Harvard Business School ( HBS ) is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts and one of the world's most prestigious business schools. The school offers a full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive education programs. It owns Harvard Business School Publishing , which publishes business books, online management tools for corporate learning, case studies, and the monthly Harvard Business Review . It is ranked 1st among American business schools by the U.S. News & World Report , and 3rd in the Financial Times Global MBA Rankings 2010, behind London Business School and The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. It is consistently ranked in the top ten of other national and global business school rankings, and is one of six Ivy League business schools.
History
Founded in 1908, HBS started with 59 students. Once it innovated the case method of research and teaching in 1920, HBS ramped up the class size which reached 500 students during the decade. In 1926, the school moved from the Cambridge side of the Charles River to its present location in Allston (part of Boston)—hence the custom of faculty and students referring to the rest of Harvard University as "across the river." Women were first admitted to its regular two-year Master in Business Administration program with the Class of 1965. The dean of HBS is Jay O. Light, who was appointed by then University President and current adviser to President Barack Obama, Lawrence Summers, on April 24, 2006.
MBA program
HBS offers a two-year full time MBA program, which consists of one year of mandatory courses (Required Curriculum) and one year of unrestricted course selection (Elective Curriculum). Some students are also invited to attend two-three week pre-MBA programs that take place at the end of the summer before the Required Curriulum. Admission is highly selective, with an admissions rate of 12% for the class of 2010. The student body is international and diverse, with 67% of students who are citizens of the United States. Women comprise 38% of the class of 2010. Graduates of the Harvard Business graduate with a general management degree and not a particular specialization in a field.
The Required Curriculum consists of two semesters. The first semester focuses primarily on the internal aspects of the company and includes the courses Technology and Operations Management, Marketing, Financial Reporting and Control, Leadership and Organizational Behaviour, and Finance I. The second semester focuses on the external aspects and includes the courses Business, Government, and the International Economy, Strategy, The Entrepreneurial Manager, Negotiations, Finance II, and Leadership and Corporate Accountability.
The Elective Curriculum can be chosen from among 96 courses. The diverse selection includes courses such as: Agribusiness, Doing Business in China, Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise, Managing in the Information Age, The Moral Leader, Entrepreneurship in Education Reform, Venture Capital and Private Equity, Business at the Base of the Pyramid, Consumer Marketing, Retailing, Power and Influence, Managing Medicine, Supply Chain Management, and Corporate Strategy. The students assign each course a priority and the courses are filled through a lottery system based on student priority and class availability. Elective curriculum students can also complete a field study or independent student research project in lieu of a class. Field studies allow students to work together in a team closely with faculty members to launch a product, develop a new business, or research a real world issue. Independent student research projects provide an opportunity for a student to work with a faculty member to develop deep insights on a particular topic of interest. These options allow students to create a second year curriculum that is aligned with their personal and professional interests.
Current MBA classes have a size of approximately 900 students, divided into ten sections (A–J) of 90 students. Each section takes classes together the first year, with the intention of forming deep social bonds. At the beginning of the first year, all students are assigned to learning teams consisting of six students from different sections. These learning teams are intended to meet daily throughout the first year to prepare each day's class assignment; however, many learning teams stop meeting before the end of the second semester. Graduation rates are approximately 98%. Teaching is almost exclusively (95%) done through case teaching (also referred to as the Socratic method), where the students prepare teaching cases and discuss them in class, with a professor as moderator and facilitator. There is an Education Representative role in each section whose role it is to develop an appropriate learning environment and effective relationships between the students and faculty and between students themselves given the diversity within the section (students from a broad range of industries, undergraduate schools, ethnic backgrounds, geographies, etc.).
MBA students at Harvard are graded on a relative curve. In most courses, the grade consists of roughly 50% class participation and 50% final exam or paper. In a few cases (primarily in the RC year), there may be a few brief exercises or a midterm that typically account for no more than 20% of final grade in a given course. The top 15–20% of the class receive "1s" (instead of A's), the middle 70-75% receive "2s", and the bottom 10% receive "3s". If a student receives more than a certain number of "3s" in the first semester of the Required Curriculum, he receives an academic warning. The student is offered help, in the form of academic counseling and tutors to improve his academic performance. The fact that most MBA students at Harvard have been at the top of their classes in undergraduate schools and high schools makes it more competitive. However, it is said that the relationships between students are not as cutthroat as rumored and that it is quite a friendly and collaborative learning environment.
Academic honors
The top academic honor at HBS is the Baker Scholar designation (High Distinction), given to the top 5% of the graduating MBA class. In a typical year a Baker Scholar will have achieved "1s" in approximately 70 - 75% of his or her course credits. Students receiving honors (top 20%) in both their first and second years are awarded the MBA degree with Distinction.
The student who receives the highest grades in each year of the program is awarded the Henry Ford II scholarship and is known as the Ford Scholar. For a typical student to attain this honor, he/she must achieve the highest available grade in each of the eleven MBA classes during the first year of the program. Other academic distinctions include the Thomas M. and Edna E. Wolfe Award, given to recognize scholastic excellence (generally to the student with the highest grade in the class) and the Loeb prize given for the most outstanding performance in finance.
Until 2005, HBS also awarded the Siebel Scholarship to each of the top five students in the first year of the program. However for reasons that were not publicised this was recently withdrawn.
Student life
Students can join one or more of the more than 75 clubs on campus. The clubs invite speakers to campus, organize trips, social events, and help forming bonds between students of similar interests. The Student Association is the main interface between the MBA student body and the faculty/administration. It is led by a four-person Executive Committee (two Co-Presidents, CFO and COO). The decision power rests with the Senate, which is composed of one senator from each section (a total of ten), the Executive Committee, and various committees made up of section officers. Intramurals are also a major part of the student life. Basketball, flag football, volleyball and soccer are the main intramural sports that are offered
The HBS Rugby Football Club is the only extramural sport on campus, competing locally against New England clubs and worldwide against fellow MBA teams throughout the year.
The The HBS Blades compete in three business school tournaments throughout the year at the Ivey School of Business, Tuck School of Business, and the HBS sponsored McArthur Cup at the Bright Arena in Boston.
The rigorous schedule of class work is often tempered by high energy social functions and perennial events such as the cross-dressing Priscilla Ball, the spring Newport Ball held at a Newport, RI mansion, and the winter Hollidazzle Ball usually held in Boston, MA.
Immersion experience
HBS offers immersion programs to supplement in-class room academic experience. These programs are designed to integrate educational objectives with other elements that the student-led treks offer. Through this experience, students are "immersed" in academic, cultural, and organization fieldwork around the world. The program spans an intensive five to twelve-day period during January. The programs offered in 2007-2009 were: China and Vietnam, Europe, Boston (Healthcare), India, Israel, Middle East, Mexico, New Orleans, and Silicon Valley. Supplemental financial aid is available to eligible studen
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