All HBS interview invites have been now given out so if you have not been invited you have been released (their terminology).

From HBS Interview Blog:

Greetings from snowy Boston. Here’s what is going to happen tomorrow.

At (hopefully) noon, Boston time, we will send out the first wave of invitations to interview in Round 2.

You’ll get an email from HBS MBA Admissions, which will give detailed instructions on the sign-up process.

As stated before, we’ll be interviewing on campus and in the following hub locations: London, Paris, Shanghai, Dubai, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Palo Alto and NYC.

Heads up to 2+2 candidates: All interview invitations to this group will be sent in the second wave on February 6 (Note: I posted earlier that this would be February 7 – we’ve moved it up to February 6).

Another heads up to those on the waitlist from Round 1 who have not interviewed yet: You will be included in one of the two waves if being invited to interview this round – if you are not invited to interview, you will be released on February 6.

Remember, this is just the first of two invitation waves. In Round 1, we sent about 800 invitations in Wave 1 and about 100 in Wave 2.

PLEASE don’t send any additional material or letters of support to the Admissions Board – or me or the Dean’s Office or anyone else. We will only consider material sent at the time of application submission and that means 3 recommendations for everyone (or 2 if you are a 2+2 applicant), not more. We do everything we can to keep this process fair and equitable – we hope and expect that you will support this effort.

From HBS MBA Program Blog:

Round 2 Interview Invitations – A Little More Information

Well, I dealt with the aftermath of the transparency about interview invitation numbers in Round 1 today. Someone called and asked directly why we couldn’t send out all the invitations on one day. Good question. Here’s the answer:

We could..but it would be February 13, not January 31. Maybe that would be better…a later date, but just one date. The way we’ve structured it now – 3 waves – is to accommodate the reality of a (human) Admissions Board trying to give thoughtful attention to a lot of applications. And each application needs to be reviewed twice. So we have to have a little bit of flex in terms of the notification dates. The senior team in Dillon does (a lot of) other things besides reading applications. Board member X may be pulled into an IT crisis. Board member Y needs to pull together the budget for the next fiscal year. I went to NYC last week to do an admit event for Round 1 admits. All these things can throw off an application-reading timetable, so we build in those extra two weeks (two waves) to make sure we’ve got bandwidth to make careful decisions. We’re not doing this by machine. It’s just us.

As always, hope this helps.

From the HBS MBA Program Blog:

Round 1 Interview Invitations

OK…this is the week we start sending interview invitations. Here’s the plan:

We’re going to send out invitations on the next 3 Wednesdays – October 26, November 2 and November 9. NOT on any day in between. Many will go out on October 26, some will go out on November 2 and 9. On November 9, everyone who applied in Round 1 will hear something – either an invitation to interview, an invitation to join the waitlist with the possibility of an interview in Round 2, or a “release.”

We will be managing the availability of interview slots so that candidates invited on November 2 and 9 have location options. While our availability in hub cities is limited, we always have capacity in Boston and via Skype. There is no advantage to one location/type of interview over another.

I hope you understand that we really cannot give precise numbers of interview invitations going out on specific dates – we just don’t know. I also hope that the above schedule alleviates the day-to-day anxiety – believe me, we are trying to be as helpful as we can during this process. If you would like to hear me read this message out loud to you, you’re welcome to call me at 617-496-6835. Seriously, we’re deeply appreciative that you want to come to HBS and know that waiting is difficult and the anxiety can be high.

From the HBS MBA Program’s Director Blog:

Round 1 Interviews

• October 3: Deadline for receiving applications has just passed.
• October 26 – November 9: Interview invitations will be issued via email. Please read this part carefully - We don’t have some complicated and/or malevolent algorithm that determines which interview invitations go out first or last or even how many go out on any given day. If you’d like to suggest one, give me a call.
• November 9: All candidates not invited to interview will receive one of two communications – “We are unable to offer you a place in the Class of 2014″ or an invitation to join our waitlist.
• November 7 – approximately November 29: Interview weeks, both on and off campus. Off campus locations in Round 1 include New York City, Palo Alto, London, Paris, Dubai, Sao Paulo, and Shanghai.
• December 19: Decision notification (admit, deny, or waitlist) for all interviewed candidates.

Now, I need to repeat language I used last year because I can’t think of a better way to say it. While no one applies hoping for a “deny” decision, we have heard you say that the worst case is extended uncertainty. We think that getting news out on November 9 is helpful so that denied candidates can re-direct energy toward Round 2 applications to other schools. Yes, we have the resources to ensure a thorough review of all applications before rendering any decisions. All applications are reviewed at least twice. Our Admissions Board is fully staffed and able to make this work.

All those invited to join our waitlist are candidates whom we would like to “further consider.” Our plan is for waitlisted candidates to receive further consideration in Round 2. Our intent is for all to receive a final decision by the time we make Round 2 notifications in late March. We completely understand if such a candidate might elect to withdraw his/her application.

I promise that all letters will clearly communicate a candidate’s status.

Most of all, we thank all Round 1 applicants for all the hard work and high aspirations that go into these applications. We are humbled and committed to doing our very best to give all candidates full and careful consideration.