Each year, Harvard Business School hosts two Admitted Students Weekends (“ASW”). I was fortunate to be part of the first round this year.

Dear Admittees,

It was wonderful to meet you! I hope you enjoyed your time on campus and our practice discussion on the Sequoia Capital case.

I wanted to follow up.

Congratulations on being admitted! Kudos to you for going through the process, including the interviews of all finalists. You deserve to be here and do not attribute your accomplishments to “luck.”

For me, I continue to marvel that I was even accepted. And I continue to observe that HBS changes the very arcs of lives. Yes, the brand is strong. True, the alumni network is pivotal. But three other things stand out.

My Section. I was surprised when I arrived on campus how kind and collegial people were. The HBS students were normal. I had expected a cutthroat culture and experienced the opposite. My students to this day observe the same.

The Section bond is unique. It truly creates lifelong friendships and allies.

My class had our 30th Reunion last summer. Our Section gathered in our original Aldrich classroom, and each of us gave life updates: the best and most challenging parts of our lives? We convened for five hours and could have gone longer. So many laughs! So many tears! Many of us talked afterwards and said that we could not have gone through such an intimate gathering with any other group. Such were the bonds of the HBS first year.

The Case Method. It truly rewired my brain. It changed how I read information, triaged data, and spoke in public. As you saw, if you’re called upon in class, you have 10 to 30 seconds to attempt a meaningful contribution. Most important, the Case Method taught me to listen. I had to parse carefully others’ points of views. I had to listen to opinions that were vastly different from mine, even if it made me uncomfortable.

The best leaders do this: make consequential decisions with limited information with under pressure. Anyone and everyone can make minor decisions. Most can make difficult decisions when given perfect information and infinite time and capital.

Our classroom time is about “practice.” The real game happens outside of campus and after graduation. Case discussions are about building business judgment and key executive skills. Like athletes, our students get in their “reps.”

The Case Method is very difficult to pull off. Students must prep. It takes a Professor 10 to 20 hours all-in to ready for one case (and we teach two to three times a week); it is much much easier to lecture.

There is only one business school that does the Case Method as intensely as we do. We are either doing something very right or very wrong, as a result.

Most important: virtues. I only now realize that HBS helped me become a better human being. I have a long way to go. But I’ve realized that everything the school does is intentionally designed, from our mission to our values to the schedule to how artfully designed the classrooms are to maximize acoustics and minimize distraction. And part of that design, I now realize was this: it instilled virtues in us.

The concept of virtues has been around for millennia. It seems old-timey in this modern era to even mention the word. But I realized that our values and approach emphasize old-fashioned character traits such as: honesty, hard work, compassion, resilience, and service.

I wish you all the best as you contemplate which business school to choose. As I mentioned, our culture is about learning. If you are burned out and understandably want a two-year vacation, do not come to HBS. You will be frustrated.

But if you want to learn, grow, and be transformed, be bold and come.

I hope to see you on campus this fall. And it would be a delight to be in the classroom with you.