Would HBS Alumni Recommend Their Alma Mater?

How many Harvard Business School students are exceedingly happy with their experience? Three out of four? Nine out of ten? Such guesses don’t seem wildly optimistic when you consider that more than 9,000 people – many with GMAT scores that would allow them to take their pick of business schools – typically apply for about 900 spots, and nearly 90% of those admitted to the school ultimately enroll. HBS also tops the charts in most business school rankings, including the North American ranking in QS Global 200 Business Schools Report.

Well, according to a new survey by the Harbus, the HBS student newspaper, those guesses would be very, very wrong.

The survey of 105 students found that just 51% consider themselves ‘extremely likely’ to recommend HBS to a friend or colleague. Harbus used the survey results to calculate a ‘net promoter score’ (NPS) – a popularity measure used by marketers to assess the strength of corporate brands – and concluded that the most elite business school in world was, as the headline put it, “more Walgreens than Apple.”

Using a methodology developed by Bain & Company, survey respondents were asked to rank the likelihood that they would recommend the HBS MBA program to a friend or colleague on a ten-point scale. Scores of nine and ten were classified as “promoters” while those of one to six were classified as “detractors” and scores of seven and eight (“neutrals”) were ignored. To determine the NPS, detractors were subtracted from promoters.

The school’s NPS of 41 put it on par with well-known national brands such as the drug store chain Walgreens (42) or the insurance company State Farm (45) but nowhere near market leaders such as Apple (70 for laptops, 67 for iPhone), Harbus reported.

What explains the less-than-spectacular performance for HBS?

First the positives. According to Harbus, promoters were impressed by several aspects of the program, including the professional opportunities it offers and the high quality of their classmates. 

“The caliber of people at HBS sets it apart,” wrote one respondent. “Aside from being intelligent and well-accomplished, I find HBS students…on the whole to be thoughtful, warm, and humble. It makes every day here a true pleasure.”

Detractors saw things differently. Many said they felt the school pushed students toward consulting and finance (which combined accounted for 61% of the 2014 graduating class) and didn’t make the same kind of effort for students seeking different career paths.  Others complained about the highly structure and time-intensive nature of the program. One student said “HBS pushed me too hard,” while another said having a packed schedule “reduces the time people could put toward career exploration and getting to know classmates.”

For readers wishing to take a deeper dive into the survey results, the Harbus editors made all responses public, with names removed. They can be found here.

HBS spokesman Jim Aisner declined to comment on the Harbus survey.