At the AIGAC conference in June, I spoke to a couple of people on the HBS admissions staff and asked them how applicants with less than stellar records can show they are “new and improved” – focused, mature, and ready for business school. They responded that while HBX CORe doesn’t guarantee admission, completing it with high marks does show that you can perform in an HBS kind of environment. They clearly saw it as a credible credential.

I wanted to learn more about this innovative program and credential. So I invited HBX CORe’s director to join me. Fortunately he accepted the invitation. Today’s guest is Patrick Mullane, Executive Director of HBX CORe. Patrick served as a captain in the USA Air Force in the early 90s, earned his MBA from HBS, and then moved into the world of business. Today he is back at HBS as the director of HBS’ exciting new online learning program. Welcome!

Can you give us an overview of HBX CORe? [1:48]

It’s a 3-course program: economics, accounting, and business analytics. The courses were chosen by faculty as foundational areas people needed for business. The program was originally created to be directed at people late in undergrad, studying the liberal arts, or people preparing for b-school who needed to refresh their knowledge in these disciplines.

How do students learn in HBX CORe? [3:10]

It’s an asynchronous, online program. HBS built it from scratch rather than using existing online platforms. And we use case content, rather than having lectures and texts.

There’s no textbook – it’s fully self-contained. Students can download study sheets.

If there’s no textbook, how are fundamentals taught? [6:00]

Students get everything through the case. Fundamental concepts are given real world structure that makes them easier to grasp.

We also have a closed Facebook group connected to the experience.

How long does the course last, and how many hours? [7:15]

It’s 170 hours of on-platform time, and students report that they spend extensive time off-platform studying. We have courses that last varying lengths of time, as little as 8 weeks or as long as 18, but the number of hours required is the same.

We gate the material and we have quizzes so students work through the course in a cohort.

Do some people have more background in a particular area of business? [9:15]

We use people with background in disciplines for benchmarking: on final exams, those who had previous experience only outperform new students by a few points, which shows us that students are learning new material well.

Study groups are very important at HBS. Is there anything similar at HBX? [10:13]

On the platform, we try to approximate this through the “peer help” function. It’s very different from a bulletin board – it’s very contextual. And students interact through the Facebook group.

Students also coordinate getting together in the city they’re in – in person – to form a study group, just like on campus at HBS.

HBX CORe doesn’t require GMAT/GRE, but does have an application process: what are you looking for? Who do you want to admit? [12:40]

A big part of HBX has to do with the HBS mission: educating leaders that make a difference in the world. The advent of technology has helped us extend that mission. There are more than 900 people (the approximate size of the HBS class) who can excel in the content here and benefit from it.

The purpose of having an application is that we want to be selective but not exclusive.

In the application, we want to test