Interview Reports from Clear Admit.

com

Chicago

Round 2 / On-Campus / Second-Year Student / (Published March 14th, 2008)

I was not busy at work and not having seen the GSB opted to go to Chicago to interview. Spent the
day before interview in classes and with students. This is helpful if you can attend as it gives a good
feel for the school.

Interview took place at the Hyde Park campus with a second year student. Interview was laid back
and 'informal' at the interviewers request.

Interview initially took the same structure as most other interviewees have reported. These reports
and the Clear Admit interview guide were good preparation. Questions included:

1. Walk me through your CV (It cannot be overstated how important it is to have a good
answer for this. I don't think I did!)
2. Pick out highlights
3. Talk me through a leadership and team-working role.
4. Request for some details on academics

It was a very free-form interview with me leading and the student merely asking for a more detail or
weighing in with an opinion. However the bulk of the interview stayed focused on my non-
professional activities (charity work etc), which was prompted by the interviewer. I found this pretty
odd compared to most of the reports from previous interviewees.
The interviewer left 5-10 minutes at the end for questions, and again this was an informal back and
forth as opposed to a question and answer session. Interviewers and second year students seemed
clued up and ready to provide frank answers.

Round 2 / Off-campus / Adcoms (Published March 13th, 2008)

I chose to interview at a hub location in India with an associate director of admissions who was
extremely friendly and made me feel very comfortable right from the beginning.
My question set:
 • Run me through your resume.
• What brings you to an MBA?
• What brings you to Chicago?
• What are you most proud of?
• What is the biggest challenge you faced at work?
• What is the biggest challenge you think you will face at the GSB?
• How will you contribute to and engage in the GSB community?
• Is there anything you would like to ask me?
• Is there anything more you would like to add?

A classic adcoms interview, quite similar to the one I had with Kellogg. The interviewer posed
questions and never interrupted me, just gave me all the time in the world to finish before she
moved to the next one. (Quite unlike the alumni interviews). It was a forty-minute discussion.

Round 2 / On-campus / Alumnus (Published March 11th, 2008)

I had an on campus interview on February 23rd, 2008, with a recent graduate from Chicago (Class
of 2006). It was a pretty standard conversational interview. The interview began with a little chitchat
about the weather and my flight to Chicago. She noticed that I traveled from Colombia (South
America) to visit GSB and asked me about my flight and if I had been to Chicago before. The
interviewer then told me that she had glanced at my resume, proceeded to complement me on the
depth of my work experience and subtly prompted me to dive right into my resume.
Questions:

• Walk me through my resume? (With 2-3 follow questions)

• What do you hope to accomplish with an MBA from Chicago? (A variation of the career
goals question)
• How would you relate to team members who have less experience than you and yet try to
dominate the team? (Variation of the how you deal with a difficult team member)
• Describe your leadership style. (With a one or two follow-up questions)
• Give me an example of a learning experience, a professional one or academic that you really
enjoyed?
• What's a good book you've read recently?
 • A question about one of the community related extra curricular activity I had mentioned on
my resume.
• Do you have any questions? I had couple.

Most of the questions I was asked were your typical/standard questions; some had a little twist or
variation. My interviewer seemed genuinely interested in learning about me and my ability to lead.
She also found it very interesting when I told her that I follow a rather tailored leadership style based
on who I'm working with and the working environment. She liked how I took a varied leadership
approach and agreed with me that a one-size-fits all leadership style may not work in a study team
setting since you'll have to work with varying personalities. I also noticed through her facial
expressions (nods or smiles) that she really liked when I used concrete examples and even tied some
of my experiences directly to a particular skill or strength and how that quality would enhance the
classroom setting or team setting at Chicago. I had a few questions for her, some about the
curriculum and career services. She did like the question about the positives of not having a strict
cohort system. It seemed like she was a fan of the fact that Chicago students are not tied to having
most of their first year classes with a cohort.
Overall the interview was pretty laid back. At first the interviewer appeared to be a rather serious
individual and the interview had a very professional tone at the beginning. But after I showed some
enthusiasm in my responses and shared some interesting anecdotes, she did seem much to open up
more and became more personal.

Round 1 / On-campus / Second-year Student / Status: Admitted (Published March 10th, 2008)
I interviewed on campus in mid-November for Round 1. This was my first time visiting the school.
The Harper Center was beautiful, and the admissions office is right inside the front door. A current
student was waiting in the interview room to help applicants relax. Another student relieved the first
one a few minutes after I arrived. Both were friendly, although perhaps a little geeky. I also met a
student in the foyer who was very nice but on the square side.
My student interviewer came out to greet me a few minutes late. She gave me a nice, warm smile
that persisted throughout the interview.
All interviews at Chicago are blind. The questions were standard, and I did not feel surprised by
anything asked.
 • Why MBA?
• Why GSB?
• Why now?
• Questions pertaining to my career and extracurriculars shown on my resume.

After the first question, I weaved in a few points and the interviewer rolled with it. I was well
prepared so we blasted through the standard questions in about 15 minutes. She offered to answer
my questions and I had about 4 good ones specific to the program (e.g. Lab Courses) and my
interests. She could not answer 1 or 2 specifically, but she commented that my in-depth questions
showed a deep knowledge of the program. My questions lasted about 10-15 minutes, so the entire
interview took 25-30 minutes. The interviewer was easy to talk to and I felt comfortable throughout
our conversation.
I was later admitted to the GSB and strongly weighed the offer. However, I decided to attend
Columbia instead due to the allure of its value-investing program.

Round 2 (Published March 5th, 2008)

Very relaxed and comfortable - 30 min

1. Why Chicago?
2. Why now?
3. Why moa?
4. What classes would you want to take?
5. What contribution will you make on campus?
6. Walk me through your resume.

Round 2 / Alumni (Published March 4th, 2008)

Just wanted to share my experience from my alumni interview today.
The interview lasted 1.5 hours but it certainly didn't feel like that. It was entirely conversational as
we shared common ground in our background and MBA goals. We talked in length about the
industry I'd like to target and where the market is going.
Questions:

• Tell me about yourself (with a few follow up questions based on my walk through of my
resume)
• Why MBA?
• Why Chicago?
• What do you plan to do post-graduation?
• What other schools did you apply to?

The interview was very friendly and if the culture is anything like what I experienced during my
interview, then I'm looking forward to Chicago GSB. Above all, make sure you know why Chicago
is the school for you.

Round 2 (Published February 29th, 2008)

• Discuss/identify Two accomplishments

• If you were to teach someone how to invest, what would you say to him or her?
• Leadership strengths and weaknesses (what would your staff say your weaknesses are)
• Why MBA?
• Why Chicago?
• Why investments?
• How can you contribute to Chicago?
• If you can go back to your career and redo something what would you do?
• Toughest decision to date?

Round 2/On Campus Interview/ 2nd Yr Student (Published February 28th, 2008)
I had an on campus interview on Feb 27th 2008 with a 2nd year student. It was a pretty standard
conversational interview. The interviewer began with congratulating me on making it to this stage of
the process. Then, she explained how the process works and how the interview fits into the process.
She introduced herself and talked a little about her background and her plans post MBA. Then she
jumped into my resume.
 1. Walk me through my resume? (With 2-3 follow questions)
2. What are your long term and short-term goals?
3. How does an MBA or an MBA at Chicago GSB fits in?
4. A question about one of the community related extra curricular activity I had mentioned on
my resume.
5. Do you have any questions? I had couple.

Altogether, it was a pretty relaxed.

Round 2/Alum Interview (Published February 20th, 2008)

My interview was with an alumnus. We met at a local Starbucks cafe. I arrived a few minutes before
he did. He arrived on time, and apologized for having to read my resume in front of me before we
began the interview. He hadn't had time to read it beforehand.
He then jumped straight into, "Walk me through your resume" and interjected with additional
questions as I did so. Then he asked the "why MBA", "why Chicago" questions and interjected with
follow-up questions as well. Specifically, he asked if specific companies recruiting in my area of
interest do so at Chicago since it's a more specialized area of consulting. He graduated in 2004 and
wasn't aware of some of the things I mentioned in my interview, as they were not in place or had
improved since he attended. He took notes and it seemed like he would verify some of these things
later or at least include them in his notes to the school. I only covered my ST goal and he didn't ask
about my LT goal, nor did I raise it, which I wish I had done. He then asked, "tell me about a time
when you dealt with an ethical issue" and "a time when you dealt with a difficult team situation". I
think this was it. EDIT: I can't believe I forgot this question because it was probably my favorite
question from all my interviews. He asked me if there was a course I took in college that had an
impact on me and how it impacted me. I wasn't expecting it but it was fairly easy for me to answer
because there was course and a professor from my community college who changed my life
completely by introducing this newly arrived African woman to the concept of critical thinking and
paradigm shifts. That's it!
When he asked me if I had any questions, I took the opportunity to ask him about himself and what
he does now since he did not really tell me much of that at the beginning of the interview. I
followed up with other questions as he responded. He emphasized Chicago being a quant school
and asked me about my GMAT, and also told me to be open to a back-up plan for my internship
and do due diligence on the industry I'm interested in. All in all, the interview lasted about 45
minutes, and it was very stress-free.

Round 2 / Second Year Student (Published February 18th, 2008)

Interview with 2nd year student. Interview lasted 45 minutes. She was extremely professional and
made me feel very much at ease. I did not know that she was not adcoms until the end of the
interview. Good rapport and my use of humor made both her and me feel very conversational. She
started by asking about my interest in painting, which I had mentioned on my resume. Was a good
icebreaker.
Questions:

• Tell me about how you got to this point? You seem to have had an interesting journey (grad
school, biotech startup, ops/strategy consulting)
• Tell me about how you resolved a difficult situation with clients?
• How did you make the transition from a startup to consulting? What skills did you need and
how did you go about acquiring them?
• How did you gain the skills you needed to gain so much responsibility within your first
consulting role over 3 years?
• Short Term/Long Term Goals?
• Non-profit involvement - how this ties with long-term social enterprise goals?
• Why MBA?
• Why Chicago?
• Any questions? I had one

Lots of small questions/clarifications from her side - I left with the feeling that my personality and
real self came out in the interview.

Round 2 (Published February 18, 2008)

My own interview was very standard (walk me through your resume, why moa, why now, why
Chicago). However, a few of my friends got slightly tricky questions:

1. If you could compare GSB to a top company, which one would it be and why?
 2. Here's a marker. There's the board. Go and teach me about something for the next 2
minutes.
3. What undergraduate course that you took changed the way that you think? Talk about a
course that is not related to your profession.
4. Give me a list of websites that you read regularly.
5. Give me an instance of something where you put in a lot of effort and things did not work
out.
6. What course would you definitely want to take at the GSB and why?

Alumni / R2 / Off-campus (Published 13 Feb 08)

Today, I interviewed with an alumna in a non-US city. (Too far from Chicago or any of the adcoms
hubs.)
After some pleasantries, we jumped into the 30 minutes of questions:

• Why an MBA? (I walked through my resume and gave examples of what lead me to my
decision to apply to a MBA program.)
• Why GSB?
• Why did you choose your most recent position?
• What was the most important skill you gained/knowledge you learned in your career to date?
• What will you contribute to the GSB?
• What can other GSB students gain from your career leadership experience?

Surprisingly, there were no questions about my career plans after the GSB, but I incorporated them
into my answers to "Why MBA".
She then turned it over to me for a few questions where I asked about her GSB experience, how
good the international recruiting was, career services, etc.
Interview was low threat and a pleasant experience - very much in line with all my other experiences
with the GSB admissions process. Interview was approximately 40 minutes total.

Alumnus / R1 / Off-campus (Published December 14, 2007)

I had my alumni interview in Delhi on 30th Nov 2007. The alumnus was a very senior person as
belonging to class of early ‘90s. He told me in beginning that interview will be for 30minutes out of
which 20minutes he will ask and rest 10 minutes are for my questions (if any). He also tried to calm
me down by saying interview is just another input in application process like GMAT, LORs, Essays,
Transcripts etc. He told me that he has set of 4-5 questions for me. In fact he was so well managed
that irrespective of my answers length he asked me 4-5 questions and stopped in dot 21st minute.
Questions were straight and not led by my answers. Like goals, accomplishments, testing times in
life, value system, what do I do for fun and why GSB. Though I am a marketing concentration
aspirant and he was from Fin background, to my surprise he didn’t ask why marketing in Chicago vs.
Kellogg or Wharton. May be he believed it as redundant question considering the increased
credibility of marketing concentration from GSB.
The most uncomfortable part was that interview wasn’t probing and wasn’t led by my answers. Also
he didn’t write anything or referred to my resume once. He kept looking into my eyes while I was
answering without any expression. He was straight faced with limited expressions, which couldn’t
communicate to me whether he was convinced or not with my answers.
Overall, not a good post-interview feel but I still remember alum’s first statement that ‘interview is
just another input to apps’. It is a soothing statement that keeps my hopes alive.
Best of luck to other R1 and R2 aspirants.
PS: Special thanks to Chicago GSB adcoms for helping me through with appointment with alum.
My experience with Chicago Admissions committee has been really good. I have applied to other
schools too but the level of assistance, consideration, responsiveness and clarity in communication
exhibited by Chicago GSB adcoms is really professional and appreciative.

Interview with Alumni in Bangalore on 1 Dec 2007. (Published December 3, 2007)

I had my Chicago GSB interview with an alumnus in Bangalore. This is first time the alumni got
together and had this event where 4 alumni were taking interviews in parallel all day long. My
interviewer in response to one of questions about alumni also said that this is their initiative and
Chicago GSB is really working these days to improve their alumni network (not directly but he did
convey that the Chicago GSB alumni at least in India is not a very very strong community but they
all are working to improve that).
Anyways my interviewer was well prepared as in he had taken a print out my resume and had
thoroughly dissected it. I could see his notes on my resume. He started by talking about himself,
seemed to be a well-accomplished person, and then straight away jumped into my academics. Then
he asked me about my work experience and our interview for the next 15 min revolved around here.
He asked me what exactly I do. He was also from a technical background so could relate to what I
said. After I gave a generic answer of what product I am working on and what I do he said "lets
delve deeper into what you do and how you do". Then we discussed about my transition from a
team member to a team leader role and the difficulties I faced in this. How I manage teams and what
I find challenging in doing so. SO I believe be prepared with managerial kind of questions related to
your work environment.
Then he came back to my resume and picked couple of things from "Additional Information"
section of my resume and then next 10 min we discussed on this. He was very curious to know why
I am doing so and again how I am doing so. Again these activities involved working with teams so
he again asked how I handle teams, what difficulties I face and how I measure success in these
activities.
Next he asked Goals. He did not grill much on that and then asked Why Chicago. After 3-4 points I
said he interrupted and said I seem to have done my homework and then started talking more about
GSB. Then he asked why not some other school. I was prepared for this and answered. I brought a
work life balance to this answer and he said yes that’s really important.
Then he said I am done with my questions and do I have any thing to say. Then I took the
opportunity and talked about my interest with Tennis and we went into a discussion about "Federer
vs. Sampras" who is great. He seems to be inclined towards Sampras and I with Federer and I said I
am sure Federer has lot of tennis left in him and he will do wonders. I also told why I like Federer
thinking he might be judging me on this argument.
Then I asked couple of questions about how GSB helped him in career progress and also how about
GSB alumni community and such stuff. He gave good answers and I do not remember anything he
said as I was thinking "Thank god" the interview went well.
He finished and said I can anytime email or call him for any help I require.
Overall a good experience. My takeaways: 1. Be very crystal clear on your work experience. What are
you doing needs to be very clear. 2. Why GSB argument is like a trump card, rather why GSB is best
for you needs to be well prepared to win the battle. 3. Need to have good share of luck and wishes
from loved ones.

On-campus, Round 1, 2nd Year Student. (Published November 20, 2007)

After spending a day on campus for a tour and class visit, I had a very relaxed interview with a
second year student. All the students I met over the 2 days I was on campus were great - very
friendly and enthusiastic about the school - and my interviewer was no different. There were no
surprise questions. We started with a bit of small talk to break the ice, and the interviewer told me a
bit about his background, followed by questions on my career progression, why MBA, why Chicago,
time where there was a conflict on a team and how I dealt with it. Some of the less standard
questions were if you were interviewing yourself, what would you have asked and how would you
answer it; what one word would you use to summarize your application; and what motivates you?
We kept pretty close to the 30-minute time frame, with about 20-25 minutes of him asking questions
with about 10 min at the end for my questions. All in all it was very conversational.

On-campus, Round 3, 2nd Year Student (Published April 23, 2007)

I had a very friendly and relaxed on campus interview today with an awesome 2nd year student
today. She spent the first 5 minutes congratulating me on getting here and we spent the rest of the
time going through my resume. No surprise questions... just why MBA, why Chicago. It's very
conversational and interactive. She also shared a lot of her experience at GSB. I had been a little bit
nervous about on-campus interviewers by reading some previous reviews (but I also read that many
alumni are difficult to get hold of, so I made a difficult decision). Turned out that my interviewer
was extremely friendly and easy-going. She tried very hard to keep 30-minutes time limit so I only
got to ask a couple of questions. Well, I am keeping my fingers crossed and hope I will make it to
GSB. (Even though it's R-3).

On-campus, Round 2 (Published on March 7, 2007)

Very friendly interview with a second-year student on-campus. Very straightforward, 30 min in total
with time to ask a few questions at the end.

• Tell me about what you've done to date and why

• Why Chicago?
• How do you feel about Chicago in terms of fit?
• What are the two greatest challenges you face in your job and how do you go about
approaching them?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses?
• What are your career goals?
 • Elaboration on long-term goal: what kind of interesting things do you see going on in this
area?
• How will your work experience to date help you succeed in your career goals?
• What do you like to do for fun?

Off-Campus, Round 2, February 28, 2007. (Published on March 2, 2007)

I interviewed with a second-year, off-campus. All in all, I think it was a pretty comfortable
experience. There was no real structure to the interview and I was allowed to take it in the direction
I wanted to, which I thought was really nice of her. We chatted for a couple minutes about very
general stuff. She had already gone through my resume, and asked me to start off by sort of taking
her through some of the stuff I've done at work, and weave in my reasons and motivation for
pursuing an MBA with it. For some reason, all the spiel I'd prepared went out the window, and I
answered the whole thing pretty much off-the-cuff. Now that I think about it, this took me a while
to get through, but I think I got out everything I wanted to say. She kind of misunderstood my
short-term plans, and asked for a clarification at this point, I apologized and elaborated further, we
moved on.
Then followed the usual "So why Chicago GSB?". Now, I'm really, really, really excited by what this
school has to offer, and so this section was a breeze. I had a ton of stuff to talk about, and covered
most of it. I mentioned the IBEP, it turned out that she'd been abroad for a quarter too, and was
only too happy to share her experience. I spoke quite a bit about the Polsky center, which
immediately led her to her next question about how I would contribute to the GSB, and what
clubs/activities interested me. Again, this was not a problem. Actually, there are *too* many clubs
that interest me, and we had a couple of light-ish moments here.
Then came a question right out of left-field - "If you could have any super-power, what would it
be?” Fortunately, I'm a bit of a comic-book geek, and it only took me a second to think about this
one. I said something about being a cross between Batman and Spidey, and spinning webs shooming
in the Batcar. By this point, I was getting real comfy, and it was pretty much smooth sailing. I got
the impression that she was looking simply to judge my personality and fit. She wanted to know
more about a couple of things I have done in life, and I obliged. Then we went on the part where I
got to add anything I wanted to. She hadn't asked me "Why now?” so I spoke about my need to go
to school now, convincingly, I hope.
I'm sure there are a few things I've already forgotten, but anyway, I then got to ask her some
questions. For some reason, I hadn't thought of any questions to ask her before the interview, but
once she asked me, there were ALL sorts of questions forming in my head. She answered most of
them well, although she had to think for a couple. Then we shook hands, and I was done.

On-Campus, Round 2. (Published February 27, 2007)

I interviewed on campus and it was an interesting experience. The interview was very relaxed:

• Tell me about yourself.

• Tell me about your work experience.
• Goals.
• Why Chicago?
• What do you do in your free time?
• How would you contribute to the Chicago community?
• What makes you unique?

Alum, Round 2, February 26, 2007. (Published February 26, 2007)

I had the interview with an American alumnus who is now working in Europe. The interview lasted
exactly 30 minutes: 25 minutes of standard questions, plus 5 minutes for my questions about the
School. With such a short time available I had to squeeze my answers, but I was able to do that since
I prepared quite well also to this possibility. The alum was down to earth and really inspiring, as all
the other GSB students that I met/talked to.
Here are some questions:

1. Which book did you read recently that particularly interested you?
2. Why do you want to quit your job? (I am shareholder in small start-up and aiming to enter
VC industry)
3. Tell me about a situation when you had to advocate for a position in your professional or
educational experience.
4. Chicago is known for faculty, high ranking, finance, what else do you value of Chicago?
Alum, Round 1, November 16, 2006. Juggler (Published February 26, 2007)
I had my Chicago interview with an alum this morning and it was nothing like what I had expected
out of an admissions interview! The usual Why MBA, Why now and Why Chicago were there. But
there were lots of other delightful conversational elements to the interview. We discussed things like
my fears, my way of handling uncertainty in life, pros and cons of being an only child (which I am),
why I became an engineer, why I work where I work, what do I do. I had to profess my
commitment to my goals and why I think they are practical, how will I embrace and adapt to change,
which one will I go to if I have to choose between the schools I'm applying to.
Then our conversation took a tangential turn towards Chennai (where I grew up, he's from there
too), the good old music scene in Chennai and how it has become lack-luster due to all the
westernization, my school, his school, Tamil Brahmin outlook and upbringing, Indian roots and
values etc. etc. (My apologies to my non-Indian readers, for giving such an India-centric discourse).
We also spoke about creative writing and books. We discussed our views on objectivity, capitalism,
life, the universe and everything :-). On a more serious note, it was a relaxed candid conversation,
which brought out the person in me.
He assured me that his feedback would be positive. However he also mentioned that he cannot
influence the admission decision, which will be based on the rest of my application too and the only
thing that may deter me from getting in is lack of work experience. His comments were "You are a
young woman with a lot of dreams, I like your energy and don't worry you will make a magnificent
B-School grad"! It was music to my ears: D
He urged me keep him posted and approach him for anything that I might want. He was a very
approachable and extremely dynamic person. I'm really glad we had so much in common to talk
about. PS: Although I have covered everything that we spoke about, this was not the exact
chronological flow of the conversation.

Columbia

Regular Decision / Off-campus / Alumni / Status: Admitted (Published March 10th, 2008)

I applied Regular Decision to CBS but submitted my application in the fall. There was only one
alumni interviewer near me. I contacted him and he responded quickly. He had to reschedule but
apologized and met me at a location that was closer to me.
On the interviewer's suggestion, we met at a restaurant. I wasn't thrilled about this but thought it
was wise to happily agree. My first impression of my interviewer in person was that he was very busy
and was eager to get the interview started and completed quickly, but once we sat down at the table
he became more focused on listening to my case. He asked me:

• Why do I want an MBA and why one from Columbia?

• Was I prepared to live in NY?
• Tell me about an ethical dilemma?
• He asked me about my current position.
• Where else did I apply?

The interviewer was frank and down-to-earth. He paid for the meal (it wasn't expensive), even
though I offered to cover my part. He gave me an opportunity to ask him questions at the end. His
answers were detailed and included examples from his own experience. I was granted admission
approximately 2 weeks after my interviewer submitted feedback to Columbia. I was also admitted to
other top 10 schools, but I will enroll at Columbia because there are features of its curriculum and
location that are not available elsewhere (value investing/NY). I would encourage admitted
applicants to visit Columbia's Open House, which was well organized. While the buildings students
take classes in are not as new as at some other programs, the central part of Columbia's campus is as
beautiful as any place I've seen.

R2 / Alum / February 2008 (Published February 24, 2008)

When Columbia invited me to interview they asked me to choose an alumnus interviewer in my area
through their online system. I googled the names and chose a guy that I thought I would connect
with the most.
The interview was conducted in his office. Tone was friendly and casual, though maybe slightly too
casual as you'll see by some of the questions that came up.
He started the interview by saying that his goal was to help me get in, not to stand in my way
(sweet!).
The interviewer was typing my answers into some electronic form on his laptop, which made it hard
to make eye contact and also made the interview a little impersonal.
He started off by asking me if I had any questions for him, which seemed like an odd way to open
an interview, but I went with my prepped list of questions. Then he proceeded w/ the following
questions:

• What are 5 adjectives that describe your interpersonal skills and communication style?
• Short term/long term goals (when I told him my long term goal was to start a company he
asked why I wanted to own a company)
• Give me an example of teamwork (I gave him my well prepared example and he asked how
long I had practiced my answer. I asked why he was asking that...did I seem rehearsed? He
said a bit, but that wasn't a bad thing...PHEW dodged that bullet).
• Why MBA? Why now?
• Why Columbia (When he saw I had gone to Harvard undergrad, he asked why I would take
a step down to go to Columbia...which was kind of an awkward question but I answered that
it's not only about ranking/prestige, also about the relevance of the program to your specific
goals).
• When did I encounter an ethical dilemma and how did I respond (when I told him about an
example I had from my current job in the fashion industry, he asked how I reconciled my
ethical nature with my choice of employer, since my company had received negative press
for using discriminatory slogans on their clothing. I answered that while I didn't agree with
all of my company's strategies, I was working there for the experience and did not regret the
decision. He asked me if I would work for a company that sells cigarettes. I said no,
cigarettes have been proven to kill people and clothes have not...:)
• What others schools am I applying to
• Are there any red flags you think the adcoms will find in your candidacy?
• What makes you unique?

Then he asked me what I thought of a particular designer (since I work in fashion).

Result: A week later I received my acceptance :).
My only advice is that since the Columbia interview is with an alumnus, the format can vary widely
and you never know what to expect. There really isn't a way to prepare, other than knowing the
answers to the standard questions and having some knowledge of your interviewers background.
Get your interview out of the way ASAP so you can find out your result!
Early Decision / Alum / December 2007 (Published January 15, 2008)
Prior to interview I Googled all of my potential interviewers to determine the best option. One of
the individuals was in the same industry as me and was in a position very similar to where I wanted
to be after I complete my MBA, so I naturally chose him.
When I arrived for the interview I was told that Columbia never sent the interview materials.
However, the interviewer said that he had done several interviews in the past and could just "wing
it". Interview was very conversational. This was my 6th round 1 interview and was by far the most
conversational. I didn't really get a chance to go through my rehearsed answers, as he would interject
when I said something that interested him. The questions he did ask me:

• Resume walk through?

• Why MBA?
• Why Columbia?

He asked a lot about the details of my business (I'm an entrepreneur). We discussed the details of his
organization, his business model and his clients.
This interview was very different than any of my previous interviews. I believe there is a lot more
variation in the types of interviews for Columbia because they are conducted by alumni. I
recommend not only being prepared with your standard interview material, but also have at least a
basic knowledge of the interviewer's company or industry.
I got the admit three weeks later. I'm actually scheduled to present to his company in the coming
weeks about opportunities for our organizations to work together. Good luck to all.

Early Decision / Alum (Published November 9, 2007) Most questions were pretty standard:

• Resume walk through?

• Why MBA?
• Why Columbia?
• Something you are proud of?
• Career goals?
• How do you work in teams?
The only question, which was a little different was around Ethics - Ethical dilemma at work, how
did you tackle it and follow up questions on my example?
The interview was very high paced with the interviewer continually using my response to ask new
questions. In the beginning I was a little frazzled by it, but after 5 minutes I got the knack of it. My
only advice would be to

1. Practice but don't over rehearse, as then your responses won't sound genuine.
2. Think of plenty of examples in advance.

Columbia Interview. (Published November 1st, 2007)

I was interviewed by an alumnus in my hometown. Questions were pretty standard.

• Why Columbia?
• Why now?
• How have you selected MBA programs?
• Something about yourself that others would be surprised to know (I had not prepared for
this so I was surprised to hear this question :-))
• Your leadership style?
• An example of ethical dilemma.
• What makes you unique as compared to other applicants?
• Anything else you would want the adcoms to know that you didn't get to mention in your
application?
• Any questions for the alum?

Overall the questions were easy. However, since Columbia was the only business school I had
applied to, I was very nervous and I think I messed up a bit because of that. I did not highlight my
extra curricular activities, which were actually unique and I felt would have given me an advantage.
However, one week later I got a call from Columbia that I have been admitted. My advice for fellow
applicants would be to give the complete application their best shot. When the adcoms says that
they value the complete application and not just a single piece of the application process, they mean
it. Best of Luck.
Columbia Interview. (Published September 10th, 2007)
The questions are pretty straightforward; the interviewer follows a template that is given to him/her
by the school:

• Tell me about yourself

• Could you tell me why you need an MBA at this point in your career?
• How could Columbia contribute to achieving your goals?
• What would be your most important contribution to Columbia?
• How have you selected your MBA programs?
• Have you applied to other schools?
• How do you interact into teams?
• How would you describe yourself as a leader?
• Are there any issues that you were not able to cover in the application that you would like to
bring to the attention of the Ad Com?
• Do you have any questions for me regarding Columbia?

My advice/tips:

1. Prepare, prepare, prepare. This is an important piece of your application, as important as all
the other pieces like GMAT or letters of reference. Do mock-up interviews with a coach, a
friend, and your wife/husband, whoever but the more you know the answers to these
questions, the more you will be successful on D-Day.
2. Keep your answers short and up to the point, while at the same time conveying passion and
enthusiasm. You should have three to four distinctive reasons for choosing Columbia, no
more, and they should be stated in order of importance to you.
3. Pick one example that describes your argument, this will make it stronger. Most of the stuff
is already in your written application, so you can state again the entrepreneurship example
for the teamwork question, so on and so forth.
4. Be natural, come like a confident person who still has a lot to learn: you're curious, open-
minded, tolerant.
5. Reach out to 3 or 4 potential interviewers at the same time, as some may not answer back on
time. Or not at all. It increases your chances on getting an answer quickly & get done with it.
The interview should last between 45 minutes to an hour.

Alumni, Round 2. (Published March 25, 2007)

Earlier this week I had my Columbia interview with an alumna, regular decision round. Very
informal and pleasant, and lasted 35 minutes. The questions were straightforward; there were no
major stumpers.

• Tell me about your current job.

• Why MBA?
• Why Columbia?
• There were a few situational questions about work (what is a good leader? when have you
been a good leader?)
• What do you do outside the office?
• What other schools did you apply to?
• Is there anything else you want the committee to know that wasn't covered in the
application? A final pitch for yourself?
• Any questions for me?

I realize now that most alumni conducting MBA interviews are probably very much in love with
their schools, so the "any questions" bit at the end is an excellent way to end off on a high and
positive note. When many b-school alumni start talking about their school days you can definitely
feel a rush of excitement in their voices ... It's a great way to establish rapport.

Regular Decision Interview - Alumni (Published March 7, 2007)

Great experience. Was easy setting up interview--met for coffee. Alumnus was very friendly and
informal. Gave me some background on himself, then started discussing questions. Very
conversational, and very responsive in answering questions about the school afterwards. Lasted
about an hour total.
Questions:

• Walk me through your background and how you got to where you are
• Explain to me what you do at work
• Tell me about a leadership or team experience
 • What are your career goals?
• Why Columbia?
• What do you like to do for fun?

Alumni, Round 2 (Published February 25, 2007)

I loved this interview, also with an alumnus. I was able to schedule my interview very soon after my
notification and my interviewer submitted my report a few days after we spoke. She said she didn't
want to hold up my decision, which I appreciate. Anyway, we met at a local lounge during one
afternoon. She let me ask questions of her first, but kept responses short when I asked her things
like why she chose Columbia because of course I would have to answer too! I gave her my resume,
which she quickly scanned, we did the standard tell-me-your-story, why MBA, why now, why
Columbia. One that she said is that the school is pretty finance heavy, especially because it is located
in Manhattan and that’s what a lot of the surrounding community is. She also drilled down into my
goals a bit to see if I wanted to go into Consulting or into Industry. She also asked what other
schools I applied to and basically I said a sprinkling of the top 10. I really enjoyed talking to her and
the interview definitely made me want to go to Columbia more. The interview was pretty short,
about 30 minutes maximum, but I think that is just the character of the interviewer (because she had
an interview scheduled 35 minutes before mine and got it done before I came in).

Round 1 Alumni Interview (Published November 2006) For Fall 2007

The interview went well overall. It was at the alum's office. The interviewer said it would be around
45 minutes but I think we ended up talking about an hour or so.
Questions:

1. Take me through your resume

2. Tell me about one significant leadership experience
3. You seem to be having a great career so far. Why do u want to give that up and go for an
MBA
4. What other schools are you looking at
5. Why Columbia
6. How do you work in a team setting?
 7. Describe an event where you had a difficult time in a team setting?
8. Tell me about your involvement with community projects.
9. Any questions for me.

After the questions were done we spent some time chatting about his experience. The alum
explained that finding an apt could be a pain and so can commuting to the school.

Alumni Interview: ED (Published November 2006)

I had no trouble contacting one of the three alumni about an interview. The alum asked me to email
my resume beforehand. The day of the interview, I met with him in his offices. He was friendly yet
professional.
There was no "take me through your resume" question...
Right off the bat, he asked why business school - but then limited my answer by saying "but I don't
want to hear its because you need to learn about finance and accounting to start your own business,
because you can always hire someone else to do that " (I plan to be an entrepreneur)
Why Columbia? Why now?
What others schools am I applying?
How did I choose my undergrad?
He asked me some difficult industry-related questions, which challenged me a bit.
We talked about his involvement with the school.
He told me once toward the end of the interview and once at the end that he thought I had a strong
case for Why Columbia and that he would positively recommend me to the school.

Alumni Interview Off-Campus, 3/10/06, Regular Decision (Published March 2006)

Immediately I knew my CBS interview would be friendly just from calling the three alumni contacts
to schedule. My interviewer was a treasurer at a public company in the area. We met at his office.
The interview was very conversational, much more than I had expected, and it helped to ease any
nervousness I had.
Questions (in approximately the order he asked)
1) He had my resume in front of him and asked me to tell him about myself.
2) He asked me a few questions about my current job and we discussed a little bit more about the
business model of the company I work for. Then he asked me why I was pursuing an MBA because
my job sounded pretty decent.
3) While I was discussing my long-term goals, he asked me "isn't this something you can do without
an MBA?" which I took as an opportunity to talk about Why MBA? Why Columbia? We then
discussed the classes I would look into or what concentrations I would focus on.
4) What other schools are you applying to?
5) He said Columbia really likes to focus on leadership and said he didn't see that highlighted
anywhere on my resume. He understood, however, that most younger applicants haven't had the
opportunity to hold real leadership positions, however, we discussed how I work on teams and what
I considered leadership opportunities at my current job.
6) At that point it was about 35 min into the interview, and he asked me if there was anything else I
would like him to know. I took that opportunity to reiterate my interest in getting an MBA, and
Columbia. I specifically mentioned visiting recently and my impressions of the visit and the people I
have talked to.
7) Finally, he asked me if I had any questions for him and we discussed his experience at CBS and
his career path since then.
8) On the way out of his office, he quickly asked me what my GMAT score was.
Overall it was a nice experience. I felt that it went by a lot faster than I expected and I may not have
gotten to say all the things I wanted to say. Knowing that, I would recommend people to look for
opportunities to fit in your key points and keep your answers flexible because the same question can
be asked many ways. Practice saying your answers out loud even to yourself. It helps to have other
people point out body language you would not otherwise notice on yourself.

Alumni Interview, 2/23/06, Regular Decision (Published February 2006)

My interview with Columbia was a truly nice experience. During just under 90 minutes of discussion
I feel like I made a strong case for my candidacy, while also absorbing my interviewer's genuine
enthusiasm and passion for Columbia's program.
The conversation flowed naturally, but I'll do my best to recount the line of questioning:
1) Why MBA? Why now? 2) Why Columbia? 3) You're into marketing...why not Kellogg? 4) Where
else are you applying?
It turned out that she had applied to the exact same group of schools so that largely diffused the
issue. Rather than coming out and saying that Columbia was my first choice school, I told her that I
was excited about all of the schools to which I had applied - and that I had a number of special
reasons for wanting to remain in New York that make me significantly biased toward Columbia.
Over the course of the interview I was able to clarify my excitement about business school in
general and Columbia specifically several times, so I feel like the right message came across.
5) Talk about a time when you were successful as a leader. 6) Talk about a challenging team situation
and how you handled it. 7) What are the qualities of a good team player and what would you bring
to a team situation at Columbia? 8) How do team skills differ from leadership skills? 9) What clubs
or activities would you like to be involved with on campus? (Wish I could have been a bit more
specific here) 10) Have you contacted anyone on campus to talk about your particular interests? 11)
Is there anything you want Columbia to know that wasn't mentioned in your application? 12) Do
you have any questions?
That was basically the flow, and my sense is that my interviewer will be supportive of my candidacy.
She told me to keep in touch with her and let her know what happens, and offered to help me get in
touch with alumni in my field of interest.
Overall, this interviewer did a great job of selling Columbia and raising my estimation of the school
and it's advantages. In comparison with the cordial adcoms interview at Kellogg, I would have to say
that today's experience was much more interesting, informative and compelling

Tuck

Tuck Interview Early Action / Second Year Student / On-campus / Admitted! (Published January
31st, 2008)

Wonderful experience, Tuck's strategy of bringing everyone in definitely ensures that students know
the environment they will be in should they choose to go there. The interviewer was extremely
friendly, I got the impression he had never done any interviewing before, whether for school or
professionally.

• Started off focusing on my educational background, specifically my minor and why I chose
that - talked about this much longer than I would have expected
• Why MBA
 • Why Tuck
• Career plans
• Then we went into extracurriculars, which was another lengthy sidetrack. Was concerned
that I was spending too much time here, but he and I had some similar and genuine
interests.

Then we switched, so I got to ask about what he enjoyed most about Tuck, and specifically his
experience coming with a partner as I was in the same boat.

Tuck Interview Early Action. Student interview. On campus. (Published November 14, 2007)
I interviewed on campus of Tuck. First of all I would applause the helping nature of the people at
Dartmouth College. Everyone over there is very helping in nature and you as a prospective
candidate are also expected to be so. If you are not the helping kind forget about Tuck. It is a small
school with a very vibrant community. If you are thinking to go to Tuck then think of it as another
family and talk accordingly. I liked the school and the people very much as expected since I had
been in touch with a few alums for a while.
My interview was in the late after noon and I was the last candidate to be interviewed for the day.
Avoid being the last candidate it doesn’t help in anyway. You would have lost stamina by the end of
the day and the same would have happened to your interviewer. And be very careful if it is a student
interview it is not easy as general myth prevails. It is very conversational but the students are a tough
game. The school visit included a class on Decision-making and a tour by a 2nd year student. You
also get a chance to get your doubts clarified by the admissions staff regarding the admissions
process. Now here are the questions

1. Why MBA and Why now and Why Tuck. (Easy one I guess if you have done your
application)
2. How was your day at Tuck? What class did you attend? Who was the teacher? And how was
the experience. (Now do remember the teacher’s name. I couldn’t recall the name at all.
Thanks to my trip due, which I had not slept for 36 hours and brain would not respond at
all. On my way back from Hanover just after 2 hours of interview I even forgot that I was
driving a car on a highway. :-) Luckily I survived to share this weird experience)
 3. Did you have a tour? Who was the student? (Gosh! Again I am stuck with the name. I knew
everything he talked about from the mail room to the party place and even his interests and
his future plans since I asked him loads of questions, in fact I was the only one asking
questions but damn I don’t remember his name)
4. Did you have a meeting with the admissions staff? How was it? (Good she didn’t ask me the
name this time. Because the only name I remembered was Dawna Clarke, the admissions
director and she wasn't the one I met. I was wondering I hope she doesn’t ask me her name
since I didn't remember that as well. At the end of the interview she gave me her business
card and I got to know her name and was able to say goodbye along with the name. I am
very good at remembering people and names but it just wasn’t my day.)
5. Did you ever receive a feedback? (This led to a conversation, which was also one of my
essays. I stupidly said that I don’t give feedback though I meant to say something else but
realized the mistake very late. Lack of sleep can drive you insane)
6. Are you able to work in teams? Tell me something about an experience you had while
working in teams. Because at tuck we work in small teams. And how helpful are you. (This
led to my another essay question discussion and wasn't difficult to handle.)
7. What will you bring to the Tuck community? (Easy one to handle since it was again an essay
question)
8. Do you have any questions about Tuck? (I had already asked so many since morning that I
wasn't left with many. But still I managed to get a few good ones. But my biggest mistake
was that I asked her why would you recommend Tuck to me. I wanted to ask how was your
Tuck experience but phrased it in a wrong way. She seemed a bit pissed off at this since the
question, as itself would make her market Tuck which she didn’t like.)

I really don't know how much weightage interview has because on reflection mine seems to be
screwed up. And also I don't really understand the purpose of the questions I was asked because
they were the same one's of the application. They didn’t really give them any more info about me.
My resume and hobbies could have opened up a plethora of interesting stories, which were not there
in the application. But it seems it just wasn't my day or to look at it positively I avoided a few more
insane answers.
But I would personally recommend Tuck to everyone because it is a good school for people who
need help at tasks and are not one man army. The community is very good but they really need
people who are vocal enough.
Best Of luck. And do get a good sleep before interview else you might end up like me.

Tuck Interview Early Action. (Published September 16, 2007)

• Why MBA at this point

• Why Tuck
• Example of a Failure
• Example of how I was able to convince people (kind of like an outsider question)
• What do you not like about your job?
• What do you do for fun?
• What do you cook? (Seriously)

Tuck Representative, Off-Campus, Jan Round (waitlisted). (Published March 14, 2007)
My Tuck interview took place in Delhi sometime back.
Here's what I was asked:
If I were not to see your resume, what one thing would you take along if I send you to the moon or
Mars? Then some discussion on what I answered.

• What one word describes you the best?

• What makes teams work? Some questions about teamwork v/s individual brilliance.
• Questions about my experiences as a team lead.
• What will your friends say if I ask them about your strengths? And weaknesses? Asked for
examples on why I felt those to be my weaknesses.
• My experiences in community service – what is one particular experience that you are proud
of?
• Why MBA?
• Why Now?
• Why Tuck?
• Any questions you want to ask?
Tuck interview in India is a bit different from that of other schools. Tuck has appointed a dedicated
representative for Asia, and he interviews prospective students across Singapore, Bangladesh, India,
China etc. In the end, I was not too sure if this is a good idea. The representative is not a Tuck pass
out, so I felt the interview lacked the vital ‘Tuck perspective’ that an alumnus would have provided
me with. At the same time, I think it is better than a telephonic interview that is the norm for most
US B-schools - in case no alumni is available.
Overall, it was pretty much a ‘textbook interview’. I came out with a feeling that there was still some
information that I could have put across. A key question I wanted to address was why they should
take me in Tuck. While I did weave in plenty of stories that would help him judge the answer to this
question, there was still some stuff that I could have added. He did not ask me if I wanted to say
something else, and I thought it wise to leave it at that.

On-campus student interview, Early Decision Round for Fall 2007 (Published January 28, 2007)
My interview was with a second year student who was friendly and professional. The interview was
relaxed and comfortable. The interviewer had a copy of my resume and was familiar with it.
However, he was unfamiliar with my field, which meant I had to briefly explain my industry’s
landscape and my position in it during the initial “walk me through your resume” question.
Additional questions:

1. What are your Post-MBA career goals?

2. Why MBA and why now?
3. Tuck is different than other schools, especially in terms of location, why do you think it’s the
right school for you? (Read: Why Tuck?)
4. Q&A

The interview was brief approximately 35-40. Overall the interviewer was professional, warm and
relaxed – a good experience. One caveat: virtually every student I spoke with at Tuck mentioned (in
one way or another) that because of the workload and the small community’s emphasis on extra-
curricular participation, first-years tend to get only 5-6 hours of sleep per night.
Early Action Round (Class of 2009): Adcoms Interview (Published January 2007)
My interview was scheduled at 9:00 AM at the School. I was interviewed by an Adcoms member and
a trainee 2nd year student. The interviewers made me feel very comfortable. I was also helped by the
fact that I approached it as a conversation rather than an interview. It was resume based and along
the standard lines of "Walk me through the resume”, "Why Tuck" etc. We talked a bit about my
extra-curricular activities too. I was asked a couple of questions on how my peers viewed me as a
person. After that answer I was asked how did my friends view me as a person? The interviewers
also tried to find out how I had researched Tuck, whether through alumni contacts/websites etc. [I
had mainly researched the website]. The Post-MBA questions were very direct and I did everything
short of naming the company I wanted to work for post MBA [or maybe I did name the company]
It was a short interview. Barely stretched 20 minutes. But I was surprised at myself regarding the
amount of information I was able to convey in that time :) I made sure that I got across concrete
examples of all my qualities, activities and work experiences. It didn’t really make that much of a
difference that the interview was prior to the class visits.
Just make sure that you know exactly why you want to be at Tuck. Be sure of your career goals and
be honest. It helps!

Round 1, Second Year Student (Published November 26, 2006)

My interview experience with Tuck second year student:
He was very friendly and on the way to his office, we started talking about my working experience
and the projects I have worked on. After we sat down, we continued this topic and I gave him a
bunch of funny stories and interesting experience about my projects. Considering his real estate
background, I explained my experience pretty well as I used few tech terms and he nodded with
smile. After we finished with those fun information exchanges, he asked the following questions:

1. Go over your resume and talk about team experience you have
2. Did you have experience dealing with a touch/uncooperative team member?
3. How did you motivate people?
4. What outdoor activities do you enjoy?
5. How I am going to deal with the current startup if into the MBA?
6. Q & A
I feel like Tuck emphasized a lot of teamwork but did not ask any leadership stories. So I told a
teamwork story of my outdoor activity. Basically, I gave out four teamwork stories, cannot imagine I
had that many in my mind. I think the interviewer did a good job relaxing me because I felt pretty
good going over those stories.
Other experience at Tuck:

1. Took the business communication (writing) class, which is an interesting class. Lots of
interactions and students even invited us to express our ideas for group discussion.
2. Talked with first year students during lunch and they like the place very much and the
faculties and the classes. Seems the only issue is how to balance the lives of family members.
Not many places to go and far from other cities. Especially the location in the mountains,
which makes it difficulty to drive in the foggy winter season.
3. Tour of the campus was ok and what impressed was the dorm like places where it is easy to
organize parties!

Round 1, Second Year Student (Published October 2006)

My interview was at 3.00 p.m., the last one for the day. I reached Dartmouth in the morning and
met with other candidates (around 10 of them). We were met by the first year students who took us
to their "Leading Organizations" class, which was lot of fun. Lunch with first years, where we asked
them lots of questions, on admissions, life at Tuck, Tuck's rigorous Fall quarter. One thing that I
noticed, from every one I met there, was that they love the life at Tuck, whether they came from a
city or a town or a village. Lunch was followed by Tour of the campus with a stop at Career
development office where we met one of the officers. It was amazing to know to what level the
career development office tries to accommodate requests from students in terms of job or
internship placements. Then we had an Adcoms Q&A, which was again a Tuck style, very friendly
and casual.
Then came the Interview. The interviewer was a second year who had amazing combination of work
experiences in so many fields. At the same time he was very informed about the other areas, which I
was familiar with. The session was very casual. The interviewer had a copy of my resume and he
seemed to have really read it thoroughly. These are the questions, almost in the same order he asked
me.
He said he did not want to waste time asking about what I did in my companies, rather why I did
and the flow of my choices of companies along the line.

• He asked my why I would like to leave a job like I have (In a great organization) and do an
MBA? (Why MBA question) and why I cant do that doing what I currently do.

• He asked me questions on what I answered and he really kept me engaged the whole time.
But he did it in a very casual manner.

• Then he asked me about my long-term vision and had questions on its feasibility since he
was involved in similar pursuits but in a different area. I did defend my vision but we agreed
midpoint. Then he asked me a question on how exactly I have planned my short-term goal
in a way it will help my long term? (Short-term goals).

• Then he asked me how Tuck would help me in my goals (Why Tuck).

• He asked me if I am okay with the cruel Tuck winter and the snow. He also asked me if the
rural setting was okay for my wife and me?

• Finally he asked me if I had any questions. I had and he was very informative and really
answered my questions in details.

During the whole time he was taking some notes and though I knew that is the usual procedure, in
the end he apologized for doing so, which I thought was very sincere. He walked me back to the
Admissions office and gave me his card and asked me to call or email him with any questions.

2005 Season, Round 2 Interview

My interviewer was a male second year student (formerly in the military) who was very friendly and
did try to sell the school. We talked a lot about my work experience - and I did highlight the fact that
I had worked with colleague’s abroad, etc. We also talked a little about my China experience - he
found the fact that I was in Beijing during the SARS epidemic quite interesting. (He lived in different
countries in Asia so is more or less familiar with the place). We also talked a little bit about my
hobbies.
He asked me the standard why MBA/tuck/now, and finished with questions on what I thought my
strengths and weaknesses were.
Overall I think I did very well. I kept an upbeat tone and after describing some "challenges" at work
(like starting a Quality initiative) - he sounded impressed (said "wow" and that must have been hard,
etc). I asked about his experiences at and opinions on Tuck - and he was very responsive and had a
lot to say.
I had a very good feeling after the interview and he sounded like he enjoyed our conversation. So
now I am just crossing my fingers and hoping for the best!

16 Dec 2005 / Phone Interview with 2nd year student / Dec 6th round / International candidate /
(Report filed on 26 Feb 2006)
It was a phone interview. The interviewer gave me the option to choose the date and time. There
weren’t any unexpected questions. I was asked to start with a walkthrough of my resume, then the
regular why MBA? And why Tuck? I probably touched everything within these three questions
because I wasn't asked much else. It was very informal, conversation like. The interviewer made me
comfortable.
He asked me if I had any questions and I asked him something related to the curriculum at Tuck. I
think I rambled on a bit about my resume and that’s probably what took the interview to 45 minutes
instead of the planned 30 minutes (And, in retrospect, maybe that’s what killed my app too! But
that’s just an optimistic guess... It could have well been my essays or the need for further diversity
on the campus.)

Student
My early morning interview was fairly short – 20 minutes – the interviewer had to be somewhere
else. She was a 2nd year and seemed to have a list of generic questions that she went through. The
interview was totally blind, as I hadn’t even submitted my application at the time. The first was
“This is your first visit to Tuck and you haven’t had a chance to sit in on a class or take a school
tour. How do you know that Tuck is the right place for you?” The remaining were:

• Walk me through your resume

• Why an MBA? Why now?
• What are your short-term and long-term goals?
 • How will Tuck help you to achieve them?
• What do you do outside work? What do you do for fun?

A couple of unusual questions were

• What will you miss the most upon moving to Hanover?

• What are you most proud of?
• What is the worst part about working in teams?

At the end, she clearly asked me if I wanted to cover anything else that she hadn’t already asked, and
I took the opportunity to highlight a couple of things that hadn’t already been covered. Given the
length of your interview, your answers have to be very crisp.
There were only 2-3 minutes to ask questions at the end because she had to run off somewhere else.
She actually said that living in the dorms could leave you with little privacy – I hadn’t expected her
to say anything negative about the Tuck experience.

Student, on-campus
My Tuck interview was the first one I did - probably not the best idea since it's pretty high on my list
of choices. I had been to the Dartmouth campus a few times during undergrad, so I was familiar
with the environment. There were about 15 others visiting the same day as I, and I realized quickly
how tight the timeliness were for completing an interview.
As everyone else does, I interviewed with a 2nd year student. I was a bit nervous, but I think that's
par for the course. Some of the good things:

• Similar work background to my interviewer, so I didn't have to spend a ton of time

explaining what I did.
• Had lots of good answers for what I would do if I had a year off from school...I said I would
write a fictional novel about a guy who leaves his job to travel through South America,
discovers a hidden river deep in the rain forest, and opens a white-water rafting company
there. I really would.
• Answered the behavioral questions well...pretty much everything I do these days at work is
managing people and expectations, so I feel confident that I've got some good instincts in
this area.
 • I asked lots of questions about the program, and felt I showed that I had done my research -
avoided the basics and got to the details of specific things I'm interested in.

Some of the things I've avoided since this interview:

• Asking TOO MANY questions.... at the end of the interview, I said I could go on forever
asking questions. We were rushed leaving the room, and it felt a bit awkward. She almost
forgot to give me a card. I thought a 30 minute slot was too short...I guess the author of
Blink might disagree and say first impressions are the most important.
• Mentioning that I'm excited to get out of the corporate "jungle" for a couple of years. Just a
bad statement altogether. Not sure if that one will bite me.
• Spending too much time on my resume. I realized about halfway through that I was giving
too much detail...I tried to recover, but fear I glossed over some important recent
achievements too quickly, while spending more time on my first position out of undergrad.

In summary, I don't think the interview is going to set me apart in any way, but I don't think it was a
disaster. Probably a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Tuck interview was pretty straight forward, as mentioned on this site :) The questions included:

• Walk me through your resume

• What are your goals (long term and short term)
• Why MBA, why now and why Tuck
• Tell me about a time when you took lead in a team setting (the interviewer

Mentioned that being a team player was very important at Tuck)

• What do you do outside of work?

• Any questions for me

I asked him how did they manage to get good professors given the remote location and the absence
of a PhD program and I asked him what percent of spouses/ partners lived in Boston and how does
that work for them.
One of undergrad friends is at Tuck and he answered most of my other concerns.
One interesting thing at Tuck was that the interviewer was from my city and had spent 7 years in the
Venture Capital industry - makes me wonder if this was more than just a coincidence.

1/11/06: December round phone interview with second year student on 1/4/06.
The call came on time at 8:45pm and the interview took about 35 minutes (my interviewer had an
8:30am class, 9:30pm my time). Questions asked:

• Question about one of my extracurricular activities.

• Why do you need an MBA now?
• What do you want from an MBA program?
• How do you see yourself contributing to Tuck?
• Give me an example of a time when you set a goal and what you did to achieve it.

It was a straightforward interview without any questions designed to trip me up. Despite that, I
didn't quite execute as well as I should have due to a bad case of nerves. At the end I asked the
interviewer about his experiences with his first year project and international field study. You have
to really know your Why MBA and Why Tuck stories to do well in the interview. And practice!! This
was my first interview and I didn't do any mock interviews before, so that really hurt.

Simple enough right?? It should have been. But I think my nerves got the better of me. The first
question kinda threw me offguard, and my answer was so so. I was nervous, and it definitely
showed. I completely froze halfway through the Why MBA question. My mind just went blank and I
couldn't say anything for a good 20 seconds. What went wrong??? I have no idea - this is the story
that I know like the back of my hand. I mean , I've written about it in 3 essays. No excuse for
screwing up a career goals question. I sounded ridiculous.

I answered the next question with a "Why Tuck" response. Over here I guess I was ok, but with one
glaring mistake - I forgot to mention the close-knit, collaborative community!!! That is what Tuck is
all about and I was rambling all about academics, proximity to nature, but nothing about the
community. Strike 2.

My answers to the next two questions were alright, I guess. I talked about a couple of clubs and
discussed a work experience. I got more comfortable as the interview progressed, but my delivery
was far from articulate and smooth. At the end I asked the interviewer about his experiences with
his first year project and international field study.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would probably give myself a 5. In hindsight, I now know why people have
mock interviews. What really drives me crazy is that the questions were easy and I had prepared
them. My answers just didn't come out right. I just hope that it wasn't bad enough to keep me out.
I've heard how a good interview won't bump someone up from a ding to an admit, but that a bad
interview can certainly hurt.

Early action round (For Fall 2006) - Phone interview with a 2nd year student on 01/Nov/05.
I was never comfortable during the interview. I figure I am better in a face-to-face interview than in
a phone setup. The questions: -

1. Walk me through your resume.

2. Why MBA/Tuck/Now?
3. How do you know if you are a good fit for Tuck?
4. Examples of teamwork.
5. How do you handle a difficult teammate?
6. If you had one year completely off, what would you do?
7. Any questions for the interviewer.

The interview lasted about 20 minutes. It did not help at all that it was Diwali night in India with
loud firecracker noises in the background. It was a very average interview for me and it showed in
the final result, I was dinged. I guess Tuck's interview is more of a fit interview and you must know a
great deal about Tuck to be able to convincingly demonstrate why Tuck?

12/20/2005: Interviewed on campus with a second year student.

The interviewer picked me up from the waiting area and we headed off into one of the admissions
offices so the whole situation was very informal. Questions:

1. Walkthrough of resume. (He interrupted me to ask me about some specific details of certain
international experiences and what I'd learnt from them).
 2. Why MBA? Why now? This was the standard long term/short term goals question.
3. Why Tuck? I spoke about some experiences I'd had speaking to Tuck students and alumni.
He happened to know my student contact so we spent sometime chatting about that.
4. What was your greatest accomplishment?
5. Example of a great leader, and what do you think made him great?
6. After your first year how would your teammates at Tuck describe you?
7. Finally he asked about a detail from the extra-curricular section of my resume.

We ended on a light note chatting about what his MBA experience had been like, about Tuck and
Dartmouth in general.
Overall tips - know your resume, know why you want to go to Tuck specifically. Also be very clear
about why you want to leave your city X and move to Hanover.

Early Decision, Re-applicant, phone interview

Location: KL, Malaysia. Decision: Admitted As a re-applicant I applied in the early action round
(For Fall 2006) - Since I can't make a trip to Tuck, I opted for phone interview with a 2nd year
student on 10/Nov/05. Naturally I was nervous; as I am an international applicant phone interview
poses some challenges to me. Of the bat I told the interviewer that I was nervous yet excited about
the interview. Interview took the time to put me at ease. Here are the questions: -

1. She can't find me resume on the computer. Thus resorted to asking me to walk her thru my
resume. It was a bit difficult as she was not a technical person.
2. Why do you need an MBA and particularly why Tuck and why now?
3. What can you contribute to Tuck?
4. Have you experienced an ethical dilemma? What did you do?
5. Any questions for the interviewer. Which I did. I asked her what she liked most about Tuck?
And how Tuck improved her leadership skills?

I was told likeability is important factor that goes into your interview evaluation. Thus make sure
you are in good mood.

Alumnus
Here is my experience:
 • Location: Brazil
• Could you choose the interview's location? No.
• How long was the interview? 40 min
• Who was the interviewer? / Position (if alumni, class of): CEO/ T91’
• How did you prepare? Mock, Reading essays
• Did you receive any feedback at the end? No.
• What was your opinion of the Alumni/Office Personnel? Friendly.
• Did anything change your opinion of the school? No.
• Was there something you wish you had known ahead of time: No.

Questions:

• I read your CV, but please tell me your history.

• Why?
• What do you like at?
• You have done a post graduation course. Why?
• You have a solid business education, why MBA? How can it help you?
• Question about leadership.
• Question about teamwork.
• What do you plan to do after the MBA?
• Why Tuck?
• How do you see yourself in a small town?
• How do you know tuck compared to other prospective schools (he mentioned he was not
allowed to ask or know which school I applied).
• What will you do if you don’t pass in any school? Will you apply again next year?
• Another language or just Portuguese and English?
• What do you bring to Tuck Community?

Another info:

1. Interview was in his office. I didn't mind.

2. The guy remembered me from the info session.
 3. At the end, he let it slip that the fact that I have interacted with 3 alumni gave me a good
vision of the school. :)
4. He told me that the interview should be conducted in English. In the past, it could be in
Portuguese.

Hope it helps.

Duke

Round 2 / Adcoms / Telephonic (Published March 23rd, 2008)

I received the Duke's telephonic interview invite unexpectedly, much after I lost all my hopes. I
scheduled my interview with a second year student.

Preparation Material: My application, Duke's website, Accepted and Clear admit Interview database,
and How to interview like a top MBA.

Interview Experience: A lady picked up the phone and quickly called the interviewer. He started by
introducing himself, his activities and his goals. After the friendly greetings, a deluge of questions
followed. He listened my responses well, kept acknowledging my responses and asked many follow
up questions. The main questions were-

• Walk me through your resume.

• Why you want to do MBA?
• Why have you applied to Fuqua?
• What are your short and long term goals?
• How are you and Fuqua a proper fit for each other?

This question surprised me. I thought I had already answered this while answering Why Fuqua.
However, this question gave me an opportunity to highlight my knowledge of Fuqua and its culture.
He sounded satisfied with my response. He even gave few examples from his own experience.

• How will your friends you? What three adjectives will they use, and why?
• Tell a weakness that you will address at Fuqua?
I went a step ahead explaining how I will overcome my weakness in Fuqua.

• Tell an example of a team conflict that you had, and how did you get through?
• What are you most proud of? My response was followed by two follow up questions.
• Why you are so interested in [My short and long term goals]? Is the interest from childhood
or you have developed this recently? Which Incidents led you towards this goal?
• Name any three persons that you would like to pick for a team? Why will you pick them?
• What were your Undergraduate extracurricular activities?
• Which is the course you liked most in Undergraduate studies?
• Tell me about a living person whom you admire. Why?
• Any other question you would like to ask.

Phew! It might seem unrealistic, but all this was within 30 minutes. After the interview, I send him a
thank you email. Result: Admitted!

Round 2 / On-campus / Status: Admitted (Published: March 10th, 2008)

I applied Round 2 for the Class of 2010 and am happy to say that I just received an offer. The
experience applying to Fuqua started with the Weekend for Women recruiting trip where the school
pays for prospective students to come down to Durham and experience Fuqua. I did this in 2006
and decided to wait to apply; but the weekend really set the stage for what has been - by far - the
best recruitment process at any of the schools to which I applied. I highly encourage the Weekend
for all prospective female students - even those not immediately applying. It really helped prepare
for the interview, even a year later.
I interviewed with a young woman who coincidentally went to the same undergraduate institution as
me, which was a pleasant surprise. The interview took place on a "Super Saturday" (one of the busy
recruiting days, apparently) and there were a dozen or so interviewees waiting in the Fox Center (big
open air common space). We chatted casually but everyone was a bit nervous. I ran into a woman
who had attended the Weekend for Women with me who was now a first year. We remembered
each other and she talked me thru the interview and told me about her first year. Again - a plug for
the Weekend. She actually invited me out to a party with her that evening which was a shock
considering it had been over a year since we spent 3 days together, but not an unprecedented
hospitality considering the rest of my Fuqua experience.
My interviewer met me at the Fox Center and led me to a small room. She set the stage by saying
how the interview would proceed (a series of questions that she said should transition like a
conversation).

• Walk-me-through your resume question that lasted, back and forth for about 15 minutes the
interview was blind so I was able to highlight similar things that I did in my Fuqua essays
and lead into the Why MBA questions.
• Why Duke question which was much easier having had the Weekend - I felt comfortable
with the idea of fitting in, especially having just run into that other girl. This lasted another
10 minutes.
• What clubs would you join

Then things transitioned into personal questions.

• Tell me what your boss would say about you if you were not in the room?
• What about your family? These were much harder to answer than the other questions and, to
be honest; I don't think I gave her the level of 'personal' that she might have been looking
for.

By this point, 40 minutes had passed! It was very conversational and fast. I asked her how the Duke
experience differed from our shared undergrad experience and then it was over.
I sent a follow up thank you email to the interviewer and she responded by wishing me luck and
encouraged me to contact her with any questions. A month later, I received the offer and on that
very afternoon the interviewer called me to congratulate me. It was as surprising as the party invite
over interview weekend. The hospitality is omnipresent at Fuqua and I encourage you to visit and
take full advantage of the Weekend for Women and the interview.

On-campus / Round 1 / Second-year Student (Published March 6th, 2008)

Interviews are self-scheduled. Had a very nice set-up, including a waiting area for interviewees where
current students could come by and say hello and introduce themselves. The students were very
welcoming and came over and even their offered tickets to a Duke basketball game to one
interviewee.
The interview was with a second year student. It was blind. She described herself as an "advocate"
for me on the interview committee.
The interview was very conversational. It covered the normal interview questions:

1. Walk me through your resume

2. Why an MBA? And what do you want to do after your MBA?
3. Why Duke specifically?
4. What types of things do you do outside of work?
5. What do you imagine getting involved with while at Duke?
6. How would your roommate describe you?
7. What is your leadership style?
8. What is your biggest strength/ what is one of your weaknesses?

This was followed by an opportunity for me to ask questions.

The interview was casual but not too casual. We seemed to flow from one topic to another, but she
clearly had a list of questions she wanted to get through. The overall visit was very positive. It was
great to sit and talk with normal Fuqua students - the admissions office was very helpful. They set
me up to visit a class. One thing that I found really telling was how helpful the woman in the
printing office was when I was lost (she gave me a parking pass, pointed me in the right direction,
etc.). Not the usual behavior for someone in a University printing office. Overall a great visit.

On-campus / Round 2 (Published March 5th, 2008)

These are the questions that I was asked during an on-campus Duke interview.40 min
It was not a conversational interview but one in which the interviewer just read one questions after
another from a sheet of paper

1. 3 words to describe yourself

2. What motivates you in the morning?
3. What experience has shaped your life and why?
4. Why duke? Why MBA?
5. Why now?
6. What contribution will you make on campus?
7. What clubs would you join?
 8. Leadership example and what you learned.
9. Constructive criticism that you received.
10. One success and what you learned and one failure and what you learned.
11. Leadership example outside of work.
12. If you had one free day to do anything what would you do?

Alumni, Off-Campus, Round 1 (interviewed after waitlist) (Published March 06, 2007)
Interviewed with a Fuqua Alumnus in Bangalore a couple of weeks back. My interviewer gave me a
good picture of life at Duke. It was nice to meet someone so passionate about his alma mater.
The interview was pretty much on expected lines. We went on to discuss almost everything I could
pack in my application. Some questions I remember were:

1. Tell me about your family

2. Info about my undergraduate institute
3. My decision to join IT after graduating in a non-computer science field
4. Experiences at work. Why job switch?
5. What is my idea of a leader? What are my leadership experiences
6. Which leader inspires me the most and why
7. Why MBA
8. Why now
9. Why Fuqua
10. What other schools have I applied to and why
11. If he were the director of admissions and asked me why Duke should take me, what would
my reply be in 30 seconds
12. A situation where I have let someone down.
13. Any questions I have for him.

The best part of the interview was when he told me enthusiastically about his own experience at
Duke. How they used to camp outside for days to get tickets for Duke Basketball matches. How
everyone is so friendly and involved, and how education at Duke has really made a difference to his
outlook.
Considering that I have been waitlisted by Duke, I feel that the interview should do me no harm.
Second Year Student, On-Campus, Round 2 (Published February 26, 2007)
I interviewed on-campus with a 2nd-year student. My day started early as I attended a class on
accounting which started at 8 in the morning! The class was interesting, but students definitely
seemed less engaged than they had been at HBS. However, this probably can be attributed both to
the fact that it was 8 in the morning and that we're talking about accounting here. Fuqua is
undergoing construction (which they really don't need since the building is already big and nice - ah,
the cost of Real Estate in North Carolina), which won't be done until Fall 2008. After the class I sat
and chilled in the lounge with other applicants until my interview. My interview came and picked me
up from the lounge and took me upstairs to a conference room (I think in the Career Management
Center). The interview questions (that I can remember):

• Tell me about your career change

• Why is now specifically a good time for your MBA
• Why Fuqua
• Tell me about a bad leadership experience
• What are your strengths
• Tell me about a good and bad team experience
• After you graduate in 2 years what do you think your peers and faculty would say your
biggest impact was in your years here?
• What specifically are you looking for in a business school?
• What do you think your contribution would be to your learning team?
• Anything else you haven't told me?

Then I asked him some questions about Fuqua and that was it. All in all it was about 35 minutes,
which he commented was "one of the shortest interviews he's ever done!” Of course, this made me
very nervous and uneasy, and so I asked him if this is a negative point and he said "no no, not at all.
It's good because I can tell that you've practiced and/or interviewed before because you got across
the pertinent information without rambling". So I think it went well.
After that I had lunch with students and a tour of the building. All in all a good visit and a quick
turnaround (Decisions will be out March 8th!)
On-campus student interview Round 1 for Fall 2007(Published January 2007)
A second year candidate who was fairly reserved and discerning conducted the interview. Because of
this the interview seemed more formal than some of the others I have had. The interviewer was in a
class I visited earlier in the day, so he asked me what I thought of it. He had a copy of my resume.
The first question was the standard “walk me through your resume”.
Additional questions:

1. If you were going to assemble an ideal team, who would you choose for it and why?
2. What is the difference between a leader and a manager?
3. Describe a time when you led a team.
4. How do you solve conflicts?
5. Why do you want to attend Duke?
6. Q&A.

The interview was long, about an hour. A number of times the interviewer keyed off one of my
answers, and asked additional questions. (Why did you do that? What makes you say x?) I had heard
from current students that the interviews at Duke are more of a formality and that the school mostly
wants to find out whether you are interested in Fuqua and would be a good fit. However, because of
its length and the types of questions asked, this interview seemed very thorough.

On Campus (Published November 2006)

Questions were:
Long term/short term goals
What are the most valuable qualities of a team player?
Examples of teamwork?
How would you contribute to Fuqua?
What would you do if a participant in your team does not contribute on a high enough level because
he or she is too shy?
Examples of team work in your career?
An example of a failure you experienced?
What are you most proud of?
Is there anything else you would like me to know?
Any questions?
Time duration - 45-50 minutes

Alumni, Round 1 (Published 2006)

Standard questions.
Walk me through your resume. Questions on career & academic choices. Why did I leave each of
the job/company? Why MBA, Why Duke? What would you bring to duke?

Team Questions
5 Characteristics of a good team. What role would you play on this team? A time when I had a
difficult person on my team and what did I do? A difficult choice I had to make and what did I learn
from it.
Personal.
How would your friends describe you? What do you do in your free time?

Any additional information that I would like to communicate to the admission committee
Do I have any Question’s?
Met at a cafe. It was very noisy and we both had some difficulty hearing each other at times.

Alumni, ED, 2005 Decision: Admit. (Published 2005)

I opted for Alumnus interview, which took place in Starbuck, KL Malaysia. To be on the safe side I
ordered plain H2O while the he ordered latte. It rained so heavily that both of us were wet. He
asked whether we should postpone the interview, I said it is difficult to reschedule hence we
proceeded with the interview.

• Tell me about yourself?

• Walk me thru your resume?
• Standard Why MBA, Why Now, Why Fuqua?
• Career goals and how can Duke help you?
• What would you contribute at Fuqua?
• How would your friends describe you?
 • What do you do in your spare time?
• Tell me about a time when had to deal with a difficult person
• Is there anything you would like to add that might help your candidacy?
• Any questions for the interviewer?

Advice for International Student:

Choose Alumna/Alumnus that is of same nationality as you. In my case I did my homework and
found out that there is Malaysian Fuqua Alumnus in KL thus I opted for Alumnus interview.
Malaysians are generally very friendly, very helpful and very nice so if you get a choice I highly
recommend going with a Malaysian Alumna/Alumnus.

R2, Adcoms, Phone Interview (Published November 2005)

I interviewed with an adcoms member. The questions asked were as follows:

• Tell me about your extra curricular activities in undergrad

• How do you manage time
• Give me an example of your leadership abilities
• Tell me what you don’t like about working in teams
• What would you contribute to the class at Fuqua
• Why MBA, Why Now, Why Fuqua
• Tell me about a time when had to deal with a difficult person

The interview was supposed to be for 1/2 hour but it lasted almost one hour. I was able to establish
rapport very quickly because the adcoms member had previously resided very close to where I live
(blocks away).

Winter 2006, R2, On-campus Interview (Published 2005)

The interviews at Fuqua are done by second year students who volunteer for the task. Mine was very
professional, but I still don't feel that I'm being taken as seriously as I would be if I were
interviewing with an adcoms. I got the impression that the interview isn't a very important part of
your application at Duke, and this is confirmed by the fact that they are technically optional. I think
it's mainly to show that you're interested, and to get a basic sense of your interviewing capability.
Anyway, the interview was a strict 40 minutes, with 30 for the interview, then 10 for your questions.
The atmosphere was very relaxed, and I had an affable second year conducting, but it was also pretty
rushed. She had a long list of questions to get through in 30 minutes, and I'm almost surprised she
managed to cover them all. It was very rapid-fire. It wasn't terribly conversational because of the
limited time, but she was interested in what I had to say and took copious notes. I wasn't even sure
if my answers mattered so much as my ability to handle myself in the interview.
There were the usual questions: Why MBA? Why now? Why at Fuqua? Then a long list of other
questions, including:

• What the 2 best and worst things about you?

• Name the 3 biggest risks you've taken in your life.
• Give an example of your performance on a team.
• Tell me about a time when your team failed.
• What do you do about a team member who won't cooperate?
• What is your role on a team?
• What do you like least about working in teams?
• How would you explain your job to a 6 year old?

As you can see, they are very team-oriented a Fuqua. My interviewer said it was a big part of the
culture, but not to think it was everything at Duke. She said people's impressions of the school
before they attend probably overstate the teamwork aspect, and there are still plenty of things you
have to do on your own.

Round 1 for Fall 2006. I interviewed with’03 Alum in Mumbai on 12/Nov/05. (Published
November 2005)
It was a very conversational and friendly kind of interview and lasted for about 1 hour. He made it
clear that it was just another data point for admissions and not a make-or-break item. The questions
included the following: -

1. Why MBA/Duke/Now?
2. Short/Long term career goals and how can Duke help you?
3. How would your friends describe you?
4. Your strengths and weaknesses.
 5. How do you deal with difficult colleagues/situations?
6. What courses do you intend to take at Duke and names of any faculty?
7. Team experiences.
8. Any questions for the interviewer.

It was a very stress free and pleasant experience. Towards the end he gave me his business card to
get in touch if I had any questions for him later.

Second Year Student, Round 1 (Published 2005)

I interviewed at Duke University in the fall of 2004 and was admitted to the class of 2007. Duke
uses second year students or alumni interviewers for all of their interviewing. I interviewed with a
second year student that had a similar background as me. The interview was very laid back and
mostly intended to get to know me as a person. It had the general questions, why Duke, why MBA
etc. It was more conversational than anything else and it felt very comfortable. From what I have
been told the interview can only help you at Duke and is mostly to help the adcoms determine your
interest and individuality.
Other questions: (really all standard interview questions)

• What are your career goals?

• Why Duke?
• Where do you see yourself in 5 and 10 years?
• What do you want to contribute to the school?
• Do you have any questions for me?
• Why should the adcoms admit you to the program?

Alumni, Off-campus (Published 2005)

I interviewed in late Nov ‘05 with a Duke Alumnus. The interview lasted for more than 2 hours in
an international location.
Apart from the questions already discussed here, I can think of a few more:
 1. Which other schools are you applying to? What if you get admitted to all the schools on your
list? (I was made comfortable and asked for my honest opinion with reasons for or against
each school)
2. What defines your leadership style?
3. Tell me 6 qualities you would expect in your leader (Supervisor).
4. Give me a situation where you were part of a team and things didn't go well because of you.
Then, tell me of a situation where you made things work in a team environment.
5. What if you have a domineering participant in a meeting being chaired by you?
6. How would you choose your business partner?
7. Do you follow a certain philosophy in life?
8. What do your parents think about you?
9. What questions do you have for the adcoms?

It was one of my best interviews in terms of its detail and content.

Alumni, Round 2 for Fall 2006. (Published 2005)

Interviewed with Duke Alum in London mid-Feb'06. It was very conversational interview that lasted
around an hour or so. After the usual 'take me through the resume' question, the standard ones
came through:

• Why MBA, why now, why Fuqua

• Why you want to leave your current job (I have changed job in last 6 months)
• Short term and long term career goals and how will Fuqua help you
• Team experiences - one in which you failed and one in which you lead
• What kind of leadership style you have
• What can you bring to board - was put something like in typical class of 70, how would you
contribute

Later I learned that interviewer had same profile as mine before MBA and he was very much a
career changer. My questions were around those career changing and study-co-curricular activity at
Duke. Interviewer gave very convincing answers for those. Since I hadn’t visited Durham before, he
also gave me fair bit of idea on the city. Overall quite satisfactory
 Harvard

On campus interview/Adcoms/late April 2008/R2 waitlist/Admitted! (Published May 30th, 2008)

I was very well prepared for the questions on this site and in the interview guide. I also did three
mock interviews with a Clear Admit consultant. While this preparation was limited in its helpfulness
to the actual questions I received, it did give me the utmost of confidence, which is the key!

The female adcoms member, who was joined by another woman who was "in training to conduct
interviews," focused her questions on a leadership experience and my career vision that I presented
in the application.

Here's an outline of the questions:

• An opening question about my experience at XYZ University

• What is your opinion of the application process thus far?
• Tell me about your leadership style
• What would be your biggest challenge at HBS?
• A LOT of questions about the leadership experience:
• Tell me more about organization X other than what is in your application?
• What would you change about organization X?
• What else would you change about X?
• How do you plan to implement the changes?

A LOT about my career interest. She even quoted a sentence from my career interest essay and tried
to put me on the defensive (don't ever become defensive!):

• How do you go about attaining X?

• What is the impact on stakeholder X?
• Impact on stakeholder Y?
• Stakeholder Z?
• Something to the effect of "how do you win the argument and who is currently winning the
argument?"
• With all this topic-specific stuff, why an MBA?
 • Why an MBA now?
• What would you do if you were not accepted?
• No time for questions but is there anything you wish we had talked about? (Always have two
or three strong points/pitches here)

On campus interview / Adcoms / Feb 2008 / R2 / Admitted! (Published April 30th, 2008)
The best advice I can give is to read through this site and prepare mock answers for most of the
questions that appear. During the actual interview, the most important thing is to sound
conversational. Overall, the questions I was asked tended to be more general than specific to my
application. Some of the one’s I remember are below:

• What is your opinion on the HBS application process?

• Tell me about your leadership style.
• What would your subordinates say about your leadership style?
• What can you contribute to HBS?
• What is the biggest academic challenge you might face at HBS?
• Tell me something about you that doesn’t appear in your application.
• How has your job role evolved over time?
• Describe a time you have helped someone at work.
• Apart from its general management focus, why HBS?

Hub Interview /Adcoms /Dec 2007 /R1 (Published January 18, 2008) B-School Bound

• Almost no introduction, but some small talk

• Why did you choose [your undergraduate college]?
• What is [the college group you led]? I'm a little unsure from your essay and resume. What big
changes did you make?
• When did you discover your interest in your future career?
• How did you get your first internship?
• Why did you choose to do your second internship where you did?
• Why did you go to [country X]? What did you learn from being there?
 • What did you do in [country Y]?
• What next?
• Have you considered a joint degree?
• Why do you want to return to [the industry I talked about] when you dislike [reason]?
• Any questions for me?
• Brief note on next step (you'll hear from us Jan 16); small talk as I was walked out

Hub Interview/Adcoms/Dec 2007/R1 (Published December 10, 2007)

I was interviewed by a woman. She was actually very nice. All are straightforward questions.

1. Tell me your past, present, and future.

2. What's your career goal? What would you do if it doesn't work out?
3. What's the most common misconception about you?
4. What's the biggest challenge you might be facing at HBS?

Other questions are essay-specific. I hope this helps.

Overall, I think the adcoms is nice. Don't worry about the stress interview. Just relax.

On campus interview / Nov 2007 / R1 (Published December 9, 2007) Questions that I remember:

• Some discussion around my undergraduate experience as warm-up (somewhat surprising

since it's been about 3.5 years since I graduated)

• Some questions specific to my essays - details to understand the situation better

• Why I decided to switch jobs; what was different between the two companies.

• How do you handle conflict?

• What do you think will be challenging about HBS?

• What is your "dream job"?

• Why are you unique?

Overall the interviewer was fairly friendly (not a stress interview). However, a word of warning is
that they WILL press you anything you say...so don't bring up extraneous topics or examples unless
you're willing to go in-depth on them.

On Campus Interview / Nov 2007 (Published November 29, 2007)

I did a class visit in the morning and a student lunch before my interview. I saw a few people being
approached by their interviewers in the waiting area of Dillon House and ALL of the adcoms was
very friendly and pleasant. That was a nice surprise. My interviewer was pleasant and smiled
throughout. No "stress" atmosphere at all. Could I've answered a couple of questions better? Sure, I
should've given examples for every question and I didn't. But I'm not going to overanalyze now. I'm
glad it's OVER.
Questions:

1. Tell me what's the link between your last job and your current one? How are they
similar/different?
2. Expand on your current role. (I told her I just got promoted so she asked what that meant in
terms of responsibilities)
3. Well...you're going to have a graduate degree this year. So, why another one? Why an MBA?
4. You tell me you're a planner with 5 yr, 10 yr plans for yourself...so was the MBA planned, or
a random thought?
5. Why "industry X" in particular? Why is that your career vision? Explain the reasons to me.
6. Seeing that you're a marketer do you have the interest and the capability to handle the non-
marketing, very quantitative coursework of an HBS MBA?
7. Give me a recent example of a quantitative project.
8. What industry do you NOT see yourself in?
9. How has your leadership style evolved?
10. Why do people accept your leadership?
11. How do you want your HBS classmates to remember you as?
12. We don't have any time for questions. Any last thing you want to tell us? Something you
couldn't cover in your application?
Adcoms / On-campus / R1 / November 2007 (Published November 6, 2007)
Interviewer was member of admissions board. She informed me that she had several questions and
would be taking notes.

1. Did you take a taxi here? (After I answered yes, and visited a class...)
2. How did you find the class experience?
3. How did you choose Leerink?
4. Tell me about your company and a typical day at work (physical office, team size, day-to-day
tasks, etc.)
5. What does your company look for in a candidate?
6. Tell me about a xxxx business you admire? (xxx was specific to my career goals)
7. How do you handle conflict?
8. What else would you like us to know about you?

Adcoms, Alumni / R2. (Published June 11, 2007)

My interviewer was a member of the admission's board and alumni of HBS. After basically no small
talk he informed me that the HBS interview would be a unique experience. He warned me that he
would look at his watch frequently and interrupt me and that I shouldn't be concerned by these
actions.
His questions went as follows:

1. Name of class I attended and name of professor?

2. Tell me about your leadership style?
3. How did you manage conflict among my team at work?
4. How do you lead a team exercise comprised of people more senior to you as well as people
junior to you?
5. If you got all of your friends and family together how would they describe you?
6. What are some misperceptions of you?
7. What are you looking to get out of HBS outside of the classroom?
8. Questions regarding some of the interests he had listed on my resume
9. What do you do at your job? What does your normal day look like?
10. How have you been able to get promoted so fast and why is your company successful?
 11. How do you adjust to other cultures (I mentioned that I had worked in China)?
12. Question regarding my passion for my industry of choice.

Adcoms / On-campus / R2 / Admitted (Published April 28, 2007) I really found all the posts in this
site really helpful so I will share my experience.
I showed up 20 minutes before the interview hour as requested. I was interviewed by a very kind a
polite lady form the Admissions Office. As we walked up the stairs to her office we broke the ice
and I told her about my LONG trip to Boston (I live in South America). We sat down and she
explained to me the logistics of the interview (the time allotted, the fact that she was going to take
notes, etc) and then the official interview began:
The interview started with a short walk through my experience at work. She asked me describe her,
at a high level, each experience.
Then she asked me to tell her what I learned at my job. After I talked about the sills I developed she
asked me to explain more on the specific things I learned about the business.
The next question was on a recent leadership experience.
She then made up a case and asked me to address it and propose different solutions to it.
The next question was on who I am besides professional and academic background. She also asked
me what book I was reading or what movie I had seen recently.
Finally she asked me if there was something I was expecting to talk about but was not asked.
I tried to remember as much as I could so it is useful for anybody reading this site.

Adcoms @ the Palo Alto HBS site, R1, admitted! (Published March 23, 2007)
Here's a recount of the questions that were asked (although many were experience-specific), and my
thoughts as it was happening.
1. We had some friendly conversation as we sat down in her office. (We are sitting, we have talked,
and I didn't shake her hand OR ask her name!!) "Sorry, I don't think I caught your name...?" (Ahh,
nice recovery!) Then she told me she thought my app was interesting and unique - yay!
2. She asked a specific question about one of my accomplishments. I started to answer, and then
promptly forgot exactly what she asked. I actually still can't remember, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't
what I answered...oops! Oh well - still 25 min left to recover!
3. It's obvious you've done a lot of research. What concerns do you have about Harvard?
(Hmmmmmmm. Didn’t prepare this one, but thought of 2 quickly, both of which she responded
thoroughly)
4. Why HBS? (Um, do I lose points if I say the same thing I wrote in my essay? Luckily I had the
class visit to talk about!!)
5. What do you want to do in your internship, right after business school? How did you get there?
(Think this came out ok! Managed to throw in a few "here are my strengths so of course I want to
do XYZ")
6. What are the challenges in your current role? How do you handle them? (Hmmm - what is the
nicest way to say the group I support is insane, and they are sometimes kind of meant to me b/c I'm
in finance without sounding like I'm about 5 years old?)
7. Then, out of left field, "What book are you reading right now?" (Hahaha - as if any of us
applicants have time to read? is this a trick question? Anyway, I had actually prepared this one -
there is a large potential it sounded rehearsed, but better than trying to remember back in the
summer when I had this activity formerly known as "free time.")
8. Do you have any questions? (Well sure, I did, but we have already addressed them in the
"concerns" portion of this interview. Why don't you want to talk about me any more?)
We ended after 30 minutes pretty much on the dot. The interviewer took notes almost the whole
time, but she was very warm & friendly, and made me feel comfortable right away.
So, overall I felt good walking out, although that status does get worse by the hour (damn you,
overanalyzing mind!) I was surprised she didn't ask more about my international experience or my
community service. I was thrilled she didn't ask the dreaded question: "Why should we choose you?"
Most importantly, the voice in my head kept thinking "wow - these answers are actually coming out
sounding pretty ok. GO YOU!" So happy to be done!!! Let the waiting games begin :)

Adcoms, Off-campus - telephone, Round 2. (Published March 8, 2007)

I was scheduled for a telephonic interview and I wasn’t really crazy about the phone part. Didn’t ask
for an alternative since the other hub interview in Delhi (I am in Bombay) was on 12th and I have
important meetings on the 12th.
So I got the call on time, the adcoms member was very friendly and relaxing from the beginning,
setting the tone for a none-stressful interview, talking about the weather. I was a little apprehensive
that the accent/phone connection would be bad but both were perfect.
I had prepared for the usual questions especially questions on leadership examples and teamwork -
but he started straight off from my job experience and kept asking questions about my job.
He had obviously read my application in great detail so it was great not to go into explaining things
that I had already mentioned (it could be a bad thing because most of us are pretty comfortable in
explaining our essays all over again!). So anyway, he asked me specific details from my job that I had
mentioned in my essays.
He then asked me about my short term and long term goals and how they fit in with my MBA. That
done, he wanted to know what my plans were in case I did not get through HBS.
At the end of it he asked me if there was anything that I felt he hadn’t asked, so I spoke about my
volunteering experience - I was very impressed that he had gone through the website of the non-
profit that I volunteered with and we spoke in some detail about that.
That was the end of my HBS interview. The agonizing and analyzing starts now:-)

Adcoms, On-campus, Round 2. (Published March 4, 2007) **Admitted!**

My interview was similar to many of the others described on this page, but I wanted to point out a
nice little detail that endeared HBS to me, and put me at ease as I prepared to go into the interview.
In the lobby of the admissions office there are a dozen or so framed portraits of HBS alums, along
with their answers to the following question: "What is it you plan to do / with your one wild and
precious life?" Turns out this is the ending couplet of a poem by Mary Oliver that you can read here:
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/133.html. The portraits and answers are part of a project that was
founded by an HBS student in 2003, and has continued annually since then.

Adcoms, On-campus, Round 2. (Published February 26, 2007)

I did this interview on-campus (HBS actually sets a time and place for you to be, no choosing). The
interview was early in the morning, so I showed up to the Admissions office and they directed me to
another building where my interview would be held (by a part-time faculty who is on the Admissions
Committee). I found my way to the lounge and waited and then my interviewer came and got me. (I
think most people know this, but in case they don't, Harvard is one of the few places where the
interview is not blind - the interviewer has thoroughly read your application). We went into a
conference room and there were no pleasantries "Hi, how are you, blah blah blah", it was
immediately "So, you made a pretty big career change, talk about it". I was a little dumbstruck for 1-
2 seconds but I think I got out a good answer. Other questions:
 • You've only been working in a corporate setting for a couple of years, how are you going to
feel sitting in a finance or accounting Class with peers who have spend 5 or 7 years
immersed in those fields? Are you going to be intimidated?

• How does your company do _________?

• Tell me about your company, and your company's consumer
• What do you think XYZ recent happening in the news?
• A LOT of company/functional area specific questions involving finance, operations,
product, etc. - I think he was trying to see what knowledge I had and would be able to
contribute to my section while discussing cases
• Why Harvard
• A time when I turned a bad team situation into a good one
• And for the last questions he asked what I would have wanted him to ask that he hadn't. I
said I'd like to outline my strengths as I see him and we discussed those.

There was no time to ask him any questions about Harvard. Overall the interview was about 30
minutes and I left with a decent feeling, but who knows? After that I had lunch with students, which
was helpful and attended a class with a friend of a friend. The class was Strategy and was interesting,
but I did feel like the time allotted was not enough to adequately cover all the aspects of the case.
Then again, who am I to say? Overall, of course the facilities are impressive and it's interesting that
there is a full campus instead of just a single building like at some other places

Kellogg

Round 2 / Alumni / Off-campus (Published March 23rd, 2008)

Kellogg gave me one month to schedule the interview with an alumni working in a big consulting
firm. He was very easy going and approachable - in line with the Kellogg spirit of teamwork. We
scheduled the interview at his office.

Preparation Material: My application, Kellogg's website, Accepted and Clear Admit Interview
databases, Clear Admit School Guide - Kellogg and How to interview like a top MBA
Interview Experience: I reached his office fifteen minutes early. We had some general talks. He told
me that he’d keep the interview conversational.

The questions asked were straightforward.

• Walk me through your resume elaborating the path that has led you to plan for an MBA?

He kept asking me follow up questions in between -- How did you manage that? What difficulties
did you face? Etc. The conversation went long, more than 20 minutes.

• What do you want to do after MBA and in the long term? (3 minutes)
• Tell any obstacle that your team faced? How did you overcome? (3 minutes)
• What will your manager comment about your managerial potential during appraisal? Why? (5
minutes)
• Why Kellogg? (5min)
• How will you enhance the diversity of the Kellogg class? (5 min)
• What element of your application do you fear most about? ( 2 min)
• Any questions for me? (10min)

Total ~ 50 minutes Overall very satisfactory experience.

Round 2 / Alumni / Admitted (Published March 17, 2008)

I had my interview on the first week of Feb with an alumnus. It was a pretty relaxed and cozy
experience. I was wearing a formal suit, which my interviewer told me it's not necessary when the
interview ended
The interview started with my interviewer introducing me to the admission process and the purpose
of the interview, then she began to ask questions. Standard questions, just like what you see in other
entries.
Here are some that I remembered:

1. Walk through resume

2. A little detail of each job
3. A leadership case
4. A teamwork case
 5. A career vision question
6. A 'why Kellogg MBA' question
7. A 'what will you contribute' question.

The interview lasted an hour. The last 20 minutes was a conversation on the Kellogg experience. My
advice is to be prepared for the obvious questions. I think Kellogg interviewers do not get to see
your essays, so they tend to ask basic questions to learn more about you. Just be prepared and you
will be fine. Good luck.

Round 1 / Alumni (Published March 3, 2008)

Finally, I'm done with Kellogg interview. It's a bit late in the game, I know. However, I think I did
alright. Also, my interviewer apologizes a couple of times because he had to re-schedule several
times.
Anyway, I got into his office pretty early. I didn't feel nervous at all. He was very relaxed & nice.
Immediately, he told me that the purpose of the interview is just to get to know me more and he'll
also try to answer my questions about the school.
These are the questions:

1. Walk me through your resume. Then some follow up questions.

2. I'm very interested in your community activity, tell me more about this.
3. So, help me to understand your experience in XX Company.
4. What did you do as YY (role) in XX?
5. How did you work in team?
6. What do you think that your peers or teammates will say about your strengths?
7. Weaknesses?
8. What will your manager say about your strengths & areas of development?
9. Tell me about a time when you manage a conflict in a team.
10. Why business school?
11. Why Kellogg?
12. What is your goal?
13. What is your GMAT score?
14. What is your GPA? How were you ranked?
 15. Which schools are you applying to?
16. Okay, now I'm open to your questions. Anything you would want to ask me?

Then we probably talked about his experience in Kellogg for 20 minutes or so. I think he's very nice
& laid back. No surprises in the interview. He's willing to introduce me to several alums or students
who are in the same industry with me.
Overall, it was good. Just hoped that the adcoms will see that my overall application is good enough
to get an acceptance. Really like the school so far!

On-campus interview / R1 / Adcoms / Admitted (Published January 31st, 2008)

Very little chitchat to start, though adcoms was very friendly. We dove right into Q&A, and she
warned me not to worry about her taking copious notes or checking her watch. No questions out of
the ordinary.

• Discuss undergrad choice

• Professional experience
• Why MBA, why Kellogg
• Career goals
• Teamwork experience

Then it was time to switch. Adcoms fiancé was a 1Y, so we discussed the JV program; also discussed
the current capital campaign for a new building - unfortunately, won't happen soon enough for me.

December 2007 / On-campus Interview / R1 / Adcoms / (Published January 15, 2008)

Standard MBA interview with Adcoms in the admissions office. It was very friendly. The adcoms
effort to make small talk made it easy to develop rapport. . Interview went on for about 45 minutes;
probably because I have a tendency to ramble.
Prior to the interview she had reviewed my resume thoroughly and had several questions about areas
of interest on the resume.
Some of the questions:

1. Walk me through your resume

2. Why an MBA?
 3. Why Kellogg?
4. Long term/short term goals?
5. What will my business do when I'm gone? (I'm an entrepreneur)
6. Lots of questions about my overseas office and managing offshore staff

When it came time to ask her questions at the end we ended up chatting for about 10 minutes about
Kellogg. Discussed the Kellogg culture and what makes Kellogg unique.
Overall, a pretty standard interview. Just be prepared to talk about everything on your resume
because they will ask specific question about individual items on your resume. Kellogg is a friendly
place and the adcoms reflected that.
I got the admit day after the decision deadline.

November 2007 / Off-campus Interview / R1 / Alumnus / from B-School Bound (Published

January 10, 2008) It was a standard 30-minute interview at the alum's office, with nothing unusual,
save the last question:

1. Walk me through your resume. (Approximately 5 minutes)

2. Why an MBA? (1 minute)
3. Why Kellogg? (2 minutes)
4. What do you want to do after your MBA? (2 minutes)
5. Why? (1 minute)
6. Why Kellogg, from an academic perspective? (My previous response was around the
personality and style of Kellogg's students and approach;2 minutes)
7. What did you do at Organization X? (2 minutes)
8. How did that compare to your internship at Y? (2 minutes)
9. I've heard [general perceptions] about X and Y; did you find these to be true? (1 minute)
10. If you didn't get into any of the MBA programs to which you're applying, what would you
do? (2 minutes)

And then there was Question Time for about 5 minutes.

November 29th, 2007 / Phone Interview / R1 (Published January 9, 2008)
I had a telephonic interview on Nov 29 last year, and it might not be too late to write a short note
about it. Before my interview, I saw a pattern of questions being asked to other applicants over the
phone. I was pretty sure (you might know by know that my gut feelings are never on target) that my
first question would be "Please run me through your resume" and I prepared for it relentlessly.
My question set.

• Why did you choose engineering as your undergraduate degree? (I was caught by surprise by
this question)
• Why MBA? Why Kellogg?
• What would your teammates say is your biggest weakness and strength?
• Which clubs do you see yourself joining in Kellogg? (Named two clubs).
• What unique qualities do you bring to Kellogg? (Strongest part of the interview)
• In your job interview post MBA how will you substantiate a career switch?

I began to wonder if the interviewer asked me this question because she felt my goals weren't strong enough. I felt this
was the weakest part of my interview. I was trapped because I said that my MBA would prepare me for such a switch
in the future. She probably wanted to know what prompted me to think along the lines of such a career, who I spoke
with in the recent past, or what kind of experiences I had at work that pushed me in such a direction. My answer was
more about how I would bridge gaps to qualify for such a position and how an MBA would get me there. Can't really
say I misfired, but just an after thought.
My interviewer finished and asked if I had any questions. I asked her "Why she chose Kellogg"? (In
a sincere attempt to understand more about the school and student body). But she was not a current
student and apologized for not having introduced herself completely. She wrapped up the interview.
It lasted for half hour.

December, 2007/ Phone Interview / R1 (Published December 27, 2007)

After the initial interview waiver, I received a request from the Kellogg Admission Office for a
phone interview. The interviewer called exactly on the scheduled time and after greetings, she said
that she had reviewed my application and just wanted to ask some more questions. I had heard that
even post-waiver phone interviews are “blind” and the interviewer has only the applicant’s resume.
However, it seems that it’s not always the case. Therefore, she didn’t ask me anything about my
career path or something like “walk me through your resume”.
The interview lasted about 25 minutes and I felt that my interviewer was in a rush to ask as many
questions as she could. I cannot tell you anything about her reactions because right after I completed
my answers, she just asked another question.
These are the questions I remember:
- Why did you study […] in college? Why did you switch to a career in business?
- Short/long term goals? Any specific firm (she asked me to name it) or region of the world you
intend to work in after graduation? (Don’t worry. I think she asked me to name the company
because I had mentioned it in my essays.)
- Why MBA?
- Why Kellogg?
- How have you developed professionally and personally in the past few years since you started
working after college?
- What have been your greatest professional achievements? Highlights of your career?
- Have you ever faced any challenge working in a team?
- What are the three positive things your friends would tell about you?
- What would you bring to Kellogg?
- Anything you’d like to add that’s not covered in your application?
- Do you have any questions?

November 5, 2007/ On-campus Interview / R1 (Published December 6, 2007)

Adcoms Interview, R2. Most questions were in-line with ones below. There were two exceptions.

1. What will your colleagues miss most when you leave?

2. What are your biggest regrets (what could you have done better) at your current job?

November 5, 2007/ On-campus Interview / R1 (Published November 9, 2007)

I interviewed on campus with an admissions officer. I thought it was a great chance to see the
school in person (since I hadn't had a chance to yet). I scheduled the interview for the afternoon so I
would have a chance to visit classes and meet with some students beforehand, which was great
because it gave me a chance to formulate more intelligent questions based on my experience. As
others have said, the interview was very conversational and the interviewer nodded and smiled a lot.
Sometimes I felt she was nodding even when I wasn't really saying anything important though, so it
may have just been a tactic or a habit, I'm not sure. She did tell me that since she was interviewing
me, she would not be a reviewer of my application.
One piece of advice if you are interviewing on campus: check out the schedule of events for that day
first to make sure your interview lines up with the activities you want to do. I wasn't able to do a
tour or visit a second class because my interview overlapped the times.
Questions I was asked:

• Tell me about your undergrad experience. Include why you chose your major and the
extracurricular activities you were involved in.

• Tell me about your work experience and major activities. Include why you moved from
Company A to Company B.

• What are you short and long term career goals? What is your ideal position post-MBA?

• Why do you want an MBA?

• Why Kellogg?

• Tell me about a time in your work or extracurricular activities that you led a team.

• What is the biggest weakness in your application?

• In your latest performance review, what strengths were highlighted and what weaknesses was
it recommended that you work on?

• How would your team members at work describe what you are like to work with?

• How would you describe your leadership style?

• What unique aspects would you bring to Kellogg? What kind of team member do you think
you will be to your fellow students?
 • Tell me about an ethical dilemma you have faced.

• Tell me about your most challenging professional relationship.

• What extracurricular activities would you get involved in at Kellogg?

• What do you do for fun?

• What personality trait surprised people about you?

• Do you have any other items you'd like to discuss?

November 8, 2007/ On-campus Interview / R1 (Published November 9, 2007)

Overall the interview was conversational. Questions were standard - Walk me through your resume,
significant professional and extracurricular accomplishments, why MBA, why Kellogg. It lasted
about 45 minutes.
The one question that caught me off-guard was the interviewer's suggestion to apply for the MMM
program (engineering management & MBA dual degree). I would recommend all engineering
applicants to at least have a good sense of what the program is and why it is/ isn't a good fit. The
other engineers in my session were asked the same question. Good luck!

November 5, 2007 / Off-Campus Alumni Interview / R1 (Published November 5, 2007)

My interview was this afternoon at the interviewer's office.
It lasted exactly 1 hour (he said he wasn't supposed to go any longer than that).
Very conversational, informal. He had a list of questions but he only referred to it a few times.
Basically we just talked and, every once in a while, he interjected with questions he felt he needed to
fit in.
On the same note, I had to struggle to fit in the stories and experiences I wanted to talk about
because he didn't specifically ask about them.
He started by telling me his background from pre-MBA to now. Then:

• I am just reading your resume now so walk me through it in 7-8 minutes.

• Tell me a horror story/failure in your professional life.
 • Why MBA (I fit my goals into this because he hadn't asked about them yet)?
• Why Kellogg/How will Kellogg help you do what you want to do?
• What do you think is unique about Kellogg's curriculum compared to the other schools you
are applying to?
• (Specific to my background) Do you want to focus on government issues in your practical
opportunities at Kellogg?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses?
• What are qualities of a good leader?
• Do you have a leader/mentor who has these qualities?
• What do you do outside work?
• What have been the size/makeup of the teams you worked on?
• How long have you been thinking about an MBA?
• What is your backup plan if an MBA doesn't work out this year?

At the end he said we only had 10 minutes left so I could ask my questions. I asked some basic
questions and he took the chance to provide more details of his experiences at Kellogg.
He asked if I knew what the next step was and I told him I thought they would review my
application once he submitted his report, which he said he would do very soon. He offered to help
me any way he could in the future.
That was about it.
My insight/advise - I prepared extensively from the questions listed below but found it mostly a
confidence builder. I felt comfortable with my story and prepared for any likely question but I
mostly just ended up having a discussion with my interviewer about Kellogg and trying to fit in my
strong points as much as I could. Obviously, every alumni interviewer will be different but most
Kellogg alumni I have met have been very down to earth and that seems to translate into the
interview experiences (as long as you are prepared and can show interest in and knowledge about
Kellogg). This just confirms the Kellogg reputation as a place with friendly, collegial people.
Hope this helps since all the other accounts helped me!

October 30, 2007 / Off-Campus Alumni Interview / R1 (Published October 31, 2007)
The interviewer opened by asking me to spend a few minutes taking him step by step from the time
I started college until today. When we reached the point at which I was to discuss my work
experience, he began asking specific questions, asking about my biggest challenge at work, how my
superiors perceive my leadership skills and the degree to which my responsibilities involve
teamwork. With the exception of the aforementioned, the interviewer did not really ask many
pointed questions (in contrast to some of the interviewers described below), as the structure was far
more along the lines of a conversation than an interview. Through this format, I was able to discuss
some points I thought he would ask about (career goals, interest in Kellogg, etc.) in a casual and
natural fashion.
The interview seemed to run its course after about 20 minutes (as, by that point, he felt he got a
good enough feel for my qualities and enough to evaluate me on), and the last 10 minutes were
largely spent discussing some of the interviewer's Kellogg-related experiences, as well as his advice
for me. I do not know how representative my interview was, but I hope my commentary is at least
somewhat insightful.

October 19, 2007 / On-Campus Interview / R1 (Published October 20, 2007)

I decided to do my interview on-campus because I hadn't had the opportunity to visit Kellogg yet.
My interview was at 3:00 Friday afternoon, so I had some time in the morning/early afternoon to do
some things. I sat in on Prof. Haviv's financial decisions class, took a tour, and had lunch with some
students. All of this really helped reinforce my desire to attend Kellogg. It also helped motivate me
for my interview!
Anyway, I interviewed with an admissions officer and she was a great interviewer. She started out by
describing the purpose of the interview and then asked me the following questions. Although I'm
putting these in bullet format, the whole interview was very conversational and naturally flowed
from question to question.

• Why did you choose your undergraduate university?

• Why did you choose your major?
• How were you involved outside of the classroom?
• Why did you take your current job?
o How big is your company?
o What does your company specialize in? (She asked me very specific questions about
my company that I could have never prepared for)
 o What is your greatest accomplishment at your current company?
• What are your short and long term business goals?
• How can Kellogg help you achieve these goals?
• Why do you want to attend Kellogg?
• What do you do outside of work?
• Do you have any questions to ask me?

I know this seems like a laundry list of questions, but the interview just seemed to flow very well.
For any of you that haven't interviewed yet, I'd definitely recommend doing your interview at
Kellogg. It seems like the alumni interviews can be a lot harder than the on-campus interviews.

Jan 15, 2007 / Alum interview / R2 (Published March 30, 2007) My interviewer was a recent
Kellogg graduate who worked in PE pre- and post-MBA. He was very open and friendly. He asked
me to switch to English (we started off in Dutch, our native language), and asked me a variant of
"Walk me through your resume".
I gave him my 2-minute story on why I had chosen my undergraduate school, what was unique
about the program, what I had learned, and how I made the move into my professional life. I think
the common essay advice is just as valid here: don't limit yourself to the 'what', but also mention the
'why'.
As I talked about my first promotion at work, he interrupted me and asked me to elaborate on a
specific detail. This was clearly an attempt to see how I would respond to a question that I could not
have prepared for. For these kind of situational questions, you should train yourself to use
frameworks. For leadership questions you can make sure to include 1) communicating a vision, 2)
defining roles/responsibilities, 3) measuring/monitoring progress, 4) success. The question I got was
how I had persuaded my management to do something. I told him what required improving, why it
required improving (with quantifiable reasons), what my solution was, why that solution would work
(quantifiable), how I explained this to my management, and how this left no doubt with them to
agree with me. He seemed happy with my response.
He then told me we could easily switch back to Dutch, as my English was clearly up to snuff. I saw
an opening to engage in dialogue and told him that, even though I had 99th percentile GMAT
verbal and TOEFL scores, and had generally no trouble expressing myself, in hard-pressed business
discussions or negotiations I sometimes saw this as a weakness, and whether he recognized it. We
chatted a bit about it, and even though I was a bit nervous for having blurted out a weakness
without him asking for one, I felt the ensuing dialogue was very valuable for 'bonding' with him, and
was comforted by his comment that my English was good enough not to think of it as a 'weakness'.
He then went on to ask "Why MBA". I had prepared more for a "Why Kellogg" question, so I tried
to spin my answer around what I was looking for in a business education, and why Kellogg was a
great match. Because your long-term and short-term goals should be a major factor in "Why MBA"
I suggested I touch on those a bit first, which he said was OK.
He subsequently never asked me again about "Why Kellogg", even though I had not exhausted my
reasons for going to Kellogg yet. Fortunately, I managed to slip those into later questions and into
our discussions on what he liked so much about Kellogg. Finding the right balance between
sounding sincere and sounding like a car salesman is tough. You should have good reasons for going
to Kellogg or any other school for that matter, but you don't want to be sucking up to the school
either.
His next question was "What do you consider the weaker areas in your application". I had prepared
somewhat for this question, but not much. I told him I do not have spectacular extracurricular, and,
amazingly, he had had the same problem in his application. We exchanged views on the merits of
extracurricular and community service and how Europeans are often surprised to see the weight
attached to this. I told him I saw this as a cultural difference between the US and Europe, and he
agreed. He even offered me a new insight I had never come across -- in the US, inequality is larger
than in Europe, so 'giving back' is more important than it is in Europe. In all my research for good
excuses, I had never seen this mentioned before, and I even think it is not an excuse -- it is very true.
(Although I wouldn't recommend stating to any adcoms that community service in Europe is not
important)
Next was teamwork, which was probably the most surprising part of the interview. He told me he
was not going to ask me about teamwork, because he believed everyone can sell himself as a good
team player, so why would that give him any indication as to my abilities. He said he attached more
value to seeing my interpersonal skills, and since we had been more engaged in dialogue than in a
question-answer interrogation, he said he had a positive impression of how it would be to work
together with me. I could have argued that this is why behavioral interviewing techniques had been
invented, but I figured my teamwork points had already been scored, and I could only make things
worse (even though I had a couple of anecdotes ready.)
In total, we talked for about an hour or maybe more, and it was very easy to make the interview
conversational.
I can give the following advice. You know (roughly) which questions you will be asked. Prepare your
answers in bullet-point format, and rehearse with a bathroom mirror or a friend, and, by all means,
time and record your responses to see if you can answer all questions in 2-5 minutes without
sounding boring, monotonous, or overly scripted. Try to engage your interviewer by acting as one
professional talking to another professional. Make it interesting for them, and don't come off as a
drone who can only fire rehearsed answers at rehearsed questions. Status: Admitted

Feb 23, 2007 / On-campus / Adcoms / R2 (Published March 3, 2007)

Had my on-campus interview with the adcoms member. The interview was very relaxing and my
interviewer made it more like a dialogue than a monologue.
Questions -

1. Walk me through your resume, starting with undergrad. She kept asking probing questions -
why what major, why so and so project during my work ex, what was the typical team like,
how many, which functions. A bulk of the time was spent in this conversation.
2. Why MBA?
3. Why Kellogg?
4. What else do I enjoy outside work?
5. How am I involved in community?
6. What will my team members say about my strengths & development needs?

We can 10 minutes over the scheduled time of 30 minutes, and I was not given an opportunity to
ask her any questions. Though standard questions (and I don't think my interviewer had read my
application), it would be advisable to go over essays and narrate the same story (one more time!)
Good luck!

R2/Intl/Adcoms/Telephonic (Published March 1, 2007) Very relaxed & conversational. The

interview started 10 minutes late and lasted another 20-25 minutes:
The adcoms member started by introducing herself and gave me a background of what the
application review process was. Then we dived into the interview
 • Long-term goals and short-term goals?
• Talk about each of your job changes and why you made those changes?
• Why Kellogg?
• What can you add to the Kellogg community both inside and outside of class?
• Can you talk about a conflict situation and how you dealt it?
• What do you learn from your teammates?
• Do you have any questions for me?

What did I think about the interview?

Flowed very smooth and was straightforward. I think it went well and I finished with a good feeling
Now all that’s left is to wait.

Kellogg Off-Campus Alum Interview (Published February 28, 2007)

Admissions Round 2, Interview 27 January 2006
Applicant: non-profit background (art museum administration) education: MA in art history age: 28
GMAT: 700 GPA undergrad: 3.65 at top-10 school GPA grad: 3.8 at top MA program in art history

Received admissions decision today: rejected.

Rejection was not a surprise after the nightmare interview I had with Kellogg alum. Interview was
held in Boston. Interviewer was early-mid 40s female Kellogg grad and brand manager at
Gillette/P&G. Interview lasted two hours in small, hot room. By the time I emerged from the
sweatbox, I was drenched and my suit sagged with perspiration.
Typical interview questions, beginning with "walk me through your resume." Interviewer challenged
me numerous times and, surprisingly, was mildly hostile in her challenges. I had difficulty connecting
with her and was frustrated with her method and approach. Had few questions for her, mostly
because I assumed that she was out of touch with the current life at the school (she graduated some
time ago).
Key guiding questions: -walk me through your resume -tell me about the key challenges there -do
you see yourself returning to your "behind-the-scenes" role? -What kind of leader are you? -Why
Kellogg?
Kellogg On-Campus Interview (Published February 27, 2007)
The interview was about 45 minutes and was with an admissions committee member. I highly
recommend interviewing on campus if possible as it's a great experience.

• Tell me about yourself.

• Explain personal interests.
• Describe your team experiences.
• Why Kellogg?
• Career goals.
• Why MBA?
• What makes an effective leader?
• Describe your managerial style.
• What's a weakness of your application?
• How are you unique?
• What will you contribute to Kellogg?

Round 1, November 2, 2006. Juggler (Published February 26, 2007)

I had my Kellogg interview today and it went off pretty well. I am a little disappointed because the
interviewer seemed slightly disinterested and cursory. This was one feedback I read about Kellogg
interviews repeatedly and maybe I should have expected it. But of course I'm not complaining, it
was pretty good!
First the interviewer set the stage, set expectations and explained the role of the interviewer and the
purpose of the interview in the entire process. We ordered our coffees meanwhile. Then we started
off with the usual let's start off on an open-ended note, you could maybe talk about your experience
and I will ask you questions as we go on. I then had to describe "an area of development and how I
have addressed it. We then branched off to talk about one time when I made a significant impact on
my team at work and how important is my role in the team and how important is my product to my
company. I had to then follow up this answer with what I think are my strengths. We then talked
about few technical details of what my product actually does, who are the customers and how would
they use it? Then we went on to discuss what my company does and what is their current strategy.
Finally I spoke about a leader/manager I admired and what are the traits I think a leader should
have. Now that was the end of my career stuff.
We moved on to Why MBA, Why Kellogg? This is where my actual goals, how I would achieve
them and why the path I'm thinking about will get me there came in. Then I had to answer a couple
of follow up questions about the exact expectations I had from my post-MBA job. And that brought
us to the end of the interview and I could ask my questions. I had 3 questions to ask and I did.
I had not touched my coffee till that moment. I drank it while the interviewer took some notes. We
indulged in some small talk, paid the cheque (I was not allowed to pay) and left the place.
On the whole, very average interview, no stress, no grilling, nothing exceptionally interesting. I did
reasonably well; no faux pas and I will leave it at that. This interview will not reduce my chances of
getting in. I learnt a lot of things, which I will use in my Chicago interview :-)
I have bolded the questions instead of listing them out because I wanted to capture the flow of the
interview. Hope you find it useful

Michigan Ross

Round 2 / Adcoms / Off-campus / Originally shared at Life is so Beautiful (March 23rd, 2008)

After submitting my Ross application, I knew I had submitted my best essays so far, the essays,
which took more than eight weeks of my dedicated efforts! I knew the admissions committee would
like to hear me after reading them.

As expected, the invite came in mid-February. So prepared for Ross I was that I scheduled the
interview just after two days.

Preparation Material: My application, Ross' website, Accepted and Clear Admit Interview databases,
Clear Admit School Guide - Ross, notes of discussions with Ross students and How to interview
like a top MBA.

Interview Experience: Apart from a surprise, the interview was very smooth. I anticipated a second
year to pick up the phone. To my surprise, a very senior member of the admissions committee
answered the phone. He introduced himself, informed me that the interview will continue about 20
minutes during which he'll ask me few questions, and then he'll give me a chance to ask one or two
questions.
The questions were -

• Walk me through your resume starting from the time you completed under graduation. Also
tell me what you want to do post MBA. ( 3 minutes)
• How does an MBA fit’s in there? (2 minutes)
• Why do you want to attend Ross? (6 minutes)
• What are your unique aspects that would add to our class (5 minutes)

That's it! After this, I asked him two questions. He commented, "that's a great question," then
answered me with interest and enthusiasm.
Total Time: ~ 23 minutes.
Five minutes after the interview, I sent an email thanking him on Ross general email id. He replied
twice within next two minutes, first from the general id, and then from his personal id. I knew I had
done well. It was Friday 10:00 pm in India. I quickly ran out to catch the 10:35 pm show at nearby
PVR. Result: Admitted and Matriculating!

Round 2 / Telephonic / Second-year Student / Blind (Published February 29th, 2008)

List of interview questions:

• Tell me about yourself

• Why Ross
• Why MBA
• Tell me three words that describe your personality
• Tell me about a leadership experience
• What do you like to do outside of work?
• You only have two years of work experience--the average at Ross is 5. Why not wait for a
couple years?
• Tell me your greatest strength and biggest weakness

I thought the interview went really well. The interviewer was very personable and down-to-earth. I
was caught off-guard by the personality question, stumbled a bit but I eventually was able to
describe my personality truthfully. The interview was supposed to last thirty minutes but the
interviewer said it is hard to get to know someone in that amount of time. The interview lasted
almost an hour, which was fine with me. Other than that, the interview was straightforward. I was
impressed with the interviewer and the experience in general.

Telephone Interview, R1 Class of 2010, w/ 2nd yr student. (Published January 31, 2008)
I was originally scheduled for an off-campus alumni interview, but due to high demand, was
switched to a phone interview without my consent. Student was friendly and engaging, he set good
expectations for the call.

• Walk through resume

• Why MBA, why now (I also addressed why Ross in this question)
• Most challenging criticism I received
• Challenging teamwork situation; what would I do differently
• Besides a couple extracurriculars on my resume, what else would I want to get involved with
• How would I balance b/w academics, recruiting and extracurriculars

I had time to ask about the MAP's and about the student culture. We went about 35 minutes.

Telephonic Interview, Round 2 (Published February 26, 2007)

This was a phone interview so I had emailed my resume in when I scheduled the interview. I called
up the number provided and my interviewer answered the phone directly. We made some small talk
about the weather and then dove right in. The standard tell-me-your-story question was next. So I
talked through my background, professional history and career change. Then why MBA/why now.
Then, why do you think Ross will fit into your plans? I talked a lot about the MAP program and
their focus on collaborative learning. The hardest question was "So it seems like you've been
effective at leading a number of organizations throughout your career. What do you think has made
you such an effective leader?" I stumbled for the first 5 seconds but then finished strong. At the end
I asked a few Ross questions: Why my interviewer picked Ross (fit, teamwork), what he liked best
about the school, what he thought could improve (Career Services for smaller companies), and what
he thought about the transitional period until the new building (ok since they are in the EMBA
building). Overall a decent interview, but as my first, of course, my answers weren't as well
developed as they could be. I also found a phone interview to be awkward so if you have the option
to do an on-campus I would recommend that. The total time was about 30 minutes.
Telephonic Interview with Adcoms, R2 Class of 2009 - (Published February 21, 2007 - anon78)
I had a telephonic interview setup with the Adcoms where I had to call in. The interview was very
conversational and the adcoms member was very friendly and relaxed. She asked me conversation
starters such as where I was calling from and where I usually holiday etc. and definitely made me feel
comfy. She also described the interview process before diving into the questions. The whole
interview lasted about 35 minutes.
Questions asked as part of the conversation:

• Could you give me a recent example of a contribution you made to your work or team?
• When you presented your idea did you get any pushback from the management?
• How did you get the resources/data you needed for the project you proposed?
• Why do you want to do an MBA now?
• What are the things at ROSS that interest you?
• What’s your community involvement outside of work?
• Technical questions about my sporting activity
• Which are the clubs that interest you at ROSS?
• Any thoughts about doing courses outside the MBA framework at ROSS?
• How do you handle a situation where a team-member of yours is not performing upto the
expected level?
• Did you face such an incident recently?
• Do you have any questions for me?

I asked only one question knowing that the person interviewing me was from the adcoms and
running short of time. Also I already had a pretty good idea of ROSS given my Alumni contacts.

What did you think of the interview?

I think the interview went decent. She mentioned good answer a few times.
What surprised you?
That the interview was so conversational and that the adcoms member was really friendly.
Off-Campus Alumni Interview, R1 Class of 2009 (Published January 7, 2007)
Had some trouble with the logistics because of weather and construction. Arrived early to calm the
nerves and prepare. Setting was a typical corporate environment (the alumnus's work location).
Started very informal as we walked to a conference room (chatted about the weather and my
commute). When we got comfortable in the conference room the alumnus then launched into the
standard questions. After about 30 minutes, when it came time for me to ask questions, it became
much more conversational.

Alumnus Questions posed:

• Tell me a little about yourself?

• Tell me a little about the positions you've worked in?
• Why MBA? Why now? Why Ross?
• There are a lot of clubs and activities @ Ross, what do I bring to the table, how will I
contribute?
• What are my goals after school?
• Tell me about a time where you lead a group, what was the outcome, what did you learn?
• Anything else?
• Any questions for me (alumnus)?

I asked a lot of questions about the alumnus's experience and I tried to be an active listener (using
the alumnus's comments to ask more questions).

What did you think of the interview?

I enjoyed the conversation and experience, although I think I did horribly in the interview (lack of
eye contact, I rambled on the team question, entire interview I didn't focus the conversation and I
felt I went on too many tangents, etc.).
What surprised you?
I was admitted! Despite, I think, a poor interview.
What didn’t surprise you?
Standard questions, nothing I didn't really anticipate.
What might you conclude about the school based on this experience?
Wonderful, and forgiving, alumni (the interviewing alumnus was very articulate and a good listener).
Don't worry too much if you think you screwed up the interview.

Off-campus alumni interview. (Published January 2006)

It started very formal, with the interviewer reading a description from an official packet, then
launched into a series of standard questions. After about 5-10 minutes, it became much more
conversational and fun, less formal. Interview portion lasted about ~25 minutes with 10 minutes of
me asking questions.
Her questions:

• Tell me about yourself, walk me through your resume

• Specific questions about my resume (she had asked for it before and was prepared with
detailed questions)

• Why MBA?
• What hope to achieve during MBA, what specifically at Ross?

• What do I bring to the table, what one thing will I add?

• What do I want to do after school?

• Describe time you executed an idea from start to finish, what was impact (basically, essay
#1)?

• What other schools applying? How does Ross compare to those schools (I hate this
question).

• Anything else she should know.

• Questions for her

On campus, adcoms, September (Published September 2005)

The textbook 30-minute, blind admissions interview. After some small talk, the interviewer went
right into questions, skipping any sort of resume rundown. It was clear that the interviewer was
following a script for the most part. Some of the questions, to the best of my recollection, were:
 • Why MBA?
• Why Ross?
• Why now?
• Has there ever been a time when you had to coach someone who wasn't performing well at
work?
• Which clubs and activities are you interested in at Ross?
• Any questions for me?

The interviewer was quite pleasant and friendly and took copious notes. There was no branching out
into other subjects, so if you're looking to get some other information in, you may want to find a
way to shoehorn it into one of the questions above. In my case, I used the "clubs and activities"
question to touch upon one of my hobbies.
In short, if you have the basics down, you shouldn't have too much trouble with the Michigan
adcoms interview.

Alumni. (Published Dec 31, 2005)

The interview was with Alumni Gautam Rao in Hyderabad at his office. He was pretty cool person.
The Interview was basically a walk through of resume.

• Tell me about yourself

• Why ROSS?? Why MBA??
• Issue of Ganguly in Indian cricket as I am interested in Cricket
• About my venture and what went wrong with it? How could I do differently given a chance
now?
• About the award I received from President of India
• About the Debate community that I started in my organization

It was pretty much it. It went fine and the interview was very professional
All the best to prospective students

Telephonic Interview, Second Year Int'l Student. (Published October 2005)

Interviewed over the phone with a second year international student at Ross in early October.
It was a 30 minute long interview with similar questions as discussed above. Since I interviewed
before I submitted my application I tried to weave in a few questions into my spiel. The information
proved to be useful for my essays. The student was very polite and made me feel comfortable. She
also helped me get some information from the adcoms as a follow up to the interview.
Interview experience:
Questions asked:

• Why MBA?
• Why Now?
• Why Ross?
• Interests outside work?
• Describe a situation where you translated theory into action.
• Describe a situation where you met with resistance from your team member, and what did
you do about it?
• What will you bring to the Ross community, and what will you take back from the
community (besides the good education)?
• Some questions to clarify career goals?

The interview was pretty standard, and can be aced through thorough preparation.

Interviewed with an Alumni in late Oct 2005 for round 1. (Published October 2005)
It was a 30-40 minutes interview and I met my interviewer in a local Starbucks. The alumnae
graduated from Ross in 2003. She was very helpful, down to earth and the interview was very casual,
though she took lots of notes. The interview questions were:

• Why MBA? Why now?

• Why Ross?
• Walk there the resume?
• Describe your leadership experience at your work place?
• Describe a situation where you had to make a tough decision?
• Describe a situation where some one in your group was against the decision you made? How
did you solve this difficult situation? And what did you learn?
• What do you do outside of work?
 • How do you plan to contribute to the student body at Ross?

Overall, the interview was pretty standard. She gave me 10 minutes to ask questions and any
concerns I had.

MIT Sloan

Round 2 / Adcoms Consultant / On-Campus / March 2008 (Published April 9th, 2008)

My interviewer was very warm and friendly and made a concerted effort to make sure I was relaxed
and comfortable. She had clearly read my application thoroughly and after some small talk, she told
me she had prepared 3 questions that I should answer with new stories in the STAR format.

1. Tell me about a time you led a team to a solution.

2. Tell me about a time you had to sell an idea.
3. Tell me about a time your idea was rejected.

She then allowed me to ask several questions about the program. We ran a little over 45 minutes.
I prepared for my interview by making 1 note card for each of 5 good stories that were deep enough
to answer a wide variety of questions and diverse enough to show characteristics of me that weren't
emphasized in my application. My note cards were in the STAR format that MIT recommends - 1
bullet for each point. Finally, I looked at this wiki to see the range of questions and thought through
whether or not my stories addressed most of them. I also did a mock interview.
Her line of questioning as we explored each story was very logical and she did not throw any major
curve balls. I felt that I was stumbling through #3 at times, but she helped me stay on track. I was
admitted in R2.

Round 2 / Adcoms (Published March 27th, 2008)

Of my interviews thus far, MIT was by far the most rigorous and thorough. They hold true to the
"behavioral" interview model, where they spend most of the time asking you about a situation from
your past where something happened and you need to say what you did. Note that they want stories
that have NOT appeared in your essays. It sounded like they didn't mind if the stories were from my
personal or professional life (I asked) as long as they were relevant.
The interview was conducted by a member of the admissions committee. It is exactly like a job
interview and, while not necessarily pressured, is much more intense then my Tuck, Kellogg or
Wharton interviews. The interviewer was cordial and friendly, but there was almost zero small talk.
The major questions I was asked:

• What exactly do you do? What have you been doing in your position recently?
• Tell me about a time when you were overwhelmed and asked others for help
• Tell me about a time when you mentored someone
• Tell me about a time when you butted heads with a co-worker/client/employee
• Tell me about a time when you were part of a team that had poor dynamics/didn't get along
well (say what you did, of course)
• Tell me about a time when you had to deal with someone who wasn't pulling his/her weight
• Why an MBA, why Sloan (although only briefly and at the end)?

I was then asked if I had any questions. You'll really only have time for one, so make it a good
question that shows you've done your homework and will help you evaluate the school. I asked
about how hard it was to get into classes, as this has come back as the most universal complaint I've
heard from current top b-school students (Wharton especially).
My advice (along with others who have posted here) is to review the list of Sloan questions we've all
posted and think of two or three stories that could work. If you do that, you'll have a good 30-40
stories that could be applicable for any question the interviewer might ask.

Adcoms Consultant, On-Campus, Round 1, December 2007 (Published January 15, 2008)
I interviewed on-campus with a consultant that worked with the admissions committee. She was not
a full-time member of adcoms, but apparently worked with them during admissions season. At first
glance, she appeared like she wasn't going to be very friendly, but I pushed the small talk and we
developed some good rapport early on. Like you probably know if you're reading this MIT interview
is non-blind, they have read all of your material. At the beginning of the interview, she reiterated
everything MIT provides in the interview guide about the behavioral interview. She wanted specific
anecdotes and she didn't want to hear the same stories I had used in my application.

• Her first question was about a story I used in one of my essays. She basically asked me about
the challenges in managing this project and specific difficulties.
 • I have an office overseas, which I manage remotely; she spent a lot of the interview asking
specific questions about the challenges in managing the offshore staff. She wanted specific
examples of issues I've faced and how I handled them. She wanted specific examples.

• Tell me about a time when you had to decide multiple options. Drilled into my answer.

• What will your business do when you leave? Wanted details.

• She didn't ask my Why Sloan? - Why an MBA? - Goals? Or any of the other standard
interview questions.

• Questions for her? This really was my only opportunity to show that I've done my research
on Sloan. I mentioned specific courses, professors, treks, and clubs in the context of my
questions.

• At the bottom of my resume, I had some "other interests" listed. She even asked me about a
couple of those.

• Do you have your official transcripts? I didn't have the official transcripts, so I handed her
the photocopies I made.

She would drill down into every question. One question she asked multiple times because my
anecdote didn't directly address her question. Overall, be prepared to discuss stories from your app
materials and have several new stories ready. They want details. I recommend using names and
specifics. Story should be detailed as if you were telling a colleague. This was very different from
your standard interview. Focus your efforts on preparing some good stories. Don't worry too much
about the standard interview questions like why Sloan. Also, don't save your good stories for the
end. Use your best anecdotes early because you will only have the opportunity to go through a few
because of the time the interviewer spends drilling down. I think I did well, but I am certainly glad
that this was one of my last interviews. If you interview on-campus, I recommend participating in
"lunch with a student". Eased the tension and gave me some good information about the program.

Adcoms, Hub Interview, Round 2 (Published March 23, 2007)

I met with an assistant director of admissions at a hotel lobby in Santa Monica, CA. The interviewer
was suffering from a bad cold/flu. He was friendly, affable, relaxed, and professional. It focused on
the interview at hand with some smiles and laughs thrown in. He asked the following questions. My
interview was short, about 25 minutes.

• Do you have your transcripts? (He opened the envelopes and looked them over)

• How did you like (undergrad institution)?

• Describe a time when someone's input impacted your actions?

• Tell me about a time when you had to sell an idea to an individual or a group.

• Tell me about a time when you had to decide between many different routes or options.

• What's a personal goal you've set for yourself within the last 2 years?

• How does Sloan rank compared to the other schools you are applying to?

• Why Sloan?

• Is there anything else you would like to add?

• Do you have any questions for me?

He did not grill me too much. Just asked the questions and sometimes asked me to elaborate on
certain points of my response.

Adcoms, Hub Interview (Published March 9, 2007)

Basically had the following questions:

• What other interviews have you had?

• What great experience have you had on your job within the last one-year ?

• What expectation have you had recently that was not met?
 • Why MBA?

• Why Sloan?

• What question do you wish that I had asked you?

Adcoms, Off-campus. (Published March 2006)

My interview was in London with the assistant director of admissions. The interview was pretty
short, somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes. The interviewer was very professional, but not
robotic.
As noted elsewhere on this page, I was asked not to use examples contained in my essay.
All questions were behavioral type questions. Here's what I can remember being asked:

• Hand over your transcript

• Give an example of a time when you had to deal with someone who wasn't pulling their
weight
• Give an example of a time when your actions annoyed a superior or colleague
• I explained, then was asked how that made me feel
• How do you stand out amongst your peers
• How does MIT rank against the other schools you've applied to?

• Do you have any questions for me?

I haven't heard yet either way, but after being in the interview here's my advice:

• This interview was professional, don't expect any weird questions

• Have a swathe of examples of cool things you did professionally and personally ready and
waiting. Don't be robotic in your answers - believe in what you did and the successes you've
had.
• The interviewer will pause to scribble - don't feel like you have to fill the gap. It's ok to pause
and think of stuff, so while the interviewer writes, you can think.
Interview w/ Adcoms in NYC; Round 2 - Interviewed: March 8, 2006 (Published March 2006)
My Sloan interview lasted about 30 minutes, with the last few minutes reserved for my questions.
Below were the questions asked:

1. Do you have your official transcript?

2. Tell me about how/why you transitioned from your first job to your second.
3. Tell me about a time where you had an impact on a group.
4. Give me another example.
5. Tell me about a time where you had to make two groups come to a consensus.
6. What other schools are you applying to, and how does MIT rank against those schools?
7. Is there anything else you would like to add?
8. Do you have any questions for me?

My advice:

1. Be prepared to have at least two examples for each possible question! Alternatively, have
examples that are very versatile (one that can answer both leadership questions and impact
questions for example).
2. Be especially aware if you have a tendency to ramble on. Because the interviewer was taking
copious notes, there were times of extended silence, which I initially filled by reiterating my
points. I had to make a conscious effort to stop.
3. If you're interviewing in the NYC hub location, allow extra time to figure out the elevator
system (seriously!). There are several banks of elevators and some only go to certain floors.
It took me literally 10 minutes of walking around, perplexed, to get to the office.

Interview w/ Adcoms in Bay Area; Round 2 - Interviewed: March 2, 2006 (Published: March 4,
2006)
The MIT adcoms I interviewed with was extremely friendly and loved to talk. :-) The interview
lasted about 45 minutes and was very conversational.
Started off with her reading my transcripts and mentioning, "Oh, you went to [this] high school?"
Didn't realize that was on my transcripts! "Why did you go to [this university] for one summer
session?"
Then came the *behavioral* portion of the interview. During our chat, the bells rang loud and clear
that she knew my application very well. Often when I said something about my background or
experience she would reinforce it with, "Oh yes! I remember you mentioning [blah] on your app!"
Of course I tried to come up with other examples for the questions asked below.

• "Tell me about a project at work that you co-managed... How did you feel? What would you
say the impact was to the client? How did they react?"
• "Tell me about a project at work within the last year that you're proud of... What did you
specifically learn from it?"
• "What's a personal goal you've set for yourself within the last 2 years?"
• "Why Sloan?"
• "I read about [this] in your app and loved the story behind it. Can you tell me more about it?
How did the members feel about that? Why did you fail at that point? How do you feel
about the outcome?"
• "Why do you want to go to the east coast? Are you sure you wouldn't mind moving east?" (I
live in California.)

Remember: Be yourself. They know your app, so they want to reaffirm: 1) who you've displayed
yourself to be on your app, 2) your reasons for "why Sloan," and 3) your personality and your fit for
Sloan. The easiest way is to treat the adcoms like your peer. Imagine you're working on a team
project and the Sloan adcoms is a team member. How would you interact with your team member?
Show this.

R1: Admit From: Business as Unusual (Published March 2006)

I was a little nervous for my 8:00 am Sloan interview in Seattle because I had flown in from Austin
the day before and gone to bed at 2:00 am. Moreover, my girlfriend had not picked up my suit from
the dry-cleaners so I had no idea how I would survive the dreaded behavioral interview. Anyway, the
cleaners opened at 7:00, we were there at 6:45. I changed in the dry-cleaners store and headed to my
interview. Incidentally, my interviewer was a little late, which gave me a little time to catch my
breath. :)
She started off my telling me that the person who read my file had told her that mine was an
extremely strong application. Well, that kind of boosted my confidence. We did only 3 questions:
Tell me of a difficult time you faced, Tell me a little about the non-profit work you do & do you
have any questions for me. I think I did really well in the interview and by the end of it I could tell
she was selling the school to me.
On the day of the results, my interviewer left a voice mail on my phone, telling me I had gotten in. :)

R2 Interview in Cambridge with Adcoms. (Published March 2006)

MIT sends you a 2-page guide to their "Behavioral Event-based Interview" (BEI) before you visit.
The key difference is that they do NOT ask you "Why an MBA? Why now? And why here?" They
simply take your resume and application and ask two or three main questions, each with several
follow up questions. Note that it is not a blind interview. The adcoms is supposed to review your
application thoroughly before the interview. It's hard to list the questions they'll ask, because the
questions will be about your application. Expect questions on conflicts/difficulties at work and how
you handled them.
It's not as unique as some people claim. It is odd, however, to have an interviewer ask you "...and
how did that make you feel?" You feel a bit like you're on a psychiatrist's couch then. The
interviewer is also studiously poker-faced. It's not confrontational, but it's also not as warm and
congenial as other schools. I tried to make my interviewer laugh, but he just smiled patiently. I agree
with others who have observed that they are also trying to get a sense of how strong your
commitment to attending Sloan is

Stanford

Class of 2010 / Round 2 / Alumni Interview - Admitted! (Published April 15th, 2008)

The interviewer was very friendly and relaxed and made sure to mention to me at the beginning that
the interview was more about getting to know each other and learn about the alumni's experience
Stanford, than it was to judge the merits of this applicant. I had emailed him a copy of my resume,
and when I arrived at his office he printed it out.

He began with a brief introduction of his background, and then said he wanted to ask a few
questions and then have me ask him a few questions.

• What have you enjoyed about working at your current company?

 • How have your professional experiences so far shaped where you see yourself? (this led to
discussion of career goals and how MBA fits in)
• Insert about 3-4 questions here specifically related to my career interests and path
• Tell me about your undergraduate experience.
• What books have you read recently?
• What do you like to do outside of work?

The last 15 minutes of the interview involved discussion of his experiences at the Stanford GSB and
how they shaped his career choices. In closing the interview, I was surprised that he was very direct
and complimentary about my background and said he thought my candidacy was unique and would
be a good fit for the GSB.

Class of 2010 / Round 1 / Alumni (Published March 28th, 2008)

After a series of rescheduling due to busy schedule of alumnus and myself, I was able to schedule an
interview at the office of alumni interviewer. To my surprise he and his assistant were the only two
people working in the office that day.
As usual the interviewer was very laid back and friendly. He asked me to wait almost 15-20 min till
he did some office work and took out print out of my resume and Stanford Interview FAQ’s.
Started with his brief introduction and then the regular questions.

• Walk me through you resume? (Lots of follow up question in between)

• Why MBA? (He challenged my reason to do an MBA)
• Why Stanford? (Again I ran into some trouble here with some unauthenticated talks that I
heard about Stanford)
• Question related to my family business
• Question related to my current job
• Leadership experience
• What matters most to you and Why?
• Failure
• Social activity
• Under grad college club activity
• Conflict at workplace
 • Long term/Short term goals
• Biggest achievement
• Any questions for him
• My future B Plan and how venture capital might help.

To my surprise again, he asked me almost all the possible questions but he was very friendly and
looked genuinely interested in my answers.
When asked about his Stanford exp. he told that the thing he liked most about Stan was networking,
partying and touring. :)
Overall it was an enjoyable experience and by the time I was out of his office, I had spent almost 2
hrs there.

Class of 2010 / Round1 / Off-campus / Alumni (Published February 1st, 2008)

I met at the office of the alumni interviewer; he was extremely friendly and we chatted for about 5
minutes to break the ice.

• Went through resume chronologically, with branching questions every so often

• We had similar interests in organizational development, so that was a tangent
• He had worked for a current customer of ours; another tangent
• This entire aspect lasted about 35 minutes, and was simply a casual conversation
• Then - why MBA, why now
• Talk about activities outside of work
• Any questions for him

All told, interview went about 75 minutes, which I think was more a function of the interviewer than
any amazing answers I was giving.

Official [Interview Invitation] Email (Published April 5, 2007)

Here is a copy of the email that invited applicants receive:
Original Message From: "Stanford MBA Admissions Office" <interview@gsb.stanford.edu>
Subject: Stanford MBA Program Interview
Hello APPLICANT NAME,
The Stanford MBA Admissions Office has reviewed your application to the Stanford MBA
Program. We would like to invite you to meet with one of our alumni for a 45-minute interview. The
purpose of this meeting is both evaluative and informational, with an emphasis on creating a
positive and enjoyable experience.
Your alumni interviewer is: Name: E-mail: Cell Phone:
If you have a pre-existing relationship with your alumni interviewer, please immediately contact Judy
Low, Interview Coordinator, at interview@gsb.stanford.edu so that we can reassign you.
To move forward, it is imperative that you follow the instructions below:
1. We ask that you contact your alumni interviewer - contact information is provided above - to
schedule a mutually convenient time and location to meet. We suggest business attire, but ask that
you contact your alumni interviewer to confirm specifics of the meeting.
2. Please send your alumni interviewer a copy of your resume via email or fax. Please do NOT send
other information (your essays, transcripts, etc.).
3. If at all possible, please schedule and complete the interview within three weeks. If it is not
feasible to complete the interview in that time period, please contact Judy Low, Interview
Coordinator, interview@gsb.stanford.edu.
4. As soon as you have confirmed the date of your meeting, please send a reply email to
interview@gsb.stanford.edu with that information. If you reschedule the meeting, please send
another email to interview@gsb.stanford.edu so that we are aware of the change.
5. Please send your official (hardcopy) transcript(s) to me within the next three weeks. DO NOT
give your transcripts to your interviewer. The mailing address is:
Attention: JUDY LOW MBA Admissions Office Stanford Graduate School of Business 518
Memorial Way Stanford, CA 94305 USA
PLEASE NOTE: an official transcript must come in a sealed envelope, and the envelope should be
stamped with the university's seal. It should not be opened by anyone before being sent to Stanford.
If your transcripts are in a language other than English you must also provide an English translation
that is sealed and stamped by the translator. Transcripts that do not arrive in envelopes that are
sealed and stamped are not considered official. If your transcripts are not received in a timely
manner, we cannot guarantee your decision will be released on decision day.
6. Unfortunately, we are unable to confirm receipt of individual transcripts. However, please be
assured that we will contact you if your official (hardcopy) transcript is not received.
We hope you will find the meeting stimulating and informative. Thank you again for your continued
interest in the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Best regards,
Judy Low Interview Coordinator Stanford MBA Admissions Office interview@gsb.stanford.edu

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT STANFORD MBA INTERVIEWS

Answers to FAQ’s from Candidates Invited to Interview
1. Is it a positive sign to be invited to interview?
Since this process has discrete outcomes - admission or non-admission - we worry that it can be
misleading to discuss probabilities or chances. Please keep this in mind throughout the admission
process.
Our intention is to interview 100% of the students who enroll in the Stanford MBA Program.
Candidates invited to interview have been reviewed by the Admissions Committee and are
considered competitive for admission. However, given the overall strength of the applicant pool, we
expect that the majority of candidates interviewed will not be offered admission. We say this not to
be discouraging or mean-spirited, but to highlight the reality of a highly selective admission process.
2. What is the weight of the interview?
There is no specific weight assigned to the interview; the interview is only one part of a
comprehensive process. Therefore, a positive interview does not guarantee admission, and a poor
interview does not, by itself, preclude admission. The written application, including the essays and
letters of reference, is a critical part of the evaluation process. The interview is a key source of
supplemental information.
3. May I interview with an Admissions Officer?
Only Stanford MBA alumni conduct interviews. We feel the interview offers a unique opportunity
for applicants to learn more about the Stanford MBA Program in a personal setting. Having been
through the MBA Program, our alumni are our best resource in sharing their academic and
extracurricular experiences with you.
4. May I have background information on my Alumni Interviewer? What information will my
Alumni Interviewer have about me?
When you contact your Alumni Interviewer, feel free to ask her/him any appropriate questions
regarding her/his background. The only information that your Alumni Interviewer will have about
you is your resume, which you will send directly to her/him. All interviews address behaviors, skills,
and attitudes that demonstrate your potential to grow in the Stanford GSB community as a student
and to lead in the world after graduation. We do not direct your Alumni Interviewer to probe
specific areas based on your application; we believe the bias that could result from such guidance
would outweigh any potential evaluative benefit.
5. What should I wear to the interview?
You may wear either business casual or professional attire. At the time that you set up your
interview, please ask your Alumni Interviewer which is preferable.
6. Is there any significance to when I received my interview invitation?
No, the timing of your interview invitation reflects only the order in which your application was
reviewed in the Admissions Committee. Interview invitations are extended from about a week after
the round's deadline until about a week before the round's notification date, because it takes the
Admissions Committee that entire period to review all applications thoroughly.
7. How can I prepare for the interview?
Our best advice is simply to be yourself. We suggest that you review your resume and your essays
prior to the interview. The primary questions will revolve around behaviors, skills, and attitudes that
we believe are key to good citizenship here in the Stanford community and vital to high-impact
leadership post-MBA. There are no trick questions. We will ask you to reflect on your personal and
professional experiences; what you've learned about yourself; and how best to lead people and
manage situations.
Remember, the interview is both evaluative and informative: it is not only an opportunity for us to
learn more about you, but also for you to learn more about the School. It is designed to be a positive
exchange of ideas and information.
8. If I have a problem contacting my Alumni Interviewer, what should I do?
If your Alumni Interviewer has not returned your call or answered your email within 2 - 3 days,
please contact Judy Low, Interview Coordinator at interview@gsb.stanford.edu.
9. What should I do if I will be traveling over the next several weeks or if I am not near the location
of my assigned interview?
Please contact Judy Low, Interview Coordinator at interview@gsb.stanford.edu immediately so that
we can assign you another Alumni Interviewer. If you are in an area in which we have no
interviewers, we can schedule an interview by telephone.
10. Why are you requesting my official (hardcopy) transcript(s) now? Should I bring my official
(hardcopy) transcript to the interview?
We give applicants the option of submitting self-reported (online) transcripts(s) with the online
application since that version is satisfactory for purposes of preliminary reviews. However, for
purposes of making admission decisions, we require the official (hardcopy) transcript(s).
Please do not bring your official (hardcopy) transcript(s) to the interview. Instead, send your official
(hardcopy) transcript(s) to:
Attention: Transcripts MBA Admissions Office Stanford Graduate School of Business 518
Memorial Way Stanford, CA 94305 USA
11. If I have any questions or issues related to the interview, what should I do?
Please contact Judy Low, Interview Coordinator at interview@gsb.stanford.edu. We will address
your concern as soon as possible.

Stanford R2 Alumni interview in Asia, Admitted (Published March 23, 2007)

As expected and suggested by the agreed venue —a relaxed coffee shop— the interview was very
pleasant and chatty. The structured part lasted 30 minutes, but we spent a good hour after that
discussing my interviewer's story and chatting about areas of converging interest. We kicked the
conversation off by speculating jokingly about how Stanford selects its interviewers, and after a
minute or two he pulled out a sheet of very standard questions, which he annotated sparsely as the
interview progressed.

• Why an MBA, and why Stanford? (This lead into talking about my long term goal)
• Tell me about a time —maybe the most recent example— when you lead a team
• Tell me about a time when you failed within a team
• Give me an example of constructive criticism you've received, and tell me how you reacted
• Tell me about a good or bad leader you've worked with
• Give me an example of a time when you had to choose between two equally attractive
options
• Have you ever stood to defend a position that wasn't popular or easily accepted?
• What are your extra-curricular activities?
• What are you reading at the moment, if anything?
• You've done a lot of traveling - tell me about that
He mentioned at that point that the formal part of the interview was over, and that I could ask him
whatever I wanted about Stanford. I think it's important to realize that you're still 'on the record' at
this stage. I'd read up on what he had done since high school and was intrigued to hear the details,
so I simply asked him to take me through it, pre-, at and post-Stanford. As an accomplished
entrepreneur, he was an excellent advertisement for the program. To re-iterate what is inferred in all
these posts, the interview was ostensibly an assessment of my interpersonal skills and general
demeanor rather than a mental test or grilling over my accomplishments. It was the most pleasant
and inspiring interview I've had.

Stanford Interview, March 2007, Alum - R2 (Published March 2007)

I wanted to share my interview experience since I got so much help from the applicant community :)
The interview was VERY chatty and conversational - but every so often it would occur to her to ask
THE QUESTIONS (there is a sheet she kept referring to), so I'll let you know what came from the
list! Also, a side note, these are in no particular order.
1. What do you want to do with an MBA? Why do you need one?
2. Why Stanford? (This came up a lot in many different forms. For example, I told her I wanted to
move back to the mid-west, and she asked "then why not Kellogg?")
3. Tell me about a time you let a team down? What did you learn?
4. What is a piece of constructive criticism you received from your manager? How did it affect your
relationship? What have you done to work on this?
5. What is your greatest accomplishment?
6. What do you do outside of work for fun?
7. Tell me about a time that you showed great leadership - either extra-curricular or at work?
8. What book are you currently reading? Who is your favorite author?
9. Tell me about a time you worked for a bad manager? What happened?
10. What was your favorite class at school? (I went with a non-business school class that dealt with
the portrayal of women in film. This opened up a large discussion about women in business, why
they drop out of the workforce, how to balance a career with children, etc. Glad I didn't say finance
or accounting! Ha!)
11. When did you realize you needed an MBA?
12. What other schools did you get into? Why did you apply there? (I was honest about the schools I
got into, and the ones I withdrew from. We spoke a bit about HBS v Stanford and why I would
choose Stanford if I was already accepted at HBS - she had also chosen between the 2)
13. Why did you apply to Stanford in r2 and the other schools in r1 if Stanford was your first
choice?
14. Tell me about a time your values were challenged.
Overall, it went well. The interview lasted over an hour, with a little over half dedicated to the
Stanford-supplied questions. She ended with - you'll see at admit weekend that the culture is much
different than Harvard; I think you'll like it there.
Not sure how much the interview weighs at Stanford - guess I'll find out in 3 weeks!

Stanford Interview, December 2006, Alum, Admitted (Published February 7, 2007)

The alum was conversational and friendly. Asked me questions for 30 minutes and left me
15 minutes to ask questions. I was surprised by the intensity of the interview.

• Why an MBA? What would you do if you couldn't get an MBA?

• Tell be about a time you led a team and let them down? Asked for a second example that
was more team-oriented.
• Tell be about a time you saw and took advantage of an opportunity?
• Tell be about a time you overcame a great obstacle?
• What is your greatest accomplishment?
• Tell be about a time when you stood on the unpopular side of an issue?
• What do you do outside of work for fun?
• What is a piece of constructive advice you've been given?
• In which industry would you work if you couldn't work in your first-choice industry?

R1, Alumni interview (Published December 2006)

I interviewed with an alumnus. The interview began after some initial chitchat and lasted for 45
minutes. The interviewer was extremely friendly. The interview itself was more of a dialogue rather
than a set of questions followed by my answers and his taking notes. Here are the questions that I
was asked:
 • What has been your most rewarding experience among your two jobs and education? Why is
this so?
• What have you learnt from this experience? How have you evolved as a person?
• Why do you feel the need for an MBA when your career seems to be going so well?
• How will you need to evolve personally to move from your short-term career goal to your
long-term career goal?
• What is your perception of what an MBA program provides?
• What other schools have you applied to or heard from?
• Elaborate on your extra-curricular interests. What prompted you to get involved in these
activities?

After the interview, I asked my interviewer a few questions about his experiences. After the
interview, he sent me an e-mail telling me that he had submitted his report to Stanford.

R1, Alumni interview. (Published December 2006)

I interviewed with an alumnus. The interview lasted for 45 minutes and after some conversation on
sports and weather, we dived into the interview immediately. My interviewer explained the
admissions process and told me that I will have an opportunity to ask questions at the end. Here are
the questions that were asked:

• Why do you need an MBA?

• My interviewer then asked me about a specific volunteer work that I was doing and asked
me to elaborate on how I felt working for that organization
• Can you talk about an instance at work that made you realize you need an MBA?
• Tell me about an instance when you had to work with a difficult person and what did you
learn?
• My interviewer then asked me why I was chosen to lead a specific project I mentioned in my
resume
• What is the most constructive piece of criticism you received from your supervisor and how
did you respond?
• How are the leadership skills you gained at work and those you gained outside work
different?
 • Tell me about an instance when you displayed great leadership
• Tell me about an instance when you had to choose between two equally compelling offers
• What will be your biggest challenge at Stanford?
• What book are you currently reading and what did you most like/dislike about the book?

After the interview finished, my interviewer wished me good luck and told me that I will hear from
the admissions committee on 18th January

R1, Alumni interview. (Published December 2006)

I interviewed with a local alumnus. After going back and forth over email, we found a mutually
convenient time to meet at his office. There was nothing surprising about the interview. All the
questions were asked in a very conversational, yet professional, tone.

• 10 minutes of icebreakers/small-talk.
• When did you realize you needed an MBA?
• Time when you saw poor leadership at work?
• Time when you did something that impacted people (in work or outside of it).
• Why Stanford?
• Favorite course at school, and why?

Overall, it was a very pleasant conversation. My interviewer was several years out of school, yet very
active on the alumni circuit. He did make it clear that the interview was only one part of the process,
and that Career/Grades/GMAT/recommendations/Essays are equally important. He also raved
about how exceptional people are at Stanford, and commented on how important fit is while
deciding where to go. He gave me time to ask questions, and went into great detail to describe his
experiences at Stanford.
My advice to people is to relax, keep some frameworks in mind about the things you want to talk
about, and be yourself. I don’t think there's much you can do wrong with that.

R2, Alumni Interview (Published March 2006)

My interviewer was a banker. Very friendly and personable. He stuck to the clock, asked me
questions for 30 minutes and gave me 15 minutes to ask him Qs. For the most part, I spent the first
30 minutes explaining my reasoning behind every transition, educational and professional on my
resume.

• Why did you do a Master’s degree (non-MBA)?

• Why MBA, you already have a Master’s? Why now?
• Why Stanford?
• What other schools did you apply to? Why?
• What has been your most significant accomplishment and why?
• Explain to me how you lead in your work or in some other context?
• Tell me about a time when you failed within a team.
• What was your favorite class in college?

Questions I asked the interviewer:

• How has the MBA influenced your career and life?

• What has the GSB done for you that no other b-school could?
• What was your fondest memory at the GSB?
• Given my background, how can I make the most of the Stanford MBA?

R2: Alumni interview – Admitted Student. (Published March 2006)

The interview lasted 45 minutes. It took places at the interviewer’s office. She explained me that she
was going to ask me questions for about 45 minutes and then leave time for me to ask any questions
that I had about the program. The interviewer was very friendly and enthusiastic about Stanford.
She asked the following questions:

1. Tell me why do you want to pursue an MBA now

2. Why Stanford? How does Stanford fit into your short-term and long-term goals?
3. Tell me about a recent criticism you have received and what have you done to improve? Tell
me a situation when you had the chance to apply your improvements.
4. What has been your most significant accomplishment and why?
5. Tell me a situation when you had to deal with a difficult manager / boss.
6. Describe a situation when your values were challenged.
 7. What book have you read recently? What was it about and do you recommend it?
8. What do you like to do outside of work?

Then she asked if I had any questions about Stanford and I asked her a couple of questions
regarding her personal experience and the most valuable things she learned at Stanford. I also asked
about her decision making process when she had to chose among schools. She then told me that the
45 minutes were up and she told that she would love to continue the conversation but wanted to
stick to the format.

R2: Alumni Interview. (Published March 2006)

The interview lasted about an hour. The guy explained he would go through a standardized list of
questions... also spent 5 minutes explaining the process: interview was a good sign but not a
guarantee of success blah blah blah.

1. You have already quite a list of academic achievements. Why do you need MBA then? When
did you realize you needed one?
2. And why Stanford?
3. Explain to me how you lead in your work or in some other context? I want to understand
how exactly you do.
4. What has been your greatest accomplishment?
5. Criticism you received: example and how did you react? What did you think of your
supervisor then?
6. Tell me about a non-business book you read?
7. Tell me how you influence your peers [given that you're working mainly with peers]? I want
a precise example of how you achieve this influence/leadership. There, it was clear he
wanted an episode / very precise set of actions.
8. Tell me about an occasion when you were under bad leadership. What did you learn?

Then it was his turn to talk. I asked him about his background and progression and how Stanford
played a role in it. Then we discussed about how Stanford most helped him become more
entrepreneurial and he gave some useful tips as to how best use the faculty. Then his wife called and
he apologized he had to leave!
R2: Alumni Interview – Bay Area - Interviewed: Feb 25, 2006 (Published Mar 1, 2006)
I met with the alum at a coffee shop. She was very personable and began by giving me her
background pre- and post- GSB. We talked for about an hour, probably 40 minutes on interview
questions and the last 20 or so on me asking her questions and talking about her experience. Some
of the questions I received:

• Tell me about yourself

• Why MBA?
• What are long term and short term goals?
• Why Stanford?
• Tell me about a time when you led a team towards a goal.
• Tell me about a time when you failed. Have you learned from this failure (give example)?
• What’s the best piece of criticism you’ve received?
• What has been your most significant accomplishment and why?
• Tell me about a time when you worked under bad leadership.
• Tell me about a time when your values were challenged.

The alum was very likeable and down-to-earth. The interview seemed to go well, but who knows
how it'll end up- fingers crossed. Good luck to everyone – the best advice really is to relax and be
yourself.

Alum Interview in the Bay Area, Round 2 - Interviewed: February 21, 2006 (Feb. 24, 2006)
Met with the alumni at her company in a meeting room. The interview lasted 45 minutes. This was
definitely a very conversational interview, which allowed me to speak to my experiences in my
professional, academic, extracurricular, and especially my personal life. I can only describe this as
one of the most enlightening and down-to-earth interviews I've had thus far. We went through her
list of "Stanford recommended" questions:

1. What was the point/situation that made you realize you wanted an MBA?
2. Why Stanford?
3. Tell me about a challenging time for you.
4. Tell me a time where you failed as a leader. What was the reaction of those under you?
5. What do you believe to be your greatest achievement?
 6. Tell me about a great leader you had and what you learned from this person.
7. What was the best college course you took?
8. Why aren't you applying to schools X and Y?
9. What is the best constructive criticism you've received?
10. What is a non-business book you've read and what did you learn from it?

Then, I was given 5 minutes to ask her questions. During the interview we conversed on women in
business, swapped book recommendations and community service orgs to look into, and both spoke
about our passion for "why Stanford." We discussed Stanford's culture, class dynamics, location,
which classes to take, professors and their research, and hands-down, how the GSB offers the best
leadership development and growth through its general management program. We also discussed
opportunities in the social sector - though I had clearly emphasized my interest in marketing. Since I
had been to campus several times for the 1) Info Session, 2) GSB Tour, 3) Lunch w/ Student, and
4) In-Class Visit, I was also able to speak about the GSB on a personal level to reinforce the "why
Stanford" for me.

Stanford R2 Interview with alum, Philadelphia. (Published February 10, 2006)

This was by far the most conversational interview I have had. It was conducted on February 8 in his
office. He said it would last approximately 45 minutes to an hour, and it lasted exactly one hour. He
started by introducing himself and explaining how the interview fit into the application process, and
then he complimented me on my resume and my accomplishments.
I don't remember him asking very many explicit questions other than:

• What prompted you to apply to Stanford?

• Describe a time when you have proposed an idea that was not initially well received. How
did you handle it?
• What has been your most significant accomplishment and why?
• What do you like to do outside of work?
• What book are you reading right now and what have you learned from it?

He also indicated that he had visited my company's website and asked me to comment on the
organization's current leadership transition (from a management perspective). In between asking
these questions we went off on tangents about travel, visiting the Stanford campus, and various
books we'd read. He then asked me if I had any questions for him. Leaving the interview, I was
worried that he had not asked me why I wanted an MBA and what my career goals were. The
following morning I received a phone call from him and he apologized for not having asked those
questions during the interview and then posed them to me. I was glad that he followed up rather
than submitting his review to Stanford without that key info!

Stanford R2 Interview with alum, coffee shop in East Asia. (Published February 3 2006)
After having several interviews with alum, students and adcoms, I found this one unique. Although I
had previously had an alum interview, I did not find it to be as comfortable/casual as this one.
Having said that, the interviewer still managed to maintain a respectable level of formality,
seriousness, etc. I.e. the tone was relaxed but the context what quite serious and he nonverbally
made it clear that "we are here to do business." I was thus very impressed with the ability of the
interviewer to make me feel so comfortable while at the same time sticking to the agenda. The
interview was scheduled for 45 minutes and he explicitly stated before the interview that we would
keep to that schedule (he actually set his stopwatch!).
The interviewer first asked me to explain how I ended up in my current job. I took this as a cue to
give him a quick rundown of my background (education, etc.) and gave a brief walkthrough of my
resume up to the point of joining my current employer.
He then asked me directly why I want an MBA and why now and WHY STANFORD. I think I told
him more than he needed to hear about Stanford, so after a while he broke off into new topics:
leadership and management.
My interviewer said he wanted to know some things about my leadership, teamwork, and
management experience and said that he would ask me some questions. Here they are:

• What has been one of your greatest management challenges at work (that has resulted in a
less than favorable outcome) and how did you handle it, learn from it, etc.
• Tell me about your leadership experiences/accomplishments/challenges/outside of work
and what you learned from them.

My responses to these questions evolved into a discussion about management and the importance of
finding a balance between "hard" and "soft" management skills. He then mentioned that Stanford
does a good job in teaching this balance.
Here are some of the questions that came next:

• What book are you reading/what kind of books do you read?

• What do you do in your free time?

At this point we were at about the 40-minute mark (5 minutes to go) and he asked me if I had
questions for him. I said that I really didn't have specific questions about the Stanford program but
that I am interested to learn about his personal experience, how Stanford helped boost him to his
current position in Asia, and his management experiences in Asia. For the next ten minutes, he
happily shared his experiences and I was happy to listen. We shook hands and wished each other the
best.
Summary: fabulous experience. I was most impressed with the personality of the interviewer -
extremely humble and down-to-earth while at the same time a very powerful and successful
businessperson. The interview was about 50 minutes.

Round 1 Interview. (Published December 2005)

The interview started on time and lasted for about an hour. The estimated interview time is 45 min.
My interviewer worked in my target industry, so we had quite a bit in common. It started out as a
general conversation re: each of our backgrounds, and I had 2 minutes to talk about myself. The
interviewer was fair and didn't ask any underhanded questions. It was very straightforward. I
discussed where I came from, where I'm at, and where I see myself going (and why). Besides the
typical career questions, I was asked what I enjoy doing outside of work, to describe a leadership
challenge at work and how I addressed it, describe a good vs. bad manager, what I do our of
intellectual curiosity, ethical dilemma and how I resolved it, and some other general interview
questions. After about 45 minutes of discussion and his asking me questions, I was given the
opportunity to ask him some questions.

Stanford Interview Experience - Alumni, Chicago. (Published November 2005)

Well, I suppose I'll also share my interview experience although there's not a tremendous amount to
say that hasn't already been said. I had my interview today, we decided to interview at his office and
my interviewer had a conference room ready.
The first thing I'll say is that the Stanford interviewer is very conversational. It's certainly a two-way
street and the interviewer is interviewing you as much as you're interviewing Stanford. My
interviewer made this very clear in the beginning.
The interview was supposed to run 45 minutes, but we ended up going a little over an hour. No
trick questions in the interview. See below for the list of questions I was asked:
Questions:

• Give me the 60-second rundown on yourself.

• Why do you want an MBA? Why Now? Why Stanford in particular?
• Tell me about a time you overcame a problem or took initiative to solve something.
• What was the last non-business book you read? What did you learn from it? Why did you
like it?
• Tell me about a time when you led a team and failed.
• Tell me about a time when you personally failed. How did you handle it?
• Tell me about a time when you received criticism? How did you handle it?
• How do you find the time to do all of these things given your life as a consultant?
• Have you visited Stanford?
• Why would you want to be in the college bubble that is Stanford?
• What would you view as your most significant accomplishment? Why?

Like I said, there really weren't any tricky questions. I was a little surprised by the "how do you find
the time to do all of the things you do...?" question, but I took it as a compliment that he was
impressed with my accomplishments.
Regarding overall feedback, my interviewer gave me lots of advice around what I "shouldn't miss
while at Stanford" and things that he regrets not doing so that I wouldn't make the same mistakes
(as if I were already accepted)...I also took this as a good sign, but I'm assuming almost everyone's
interview goes well so I won't read too much into it lest I'm one of the 60%+ that's rejected after
interview.
The one thing that was solidified was how great the alumni are. I really feel like Stanford values
character before accomplishments, while I think HBS may be a bit the other way around (though
I'm sure character is also high on their list). My interviewer was certainly accomplished (Mckinsey,
etc.) but he reminded me to pursue my dreams no matter where I go in life. Certainly much more
inspirational than any other business school interview I've had thus far and far less
accomplishments-focused.
So just be yourself and let your personality shine through...I'm fairly sure you have one if you've
made it to the interview. I felt I was being treated like I was a friend-of-a-friend at first and less as an
interviewee. Overall, it seemed like much more of a fit interview than evaluative. Hope this helps.
Best of luck to all future interviewees and to those of you anxiously awaiting an invite!

Stanford interview questions (Published 2005)

I had some questions about how my Stanford interview went, so I'll give a bit of an overview about
how it went.
I did the interview with a local alumnus. He chose to do it at a local steak house at 4pm since it
would be fairly quiet and we wouldn't be disturbed. I suppose people think it is a bit unorthodox,
but I knew many people that had an interview at a Starbucks or whatnot, and it was loud, smelly,
unpleasant, etc. It usually isn't up to you to pick the place, but I would try to steer clear of such
noisy places.
The interview started well. We exchanged business cards. He explained when he went to the GSB,
what he did before, and what he is doing now. I'll leave out the details because they don’t really
matter.
So he had my resume in front of him and asked me to go through my career progress. Remember
for this part, don't take up too much time, and only hit the important parts, since any wasted time
will take away from other important topics.
After going through the resume he started hitting the harder questions. I do remember answering
them, and I must have answered them ok. I'll go over some of the questions I do remember, and I
remember the general tone was much harder than any of my other interviews. Here's some
questions I remember:
What are you good at? How did you handle bad feedback from a boss? What book are you reading
and what meaning/lessons do you get out of it? (That one really threw me) Surprisingly the why
MBA, etc questions. He only had my resume, no essays, which in someway makes it easier. Explain a
time when one of my leaders was performing poorly.
That's about it. I remember going in, coming out, and various flashes in the middle
 UNC/ Chapel Hill

Round 4 / Adcoms (Published March 11th, 2008)

I had an admissions interview with Craig Heckert in February 2008. It was a standard interview with
the normal MBA question:

• Walk me through your resume

• Why do you want to get an MBA
• What are your career goals
• Why UNC
• How will you contribute

He did ask me one question that threw me a bit "why do we need another CPA?"
Other questions:

• Who is responsible for the current credit crisis

• What is the most creative thing you have ever done
• Tell me something about yourself that is not on your resume

After Craig asked all the prepared questions; he asked if I had any questions. We talked for several
minutes about some topics I had prepared through my research. Overall, Craig was nice and friendly
and made the interview feel relaxed.

UNC Interview (Published January 4, 2008)

1. Walk me through your Resume?

2. Describe Yourself?
3. What do you think about Reliance Industries and its owner Mukesh Ambani? I have read in
the newspaper that he gave a $60m jet as a gift to his wife and is also building a $1B house in
India. If given an opportunity would you join that company?
4. Why UNC?
5. Do you read novels?
6. What concentration you want to pursue at UNC?
 7. Are you happy with the companies you have worked with?
8. What companies you are targeting after your MBA?
9. What is the biggest challenge in front of India in its growth?

Interview with Adcoms member (Published Fall 2005)

I had an interview with Buck William, a member of Adcoms team of UNC; the interview was
extremely friendly and relaxing. He really made a lots of efforts to put me at easy and make me
comfortable, which I think a bit more than needed!
He started by talking to me about Philippines because 46 years ago, he had a great time in Mindanao
(the south of the Philippines) and Manila. So we chatted and we shared a lot about Philippines. Then
he asked me how my life is in Philippines and how I grew up in Vietnam. A bit also about my
family.
Next question is about my education. Why I held two BA degrees from two universities and how I
managed to obtain both at the same time. What extra-curricular activities I did when I was in
university as well as I performed academically.
Going to my experience. He also shared that he used to work in agency that served my company
now, a multinational FMCG company, he served my brand actually. So it was really a friendly chat.
However he did ask me about my work nature. And one specific question relating to market
research and distribution.
The last question was that who am I? This is the question sounding "interviewed" the most. And
then I asked him a couple of questions about UNC. That is all.
It is really a nice chat with him and I feel so relaxed talking to him. Admitted.

October 3, 2005 / Early Action / Adcoms (Published October 2005)

My interview with Kenan-Flagler occurred on October 3, 2005. I applied in the Early Action round.
The interview was preceded by sitting in on a microeconomics class. Also, I had lunch with the
other prospective applicants (I believe there were about 7 other applicants there) and 4 current
students, and was given a tour of the building.
I arrived at 9:20, and met Barbara Ann in the admissions office. She was very nice and introduced
me to Leo, the student who was taking me to the class I was to sit in on. The classroom was
crowded with about 40 students, but there were still empty seats once class started at 9:30. The
professor was engaging, and asked me to introduce myself. After the introduction, he started the
case study analysis the class was having that day. Leo had an extra set of the notes available so I
could at least attempt to follow along. Class ended at about 10:45.
I was lead back to the admissions office and waited for my interview to begin. Barbara Ann was very
nice and tried to help me stay nice and calm before the interview. Right at 11:00, Craig Heckert who
is an Assistant Director of Admissions came out to greet me. He was pleasant and led me to his
office where the interview occurred. There was no one else in the room besides the two of us. He
was polite and firm, but was not overly personable. Most of the questions were standard, such as:

• Why Kenan Flagler?

• Why do you want to get your MBA?
• Why now?
• What are your goals?
• Couple of adjectives to describe yourself?

The only question that threw me off, and I can’t remember exactly how it was worded concerned
Martha Stewart and Enron.
The interview lasted about 40 minutes. Around 12:15 we were taken to the cafeteria with 4 current
students and just talked. The students were very open and candid. The cafeteria was pretty loud, as it
appeared everyone was there. Lunch was a box lunch provided by Panera Bread. Two current
students gave us a tour of the building after lunch. They also answered any other questions we had.
By that time though, there weren’t that many questions though. I was back on the road by 2:00.

Round 2, Adcoms (Published January 17, 2005)

My interview at Kenan-Flagler occurred in mid-November on campus. I visited a core marketing
class with a current student. Following class, I went to lunch with current and prospective students
and took a tour of the school.
I arrived at 10:30 a.m. and met a student for an 11 a.m. class. The office was very attentive and all
the student guides showed up on time. The marketing class was full (around 70 students) and the
professor kept the discussion on pricing engaging and fast-paced. After class, I returned to the
admissions office and met up with a group heading to lunch. At lunch, I had the chance to ask
current students all about life at KF and the culture of the school. I also learned about some specific
student experiences that helped me in the interview. A campus tour followed lunch with yet another
volunteer student who provided another perspective of campus life and was very informative. I
returned to admissions office shortly before my scheduled interview. Right on time, Donna Bauman
fetched me from the waiting area for the interview in her office. The interview lasted about 60
minutes and was very comfortable. I stressed how important it had been for me to visit campus and
get a good sense of the student body and culture. The interview was basic and covered the following
areas:

• Background and walking through my resume

• Why KF and why now
• Examples of leadership
• Any questions I had about KF

Virginia Darden

Round 1 / On-campus / Adcoms / Admitted & Matriculating! (Published April 15th, 2008)

Darden's interview is meant for you to succeed. With an invite only format, the adcoms stresses that
they like what they have seen and the interview is nothing, but a conversation. They have one
question, tell me about yourself. You'll likely be able to talk straight for 10-15 minutes before they
interject with questions. They may push, but in my opinion, they're trying to see if you'll crack. The
course is case study after all. If you don't feel yourself getting your point across, take a deep breath
and try and approach it from a different angle. Also, relate what you say to your personal
experiences. Quote from my interviewer: "I could have read that in the Wall Street Journal".
Obviously, I needed to change my tactics. Finally, know why MBA, why now and why DARDEN!
Darden stresses 3 points almost everywhere you look and if you are truly interested, the latter part of
this question should be easy.

Follow up questions are largely dictated based on what you say, so it's hard to tell you what they will
be. Just be prepared for someone to delve deep into any and all statements you make.
Round 2 / On-campus / Second-year Student (Published March 10th, 2008)

On Monday I took a tour of the Darden Grounds with a second-year and was surprised when one
of the people in my tour group, having just completed his interview, told me "have your monologue
ready because that's what they want to hear." On Tuesday I had my interview with a second-year. To
start out, he impressed upon me that he wanted it to be informal, conversational, laid-back, etc.,
which was also supported by his unexpectedly casual attire. He told me the interview was blind and
that he knew nothing about me. Although I can't remember the exact wording of any particular
question, here's basically how it went.

He first asked "tell me about yourself." Because of the other interviewee's "monologue" comment
the day prior, I asked, "would you like me to give you a brief overview and let you ask more
questions, or would you like me to give a 30 minute monologue?" As you can imagine, I was floored
when he said, "a thirty minute monologue sounds great." I probably spoke for approximately 10-15
minutes regarding my background and gave a number of specifics. I then felt like it was a good time
to let him ask some questions, since I wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to hear.

He then asked "why MBA, why now?" When I mentioned the social/extracurricular part of the
MBA as a reason, he raised his eyebrows and said, "I don't think anyone has ever said that before,
but that's a great point because it's a big part of the MBA." After I finished my response he asked
"why Darden?" which wasn't a surprise. We then talked about my goals. After, he asked, "assume it's
the first day of class and I'm in your group, why should I be excited? Also assume it's a month later
and I'm complaining to my wife about you, what would I be saying? This is not a strengths and
weaknesses question." In all honesty, I'm not entirely sure what he was getting at by saying "this isn't
a strengths and weaknesses question" but I thought I responded well enough.

He then asked, "What concerns do you have about Darden?" which I also thought was a difficult
question. I responded by saying "I think my concern was addressed during the tour I took
yesterday" and went on to explain that I wanted to make sure that Darden's rankings, while
impressive in my opinion, were viewed as such by all recruiters, since some companies focus
exclusively on rankings. The answer I received during the tour was that Darden's professors are so
focused on teaching that they don't have as much published research as other schools, which tends
to drag down their rankings. The way I positioned my response to the interviewer's "Darden
concerns" question was I said something like "some companies focus exclusively on rankings and
only hire, for example, top ten programs...but I've learned that's not a problem for Darden." By
describing my "concern" that way I was trying to avoid sounding like I personally cared about the
rankings, but rather, that I just wanted to confirm that Darden, indeed, would allow me to reach my
career goals. I don't think I raised any red flags because I tried to be very cautious in how I
responded and he seemed pleased that I had already proactively addressed my "concern" the
previous day and could speak insightfully regarding Darden's rankings. In fact, I said that my
"concern" really had become another Darden strength (having teaching-focused professors) and he
wholeheartedly supported my response and went on to confirm and reiterate almost everything I
said. He said Darden is placing more emphasis on publishing research to try to boost their rankings,
so apparently it's something they are well aware of and are working to correct. For that reason I
don't think I came across as unfair, or petty since the two second-year's almost identical responses
seemed to indicate it's a subject that is discussed openly at Darden. Maybe I shot myself in the foot,
but he appeared impressed that I could give the same favorable response that is likely widely used at
Darden.

After that, he closed by asking me if I had some questions for him. The fact that he is going into
consulting with Bain allowed me to slip in a consulting question, which I followed up with a quick
one about life in Charlottesville. In retrospect there are some things I wish I had said differently, but
I thought it went well. I have no way of knowing how my interview compared to other interviews so
I guess we'll have to wait and see what they say at the end of the month. Based on the questions he
asked after I spoke about my background for 10-15 minutes, I assume he was looking for basically a
recitation of my first essay. I think that would have been the ideal way to give the 30-minute
monologue he asked for initially. Essentially, background, why MBA, why now, why Darden, short-
term goals, long-term goals.

Alum. Round 1. (Published January 25, 2008) Here goes my Darden Interview process experience.

13th December: I got a mail about status change of my Darden Application. It was an Alum
Interview call.
22nd December: I was contacted by Office manager at Darden Admission Office about the busy
state of Alum and possibility of Telephonic interview. Disappointment it was as I wanted to have a
face-to-face interview. When I asked a current student, he also told me that I should try my best for
Alum interview.

9th January: Another mail from office manager stating alum should be contacting me any day and if
he doesn't contact by Friday, we'll have the telephonic interview scheduled.

12th January: Alumnus called me. He told me how busy he was and didn't have any plans to come
down to Bangalore. I said I was open to travel to Mumbai. He said we could have it on Saturday the
19th and he'll confirm by Monday/Tuesday.

Tuesday: I called him up and he said yes lets have it on Saturday but he'll confirm me time by
Thursday. Thursday: I called and we fixed the interview for Saturday at his place in Mumbai.

I have posted these details as I found lots of people cribbing on the Internet questioning Darden's
responsiveness. I would say I was kept pretty much informed about all that was going to happen.
Alums are usually very busy and we must understand it.

Anyways, I had this interview on Saturday 19th Jan at Alum's apartment in Mumbai. I booked my
tickets on Thursday for Friday evening flight and returned to Bangalore on Monday morning (My
brother stays in Navi Mumbai).

So here's how the interview went:

I reached at 2:50pm (3:00pm was the time). I roamed around the corridor for 5 minutes looking at
the sea from the 12th floor just to calm myself down and pressed the doorbell at 2:55pm

After greetings, where-have-you-put-up and when-are-you-flying-back talks he asked me if I was

familiar with the process. He asked me what other schools I have applied to and have I been
interviewed somewhere else.

Then he talked about himself, his native place, undergrad, job, Darden and job after MBA. Then
started questions.
 • "Tell me about your job"

I answered which took form of a discussion and he gave his inputs and kept on acknowledging what
I said.

• "Why do you want to do MBA now"

• "Why Darden"

• "What was the different thing you found in your undergraduate college" discussions. He
listened to me presented his views, I elaborated on my views and we agreed.

• "How would your friends describe you"

• "Career Goals"

Then it was my turn to ask questions. His answers also took shape of discussions and lasted till he
had explained me everything. After 45 minutes we wrapped up.
Few words on face2face interview vis-a-vis telephonic interviews while I was preparing to leave.
And I left by 3:50pm.

Adcoms Round 2(Early Dec). Offered Admission Mid-Feb (Published March 26, 2007)
It was a blind interview conducted by an adcoms representative. The interviewer knew nothing
about me other than my name. After brief introduction, she asked me, "Tell me your story from the
cradle to this chair. Along the way, make sure to shed some light on the important decisions you
made and the reasons behind those decisions." The interview lasted exactly 45 minutes. It was more
conversational than anything.

Adcoms and Student - (Published September 15, 2006)

The adcoms along with a 2nd year student sat me down and asked me to explain my life story. This
was the only question. The interview was basically a smooth flowing conversation back and forth.
Applicant initiated. Student interview - Early December. Round 2. Admitted. (March 27, 2006)
It was a blind interview conducted by a second year student. I was basically asked to give my life
story and discuss how and why I made certain decisions along my career path. I believe I was well
prepared to discuss and explain the rationale for my decisions to attend the undergraduate school,
selection of major and career path. However, I was also sure to discuss what I believed to be the
strengths of my candidacy, to include leadership experience.
Program Fit. I believe that you have to truly understand why you want to learn with the case study
method. Additionally, to discuss why, it is also necessary for you to internalize the program strengths
and characteristics as to how it will shape you as an individual. For me, I was able to discuss how I
am a verbal communicator and how I plan to utilize the case study method to learn from other
students.
I talked to another applicant after my interview who happened to find the experience more
challenging than he expected. He was caught on the "Why an MBA" decision choice, based on his
prior experiences. It is my belief that you have to get this answered before interviewing. The answer
should be concise and demonstrate a developmental process relating to how the MBA will allow
your goals to be achieved.

Applicant-initiated interview at Darden, Adcoms (Published 2006)

My interviewer was an Admissions Committee member. I hadn’t submitted my application and the
surprising thing was that I didn’t even have to submit my resume before the interview. When I
handed it to my interviewer, she turned it face down and said she would read it only while filling out
the interview report. The school really seems to want to get to know you as a person. I was asked
just one question “Tell me your life story – everything that you consider to be important. Along the
way, cover your career so far, why you want to do an MBA, why at Darden and your short and long-
term goals”. So it was very open-ended. My interviewer kept interjecting with questions – she was
paying close attention to what I was saying and seemed genuinely interested in learning about all the
aspects of my life. It was really a conversation – a refreshing change from the usual B-school
interview scene. It lasted 55 minutes and I was given a chance to ask questions at the end. One
interesting question during the interview was “Was it hard to get your first job?” It wasn’t tough to
answer – just one I hadn’t heard or read about before.

Adcoms (Published 2006)

I interviewed at Darden with a member of the admissions staff. She interviewed me without
referring to a resume or any other information, so the interview was completely blind--she just knew
my name. The question that she asked was: "Tell me your story and specify why you made your
choices and what you learned." During the story she asked me follow up questions about specifics:
based on what criteria did you select Darden, what specific skills are you looking to gain by
attending Darden (the "advance business skills" answer was too general, so I had to add a few).
Some of the follow up questions were a bit odd with an American bias.
The interview lasted 1 hour and 20 minutes (I was the only person interviewing yesterday) and my
overall impression of the interview is positive. Although, I would have preferred an interview with a
student or an alumnus, since they would have more information about various aspects of the actual
school experience rather than information about the admission process and school's marketing
information, which is widely available.

Darden Hub Interview, Adcoms (Published 2006)

This was an interview with Ms. Kathleen Grant, a member of the Darden Admissions Committee.
The interview was very relaxed. She talked a lot about Darden and how they are unique. Then, we
moved on to the questions. The interview lasted nearly an hour.
QUESTIONS:

1. Introduction
2. Resume walk-through
3. Why an MBA?
4. Why Darden?
5. How did you first begin investigating Darden?
6. Describe how you experiences will help make a contribution to the Darden community.
7. Are there any questions about Darden that you wish to ask?

Off-campus, Adcoms (Published November 2005)

I was interviewed by a member of the adcoms at Darden. It happened at an international location in
late Nov 2005 for Early Decision.
I was asked to "tell my story from the cradle to the chair" and at the end was given an opportunity
to ask my questions.
It was a blind interview although my application was reviewed before inviting me for the interview.

Wharton

Round 2 / Alumni / Admitted! (Published March 30 2008)

Equally as important as preparing for the interview is choosing your interviewer. I chose a more
seasoned alumni who worked in an industry very different from me, because I wanted to meet with
someone who would have a very different perspective and who had been out of school long enough
to offer a longer term view on the value of a Wharton degree. As a result, I was able to formulate
questions that were really relevant to my interests, and we ended up having a very rich dialogue
(almost 2 hours).

Questions of particular note:

• Why Wharton, why now?

• In describing my work history, I discussed some of the challenges my previous employer
faced regarding employee attrition. I was asked what I would have done to improve this.
• Tell me about some of your proudest accomplishments. This is your time to brag.
• Tell me about your perspective on teamwork and any interesting experiences you have had.
• What do you do for fun?
• What will you do if you don't get into Wharton or business school?
• Have you considered a joint degree? This is to test how deeply you have researched the
school's offerings. Luckily I had anticipated this question and had a decent response (I have
strong interest in international issues, so why didn't I apply to the Lauder program?)
• Is there anything else you want the adcoms to know about your candidacy? Anything you
want me to explain to them?

The manner of the interviewer's questions were opened ended rather than specific, and allowed me a
lot of flexibility in my answers. I tried to follow this lead by treating this more as a conversation than
a structured interview, which helped both of us become more at east with each other and discuss
issues in greater detail than if it was simply a Q&A format.
Round 2 / On-campus / Second-Year Student (Published March 25th, 2008)
Most of the questions I received were the same as outlined by others but two in particular were
different:
Questions:

• If you were the CEO of the company that you work for now what would you change?
• Anything you are concerned about in your application?

I echo others who've said that Wharton was like a job interview. My interviewer was a second year
student interested in entrepreneurship but more focused on getting through her checklist of
questions.

Round 2 / Off-campus / Alumni (Published March 11th, 2008)

I interviewed with an alumnus on March 3rd, 2008, at his office. The interview differed from the
standard conversational interview I had at other schools. The interview started off with the
interviewer actually turning over my resume and stating that he wanted to get a sense of the "big
picture" as it relates to me and my desire for an MBA. He then proceeded to ask me, "What are
three of the most important decisions you have made that have brought you to where you are
today?". Realizing that this was not a typical interview question, he told me to take some time before
formulating a response. I took about 10 seconds and responded. He followed up with a question to
each response. I noticed early on in the interview that he was concerned with the rationale of certain
decisions, statements, etc., so I made sure after the second or third question to fully explain why I
did something. He noticed the change in my responses and actually smiled about it (later he told me
that he liked how I adjust my responses to his type of questioning). My response to the first question
set the direction of the interview. Below are the lists of questions I remember him asking me.
Questions:

• What are three of the most important decisions you have made that have brought you to
where you are today?
• Two-Part Question: I see you have an undergraduate business degree, why then an MBA?
Why don't you stay in your current employment and develop business skills through a
business development rotational program or other training?
 • What other b-schools have you applied to? Why did you choose these schools?
• What would be your weaknesses as perceived by the Wharton Admissions Committee?
(Toughest question)
• What has been your most substantial professional accomplishment?
• Describe a situation where you were part of a group that failed. What did you learn from it?
• What do you do outside of work? What do you care about? If I bumped into you after work,
where would it be and why?
• What do you see yourself doing in 10 years and why?

The interviewer asked a lot of deep personality questions, which kind of surprised me. He seemed
less interested in my career goals and more interested in my decision-making and in who I am. At
first he asked a lot of follow-up questions which drove at my thought process on certain matters. He
barely jotted down anything, which seemed odd since we talked for a long time. The toughest
question I got was the weaknesses question. I actually rehearsed my response to the question with a
current Wharton student, but the interviewer actually didn't agree with most of my response. He said
more than once that what I perceived to be a weakness was not actually an obvious weakness or at
least not a weakness that the Wharton Admissions office would readily identify. After two go-at-its
to that question I finally gave him one weakness he agreed on. I did though defend the prior
weaknesses I gave him and mentioned how the weakness could come to bear in a team setting. For
example I mentioned that one of my general weaknesses is what my lack of professional exposure to
a lot of qualitative assignments, particularly work outside of finance/accounting, and projects
dealing with business operations and strategy. He didn't think that was a weakness that Wharton
Admissions could spot but I defended the statement, which I believe mitigated the concern he had
over the response.
The interview last about an hour and half. My interviewer appeared to really enjoy talking to me. At
the end of the interview he told me that he has a tendency to argue (I guess he does that a lot in his
sales job) and not to read too much into it. Overall I did not get a positive feeling of the interview
but I think he will at least remember me because I was very convincing in my responses and
explained everything to the T. My advice would be to make sure you rehearse the weaknesses in
your application question and be confident. I cannot emphasize that enough. Other people I have
spoken to who had interviews at Wharton told me the interviewer asked them at least one off-the
wall question and their responses may not have been perfect but at least they articulated their
explanation and did not hesitate in their responses.

Round 1 / On-campus / Status: Denied (Published March 10th, 2008)

I interviewed on campus in mid-November for Round 1. This was my second time visiting the
school. During the summer, I sat in on an information session, which did not include a tour. The
info session did not reveal anything new to me and would be most valuable to those who haven't
thoroughly reviewed Wharton's website. The University City neighborhood felt safe, but areas to the
north and west are dangerous.
Huntsman Hall was a nice building--less open than Chicago's Harper Center but still modern. The
interview lounge was busy with anxious applicants and prospectives awaiting a student-led tour. My
interviewer came out on time and guided me to one of Wharton's small interview rooms. He began
by reciting a two-minute explanation of what the interview meant to Wharton (not make or break,
blind, etc.). Again, this information wasn't helpful to me, and I was eager to commence the
interview. The interviewer began by asking me standard questions, such as:

• Why MBA?
• Why Wharton?
• Why now?
• Goals?
• He also asked about my leadership style.
• I stumbled for a moment on one question about a team situation when I encountered
difficulty. While I recovered, my answer to this question was not fluid and marked the low
point of my interview.

In hindsight, I regretted not preparing more answers regarding teamwork, which is not a large
component of my current job. It's obvious from reading about Wharton and past interviews that
they value teamwork and often ask questions on the subject.
During the first half of the interview, if the interviewer wasn't asking questions, he was looking
down at his notepad and quickly writing my responses. This contrasted with my Chicago interview,
when the student interviewer made eye contact much of the time. The Wharton interview felt more
like a job interview, while the Chicago interview felt more like a natural conversation (but I'm sure
this depends on which student you are assigned).
After 25 minutes or so, the interviewer said it was time for me to ask questions. I asked about 3 solid
questions, and the interviewer answered each of them in-depth. His answers averaged almost 10
minutes apiece. At this point, he did most of the talking, but when I could, I chimed in to bolster my
case. He remarked that my questions (regarding the bidding process) demonstrated that I'd done my
homework on the program. I thanked him at the end of the interview (55-60 minutes total) for the
extra time he spent with me. He told me that I was his last interview for a while, so he was happy to
spend additional time talking about the program. I took his willingness to invest more time with me
as a positive signal.
Despite my perception that the interview went well, I was denied admission to Wharton. My "stats"
are strong and I thought my essays were interesting, but I belong to an over represented applicant
group. My poor answer to the teamwork question also probably hurt my case.

Round 2 / Second-year Student / On-campus (Published March 9th, 2008)

I interviewed with a second year student on campus. The admissions office had a few other people
waiting to interview and there was a 2nd year student waiting and socializing with us. My interviewer
was from a non-traditional background and was planning to work in finance after graduating, so I
felt he sympathized with career switchers like myself. He was friendly and courteous throughout the
interview. His questions were:

• Walk me through your resume

• Why Wharton
• Why MBA and why now
• What are you ST and LT career goals, elaborate on LT goals
• What do you do for fun
• Describe one of your strengths and one of your weaknesses
• Anything to add to your application
• Any questions for me

The interview lasted about 40 minutes. I didn't feel the time, and I felt I answered the questions well.
If I were to go back and change something, it would have been the "Anything to add to your
application" question. I mentioned something about the community work I'd done but I felt I
should have talked more about what I would contribute to the Wharton community since we didn't
talk much about that.

Round 2 / Second-year Student / On-campus (Published March 5th, 2008)

I interviewed with a second year student on campus. My answers were not flawless and I would
definitely answer the teamwork and leadership questions stronger next time, but all things
considered, I'm pleased. The experience was anticlimactic, and now I wait anxiously for the March
decision release.
My interviewer was friendly and professional. She was from the Bay Area and we started by talking
about how I had come from San Francisco for the interview, and we talking briefly about the snow,
and I mentioned that I had lived in Tahoe and missed the snow. I made the mistake of saying that I
had gotten in yesterday, which prompted her to ask me if I had done any class visits yesterday. I said
no that I was not able to steal away from working all day since I have two consulting jobs to manage
now. But I wished that I had made it sound like I had just flown in, or was able to describe
something I did on campus yesterday.
She stated by saying she would be taking notes and that we would stop 5 minutes before the end so
that I could ask her questions.
We started right in:

• Walk me through your resume

• Short term goals
• Why now
• Why Wharton
• How will you get involved in Wharton?

Then she asked me two tougher questions:

• "Give me three adjectives to describe your leadership style." This threw me a little back I had
prepared anecdotes and descriptions, but had trouble trying to come up with one-word
adjectives. So I started w a two-word description and then proceeded right into my anecdote
to describe and then ended the story with single adjectives to summarize.
 • She asked me about how I have dealt with a difficult team member on my current project,
and this was by far my weakest response. I didn't like where my anecdote was going so I
quickly ended and then she asked me two follow up questions. I wasn't really able to end
strong, so I tried to hurry the topic along.

• Then she asked me one adjective to describe a weakness. This was also tough for me
because my response wanted to be four words. So I asked her if I could give her 2 words,
and again went straight to my example, and ended with a one word adjective summary.

I think there was one more question next, but I can't remember. But she stopped 5 minutes before
our 30 minutes to allow me to ask questions. We talked for about 10 more minutes. I had one strong
question for her, which she spend a lot of time answering. Then I tried to ask more personal
questions like "do you plan to return to the Bay Area?" I wished I had had more than 1 killer
question in my back pocket because I realized what a great opportunity it was to tell her anything
else important about me that we missed.
Overall the interview was successful in me being able to tell her my story, and I do feel that I was
able to paint the picture about myself that I had wanted.
I would do two things differently: 1) better difficult team member example and 2) more questions to
ask her at the end.

Round 2 / Alumni / London (Published March 3rd, 2008)

The interview was very conversational. He started off with his introduction of what he does and
ended up in London. He briefed me about his professional background. He later asked me to brief
about my profile. In general, the questions covered included the following.

• Resume walkthrough
• LT/ST goals
• Why MBA at this point of time
• Why Wharton
• Example of leadership
• Significant achievement in my current role

Any questions for interviewer

Overall, it was a very conversational interview. The interviewer's office was in West End of London
and close to Stamford Bridge. We had a small talk about the current situation of his club (not
Chelsea) and this initial talk made me feel relaxed.

Round 2 / On-campus / Second-year Student (Published March 3rd, 2008)

The interviewer asked the following questions:

• Resume walkthrough
• LT/ST goals
• Why MBA
• Why Wharton
• Why you
• Adcoms concerns
• Team situation
• Any questions for interviewer

Overall pleasant, and the staff was helpful as well. Wharton had first-years sitting in the waiting area
with the interviewees answering questions and calming nerves: I thought that was a neat idea.

Round 2 / Alumni / (Published March 2nd, 2008)

My interview was with an alumnus. Lasted about 45 minutes. As most of the alumni interviews are,
it was a casual discussion as follows:

• Reasons for decisions made throughout career

• Why MBA, Why Wharton, Why now
• How would you describe yourself
• Tell me about an ethical dilemma you faced
• Tell me about an incidence where you led a team without any formal authority
• Questions for him

I received a couple of feedback points during and after the interview, which were good. At the end
of the interview, I have an even more positive feeling and respect for Wharton.
Advice: Be yourself, be ready to articulate your reasons for MBA at Wharton, understand what
Wharton is looking for in an applicant and organize/present your responses accordingly (consistent
with positioning/theme of essays).

Round 2 / On-campus / Second-year Student (Published February 29th, 2008)

My interview was on-campus with a 2nd year MBA student. It was exactly ½ hr. He was very laid-
back and tried to make me feel comfortable. As a result, the interview was very casual. The questions
asked included:

• Resume walk-through, with spending time on certain aspects of past positions

• Why MBA
• Why Wharton
• What do I want to concentrate in
• Questions for him

R2, Alumni Interview (Published February 28, 2008)

Overall feeling was mixed. Well, I can say that it was okay, as the interviewer is a very nice guy. I
can't really read his responses though. Hopefully I did good enough for him.
I wasn't really nervous, however, he asks so many follow up questions after asking me something,
and I guess I didn't get to finish a lot of my answers. Here are the questions:

1. So, tell me about yourself? Then a lot of follow up questions.

2. Why XX Company?
3. What is XX graduate program in YY Company? What was the highlight of your career in YY
Company? Don't be modest.
4. Where do you travel? What did you do? Were you alone?
5. Why MBA?
6. Why now?
7. Which schools did you apply to? Why those schools?
8. If you got accepted to all of those schools, which school will you choose? Be honest.
9. What is your goal? What do you want to do post-MBA?
10. So, with whom did you talk to about Wharton? (Current students & alums)
 11. What makes you unique?
12. What's your GMAT score?
13. What's your GPA?
14. How did you rank in your class?
15. Is there anything else you would like to ask me?

So, then after the interview ends, he actually gave me feedback about how I did in my interview. He
said, "Good, obviously you speak fluent English", but then he gave me 3 things that he thought I
could improve. Wow, I didn't expect this at all. He actually said, this might help you with your other
school interviews. I thanked him for the feedback and the interview.

R2, Alumni Interview (Published February 27, 2008)

My interview was also held in the alumni's office in NYC and lasted for 30 minutes with questions
and another 30 minutes with lunch and some casual discussion/questions

• Thanks for coming, sorry for the delay. How are you? How's work?
• So you're ready for B-school, Wharton is a great place, I had a wonderful experience and I
highly recommend it.
• Give me a few minutes to glance over your resume (note: definitely go to the interview with
a resume just in case)
• Why don't you walk me through your resume, starting anywhere you'd like?
• Why an MBA, why now?
• What are your career goals?
• How has your current job and previous experience helped you prepare for your long/short
term career goals?
• Why Wharton?
• What do you do outside work?
• Apart from community service what else do you enjoy doing?
• How many countries have you traveled to/lived in? (This is probably more specific to my
international background)
• Do you have any questions for me?
We then had lunch which the alum ordered to his office (very nice) and from there the discussion
was very casual and related to the current situation in financial markets, venture capital/P.E. (he
works in P.E.), his experience at his firm, some great classes to take at Wharton, travel opportunities
at Wharton, my commute to work etc.
I'll only urge you to be yourself, ask questions about your interviewer to put them at ease and show
some interest in the person in front of you, ask questions about their experience at Wharton to get
them talking and hopefully share some laughs etc. Know your resume well, your story and why
Wharton versus any other school. Also ask some meaningful questions, I went with about 5-10
specific questions relating to his pre-MBA and post-MBA experience. My interviewer was awesome
and only confirmed why I was interested in Wharton in the first place. We plan to keep in touch and
he offered to connect me with some of his classmates who had similar career interests. Overall a
very positive experience.

R2, Alumni Interview/International (Published Feb 26, 2008)

My alumni interview was held in the alumni's office and lasted approx. 1 hr.

• Walk me through your resume.

• Why MBA?
• Why Wharton?
• Tell me why this is the best time for your MBA
• What are your post-MBA goals?
• Discussion about options for my short-term goals.
• How does your work experience with your current company fit in with your long-term
career goals?
• Some talk about what I'm currently doing in this city, the politics between the US and the
country in which I'm currently living, and discussion about previous work experience.
• What weakness in your application would the Admissions Committee be concerned about?
[The alumni divulged that this is a required question by Wharton's Adcoms staff.]
• Do you have any questions?

The alum was extremely friendly, put me immediately at ease and offered further help, if needed,
with any further MBA questions down the road.
Round 1 / Adcoms (Published February 12, 2008)
With a member of the admissions committee:

• Come in Hello Was it difficult to find this place?

• Do you have a copy of your resume? Great! (Glanced at it silently for about 5 seconds)
• So walk me through your resume. (15 minutes, including interjections of interest but little
else)
• What kind of roles do you play on your teams? (4)
• What's a typical day like? (3)
• What was it like to be in [country X, Y]? (3)
• How did you choose your undergraduate college? (2)
• There are lots of great schools; why Wharton? (3)
• But why do you need an MBA, given all your experience and a consulting background? (2)
• Why's now the best time? (2)
• What do you do outside work? (5)
• Do you have anything to add, or any questions for me? (3)
• Do you have anything to add? (Asked second time)
• Bye; you'll hear from us on Dec 20th. It's a beautiful day; hope you enjoy it.

The whole thing lasted 45 minutes. It ended 15 minutes before the scheduled start (they asked us to
arrive 15 minutes early, and I did) and ended 15 minutes early too.

On-campus interview / R1 / Student / Decision: Waitlist / (Published 1/31/08)

It could have just been the day I was there, but the environment was much more focused / cool
than any other on-campus interview I've had. Not bad, just an observation. Interviewer was very
friendly, but it was clear that I was one in a long line of interviews for her.

• Standard resume questions

• Why MBA, why now
• 2 good and 2 bad attributes that coworkers would describe
• Walk through a recent success; then a recent failure
• How will your cohort remember you
 • What legacy will you leave behind at Wharton

I asked what surprised her most, and she commented on Wharton's strength outside of Finance,
including non-profit. Also suggested that students were incredibly collaborative even when
competing for the same jobs.

Round 1, Health Care Management applicant (Published December 27, 2007)

As a HCM applicant I needed to prepare for two interviews, one with the Associate Director of the
HCM program, June Kinney, and the other one with an alumnus.
My phone interview with June was really conversational. She had already read my file, so every time
she asked a question she said that she knew what I wrote on my application, but wanted me to
briefly answer again and add more details if I wanted to. She asked some questions about my career
path and goals and after about 15 minutes she asked if I had any questions. I asked a couple of
questions which she answered in detail and with enthusiasm. My advice for the HCM applicants: if
you can comfortably talk about what you have done and if you know what you want to do post-
MBA, just call June's office upon receiving the interview invite and make an appointment as early as
possible. Don't worry about anything!

My second interview was with an alumnus in his office. He had seen the resume that I sent him, but
didn't have a copy with him, so I just gave him one. He asked me some routine questions about my
career path/goal, why MBA, why Wharton, etc. which every applicant is definitely familiar with and
prepared for. But, he then started to ask behavioral questions for the next 30 minutes. The questions
were getting harder and deeper and every time he was not completely satisfied with my response, he
probed more. Experts say you should be ready for anything in an alum interview, which is I believe a
precious piece of advice. Having read so many interview reports, I do not remember anyone facing
so many behavioral questions. I'm not even sure if I can call those questions “behavioral”, because I
had to imagine myself as a student at Wharton when answering these questions. For example, I
wasn't asked, "How did you handle a conflict?" I was asked "How would you handle a conflict in
your Learning Team at Wharton?"
These are some of the questions I remember:
- What would you do if one of the members of your Learning Team didn't pull his/her weight on a
project? What would you do if you understand that (s)he didn't help due to the lack of interest in the
project/course?
- How would you participate in class discussion at the school?
- What would you do if you saw an irrelevant discussion is taking the class time?
- How would you help your teammate who needed help? What would you do if you were extremely
busy with your own work?
- What would you do if you saw an unethical practice at the school?
- How would you prioritize your time at Wharton? What would be the most and the least important
things for you as a student?

At the end I asked him two questions and when he was answering them I realized that I had done a
good job in my interview. He explained his experience at Wharton and how it helped him with his
current job. He even gave me advice on what I should do in Philly and what options are available for
my wife there. I thought he wouldn't have bothered to go into those details if he hadn't found me a
good match for Wharton. My interview, which lasted 75 minutes, was tough, but I felt good about it.
My interviewer looked really smart and sophisticated, which was interesting for me because it was
the first time I had the opportunity to meet in person a Wharton's alumnus.
Outcome: Admitted

Round 1, Re-Applicant, Wharton Lauder Interview (Published December 5, 2007)

The interview went off al right. My interviewer remembered me from last year after I reminded her
and mentioned Lauder. She was very friendly and made it a comfortable experience for me. She
asked me my long-term goals first then short-term, why I haven't applied to the healthcare
management major (since my goals are in Pharma). She asked

• What I do outside work,

• Why Wharton,
• How my experience has been working as a woman in consulting,
• Whether my company is supportive of an MBA and
• If I'll take up a return offer, and lastly
 • If I have any questions for her.

It just rushed by! There were a lot more things I could have communicated to her, but alas! Overall,
she seemed very positive about my performance, and I thought the interview went off well.

Round 1, Second year student - on campus (Published December 01, 2007)

I interviewed with a second year student. He was originally from Japan. He was very friendly and we
developed great rapport, but he was difficult to understand at times.
He asked a lot of the standard questions. Many of which he was clearly reading off a document.

• Walk me through resume.

• Why MBA?
• Why now?
• Why Wharton?
• Short and long term goals
• How would I contribute to Wharton?

He asked me a number of questions related to my answers. I'm an entrepreneur with an office in

India. The interviewer asked a lot about my experiences in India. He asked me about the cultural
and professional differences, how I instill our culture in India, difficulties in dealing with India. He
also asked me what I would change about my business.
Something that took me by surprise was the room I was interviewed in. The room was probably
about 4x6 and contained no windows or decoration, just a table and two chairs.
The interview was fairly informal and conversational. I came away feeling pretty good about how it
went. There were no surprises. He seemed to stick to the guidelines the adcoms provided and just
drilled down into items that he was interested in.

Round 1, Adcoms Member (Published December 01, 2007)

I was interviewed by Adcoms member in India. Interview lasted 30 minutes and mostly all standard
questions were asked. Adcoms Member was encouraging and responded with a line on her personal
experience by looking at my particular extra-curricular activity. Here are the questions she asked:

1. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

 2. What kind of IT product do you want to work upon?
3. Why Wharton?
4. What do you want to take away from Wharton?
5. What do you do outside work?
6. Are you involved in community work outside professional work?
7. What is your major accomplishment?
8. Have you developed any management philosophy?
9. Your leadership experience in other areas?
10. Any international experience?
11. Anything else you want me to know about your candidacy?
12. Questions for me?

I think other than 12, I responded well in other questions. I was not able to recall what all things I
wanted to ask her. In all it was a good experience. Lets see what happens on 20th December.

Round 1, Second Year Student (Published November 29, 2007)

Interview lasted exactly 30 minutes and was conversational. I was asked a lot of questions in spite of
the short interview duration, mostly because there were no follow-up questions. Other than the
usual walk me through your resume, goals, why MBA, why Wharton, why now questions, I was also
asked about my work experiences in detail (what do I like most/ least, tough teamwork experience,
most significant accomplishment, time when I worked around someone, leadership style and
example). The interviewer was interested what I do outside work and excluding my community
involvement (activities pursued for fun). We concluded by talking about weaknesses and what other
information I would like the adcoms to know about me.

Round 1, Second Year Student (Published November 29, 2007)

Just to give you a rundown, these are the questions I faced:

1. Resume debriefing
2. Why MBA
3. Why now
 4. Why Wharton?
5. How will your classmates remember you?
6. What do you expect out of your classmates at Wharton?
7. What's your leadership style?
8. What would your managers say about your 2 strengths and weaknesses?
9. What do you do for fun?
10. Any weaknesses

She was a 2nd year student, really nice and upbeat.

On-Campus Interview, R1, Second Year Student (Published November 27, 2007)
Interview was with a second-year student. She was nice, but all business. I felt it a bit difficult to
connect with her, which made the interview feel a little more one-sided than I would have liked (and
made me nervous). However, I don't feel that any of her questions were particularly difficult or
meant to trip me up in any way. One piece of advice: listen to the entire question before you start
formulating your answer. Many of her questions were multi-part or asked for something different
than what I expected after I heard the beginning of the question.
Here is what I remember of her questions:

• Walk me through your resume?

• Why MBA, why now?

• What are your goals for your time at Wharton and what will be your goals for the time
immediately following and into the future?

• How have your achievements and work experience shaped your goals?

• What do you think will be the most difficult part of your time at Wharton?

• What do you think will be your best take-away from Wharton?

• What role will you take on in your learning team?

 • If your co-workers came into this room and you weren't here, what would they tell me are
your strengths?

• What would they say are your weaknesses or development points?

• Tell me about some leadership experiences in your career?

• What do you think sets you apart from other applicants?

• What in your background shows that you'd be prepared for the quantitative work at
Wharton?

• Are there any parts of your application that you are concerned that the Adcoms might view
as a weakness?

• What do you do for fun?

There were no tough philosophical questions, like "who is a leader you admire" or anything like that.
The only time it went into that zone was when I took it that direction by discussing my specific
long-term goals, and she probed into my opinions about my industry. Also, the student tended to
ask follow-up questions to my answers like "can you give me an example" or "how did you go about
implementing that idea", etc., so be prepared to be asked for specifics.

London Hub interview, R2 (Published March 30, 2007)

My interviewer was a friendly French lady who had graduated one or two years ago and now worked
for Goldman Sachs in London. The interview was very standard.
Questions asked:
1. Walk me through your resume
2. Why MBA?
3. What are your short-term and long-term plans
4. Why Wharton?
5. Tell me about a leadership experience
6. Tell me about an activity outside of work
7. How do you plan to get involved in the Wharton community
8. Describe a weakness in your application.
9. Is there anything else you would like to discuss
10. Questions for the interviewer
Most of the time she kept looking down on her paper as she scribbled lots of notes (or perhaps she
was just doodling), which made it hard to connect with her and make the interview conversational,
so the interview was very Q&A-style.
The few moments she did look up was during my story on 'leadership experience' and when she was
scribbling all my notes on Why Wharton she looked up when I mentioned the Global Immersion
Program and the Global Consulting Practicum? I don't know whether she was impressed by my
knowledge of the program, or was in disbelief of a cheap sales argument of why I wanted to go to
Wharton.
Questions I asked her were "is there any advice you would give an international student to maximize
the Wharton experience", and I asked something specifically about the Europa club, which I am
interested in joining. I mentioned I had seen her name in a Europa newsletter, so we chatted a little
bit about that.
By talking about things the interviewer and I had in common, I felt she did open up a bit, which
made the interview 40 minutes instead of 30 minutes, and I felt I could connect a bit with her and at
least make the interview stand out a tiny bit.
The nice thing about getting asked these standard questions is that you can rehearse them ad
nauseam in different styles, so that you can articulate your answers well, and focus on making your
response as dynamic as possible and not too scripted. No question caught me by surprise, so at least
I will have shown a good confidence factor. At the end she said I had been very articulate, which
could have been a sincere comment, or simply a nice way of saying I sounded scripted. The
downside of standard questions is that she must hear the same answers over and over and over
again. I believe she had 6-7 interviews per day, 2 days per week, for a couple of weeks straight. Her
body language hinted that this wasn't the most exciting thing she had ever done in her life. The fact
that my interview was at 4pm, not the most energetic time of day for most people, and directly after
6 other boring interviews, may not have been helpful either.
One thing I did notice is that, even though hub interviews are conducted by people who are
technically adcoms members, they are by no means part of the decision-making process, which was
one of the reasons I opted for a hub interview. She merely sends in her report, which gets included
in your file, and the entire file is then reviewed after which you get a decision. The upside of having
someone close to the admissions process can also be a downside, because I suspect these people get
bored more easily (they have heard the same stories over and over again), which might raise their
standards of what qualifies as 'good'.
I ended up being rejected at Wharton, and I wouldn't be surprised if the interview did not win me
too many points. I got accepted at Kellogg, where I interviewed with a guy who was very passionate
about Kellogg and where the interview was a rare event and a welcome interruption in his busy
schedule. I have no doubt that this guy has 'gone to bat' for me and submitted a very positive
interview report, whereas with Wharton, I doubt whether the interviewer thought I stood out
among her 50+ other interview candidates.
That said, there are also reports of alums who are either not so thrilled about taking time out of their
schedule for you, or feel they should give you Gestapo-like interrogations, or handle things
unprofessionally. Your mileage may vary.

On-campus, Round 2 with 2nd year student (Posted March 7, 2007)

Pretty standard and student was reasonably friendly. Stuck very closely to time limit as began to
run out at end.
Questions

• Walk me through where you’ve been and why you’ve been there, what brings you here, and
what you’re looking to do in the future.
• Tell me about a failure you experienced
• Why Wharton?
• How after two years would you like your learning teammates to describe you?
• What are your strengths?
• What are your weaknesses?
• If I were to ask one of your colleagues, what would they say about you?
• What activities would you get involved in at Wharton?
• Tell me about a difficulty you had with a colleague.
• Tell me about a leader you admire.
R2, Alumni Interview (International) (Published March 3, 2007)
I had my Wharton interview today and was a little nervous, but overall felt I established good
rapport with the interviewer. There was a LOT of "why Wharton" sprinkled throughout the
interview. It lasted 40 minutes.

• Walk me through your resume.

• Why Wharton?
• Why MBA?
• What's your biggest achievement to date?
• Talk about a leader you admire and what makes that person a successful leader.
• 3 strengths.
• Weaknesses and what you've done to address these.
• How does your work experience with your current company fit in with your long-term
career goals?
• What role do you normally take in a team?
• The best people from around the world apply to Wharton, what makes you stand out?
• What do you like to do outside the office?
• What weakness in your application would the Admissions Committee be concerned about?
• Your background is impressive and you seem to have achieved a lot. Were there any times
that you didn't achieve a goal you set for yourself? (I used my answer from my "failure
essay," but my interviewer probed for an alternative answer that she was more satisfied with)
• Do you have any questions?

As additional slightly non-sequitur questions I was also asked:

• What other schools are you applying to?

• Who were the Wharton alumni you spoke to?
• What GMAT review course did you take and what score did you get?

R2, On-campus interview (Published February 28, 2007)

1. Walk me through your resume

 2. Why MBA
3. Long term/Short term goals
4. What do you do outside of work?(Lots of follow up questions)
5. What excites you most in the morning?(follow up questions)
6. How do you judge your success
7. What is your leadership style?
8. Weakness in your application

Alum interview, R2, International (Published February 28, 2007)

Wow, this was an interesting but tough interview (of the 3 that I have done so far). Conversational
but very formal.

• Which schools have you applied to and what is the status of these schools?
• Walk me through your Resume (spent about 20 minutes on it, with very detailed questions)
• Career goals (spent another 15 minutes on it)
• Why Wharton (this is where it was grilling, lots of Why questions and counter arguments
that its not the right school for me) (15 minutes)
• Leadership example
• Questions for interviewer

Total about 70 minutes. If you want a more straightforward route, take the phone/hub option :).
Although I must say that the interviewer has made me rethink long and hard about W and if it’s the
right school for me and she had some valuable advise for me.
Overall I left thinking that I definitely could have done much better.

Wharton Interview Breakdown by Juggler, February 19, 2007. (Published February 26, 2007)
I hope this post helps people doing their Wharton interviews...
The Wharton interview is...
Conversational. I do not mean to say you can ramble away. I mean that it is not a stress interview
and is meant just get to know you as a person. The idea to judge your communication skills and to
figure out if you fit into the Wharton community. There are a few standard questions, beyond that
the interview can take any turn depending upon your experience, your persona and your
conversational ability. It is possible to guide the interview so as to bring out the best aspects of your
past if you are a glib talker.
Another thing which I feel will work to your advantage in the interview is your body language. If
you have met Wharton students, you will agree with me that many of them ooze confidence. The
interviewer will probably look for confidence in a prospective Wharton student too. Your body
language says a lot about your confidence and maturity.
The interview report should ultimately indicate that the same person wrote the essays too :-)
Blind. The interviewer sees only your resume. In my case the interviewer took a couple of minutes
to read the resume at the start of the interview. So I'm not sure if she even read it beforehand and
come prepared with questions. This means that you can reiterate the examples used in your essays.
But if you have important stuff that you could not mention in the essays due to lack of space, the
interview is a good place to bring it up. An advantage of having examples different from the essays
is that they will supplement what you have already mentioned and give a fuller picture of you to the
adcoms. Promotions, salary hikes and other recognition, which came by after you submitted your
application, can also be stated during the interview.
Not decisive. The interview is just a part of the process and is not the sole elimination criteria. The
Wharton interview is not "a make or break". You could get in because of a good interview; you
could get in despite a bad interview. There is no reason to be nervous at all. Look at the interview as
just a tete-a-tete and talk like you would to someone who has met you for the first time and is
getting to know you. There is no right answer for the questions, it is HOW you answer them that
matters.
Tips to get more airtime. Quoting examples as part of your answers will not only get you more
airtime but will also make for convincing answers. Examples are also a way to elicit pertinent follow
up questions which is a great way to delve deeper into your experiences and viewpoints. Deep
discussion in fewer aspects is better than superficial answers for a large number of questions. It is
better not to sound too studied. In fact I would recommend minimal preparation . It is more than
enough to know the facts and let your answers flow with the conversation. Going with rehearsed
answers for the standard questions might make you sound boring and less confident. However,
extempore may not work for everyone, it's a personal choice ultimately. The interview (specially at
hubs and on-campus) is supposed to last for 30 minutes, but I'm sure there are many people
(including me) whose interviews stretched for 10-15 minutes longer. Longer interviews are an
advantage most of the time.
Alumni vs. Hub vs. On Campus. The choice of the type of interview is usually a combination of
your schedule and what you expect out of the interview. If convenience and lower cost is the chief
concern, then alumni interview is the natural choice. If you want to return to your home country
immediately after MBA then you might want to know more about the opportunities and the
network available in your country. An alumnus will be in a better position to give you valuable
information, which will help you to make an informed decision if you have to choose between
multiple schools later.
If you want to visit the school before you decide to attend, then the interview is a good reason to
make the trip. Also the on-campus interviews are conducted by second year students who will be
able to shed light on the life at school. You can also get a feel of the atmosphere and the culture of
the school, which is an important factor, which can sway your decision to or against the school.
People who live reasonably close to Philly should not miss this opportunity. I say this because I
know how difficult it was for me to compare the cultures of different schools using what I read and
the few people I could talk to.
Choosing the hub interview means traveling within your country, unless the hub is your city itself.
This definitely is not as convenient as the alumni option. The hubs are conducted by members of
the adcoms and they may not be able to answer some of the questions you might have about the
curriculum, job opportunities etc. The flip side is that there will be someone in the adcoms who has
met you and spoken to you and might support you in case he/she really liked you. This is something
you cannot achieve through an alumni interview where you rely solely on the report mailed in by the
alumnus. At least during the interview, adcoms members tend to be neutral to the industry you
belong to/aspire to enter. This could be an advantage and a disadvantage: An advantage because you
have a fair chance to showcase your achievements as opposed to talking to a person who belongs
to/knows a lot about your industry and hence might undermine your credentials. A disadvantage
because you may have specific questions about a particular industry and a veteran in that field or
someone who has friends in that field might be able to answer you better.
All the Best for your interview!
Disclaimer: This post is a summary of my opinions formed from my own interview experience and
those that I have read so far. This is by no means a generalization of all Wharton interviews and I
maintain that there is no such thing as "a typical Wharton interview"
 London Business School

Round 4 / Off-campus / Alum / Admitted! (Published August 1, 2008)

I put in a last minute round 4 application to the London Business School and somehow landed an
interview. I honestly didn’t expect to get an interview as the application was literally me deciding to
bring my MBA plans forward after a frustrating week at work. But I thought on re-reading my essays
that it was pretty solid, with a good GMAT and good career progression, so I got an interview.

The interviewer contacted me on a Friday and arranged for the interview on the Sunday so I really
didn’t have all that much time to prepare for it. I looked up some blogs and discovered there would
be a presentation, which made me a bit worried.

The interview also felt a bit strange as it was arranged at the interviewer’s house and on a weekend.
As it was only a few kilometers from my house, I decided to ride my bike there, but half way I had a
flat tyre and had to ditch the bike and call a cab, which was a problem because I had forgotten to
bring my phone. And of course it just happened to be just when a major football game had finished
and all the cabs were busy. Anyway, it all made me about fifteen minutes late (and pretty flustered),
which I don’t think impressed my interviewer; he made a comment about needing to be organized
to do an MBA. As it was a weekend, I wore jeans and a fine woolen knit over a casual shirt with a
casual coat for outside, my interviewer wore a pair of casual pants and a long sleeved shirt, so I
thought I at least got the wardrobe organized right. But not a good start by any means.

We began the interview in his dining area; LBS had provided him with a list of around 30 questions,
which we went through, skipping a few here and there. The order of the questions was a bit random,
and they covered a wide range of things for example

• “What do you think are the major challenges facing today’s business leaders” or
• “How assertive are you? How assertive would your friends say you are?”

A mixture of personal reflection and external awareness I guess, along with some which were getting
at my motivations for doing an MBA and choosing LBS – not unexpected. He took meticulous
notes and asked intelligent follow up questions indicating he was listening closely.
I work in the public sector, and fortunately, so did my interviewer. This made some things easier, I
could use acronyms he understood and could quickly outline situations, which would have required
much more explanation to someone outside government. It also meant I couldn’t bluff or
exaggerate – not that I would have anyway of course – and that he knew senior executives in my
organization.
The presentation was unexpectedly easy. He chose a topic from a list of about five from LBS, gave
me five minutes to prepare then let me talk for a few minutes. The topic was something like “what
will be the next great human advances” or along those lines - something suitably broad which was a
test of structured communication rather than knowledge. Lucky I am good at structured
communication, I don't have any experience debating, but I think my off the cuff answer was pretty
well put together. In the end it was quite a simple exercise, it was fun actually and certainly nothing
to get worried about.
Before the interview began my interviewer said it would take about an hour, but we took much
longer than that, the formal questions and the presentation easily took and hour and a half, and then
we chatted for a while afterwards about London, the MBA, what he did after his LBS MBA. All up
it must have been two and a half or three hours.
After the interview, he didn’t give me any feedback and his impressions of me were difficult to read
although he did offer to give me any further advice should I need it.
Anyway, a couple of weeks later, I got an email letting me know I had a place on the LBS MBA to
graduate in 2010. The interviewer called me to follow up and congratulate me.
Overall, I actually enjoyed the interview and got along well with the interviewer, despite the poor
start and even though I had to leave his place in gathering darkness and figure out what to do with
my bike…

Round 3 / Off-campus / Alum (Published May 1st, 2008)

Interview Date: 29 April
Location: Weekday at his company's offices
Interviewer: Industry (Telecomm)
Me: Military & Consulting, solid GMAT
My interview lasted just about two hours.
The first hour was the main interview question portion. After explaining how the interview would
work, that he couldn't provide me feedback, that there would be a short presentation, etc. we got
started.
Questions included:

• Why London Business School?

• Because of my background, what do I hope to get from the programme? (This was an essay
question, and I think he wanted to sense-check based on my experience, which is fairly
broad.)
• How would your colleagues describe you?
• What's the strategy of your company? (But that I didn't need to reveal confidential info,
obviously.)
• What would you change about that strategy?
• This led to a broader discussion on priorities and leadership in business.
• Describe a time where you felt you failed.
• What did you learn in your international experiences? How would you apply that to
interactions with your study group?
• How did I know an LBS alumnus I had mentioned in my application?

The presentation topic was around corporate social responsibility. (He had a list of five, and asked
me to do that topic.)
After all that was done, he had one last question (something minor), and then he put the papers
away and just chatted about the school. He started out by telling me some of the things he wish he
had asked his interviewer back when, and then it was just a Q&A session with me asking the
questions.
It was clear that the admissions office had done a very thorough evaluation, and my interviewer had
clearly studied my application closely, as well. He was very poker-faced throughout, so it was tough
to get a read on how I was doing. I find out in just a few weeks!

Round 2 / March 2008 (Published March 23rd, 2008)

It was a good interview that went over by about ten minutes and lasted for a full hour.
There was no presentation and I think my experience was quite different from the other candidates.
I was not asked any standard questions (why you/why LBS/why now/teamwork example etc.).
They went straight into the essays and picked up on particular phrases (you're an outsider in your
own country, why) and went into DEPTH. They really liked my essay on who I would pick to eat
dinner with because it showed who I really was - they want to see passion. They didn't like my essay
on weakness (self congratulatory and weak). I think they were trying to get at how I would fit in
from a people/study group perspective; the actual qualifications are probably left to the admissions
committee. Interestingly, the alumni who interviewed me will also have input when it comes time to
decide study groups.
I don't think my interview should be seen as a template because my interviewers were quite
'different.'

Round 2 Interview / Alumni / February 2008 (Published March 2nd, 2008)

Location & Time: A meeting room in his apartment, early morning
His Profile: Finance. Working in a big MNC.
My background: Advertising. 4 years experience. Strong GMAT
Summary

• Very friendly. It was more like a chat than an interview. We spent more time talking about
the LBS experience than "interviewing".

• The interviewer had read the application thoroughly. He only had 4-5 questions he wanted
to ask.

• He started the interview by walking me through some crucial facts about LBS (Shadowing
Project, Second Year Project, and etc.) and we spent a lot of time discussing about them.

• Some of the few questions I recalled were "What do I think about the school's marketing
program and why do I think an MBA is right for me".

• After 45 minutes, he told me to get ready for the impromptu, which was a little surprising
because I didn't feel like I went through any serious interview yet.

• The impromptu was about CSR, which happens to be what I have a lot of experience in. But
even without my experience, I felt that anybody could be able to handle it.
 • After the impromptu, we spent another 30 minutes talking about the schools. Its pros and
cons.

• The interview lasted about 2 hours. I would say LBS interview is totally different from that
of other schools. It's more like exchanging thoughts with an alumni and learning more about
the school.

• I haven't received any decision yet. I'll update this entry as soon as I'm informed.

Round 1 Interview / Alumni / November 2006 (Published December 27, 2006)

Location: His office in a stylish skyscraper. Time: Early morning His sector: Private Equity His
Previous Job: Consulting
My background: Sales/Marketing in a famous multinational. Only 3 years experience but good
progress. Strong GMAT/GPA. Strong Essays.
Summary
We bought coffee and muffins from the cafe downstairs; immediately he put me at ease by being
very friendly. I asked him questions about the deal his firm was trying to close.(something I learned
by researching about him)
Interviewer had read my application carefully. He had specific questions to ask, making the interview
experience similar to that of HBS.

• He walked me through his own resume first, and then said, now it is you turn, tell me about
yourself. After my answer came the following questions:

• Would you prefer your old job or current? Why? (One is very quant based, the other one a
brand management position)

• Tell me your improvement areas.(as many as you like)

• Why LBS? (I said, general management + international business focus of the programme,
student diversity, London advantage and reputation of the school)

• What would you do with and without an MBA in 5 years? (2 different scenarios)
 • Why do you want to join firm X or Y (I had mentioned them in my goals essay as companies
I would like to work in upon graduation; it was easy to answer because I had solid reasons)

• How did you gain the respect of your team? (I am 4-5 years younger than my reports)

• Which other schools have you applied to?

• Then he talked about pros and cons (mostly pros) of LBS.

As you can see, surprisingly, there was no impromptu presentation. I think that is at the discretion of
the interviewer; he didn’t think it was necessary.
At the end of 45 minutes, he said: I am going to say Yes and will recommend you.

5. Round 1 Interview / Alumni / November 2006 (Published December 20, 2006)

Interview was conducted in English. It took place on a weekday evening in my interviewers office.
He received my current application, essays and CV. No recommendation letters or even the
recommenders’ titles, no last year application (I am a reapplicant). He was curious “what were those
huge improvements and changes that made adcoms consider you this year” so we talked about my
last year aspirations as well. I wasn’t asked about Life and Universe and Everything (I mean why
MBA, why NOW, why LBS), but this question loomed in the air.
What I was asked:

• Your short-term and long-term goals. How LBS curriculum will help you fulfilling them?
What skills do you think you need?
• How did you like your visit to school and what was your take-away from the lectures you
visited?
• What project would you choose with your study group at LBS if you were at the point of
choosing? What role in the group would you play?
• How would you choose between different schools if you were in such situation? (what
would be the base for your decision?)
• What it the difference between firms at which you are targeting?
• Tell me about your current industry, its main players. How do you see the perspectives of
this industry?
 • What would you do if not admitted?
• How you plan to finance your studies if admitted?
• How do you lead? Describe a recent experience. Any lessons learned from it?
• Your three good traits from your colleagues’ point of view? Three bad traits? (that was a
tough one)

We got into the details of some of my essays. Talked about my work, current project and
international experience. At the end the interviewer gave me a presentation topic. It was close to my
heart so I hope I was able to handle it well. The interview was very friendly and lasted more than 2
hours. Result: Admitted!

Round 1 Interview / 12/2006 / Alumni interview (Published December 7, 2006)

The interview lasted over 1.5 hours. The interviewer was very personable, and we met in her office.
These are roughly the questions I was asked (tough to remember all of them given that the interview
was quite long).
Tell me about your job. What are your responsibilities? What do you do on an average day? What do
you like about your role? What do you dislike about it? What are you strengths and weaknesses?
Give me an example of leadership (this is where I was told that I needed to provide a more recent
professional example). How do you deal with challenging situations... give me an example. How do
you deal with difficult group members?
For the presentation, I was asked to answer one of the prompts. I had 5 minutes to prepare and
then approximately 5 minutes to present my argument. It really was not difficult and actually was
rather fun. I structured my presentation with an introduction to re-state the issue, introduced my
recommendation, presented three salient points to support my position, and finished with a
conclusion that re-capped the strength of my argument.
At the end, I had the opportunity to ask questions (which I took advantage of, b/c I have not visited
the school).

Round 1 Interview (Published January 14, 2006)

Here is the interview process for London Business School:
I applied to R1 and got the interview decision at the end of November 2005. I was contacted a week
later with the details of my interviewer (an MBA2005 alumni). I am writing this on January 14th
2006.
Timing and location: We agreed to meet on the weekend since we were busy and out of town on
weekdays. We met in the cafe of a 5* hotel in the city center and shared a jasmine tea during the
interview.
Interview Duration: Mine lasted two and a half hours. The reason was that I was talkative and also
that in the end I had some more questions and we talked longer about shadowing, summer
internships, his current job and so on.
Interview Style: I was dressed formally but the interviewer came in jeans and woolen pullover. It was
fine though. It was quite relaxed. The interviewer said that this was his first interview. He was an
extremely nice and friendly guy and very laid back considering his background (8 years in Accenture
with high responsibility pre-MBA). The interview was conducted in English which was a bit
awkward given we both spoke the same mother tongue (and it is not English!) Interview: The
interview was split into two parts a) Interview questions: The interview questions were mainly about
my motivation, leadership and teamwork. Examples are:

• You have only 2 years of work experience... can you tell me about your leadership
experience?
• When you were leading a team, did you ever face resistance from them? How did you solve
it?
• What do you want to learn during the MBA? What are the skills you need and what do you
need them for?
• What do you want to do after the MBA?
• How are you going to choose your school if you get multiple offers?

Then he also asked some very specific questions about my CV, such as "tell me about your
internship in X or your year abroad in Y" etc. b) Presentation: The presentation is nothing to worry
about. You are given a topic (just like in debating) and have 5min to take a position and prepare a
presentation. Since we were in a public cafe surrounded by people I remained seated, so it was more
like giving a short compelling speech. I think they look at structured thinking, communication skills
and at how convincing (logically) and compelling (emotionally) your presentation is. Just be creative
and say something, it doesn't matter if the fact base is shaky. The topics are all completely random
so you can pick any side. Overall, it's nothing to worry about. I think once you're invited for an
interview chances are very good, and you'll hear about the decisions about a week or two after the
interview (and these days of waiting are very painful!). Good luck!

Round 1 Interview (Published January 2006)

Here is the interview process for London Business School:
This is my experience for Rd1 for class of 2008 (Fall 2006 entry) Scheduling Interview:
Once you receive an invite to interview from the admissions team, you will get an email from your
local country/region representative with an alumnus name and email for you to contact the person.
In my case, after exchanging a few emails, we decided on time and place to meet.
Interview Duration: Mine lasted an hour and half. I have heard interviews lasting between 1 hour
and 2 hours. So it's most likely the longest business school interview you will have.
Interview Style: I was wearing a suit since I thought the interview will be formal but it turned out to
be much more casual (at least in appearance) and if I were wearing business casual, I would have
been fine. So check with your interviewer. If you have doubts, just go in a suit. Interview Questions:
The interview is split into three parts and the alumnus has copy of your application and essays. a)
Interview Questions: The interview questions where similar to other b-schools questions (why
MBA, why LBS) but there is a big focus on teamwork, leadership and conflict type questions. It felt
very much like a job interview and it was gauging my ability to be in leadership roles as well as my
ability to work in teams effectively.
Some questions probed my thinking on some business issues related to my work and company. One
example, I was asked what areas I thought my company was weak in and how would I improve it.
My advice here is to prepare as you would for a job interview and re-read your entire application, as
the interviewer will know every detail of your application. b) Case study: Don't freak out! Its a
simple case study and is designed to gauge how well you can articulate your thoughts. The
interviewer gave me a simple case about an issue (think GMAT's analysis of an issue) and you are
supposed to present your thoughts in 2-5 minutes verbal presentation. You can jot down notes and
such but the issue is very simple. My strategy was to come up with three points to discuss for and
against the issue. c) Q&A: About 15 minutes talking and answering some of my questions about
LBS and his experience at LBS.
Overall, a very pleasant experience and the 1hr+ format allowed me to share other experiences and
activities/interests not necessarily reflected in the application. LBS Round 1 Interview for MBA
2008 Class (Accepted)- London
I interviewed in London with a recent alumnus. Alumni details were sent by the adcoms and he was
expecting a call for me. I think LBS places a lot more emphasis on the interview than most US
Schools and it’s almost a make or break thing. From what it seems LBS had sent my interviewer a
detailed list of questions and my full application. He had done his homework well and read my
application thoroughly. He also placed the 4-page question database on the table and I noticed that
he had highlighted in green the questions he had decided to ask me. We started with general
introductions and a bit of personal background and he then moved on to questions:
General questions:

• Describe your career progress along with learning’s and failures.

• What have been your biggest achievements?
• What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
• Describe occasions when you exhibited leadership at work.
• How do you deal in an international team environment?
• What are your career goals and Why LBS?
• What distinguishes LBS from other schools you have applied to? (LBS asks for names of
other schools in their application and hence this question)

Industry Specific questions: I think one of the key difference between my interview for US schools
and LBS was that my interviewer also had few questions on the industry I work in, general trends:

• What is the biggest opportunity and challenge facing your industry? (I mentioned
globalization as both an opportunity and challenge)
• What would you change in the way your organization works?
• What are your learning’s from your entrepreneurial venture?
• Why do you want to go back to your current industry?

Case Study:
It wasn't really a case study. He had a list of 10-15 topics from school and he selected one and asked
me to express my thoughts on it. I was given 3 minutes for preparation and 5 minutes for
presentation. I made a few points in support of the topic (one can decide to argue against it as well)
with examples and just recited them to him in about 3 minutes. It was fairly simple; I think you
should definitely take a stand rather than just expressing both sides of the topic.
Lastly, he opened the floor for any questions to him. Overall I think it was about an hour. At times
intense but fun.

LBS Interview (Published Fall 2005)

Hi All,
Here is my experience at LBS interview:

• Location: Brazil
• Name of School: LBS
• Type: required or by invitation? Invitation
• Could you choose the interview's location? No.
• How long were the interviews? 60 min
• Who was the interviewer? Alumni Class of T’02
• How did you prepare? Mock, Reading essays
• Did you receive any feedback at the end? No.
• What was your opinion of the Alumni/Office Personnel? Friendly.
• Did anything change your opinion of the school? No.
• Was there something you wish you had known ahead of time: No.

Questions:
Brief introduction about how the interview would be conducted.

• Why MBA?
• Why LBS?
• Tell me your experience as a leader.
• Tell about how people in ‘Company’ view you as a leader.
• When someone was not putting effort enough in the team, how you reacted?
• How people in ‘Company’ view you in 2 words?
• What was your greater achievement?
• Which were your biggest changes? Professionally and personally.
 • You were an instructor in a ‘Company’s course in USA. What did you learn from this
experience? What did you do to keep the public attention?
• Case Presentation: Fish stock are going down in oceans, do you think we should stop eating
fish? Would this impact in fisherman economy?

Hope it helps.
CEIBS

After receipt of a complete application package, the MBA Admissions Office will review all
information provided and will short list some applicants for an interview. Applicants can normally
have choice of their interview location except for special cases. The interview panel will be
comprised of CEIBS faculty, department directors, alumni and admissions managers. In most cases,
applicants will be interviewed by two interviewers. Each interview is approximately 30 minutes
conducted in English.

A face-to-face interview is required for all applicants who are residing in mainland China. However,
for those applicants who are working or studying outside of mainland China, the School may permit
interviews through other arrangements such as videoconference or telephone.

Typical Questions-

Resume walk through

Why MBA

Why Ceibs?

Why China?

What is your plan post-MBA?/ What are your short-term and long-term goals?

What do you hope to gain from Ceibs in and outside the classroom?

Give me a professional team example. When did you lead a team? When did you have to develop
someone on a team?
Tell me about a professional failure.

An example of a conflict you were in that didn't get resolved.

Your strengths and weaknesses

If you couldn't do your chosen profession, what else would you do?

Describe a time you failed and how you rebounded.

Describe something from your college or work experience that you would have handled differently.

Please walk me through your career path with your company and describe your role in each position.

What do you consider to be the most pressing issue in Global Business today?

How easy or difficult is it to set a new venture in China? Anything specific to the Chinese business
norms?

Walk me through the decision-making and solution process in one of the initiatives you led within
your firm.

Name a CEO you admire:

If I have to describe you to the Ceibs Class of 2018, what should I say about you?

INSEAD
A Talk with INSEAD's Associate Admissions Director, Johanna Hellborg
Q: Are all applicants required to go through two rounds of interview?
A: Most of our applicants get two interviews with two different alumni. In countries where we don't
have a lot of alumni, it will only be one interview. It's an opportunity for applicants to ask [alumni]
more about the school.

Prior to the meeting, the candidate will be asked to provide the interviewer with their six-page
profile from their online application -- there's nothing really creative in this. We're looking for what
types of jobs they've had, what they've studied, etc. The alumni interviewers look for the same things
in each of the interviews.

INSEAD Looks for "Outstanding Traits"

Associate Admissions Director Johanna Hellborg on the qualities the B-school seeks in students and
its international brand recognition
Every year, INSEAD, No. 3 on Business Week’s 2004 list of top non-U.S. MBA programs, enrolls
close to 900 MBAs from 65 to 75 different countries across its two campuses -- one in
Fontainebleau, France, and the other in Singapore. While INSEAD recently slipped from No. 1 in
BW's biennial listing, it's still difficult to get into the B-school. Johanna Hellborg, associate director
of MBA admissions at INSEAD, screens the thousands of applications that arrive in Fontainebleau
each year.

She recently fielded questions during a live chat from audience members and BusinessWeek Online's
Mica Schneider and Jack Dierdorff. Here's an edited transcript of the event:

Q: How should INSEAD applicants interpret the school's recent dip to the No. 3 spot in
BusinessWeek's non-U.S. rating?
A: It's good that we have feedback on things that we can improve. We're already addressing any
weaknesses we know of on the service side. For example, we've changed our food provider.

In terms of recruiting, it's always difficult to compare us with other business schools because [our
students get placed in jobs] around the world, and it's not specific to some big cities. And we've
nearly doubled our career-services management team to provide better service.

Q: What's the average percentage of students that are employed three months after
graduation?
A: The detailed statistics are available on our Web site. We were up to 79% with offers before the
end of the year.

Q: Do you see any trends in the applicant volume following your first-round deadline for the
September 2005 intake?
A: It will probably be a slow start, but we have several colleagues on the road now, and we clearly
see a rise in interest in our MBA program.

Q: Which intake (September or January) is harder to break into as an applicant?

A: There's no difference. It depends more on rounds. You have a bit more of a chance in round two
than in round three.

Q: Are there any parts of the application that you weigh more than others?
A: No. We look at everything. Ideally, we would like to have all parts be strong.

Q: How much emphasis do you give GMAT scores?

A: We're looking at the balance of all aspects of an application. Prove that you can follow [our
course] academically. We look at verbal and quant percentiles above 75%, but we definitely look at
the rest of the application, too. We've rejected 800 GMATs.

Q: With a GMAT score of 650 (verbal 72%, quantitative: 78%), do I still have a chance to get
accepted at INSEAD, or should I consider retaking the exam?
A: If you think you can do better, take the GMAT again. I cannot decide if you should take the
GMAT again or not.

Q: Classes are taught in English, but what language skills are required for an INSEAD
applicant?
A: English is required. You have to have another language -- it could be your mother tongue or
another language that you've learned. And you need working knowledge, not fluency, of a third
language upon graduation.

Q: I'm just over 40 years old, have more than 15 years of international professional
experience, and am fluent in German and English. Would my application be screened out
due to my age?
A: Unfortunately, it wouldn't fit our full-time MBA program. It would be a very interesting profile
for our executive MBA.
Q: Does INSEAD have an age and work-experience limit for full-time MBA applicants?
A: It's very rare that we have people above the age of 35. In terms of years of professional
experience, it's difficult to say. This is because a consultant may have three years and a medical
doctor could have 12 years of experience.

Q: I'm the founder and president of my own consulting firm and have over 16 years of
management experience. However, I lack an undergraduate degree. Would INSEAD
consider me?
A: On a very exceptional basis. We take one or two candidates per year who don't have an
undergraduate degree. They come with outstanding professional or international experience.
Q: Is it true that the greater the work experience the better?
A: It's not a matter of quantity, [but] quality. We're looking at people who were on the fast career
track.

Q: Does INSEAD give any preference to the type of job (engineer, consultant, etc.) a person
had?
A: No. We don't prefer any profile. We want each and every candidate to contribute to our class.

Q: The school has nearly doubled its intake. Has that affected the average class size? Is
more growth possible?
A: We take in 900 [MBAs] per year now, vs. 600 five years ago. The reason is because we opened the
campus in Singapore. We're stabilizing now, but as we're a very entrepreneurial school, we'll see
what the future holds for us. Within the classroom, there's absolutely no change. We work with
sections, and each section is about 70 to 75 people.

Q: What's the enrollment breakdown in Fontainebleau vs. Singapore?

A: We take 300 [per intake] in Fontainebleau and 150 in Singapore.

Q: How would you compare the Singapore and Fontainebleau courses?

A: Core courses are exactly the same. More than half of the students will switch from one campus to
another. Some of our electives could have more of an Asian flavor or entrepreneurial flavor, since
the Singapore campus is our center for entrepreneurship. Otherwise, the most popular electives are
found on both campuses.
Q: When will first-round interview invitations go out?
A: All the deadlines are on our Web site. The first-round [interview decision is due] Nov. 19.

Q: Are all applicants required to go through two rounds of interview?

A: Most of our applicants get two interviews with two different alumni. In countries where we don't
have a lot of alumni, it will only be one interview. It's an opportunity for applicants to ask [alumni]
more about the school.

Prior to the meeting, the candidate will be asked to provide the interviewer with their six-page
profile from their online application -- there's nothing really creative in this. We're looking for what
types of jobs they've had, what they've studied, etc. The alumni interviewers look for the same things
in each of the interviews.
Q: Any recommendations for recommendation letters?
A: We want to identify how you interact in a professional setting. Professional recommendations are
the most useful.

Q: What approach does INSEAD take in processing wait-listed applications?

A: We use the wait-list to manage the mix of our class. There's no ranking in the wait-list. We offer
seats depending on the mix of the class.

Q: Are applicants from some countries -- for instance, India or China -- up against more
competition than those from less-represented nations?
A: We don't have quotas on countries. We select the best [applicants] from each country. If it's a
country with a lot of applicants, you clearly have to demonstrate other outstanding traits to get
admitted. If you come from a country where there aren't many applicants, you still have to have the
outstanding INSEAD profile. But coming from that country would be an advantage.

Q: Any strict no-no's for the application essays?

A: Spelling mistakes are a big no-no. Using the wrong school name is a big no-no (it does happen).
Don't try to write what you think we want to read, just be yourself. If you have a sense of humor,
use it.
Q: If a husband and wife apply to INSEAD at the same time, does it help if they alert the
admissions committee?
A: The admissions office is always interested in knowing something like this. But the admissions
committee wouldn't know, and we do evaluate the candidates individually. I would advise couples to
discuss how they're going to deal with whatever the outcome is in order to prevent any problems if
one gets accepted and the other doesn't.

Q: How does INSEAD accommodate the needs of its married students?

A: Because of the average age -- 28 -- of our candidates, a lot come to campus with partners. There's
a very active and strong partner community. They organize lots of activities among themselves,
languages are taught among each other, and the school organizes career-management workshops for
partners.

Q: How is INSEAD's brand recognition in the U.S.?

A: If your plan is to spend the rest of your life in the U.S., definitely go to an American business
school. If you plan to spend some time in the U.S., where we already have a big network of
INSEAD alumni -- but still have the world as a future work option -- INSEAD would provide you
with a much stronger network and brand recognition worldwide.

Q: Any plans on opening a U.S. campus?

A: The alliance we have with The Wharton School [in Philadelphia] is already a very fruitful way of
having a presence. We would rather strengthen that relationship than open a U.S. campus

Q: What percent of students go on exchange to Wharton, and how are those MBAs selected?
A: Forty people per class go on exchange to Wharton at the end of the year. [Selection] is the same
system as for the electives -- it's based on bidding (e.g., you get 100 points to bid on electives and
the exchange with Wharton, and you put points on something depending upon how badly you want
that option).

Q: I've heard complaints about INSEAD's information-technology department -- server

failures, a shortage of connection points, etc. Are you planning any improvements?
A: We're already WiFi. I'm actually not so aware of these other weaknesses you mention. The
Singapore campus' technology is really of top quality. And Fontainebleau has upgraded its
technology recently.

Q: Is the 10-month MBA program suited for middle or senior managers seeking a career
change?
A: More middle than senior. Usually people have an average of five years' work experience. More
than looking for a career change, it's for people who are looking for more options -- up the ladder or
lateral changes.

Q: Half of INSEAD students are career changers. How does the school help them refine
their career goals?
A: The career-management service will be in contact with them from day one. The beginning of the
year is focused on self-assessment, then on setting objectives. After that, we focus on market
research. The last four months is focused on interviews, company presentations, and negotiations.

Q: Where do most Singapore grads find jobs?

A: Our graduates go around the world. Just because you studied in Singapore doesn't mean that you
would necessarily have to go to work in Asia.

Q: What are the job opportunities in India if one does an MBA in France?
A: INSEAD is a reputable school in India. Last year, 6.25% of the class went to work in India.

Q: BusinessWeek quoted a student as saying that consulting grads were snapped up really
quickly, while students from other disciplines were disappointed. Is there truth in this
claim? Is anything being done to improve this?
A: It depends on what kinds of jobs you're looking for. More than 50% of our students do a career
switch. So in that sense, you have to work a little bit to find the job of your dreams. I haven't heard
specifically that everyone but the consultants are having a hard time.

Q: How hard is it for non-European students to get a visa to work in Europe?

A: At higher-level jobs, if a company really wants someone, they'll work out the working papers. But
it's much easier for a European citizen. It also depends on the economic situation at the time and
the industry the candidate is targeting.

Q: How many students land jobs in energy or oil companies?

A: Seven percent of last year's class went to work in petroleum and energy.

Q: Is there a chance that INSEAD may have a loan program for participants of the January,
2005, intake?
A: No, we won't have a global loan program, but we're trying to develop more regional loans,
depending upon the countries people are from. Go to our Web site to see what's available to you.

Q: Johanna, any final words of wisdom for INSEAD applicants?

A: If you can come and visit one of our campuses, that's ideal. But also check our Web site. And
since we're visiting around the world, you can take that opportunity to come and ask us questions.

Comments from Student 1:

Scheduling the Interview: The admission office provided the contact information of two alumni.
One of them is a VP of a management-consulting firm and the other is a CEO of a start-up. Both
interviews were delayed several times as they were busy (overseas business trips).

Location of Inteview: A down-town pub (for the VP) and his office meeting room (for the CEO).

Preparedness of Interviewer: I did not find them to be well prepared.

Interviewer University affiliation: Both INSEAD Alumni working locally.

Atmosphere: The first alumni has over twenty years of experience in Management Consulting and is
very sharp in questionings his interview canidates. The CEO was very friendly and interesting. He
was kind of tired (after a long day of work) though.

Questions asked: Basically a fit interview.

- Why INSEAD?
- Your strengths and weaknesses.
- Why an MBA?
- Talk about your overseas work experiences.
- Describe an incident where you failed. What were your thoughts and what did you do?
The questions are straight forward and not difficult.
Length of Interview: Both approximately one hour.
Additional Comments: Both were impressive professionally.

Comments from Student 2:

In my experience the process of interview at INSEAD was a bit lengthy and complicated.
I was contacted by the school about two months after sending my application. INSEAD runs a
staged admission process and I applied by the end of September 2003 - the first stage for the Sept
2004 class.
I was informed by email that I would have interviews with two alumni. The school made efforts to
select interviewers close to my working location at the time – Paris.

The first name I was given was that of a senior executive at a major French insurance company. We
fixed an appointment at his office toward the beginning of December.

The interview was held partly in English and partly in French. It lasted about one hour and the
questions revolved around my background and future plans.

The interviewer was well acquainted with my essays, which I had sent him prior to the interview.
The atmosphere was pleasant and friendly. The interviewers also offered to answer my questions
and shared with me his much appreciated suggestions. At the end of the interview he was very kind
and told me that his feedback on my application would be positive. So the first interview was a
smooth and pleasant experience.

Scheduling the second interview was a bit more challenging. I was provided with a couple of
contacts who never answered my emails. It was only after I called INSEAD directly that I was finally
able to schedule the second interview.
It was held in Sophia Antipolis, where my home office is based, by a young executive of a major IT
company. The interview took place at the premises of his company and was similar in nature a
length to the first one. This time the languages employed were Italian and English – it looks like
INSEAD tries to gauge whether the linguistical skills reported in the application are truthful. Also in
this case the interviewer, of exquisite kindness, provided me immediately with a positive feedback.

The feedback from INSEAD was quite fast. I received an email and a telephone call about a month
after my second interview. This is remarkably fast given that Christmas and New Year's eve fell in
between my second interview and the admission from the school.

Comments from Student 3:

I was notified via an email about my interviewers for the INSEAD MBA program. Both alumni
lived and worked in London (where I currently reside). While it is sometimes difficult to schedule
timely interviews with busy alumni, I was fortunate to receive a quick response from my interviewers
and was able to schedule my meetings within two weeks. Both meetings took place at alumni offices
and lasted about an hour. The two were very different in their nature, largely driven by interviewers'
personalities. The first interview was more structured and felt similar to a job interview, while the
second was more relaxed. The questions were largely the ones one would expect, but I would
recommend preparing clear examples of your teamwork abilities and examples of your failures (most
importantly how you dealt with the situation and what you have learned for it). Just as with any
school interview, it is important that you can explain how an MBA fits into your career plans, what
you are hoping to gain from it, and what you would do if you were not successful in gaining entry
into an MBA program. In addition, it is imperative that you can explain why INSEAD is your top
choice and how it fits with or stands out from the rest of the MBA programs you are pursuing. If
you are switching your career, be ready to defend your decision, explain the logic behind it and your
strategy for penetrating the new field. The most interesting question I was asked during my
interview was: "What is your relationship with money?" As with many questions, there is no right or
wrong answer to these questions, just demonstrate your logic behind the answer.