• I provide school-specific training for HBS interviews

• I am receiving many inquiries from new clients who want help preparing for an HBS interview

  • First, l need to take care of my comprehensive clients

  • If time allows, I would be happy to prepare a few interview-only clients, as well

  • You can learn more about my hourly consulting services, including mock interviews, here 

• Please agree to follow the seven steps below if you would like to secure my time

Best HBS interview tips

We hope you find these videos useful. 

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel for the latest updates. 

STEP TWO

COMMIT to doing

THREE MOCK INTERVIEWS

with Vince

• Most of my successful clients practice HBS interviews with me for at least 3 hours (three fifty-minute sessions)

• Others meet me five or even ten times 

• As a professional actor (improv and Shakespeare), I believe that interviewing is physical

• Just like sports, you improve with practice 

• Due to increasing demand and limited availability,  I am no longer able to provide stand-along, one-off HBS mock interviews 

• Unlike some popular "gurus" in this space, my goal is not to destroy your confidence in a single session

• Rather, I like to explore "deep dive" topics that might be of interest to your interviewer

• Over a series of sessions, I hope to provide an authentic experience that emphasizes realistic follow-up questions in high-stakes, two-way conversation

• I realize this service is not for everyone and I apologize in advance if I am unable to help you

STEP FIVE

SEND ME YOUR

ENTIRE HBS APPLICATION

as a single MS Word or Google Docs file

HBS Admissions Board members read your entire application before interviewing you. I want to do the same. 

Once our session is scheduled, please attach and send me your 

• resume

• application data form short answers 

• transcript

• essays

Also, if you have access to your recommendation letters, please send those, as well

After reading your application, I will prepare a custom list of questions to fit your case.

• I ask questions that test your ability to discuss issues that might be of concern to the HBS Admissions Board

• I also assess your communication skills

• I cannot predict what questions the Admissions Board will ask at your real interview, but I can help you boost your confidence by practicing with an expert who understands what HBS expects from admitted applicants

• When I met with a veteran member of the HBS Admissions Board at her on-campus office in May 2011, she mentioned that HBS wants to admit applicants who will be able to participate in fast-paced classroom discussions

• Therefore, in HBS mock interview sessions, I will check your logic and presentation style to find weak points that might be of concern to Admissions Board interviewers

• After your interview, I will destroy all hard and soft copies to maintain client confidentiality

STEP SIX

PRACTICE BEFORE and

AFTER EACH SESSION

• Interviewing is a learned skill

• You will improve with practice

• Please practice at least three hours before and after each of our mock interview sessions

• I encourage you to use my "mirror method" to practice interviews at home

• You might also want to watch these sample HBS interview videos

STEP SEVEN

KEEP IN TOUCH and SHARE YOUR RESULTS

• I want to know if my service helped you

• I am to provide the most effective, authentic HBS interview training in the world

• By agreeing to work together, we are entering into a partnership and I hope you will respect that by sharing your final result

TESTIMONIALS

HBS MBA Class of 2023

I found Vince on YouTube just a few weeks before MBA interviews and immediately contacted him about getting help with preparation. His response time was swift, and we met just a couple of days later. 

I was applying to multiple schools, so he started by giving me a detailed overview of the types of and differences between those schools' interviews, which helped me plan. Later, during our mock interviews, his specific and honest feedback was invaluable. 

His personalized advice about making my responses very concise but still compelling allowed me to improve quickly, and he shared great ideas about how to best respond to open-ended questions. 

I am glad I had the opportunity to work with Vince since I am sure it enabled me to perform well (and much better than I would have without his help) during my actual MBA interviews. 

HBS MBA Class of 2023

I worked with Vince to prepare for my HBS interview, and there is no doubt in my mind that Vince's help substantially increased my odds of being admitted. He provided me with concrete advice, ranging from tips to improve my body language to fine-tuning the delivery of my "story." 

Having now had the benefit of going through the actual interview process, I can confidently say that Vince prepared me for over 80% of the questions asked of me on the day. 

I cannot recommend him more highly.

HBS MBA Class of 2012

Preparing admissions essays for MBA programs can be a lonely process, involving much introspection and contemplation. Throughout this process, Vince was an invaluable partner to me, providing objective and professional advice that was critical to my success; ultimately, I gained admissions to 5 top programs in the US, including HBS, Wharton and Northwestern’s JD-MBA program.

Initially, I was somewhat skeptical of receiving advice from essay counselors. I had been educated in the US through college and had confidence that I could pull it off all by myself. Yet, once I started working with Vince, my initial doubt quickly dissipated, as I realized the importance of having a good listener and thinker give objective feedback and advice. I could not have integrated my myriad of ideas into coherent essay portfolios without Vince’s support.

I was also impressed by Vince’s professionalism. He gave tremendous personal attention (almost to a fault!) and usually worked outside of designated time slots; I believe this separates him from other commercially-minded essay counselors.

Having advised many successful, top-notch Japanese clients in the past, Vince has an excellent understanding of the MBA application process and a keen insight into what admissions officers from top programs look for in candidates. Such intelligence could be hard to gather in Japan, where only several hundred people apply to MBA programs each year.

Last but not least, Vince possesses a dry sense of humor that made every one of my twice-a-week face-to-face sessions enjoyable.

HBS MBA Class of 2012

In short, Vince Ricci:

• knows what admission committees think and feel: he said, "Essay is an art as well as a science."

• leverages technologies as a Stanford alum: non-Tokyo based applicants can work with him without stress.

• is a nice guy: he has a broad network which helps applicants learn about target schools.

Overall, by working with Vince, I experienced great results, good ideas for essays and strategies for interview, and a lot of networking opportunities.

HBS MBA Class of 2009

The two greatest aspects of Vince and his counseling are his capabilities to push the client to his/her best potential and his abilities to listen and cheer for the best results.

My first confident essay draft was so easily referred to by Vince as “a mess”. This pure shock hit me hard to realize that he was not there to help and support me no matter what, but was there for me to convince him (later myself and the admissions) that I could make it into business schools. The difficulty of business school preparation is fundamentally changing the mindset to think deep in who you are and what makes you valuable to an admit, and Vince was capable to push me each time I tried to slack off the process. Not to mention that without him convincing me, I would have not applied to Harvard Business School/third round, where I am now today.

Also, business school prep move forward by multiple waves. I could not always execute what I had promised Vince the week before whether it was due to work, or emotional fluctuations. Within each one hour counseling session, I sometimes spent the time just talking with Vince about what was going on in my life in general. This helped me through the tough times and kept me from completely falling apart. Vince is truly a great listener and the best cheerleader I had during my prep period.

Vinceをカウンセラーとして起用して良かった点 は、私の魅力を最大限に引き出してくれた事と、私の話をいつも聞いてくれ、励ましてくれた点です。彼の 所に最初に持っていったエッセイは自信作であった割には「it’s a mess」とコメントされ、沈没でした。駄作であったとしても、よいものに直してくれるであろうと気楽に構えていたのですが、ビジネススクール合格はそん なに簡単ではありません。まずは、Vinceを乗り越えなければ合格にたどり着かないのだなと、その時強く思いました。ビジネススクール受験の辛さは今ま でのマインドセットを変え、自分の経験と将来像を深く考え、いかにビジネススクールに進学する事が自分にとって重要なのかを合理的に追求していく事です が、ちょっと手を抜くたびにVinceが後ろから押してくれていました。HBSへ3rdでも出したほうがよいと、彼にしつこく説得してくれなければ私は今 日HBSで勉強をする事ができなかったでしょう。

ビジネススクール受験はよく言わる通りに、マラソンであり、幾度も山や谷を経験しま す。Vinceに約束したことさえも実施できない週が続く事もめずらし くありません。そんな時に彼はセッションの時間の中で、私の悩みを辛抱強く聞き、励まし、エッセイカウンセラー以上のアドバイスを下さいました。この時間 がなければ機能低下はもちろんの事、受験もあきらめていたかもしれません。Vinceは人の話を聞いてくれますし、一緒になって受験をがんばってくれま す。

DISCLAIMER

Information is subject to change. Please, verify all data with the schools.