has introduced a FIELD course, which is an acronym for Field Immersion Experiences for Leadership Development, which is a series of interactive workshops for first-year students.
In the second year, FIELD global immersion sends student teams into global markets to help partner organizations develop a new product or service. An elective FIELD course provides seed capital to students to launch a ‘micro-business’ as termed by HBS.
Therefore, before thinking about how to get into Harvard Business School, let’s take a look at the detailed information on HBS class profile and career prospects. The objective of this article is to help you research how HBS can help you achieve career goals.
Watch this video to know how can an Indian student get into Harvard Business School MBA program:
- Harvard Business School at a glance
- Harvard Business School – Class Profile 2023
- HBS MBA Application deadlines – Class of 2024
- HBS MBA employment and salaries – MBA Class 2021
- Harvard Business School Scholarship
- Harvard Business School – Notable Alumni
- Other MBA Program Consideration Set
- FAQs- Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School at a glance
Location – Soldiers Field, Boston, MA 02163
Dean – Srikant Datar (Starting from January, 2021)
Admissions Office – MBA Admissions, Harvard Business School, Dillon House, Boston, MA 02163
Phone: +1-617-495-6128
Email: admissions@hbs.edu
Social media – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn
Want to know more about other business schools? Here is a list of articles with detailed information on Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, Booth, INSEAD, and many more.
Below are the details on the HBS MBA program’s class profile and the cost of attendance for the MBA Class of 2023. Here is the list of the total cost (tuition fee + living expenses) of top MBA programs across the world.
| S. No. | Harvard Business School | Numbers |
| 1 | Median Total GMAT Score | 730 |
| 2 | Average GPA | 3.69 |
| 3 | Class Size | 1010 |
| 4 | GMAT Range | 590-790 |
| 5 | Work Experience (Average) | 5 years |
| 6 | Tuition Cost for a Single Person | $73,440 |
| 8 | Percentage of students that accepted the job offer | 92% |
| 9 | Median Base Salary | $150,500 |
| 10 | Median Signing Bonus | $30,000 |
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What GMAT score is considered a good score? Read this article to know what is a good GMAT score for HBS.
Harvard Business School – Class Profile 2023
Here are the detailed statistics on the Harvard Business School MBA incoming class of 2023. Harvard Business School’s admission process is highly competitive and therefore, it boasts a low acceptance rate.
Read this article to understand the meaning of acceptance rate and yield rate. Get access to acceptance and yield rate of top 50 business schools.
| Harvard MBA Class Profile 2023 | Numbers |
| Applications Received by HBS | 9,773 |
| Enrolled | 1010 |
| HBS GMAT Score Range | 590-790 |
| Undergraduate GPA | 3.69 |
| Work Experience | 5 years |
| % of Women in the Class | 46% |
| % of International Students | 37% |
Here are the 7 steps to getting into Harvard Business School. If you are interested in Stanford, then this article will guide you on how to get into stanford MBA.
Pre-MBA industry of HBS MBA class 2023
The below data gives the details of the pre-MBA experience of the HBS incoming class of 2023:
| Pre-MBA Industry (MBA Class of 2023) | Percentage |
| Consulting | 17% |
| Consumer Products/Retail/e-commerce | 9% |
| Financial services | 12% |
| Health care/biotech | 7% |
| Manufacturing/industrial/energy | 11% |
| Media/entertainment/travel | 2% |
| Military | 5% |
| Non-profit/ Government/ Education | 8% |
| Services | 3% |
| Technology | 11% |
| Venture Capital/ Private Equity | 15% |
HBS MBA Application deadlines – Class of 2024
For the 2024 MBA class admissions, Harvard Business School dropped its third round. Instead, it dedicated the previous round 3 exclusively for its deferred MBA program HBS 2+2. Here are the application deadlines for 2024 MBA admissions.
| HBS Admission Rounds | Application Deadline | Decisions |
| Round 1 | 8th September 2021 | 9th December 2021 |
| Round 2 | 4th January 2022 | 30th March 2022 |
Getting into HBS requires an envious GMAT score. We can help you with a personalized study plan and give you access to quality online content to prepare. Write to us at acethegmat@e-gmat.com. We are the most reviewed GMAT prep company on gmatclub with more than 2200 reviews. Why don’t you take a free trial and judge it for yourself?
HBS MBA employment and salaries – MBA Class 2021
The graduating class of 2021 reported a median base salary of $150,500 and a median signing bonus of $30,000 compared to the median salary of $150,000 and the median bonus of $30,000 for the class of 2020. 51% of the class received the signing bonus. 35% of the class accepted employment in the Financial Services industry, followed by 23% in consulting and 19% in technology.
Employment by industry
The consulting industry paid the highest median base salary of $165,000 to the 2021 graduating class of the HBS MBA program followed by the Financial Services and Technology industry ($150,000).
Here is the detailed data on industry-wise employment of the 2021 class of HBS:
| Employment by Industry | Percentage | Median Base Salary | Median Bonus |
| Consulting | 23% | $165,000 | $30,000 |
| Consumer products | 3% | $116,000 | $20,000 |
| Entertainment/Media | 3% | $140,000 | $12,000 |
| Financial services | 35% | $156,000 | $35,000 |
| Investment Banking | 4% | $150,000 | $50,000 |
| Investment Management/Hedge funds | 8% | $165,000 | $50,000 |
| Other Financial ervices | 2% | $145,000 | $27,500 |
| Private Equity | 14% | $160,000 | $25,000 |
| Venture Capital | 7% | $160,000 | $22,500 |
| Health care | 6% | $140,000 | $25,000 |
| Manufacturing | 4% | $137,500 | $32,500 |
| Nonprofit/Government | 3% | $110,000 | NA |
| Retail | 1% | $135,000 | $15,000 |
| Services | 3% | $150,000 | $20,000 |
| Technology | 19% | $150,000 | $32,500 |
Employment by job function
Here are the detailed figures on function-wise employment accepted by the 2021 graduating class of HBS:
| Employment by Function | Percentage | Median Salary | Median Bonus |
| Business Development | 6% | $140,000 | $15,000 |
| Consulting | 25% | $165,000 | $30,000 |
| Finance | 33% | $150,000 | $40,000 |
| General Management | 11% | $140,000 | $26,000 |
| Marketing | 11% | $140,000 | $25,000 |
| Strategic Planning | 10% | $150,000 | $25,000 |
| Others | 4% | $155,000 | $27,500 |
Employment by location
Below are detailed figures on the employment location of the 2021 graduating class of Harvard Business School:
| Employment by Location | Percentage | Median Salary | Median Bonus |
| United States | 87% | $157,000 (avg) | $28,666 (avg) |
| Asia | 4% | $136,300 | $35,000 |
| Australia & Oceania | <1% | NA | NA |
| Canada | 1% | $140,000 | $29,000 |
| Europe | 6% | $125,000 | $32,200 |
| Latin America | <1% | $88,000 | NA |
| Middle east and north africa | <1% | NA | NA |
| Sub-saharan Africa | <1% | NA | NA |
Harvard Business School Scholarship
Here is an article on how to apply for HBS MBA Scholarship and types.
Harvard Business School – Notable Alumni
Harvard Business School has a very strong base of 83,000+ alumni in 171 countries. Here are some notable alumni of Harvard Business School.
- Walter Haas - Former CEO of Levi Strauss & Co.
- Robert S. McNamara - Former Secretary of Defense
- Philip Caldwell - Former CEO of Ford Motor Company
- Robert Kraft - Chairman of the Kraft Group (and owner of the New England Patriots)
- Michael Bloomberg - Founder of Bloomberg and former mayor of New York City
- Stephen Schwarzman - Chairman and CEO of the Blackstone Group
- Mitt Romney - Former Massachusetts Governor and Presidential Candidate
- George W. Bush - Former President of the United States
- Anne Moore - Former CEO of Time, Inc.
- Meg Whitman - Chairman and CEO of Hewlett Packard
- Jamie Dimon - Chairman of JPMorgan Chase
- Jeffrey Immelt - Chairman and CEO of General Electric
- Michael Lynton - CEO of Sony Entertainment and Sony Pictures
- Abigail Johnson - Chair of Fidelity Worldwide Investment
- Sheryl Sandberg - COO of Facebook and author of Lean In
- Sal Khan - Founder of Khan Academy
- Rajat Gupta - Former Managing Director of McKinsey & Co.
- G. Lafley - Chairman of Procter & Gamble
- Fritz Henderson - Former President of General Motors
- Liam Byrne - Former Education Minister in the United Kingdom
Getting into HBS requires an envious GMAT score. We can help you with a personalized study plan and give you access to quality online content to prepare. Write to us at acethegmat@e-gmat.com. We are the most reviewed GMAT prep company on gmatclub with more than 2200 reviews. Why don’t you take a free trial and judge it for yourself?
Other MBA Program Consideration Set
Stretch Schools: None
Match Schools: Stanford, Chicago Booth, Wharton, Columbia, Dartmouth Tuck
Safety Schools: Kellogg, MIT Sloan, Berkeley Haas, Duke Fuqua, Virginia Darden
FAQs- Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) offers a two-year, full-time MBA program with a graduate management curriculum focused on real-world practice.
For the incoming MBA batch of 2023, the tuition fee is $73,440.
You need at least a 700+ GMAT score for top business schools like Harvard. The average GMAT score for Harvard MBA incoming class of 2023 is 730, with a GMAT range between 620-790.
Some of the top MBA programs in USA are:
1. Stanford GSB
2. Wharton School of Business
3. UC Berkeley
4. MIT Sloan
5. Kellogg School of Management
Planning to pursue an MBA in USA? Here is a guide for MBA in USA.
These people who enter HBS, do they already complete one master’s degree before that?
Hey Ara, it’s not necessary to complete a master’s degree before you join Harvard. However, applicants to Harvard Business school must have a degree program at an accredited U.S. four-year undergraduate college/university or its equivalent (unless you are a college senior applying to our 2+2 Program). Equivalent programs include international three-year bachelor’s degree programs. Take a look at this article that highlights how to get into Haravrd- https://resources.e-gmat.com/get-into-harvard