Wednesday’s Headlines: Did getting into Harvard Business School just get easier?

Harvard Business School is reducing by half the required number of essays for candidates as part of the application process, the Wall Street Journal reports. Prospective students used to have to write four essays. Now they only have to write two, 400 words each.

The elite business school, however, is adding an extra essay for applicants who make the cut after an in-person interview with school officials.

One of the new questions asked applicants is to discuss something they could have done better.

It may sound like a lot of work for the applicants, but the process could be grueling for members of the admission committee as well. Approximately 9,000 students apply to the Harvard’s MBA program each year. Twenty percent, or 1,800, get invited to interviews.

Which means that even with the reduction, committee members would read about eight million words, down from the previous 18 million.

 

Other News:

The top securities investigator in Massachusetts has issued a subpoena to Morgan Stanley regarding the Facebook IPO. [Financial Times]

Some investors are suing Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and other underwriters alleging they were misled in the purchase of Facebook stock. [Bloomberg]

Federal regulators say they are examining potential wrongdoing on the part of JPMorgan Chase in the wake of the trading losses and exploring the possibility of reshaping rules for Wall Street. [DealBook]

Europe’s banks say they are facing large numbers of losses if Greece exits the Eurozone. [Bloomberg]

Greece plans to pump about $23 billion into the country’s four largest banks to help prop them up in the midst of a weakening economy. [NY Times]

Spain to say how it will address a $10.21 billion hole at banking giant Bankia. [Reuters]

Swank Capital, the Dallas-based hedge fund firm, plans to boost its assets under management by launching a new fund. [Hedgefund.net]

Richard Moore, a former North Carolina state treasurer and a member of First Bancorp’s board of directors since 2010, will become Bancorp’s president and CEO on June 11th. [Bizjournals.com]

Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. has teamed up with two other investors to purchase a $1.6 billion stake in Formula One racing motor company. [Bizjournals.com]