How to Write the HBS Post-Interview Reflection
Due within 24 hours of your interview. Write the interview down in points as soon as it ends, then use a simple structure: thanks, and three short paragraphs.
Real-world note: This is the structure the author gives the candidates he prepares for Harvard, and the one he followed in his own reflection after his HBS interview.
1. What the reflection is
Harvard Business School asks every candidate it interviews for one more piece of writing. In the school's words: within 24 hours of the interview, candidates are required to submit a written reflection through the online application system. Detailed instructions come with the interview invitation.
That is a short clock, and it starts when you are tired and replaying the conversation in your head. It is far easier to write well if you know the structure before you walk in, and do one simple thing as soon as you walk out.
2. Straight after the interview: write it down in points
Before you call anyone, and before you start judging how it went, write down what happened. Points, not prose:
- Every question you were asked, in order, as close to the interviewer's words as you can manage.
- What you answered, in a line or two each.
- What you forgot to say. The example that came to mind in the elevator, the number you meant to mention.
- What you would say differently. The answer that came out thinner than you meant, or went somewhere you did not intend.
- Anything the interviewer seemed to care about: a follow-up they pushed on, a topic they came back to.
Ten minutes is enough. An hour later you will remember the feeling of the interview far better than its content, and the reflection is built from the content. With these notes in front of you, the reflection is mostly a matter of choosing.
3. The structure
Keep it simple. Open with thanks, then write three short paragraphs.
Thanks for the interview. A sentence or two. Thank the interviewer for the conversation, and if something about it stood out, say so plainly. This is courtesy, not the substance.
Paragraph 1: something you forgot to mention. Go to your notes. Pick the one thing that most deserved to be said and was not: an experience, a piece of context, a part of your story the interview did not reach.
Paragraph 2: something you would say differently. Pick one answer you gave too briefly or not quite right, and give the fuller version. Say which question it was, so the reader can place it, and then answer it the way you wish you had.
Paragraph 3: something from your life you wanted to share. Something that matters to who you are and did not come up: a relationship, a responsibility, a development since you applied. If there is nothing like that, use this paragraph for a second thing you would say differently.
An example of the second paragraph
Say the interviewer asked why you left your last role, and your answer covered what happened but not why you chose it. In the reflection, name the question, say you would like to answer it more fully, and give the reasoning you left out: what you weighed, and what you wanted next. One question, one fuller answer.
4. What the reflection is not
- Not your essays again. The committee has read them. Anything you repeat is space you did not use.
- Not a review of every answer. Choose. Three paragraphs that each do one job read better than a list of corrections.
- Not a thank-you note on its own. The thanks opens the reflection; the substance is what follows.
- Not polished into something you did not say. It follows a real conversation. Write it in your own voice, the way you spoke in the room.
5. A checklist for the 24 hours
- Straight after the interview: ten minutes of notes, in points.
- Later that day: choose one thing you forgot, one thing you would say differently, and one thing from your life you wanted to share.
- Write the thanks and the three paragraphs.
- Read it once out loud, fix what sounds unlike you, and submit it well inside the 24 hours.
Practice it out loud. Reading about the answer is not the same as giving it under time pressure to an interviewer who follows up. Dean runs a full mock interview for your target school, from your CV, and writes up what landed and what did not.