MBA Quant Experience

Peter Park, a second year student at HBS comments:

For class: HBS classes are laptop-down, including finance classes. You can use calculators during the class to follow along with the discussion.  For the most part, there is no need for a financial calculator; a regular calculator will probably be enough.  I had a financial calculator, but never used it for functions beyond mult/division during class.

For exams: All HBS exams are case-based, usually with a 4-5 hour time limit, and grades are based on a written response/analysis of the case.  For FIN 1 & 2 exams, you're required to attach exhibits to support your analysis from an excel model you build during the exam.  Everything's open book and open note w/exception of online sources, and you can use calculators and Excel.  Since the response requires a lot of excel, I never used a calculator.  I'd say the same for most of my classmates.