KelloggInterview

From ClearAdmitWiki

Below are interview reports from those who have interviewed with Kellogg.

Further insight and strategic advice on the interview process at the Kellogg School of Management can be found in the Clear Admit Interview Guide. Detailed information on academic resources, student culture, and social and professional opportunities can be found in the Clear Admit School Guide.

Please add your interview report directly above all other reports. Please also include the date you are publishing your report; the type of interview (adcom / alumni / student) and the admissions round for which you interviewed (R1 / R2 / R3). It's free to sign up and contribute - just click here to create an account or you can e-mail your contribution to wiki@clearadmit.com.

91. EMBA / Adcom (Published April 9th, 2010)

I had my interview at the end of March. I got the decision this week – admitted. The conversation last for 1,5 hours. Meeting was very nice and I had a great opportunity to present myself and when I say myself I really mean it. Don’t talk about your resume only, talk about your story and your life (not only professional) and use your CV as a template to follow. As you can see I’m European and not native English speaker. The interviewer created relaxed atmosphere, she was asking some questions related to topics I was discussing.

I read the book “how to get to top MBA program” and in all honesty don’t over do it. Be yourself, present your values and believes, personality and how it is tight to your professional career. Don’t play and plan too much. They require extensive professional experience. If you have required experience you should already know what kind of questions you shouldn’t ask during conversation like this one. Leverage international experience if you have such – mine is extensive and I could present it.

Address typical questions while talking about yourself. Let me know if I can be of any help. pmp1972@hotmail.com

90. Round 2 / Adcom (Published April 2nd, 2010)

Questions:

Walk me through your resume.
Why MBA?
Why now?
Tell me about your views on teamwork.
Tell me about a time you lead a team.
What will you contribute to Kellogg?

The interview lasted about 45 minutes and most of it was covering my resume and questions the interviewer had about my resume. She allowed me to lead the conversation and seemed to ask questions based on where it was going. Make sure to have a few good questions for the interviewer.

89. Round 3 / Alumnus / Off-campus (Published 27th March 2010)

Interview lasted 75 minutes, held at Panera. Interviewer was friendly and informal but professional. Got into the questions pretty quickly. The list is not in order after the first one.

Why MBA? Why Kellogg? Why now? (all in one)
Why do you want to make this particular career transition? What attracts you to the field? (not exact words, but that was the general sense)
What clubs do you plan to join?
What five words would your friends use to describe you? Then: If you heard them use these words, what one would make you the proudest?
Leadership example
Example where you weren't the leader
Do you find yourself filling leadership gaps in a group when they exist?
What is the one thing in your *life* that you are the proudest of?

My interviewer was particularly adept at picking up on the little comments I would make and reading into them. My recommendation is to just talk. Don't be afraid to go off on tangents in your answers as long as you eventually get back to addressing the specific question.

RESULT: Rejected May 12th 2010

88. Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-campus (Published March 22nd, 2010)

I had my an off-campus interview with an alum. It went for about 75 minutes. The alum was really warm and welcoming throughout the conversation and it was clear he had a fantastic experience. Pretty standard set of questions

Why MBA?
Why Kellogg?
Give example of a work conflict?
Biggest accomplishment?
Interests outside of work?
Questions?

My key points of advice: Ensure that you show all facets of your personality especially ability to work in teams, collaborate and contribute to Kellogg community; I found it very worthwhile to visit campus and speak to current students as it was informative and provided some discussion points; if it’s in a open place as mine was, ensure you are well versed in keeping focused on the conversation and not get distracted by surroundings.

87. Round 2 / Alum / Off-campus (Published March 11th, 2010)

Questions:

Walk me through your resume.
Why MBA?
Why now?
Why Kellogg?
Tell me about your passion(s) outside of the professional or education realms (e.g., extracurricular pursuit).
What was your single greatest professional accomplishment?
What do you do for fun?
Tell me about a time when your communication with a colleague was a catalyst to achieve a team goal.
What are the 3 most important attributes of a successful leader? How do you rate yourself in each of these attributes?
Who do you admire as a leader?
What is the most challenging part of your job (current or previous)?
What was a weakness in your application?
What will be your unique contribution to Kellogg? (i.e., what will you give to other students?)

The interview was conducted at her office. Casual dress, so I was free to wear whatever. I arrived 10 minutes early and we started exactly on time.

From the outset, she was welcoming, affable and conversational, setting a friendly but focused tone. She clearly laid out the game plan at the start (her background, then her questions for me, then my questions for her). She said the interview would probably take 1 hour, but it ended up lasting 1 hour and 45 minutes.

I thought the interview went extremely well. She was a great enabler, an active listener with easy-to-read facial expressions and responsive body language. This was very useful, as it let me know when I was dragging and when I was flying. Her questions gave me the opportunity to relay all of my best professional and personal stories (even some that I didn't expect would come up in conversation).

Since my experience with the first two-thirds of the interview was so positive, I was very confident and comfortable tackling questions that I didn't anticipate and hadn't specifically prepared.

When the table turned and she was answering my questions, she was very candid about her Kellogg experience. Having spoken at length with a mix of students and alums, I had a sense of Kellogg's primary advantages and disadvantages, but my interviewer enlightened me with additional highlights and drawbacks.

86. Round 2 / Alumni / On campus (Published March 8th, 2010)

There were 8-10 people waiting to interview at the same time, when I was only expecting 2-3 people. I interviewed on campus, but with an alumni. She said they asked her to volunteer because of the high volume of applicants. She said the interview would last 30 minutes but it was 45-50. She was friendly.

The questions posted by everyone here were the same except that since I am a high-level manager at my current job, she did not ask me any pointed leadership questions. I assume I was expected to cover this in my narrative when I walked her through my resume. She did not ask me any failure or what are your strengths/weaknesses type questions. I think she wanted to see how I presented myself and to get a feel for my personality and motivation for Kellogg rather than hear rehearsed answers to typical interview questions.

85. Round 2 / Adcom / On-campus (Published March 5th, 2010)

Interview was in the afternoon. Be sure to arrive 15m early. Interviewer was very friendly. She went through the application process and then dove into questions.

Questions:

Walk me through your resume, beginning with your undergraduate degree (also follow up question made this similar to "tell me about yourself" question as well).
Why an MBA?
Why Kellogg?
What clubs do you plan to participate in while at Kellogg?
What do you do for fun/enjoy?
How has your leadership style progressed since college (through work or a specific extra-curricular activity)?
Have you held any leadership positions at work?
Have you faced any challenges as a leader at work? How did you deal with them?
Anything else you want to cover about yourself.
Any questions for me?

Although the questions above were the only questions asked, we did cover some community service I had done as that came up in a different area. Overall, I felt well prepared based on the questions posted on ClearAdmit. I had a few follow up questions but I had spoken with 4 alumni in the preceding weeks and had gotten a lot of info on Kellogg which I believe came across in my interview.

Interview took 30 minutes (which she said it would) and I believe that is the standard for all adcom on-campus meetings. My advice is read over Clear Admit questions and have answers prepared or at least thought about, that way you won't be thrown off by anything.

84. Round 2 / Alumni / Off-campus (Published February 12th, 2010)

My interviewer was absolutely friendly and kind. No challenging questions were asked, and all of the questions that I was asked were covered by Clear Admit Wiki. (So I'm showing my appreciation by submiting my interview report for others!) I talked about my experiences for 20~30 minutes to answer her questions and spent the remaining 25~30 minutes learning more about her experiences at Kellogg.

Some of the questions I was asked are as follows:

Tell me about your current work experiences.
Career goals
Leadership experience (outside work - i.e. college, extra-curricular activities)
Team experience (at work)
Why now?

I was surprised that she never asked me about "why Kellogg?" and "why MBA?" I am guessing she already knew what my answers would be for these questions. My answers were prepared in a "story-telling" style, so she didn't probe into much detail.

The entire interview including greeting, questions, answers, and her stories took about 55 minutes. I had 5-6 questions to ask her, and her answer sometimes covered couple questions at once. Although I believe my interview went smooth overall, I wish I had prepared more questions as I started running out of "great" questions at the end. (I have a close friend who is at Kellogg, so I didn't have a long list of questions as he already told me so much about the school.)

I certainly had a wonderful time meeting with my interviewer and truly enjoyed talking with her. She has definitely left me the best impression about Kellogg. Now I see how Kellogg has got its reputation for being friendly and social!

83. Round 2 / Alumni / Off-campus (Published February 6th, 2010)

My interviewer was absolutely lovely-she reinforced all the great things I have heard about Kellogg. We started out discussing the application process (which I found very helpful), followed by my background and experiences, and why I want to go to Kellogg (e.g. why Kellogg, why an MBA, why now?) She probed a bit as to what drew me to Kellogg specifically (be able to say clubs/classes you'd be interested in). Then she asked lots of leadership experiences, What makes a good leader/a bad leader? Tell me about a time you've been on a team that has failed. Not sure I was as well prepared as I should have been, but I think its pretty standard as with other schools. The only question she really threw me on was "Tell me about a time you have been humbled."

Overall, we had about an hour so there was lots of time for me to learn more about her experiences at Kellogg, and to discuss how well it fit into my career goals. Very relaxing and comfortable.

82. Round 2 / Alumni / Off-campus (Published February 4th, 2010)

Interviewer was very friendly and certainly a huge supporter of Kellogg. Kicked it off mentioning her background, then had me walk her through my resume. Spent about 10-15minutes going through my college experience and work experience in detail. Then, more standard questions,

Why MBA
Why now.
Why Kellogg
Where do you see yourself in 10yrs?
Greatest accomplishment at work
How have you handled conflict / disagreement
What type of leader are you?
Describe the type of leader you would like to be
What role do you normally take on in a team?
What types of activities are you involved in?
What concerns you the most about your Kellogg application?

Those are all that I remember, then opened it up for me to ask some questions.

Overall, very conversational in the first half, then more standard interview in the second half where she consulted the script a few times to make sure she covered all the questions. A couple questions I probably could have been better prepared for, but no surprising questions. She took a lot of notes throughout, and it seemed to go very well.

81. Round 2 / Alumni / Off-campus (Published January 30th, 2010) 10am interview. Alumunus showed up 15 minutes late, but apologized profusely. She was very nice and a similar background and went into depth explaining her pre-mba experience, her time at Kellogg, and what shes doing now. We then jumped into questions for me:

Team experience in which you faced a challenge
Why Kellogg?
Why MBA?
Give me your 2 minute elevator pitch
What do you do for fun?

Took 1 hour to finish.

80. Round 1 / Adcom / On-campus (Published January 28th, 2010)

The interview was in the morning, and the admissions office is very friendly and professional. The admissions officer was on time for the interview, which lasted for half an hour. In the afternoon, I attended a competitive strategy course, which was very helpful in getting a feel of what life is like as a Kellogg student. The admissions officer seemed glad that I was planning to stay the afternoon to attend a class.

The admissions officer was very nice and friendly, made me feel comfortable. She didn't seem like she wanted to stump me with questions but just get a feel for my personality.

List of interview questions

Why MBA?
Why now?
Why Kellogg?
What are your short-term and long-term goals?
What type of leader are you?
Is there anything else you'd like us to know about yourself?

Overall, it was a pretty pain-free experience. Everyone on campus and in the admissions office was very friendly and welcoming. The interview itself was not too challenging with no major surprises. The only surprise was when I asked her a question, and she turned around and posed the same question to me. I'd say, be prepared to show that you have done your research and have talked to current students and alumni. The more you show a genuine interest in the school, the more likely they will have a positive impression of you.

79. Round 2 / Adcom / On-campus (Published January 27th, 2010)

Interviewed on campus, recently. The interviewer was a nice lady, but was stern. She didn't corner me, but I didn't feel a whole lot comfortable throughout the interview. Hence, am not sure if the interview went well or not. Typical questions:

Walk me through your resume
What are your long and short term goals?
Where would you ideally want to be in a year from now? (interesting)
How does Kellogg fit into this picture?
Give me an example when you were not involved as a leader. (interesting)
What would your classmates say about you?
Any questions for me?

Preparation: talking to people, reviewing previous interviews on clearadmit.com wiki, rehearsing may be once (don't over do it).

Suggestions: just chill and be yourself. Reach the admissions office a little early. Usually, there are a few prospective students sitting there. Talk to them -- will make you feel a little less tense/nervous and will help you become comfortable before the interview.

Best of luck!

78. Round 2 / Alum / Off-campus (Published January 26th, 2010)

Pretty straight forward, only hiccups is that the Alum requested we meet a food court at 7 pm and it closed at 7:05. She didn't know the area that well but thankfully, I had noticed Ruby Tuesdays so we went there for an iced tea. Not sure what the takeaway is but helpful to have back-up locations.

Walk me through your resume. Only probing question: she asked how I built clients in my industry ( I am an entrepreuneur) but accepted my answer.
Why an MBA
Why Now
Why Kellogg
Tell me about how you work in Teams
What do you struggle with? What skill set is difficult for you?
Questions

Whole Interview lasted an hour with the relocation time.

She directly consulted from what looked to be a printout question list and took over 2 pages of notes. She appreciate comments about Chicago and my knowledge of the school's programs.

77. Round 2 / Alum / Off-campus (Published January 25th, 2010)

We met at a local coffee shop with a relatively new alumni (2007). He was friendly and professional. Dress attire, business causal. Lasted 1 hour.

Why MBA? Why Kellogg?
Why now?
Tell me about a team experience
Greatest work accomplishment

Detail questions about my resume including how I acquired my diverse set of projects Know your resume, why Kellogg, and why MBA. Know exactly why you want to go to Kellogg and how you'll add to the community. Be prepared with questions for the Alumni.

My best advice is know the basics and understand what qualities Kellogg is looking for in an applicant. If your resume doesn't convey all qualities of an ideal applicant, be ready to supply antidotes of those qualities to present a well rounded applicant.

76. Round 2 / Alum / Off-campus (Published January 15th, 2010)

The interview questions are quite straight forward.

Why MBA? Why Kellogg?
Why now?
Detail questions about every corner of my resume

You have to be familiar with everything on your resume even your job at five years ago. Go to detail and prepare examples to support. The alumnus is very nice and did great job of Kellogg brand marketing. It was a very nice conversation.

75. Round 1 / Alum / Off-campus (Published January 13th, 2010)

Overall a very relaxed interview experience. It was off campus and the alum and I scheduled the interview during the week at the alums office.

Alum started off telling me about the role of the interview and asked if I had any questions. I asked about alums background and then alum asked about mine. I talked about this for about 5 minutes. Alum asked fairly expected questions including:

Tell me about a team experience and a challenge you have faced
Why MBA?
Why Kellogg?
What are your career goals?
Which clubs will you get involved in?

Then I asked a few questions and we parted ways. I think it went pretty well.

74. Round 1 / Adcom / On-campus (Published January 4th, 2010 by DreamChaser)

I selected to do the interview on campus during the Kellogg Preview Weekend (which btw, is an awesome event that you should check out, see my post on KPW). I wasn't sure if I was gonna interview with a student or an Adcom. But it looks like on Saturday you interview with student (I am not 100% sure about whether you always interview with Adcom during the week days though). I ended up in one female Adcom's office for the interview. She was very friendly and that relaxed me a little bit because I was quite nervous since Kellogg was my first interview. The interview started off with the most standard question about walking through the resume. I went a little far into explaining why MBA, and my interviewer actually smiled at the end of it and told me there was specific question for that later (I thank her for not interrupting me while I went off for that would have throw me off a little). All the questions were pretty standard Kellogg questions, even the leadership style one I have seen on accept.com interview reports. The interview lasted about 30 minutes and the interviewer left enough time for me to ask questions. Overall, the interview was like a relaxed conversation with the interviewer occasionally probing on points of interests. Because of my profile and my answers, the interview end up focusing a lot on leadership and team work, which allowed me to fully showcase my strengths. I felt that the Adcom is very experienced and asks lots of follow up questions. She also kept writing notes the entire time but kept good eye contact in between and had lots of positive confirmation through body language (nodding, smiling, ect.) Overall, I thought I did quite well and the admission later confirmed that.

My 2cents for interview rep: read interview reports from accept.com and clearadmit, prepare those questions, and prepare all of them. I always think it's good to over prepare than under prepare. Just make sure your answers don't sound rehearsed. Know your story, of course, but also know your strengths, and try to showcase as much as of it during the interview. And lastly, stay relaxed, don't get throw off by odd questions, just be confident and be your best self. Good luck!

Here is the list of interview questions that I remember:

Walk through your resume starting from undergrad experience?
What is your biggest accomplishment at work?
Leadership experience at work?
Follow up question on my leadership experience such as my specific actions and leadership style.
How has your leadership style progressed since college (through work and a specific extra-curricular activity)?
What role do you play on a team?
Tell me about xxx (a specific extracurricular activity on my resume).
Why MBA?
Why Kellogg?
What unique contribution can you bring to Kellogg?
What clubs do you plan to participate in while at Kellogg?
What do you do for fun?
Anything you want to say that we haven't talked about?

73. Round 1 / Adcom / On-campus / Accepted! (Published Dec 14th, 2009)

Adcom seemed experienced and probed at all the right points.

Walk me through your resume - with highlights of each. She checked that everything I spoke about was from the resume; asked a couple of follow up questions.
What are your career goals? Drilled down into my long term career goal; not sure if this was to catch me off guard or to really understand my goals.
Why do you want an MBA? Why Kellogg?
What would your teammates say about you?
What kind of a leader are you?
Discuss a failure in a team context
What is a weakness you have?
How do you see yourself contributing to Kellogg community?
Do you have any questions for me? I asked her about things Kellogg was doing in response to the current economic climate. She gave me a long answer.

Interview had an open-ended feel to it. She would often see me speaking and stay quiet, allowing me to take it the way I wanted. I used all these instances to show her why I loved Kellogg and also displayed my detailed knowledge of the school and its offerings. Its important to know your story cold - especially Why MBA, Why Kellogg and Walk me through your resume. I practiced these by saying them out loud to myself over a hundred times in the week leading up to the interview.

72. Round 1 / Adcom / On-campus / Accepted! (Published Dec 8th, 2009)

Written on 10/22 in Kellogg cafeteria, 20 mins after interview.

Interview on campus with Adcom; 45 minutes. Small office, seated facing each other in padded midback chairs with armrests, no table in between. Interviewer has a copy of your resume, you don’t… be ready for that.

Interviewer was a very nice woman from the admissions committee in her late 40s/early 50s. Introduced herself and went over interview format. And opened off with “tell me about yourself”.

Asked very open-ended questions and prodded with some subtle follow up questions in a few cases when I was a little over-broad. Gave me a lot of verbal and nonverbal feedback (nodding, taking notes) when I hit points she liked. This let me adjust what I was talking about to drill down deeper on areas of interest.

Be ready to talk for 80-90% of the time, the questions are very open ended and are there more just to prod you into some direction. The interview is really pretty undirected and you are basically expected to pitch yourself.

Kellogg questions –

Tell me about yourself? A: I'm married, I'm from X. I'm a manager at a software company with a background in consulting.
I see that your job is X, what does that really mean, what do you do? A: I do XY and Z. I report to Q. Here are some typical things that I do.
So your job involves a lot of leadership. Tell me about some of your other leadership experiences. A: Highschool leadership in academic competitions, Military leadership, student leadership, community leadership. Touching about 90 seconds on each. This was a stronger area for me but I made an effort to be concise, get everything in, but not let it take up too much time.
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of in your career. A: Told a story about when I helped redevelop a failing product. Impact to the company, impact on myself.
Your community involvement involves working with a lot of different organizations. Tell me about one specific project you’ve worked on. A: Picked the highest profile one, for which I won an award. Before and after story involving vision and leadership.
Tell me about your time at your undergraduate university. A: Focused on why I picked my little known program. Talked about mentoring as a part of my university’s mentor program. Talked about the radio show I used to host. Talked about intramural sports.
How would you contribute to Kellogg? A: My background is very deep and multifaceted in technology. I bring that along with the ability to actually communicate that and pass along that knowledge. I would contribute in the consulting and net impact clubs, as these best fit my background and future plans.
What else do you want Kellogg to know about you. A: My upbringing – Blue collar, self made, motivated. How deeply I have researched the program. Passion for Kellogg education model with specific examples like GIM trips, case studies, experiential model etc. That I flew to Kellogg for my interview because I wanted to show my commitment and passion directly to the Adcom face to face, rather than an alumnus (which was true).
Do you have any questions for me. A: I said no, and that I think that I have answered them all already through my own research and through alumni and current student contact. Interviewer agreed. I then use the question I always ask at the end when I am the interviewer “What should I have asked you that I didn’t”. This was NOT a hit. Interviewer was a little caught off guard and said something about teamwork and hands on learning. Clearly flailing…. Kinda had to step in and save her. This is the one part of the interview I would take back if I could…. But it was more undesirable awkwardness than a faux pas, not really a dealbreaker.

Post mortem – This interview went very well. My criteria - If I could have a “do-over” I wouldn’t take it, because I couldn’t imagine doing it differently (with one minor noted exception). Thinking on my feet and filling up a lot of meeting time by talking is something that I do alot in my job, and that made this format right up my alley. If that is you, do your homework on the program, know your story, show up ready, and you will be fine. Either way, pick a storyline, get a mock interview partner and practice practice practice telling it from memory. You can largely script this one if you want to, so tell your story over and over again verbally until you become really comfortable with it. Have your partner tell you what works and what doesn’t. Make a “best of breed” storyline and do your best to mold it into the interview when you get on the spot.

Decision – Accepted!!! Got a call from the Adcom on 12/7/2009.

71. Round 1 / Alumnus / Off-campus (Published November 18th, 2009, courtesy of A dreamer's journey to b-school)

The interviewer, called X, was an alumni of the school. X and I scheduled to meet on a weekday evening. As always my sweet husband , my b-school journey supporter, accompanied me. I reached around 20 mins early and waited outside the rendezvous point. X came in 5 mins early from the meeting time and we quickly grabbed some coffee and sat down on a table.

I noticed that X had already highlighted certain portions in my resume. I'm was thinking, is he going to ask all these questions from my resume?

Anyways, X started off the interview by giving me some guidelines about the whole importance of interview and also warned me not to get worried if he starts scribbling on the paper while I'm talking. I noticed that he had already written down some statements (i think those were questions) on a sheet of paper.

First X introduced himself in a very detailed casual way and started off by asking me to 'run through my professional resume'. I did it - in a fine way, I guess. I spoke in a way as to highlight my varied experience on different client projects and also some achievements.

Next question , Why Kellogg, Why now? I mentioned about the various aspects of Kellogg that attracted me and also quoted the programs and clubs that were relevant to my career goals. X built on it and asked me what other clubs at Kellogg I would be part of. I answer promptly and also drop an idea for a new club that I had in mind....I could see some eyebrow raising (in a +ve way i'd say).

X then asked me about difficult situation in a team, what kind of a leader I am.

A somewhat different question , or may be a regular questions put in a different way was-what are you proud of. I am satisfied with the way I answered.

Then X asked me, "I don't get to see your application. All I have is your resume. So tell me, what do you think your application's weaknesses are'. I answered it too.

Later X asked me about a failure experience and then opened up the table for me to ask him questions. I asked about a club I'm interested in and something that he was part of too. I ask a couple of other questions. X had already given me biz card at the beginning of the interview and told me that I can get in touch anytime between now and the application submissions for adding any more info to what we discussed in the interview.

Finally we said best wishes to each other and departed. As I sat at the coffee table I couldn't help but feel good about the amicably persona somehow all Kellogg alumni seem to have...hmm...The one thing I regret is in spite of having excellent extra -curricular expereince I failed to highlight it in my answers... :(.

But overall not too bad for a first interview :). I walked in feeling absolutely no pressure and that helped. I don't know what the result would be, but I'll just hope for the best.

70. Round 1 / Alum / Off-campus (Published November 13th, 2009 courtesy of My B-School Adventure)

I submitted my part 1 sometime in late September and followed up with part 2 on the deadline on October 14th.

I was perplexed that I hadn’t received an invite from the admissions committee until someone mentioned on the BW Forum that his invite was buried in spam. Sure enough, Kellogg sent me an interview assignment a 4 days after I submitted part 1.

We scheduled the interview for Oct 26 at 6pm at a coffee shop. Before arriving on a final time, my interviewer rescheduled a couple of times. I’m guessing he was really busy. In retrospect, I probably should have pushed the interview until after the MIT deadline, but I decided to take the first available slot.

He arrived, 45 minutes late. I was quite furious and nervous at the same time. To his credit he did send me a text message, but I didn't get it until he actually showed up. Damn Verizon!

He was a KSM’09, worked in management consulting and now that he had his coffee, we got to business right way. He pulled out a sheet, probably a cheat sheet that the Kellogg adcom provided him and looked at it a couple of times during the interview. He asked me for a copy of my resume, which I remembered to bring.

I’ll give you the list of questions he asked, and then share my take about what I felt he was probing for.

Questions

Tell me about yourself.
Why did you study [particular major] and how has it helped you advance in your career?
I see that you were very active in student government. What did it teach you?
Tell me two things you loved and hated about your major?
What do you like about your current role?
What do you want to do after your MBA, 5 years after your MBA, 20 years after you MBA?
How will Kellogg help you get there?
Kellogg places a lot of emphasis on team-work. What would a person who has been on a team with you say about you?
Kellogg is committed to both learning inside and outside of class. Share some experiences from college or work where you have contributed to the learning of others. How do you plan to do this at Kellogg?
You were actively involved in student government and volunteer activities. How would you translate that experience to benefit your peers?
Share some of your strengths and weaknesses with me. What are you doing to address them?
Tell me about a time when you contributed to someone else’s success. Why and how did you do it.
How will you use Kellogg’s resources to become successful?
Have you visited Kellogg? Attended any info sessions?
How did you like visiting Chicago and Evanston?
Which schools are you applying to? Why?
Do you have any questions for me?

Our interview lasted 70 minutes. I enjoyed it and thought it was rather conversational and laid back. The interviewer had a flight to SFO the next day so left in a hurry, but told me that he would submit his feedback that night.

The things I think (caveat emptor) he was probing for were:

Self awareness and maturity – Had I researched what I wanted to do, my reasons for my choice and how Kellogg would help me get there. Did I have a clear idea of who I was a person.

Kellogg (school and culture) – Had I researched the resources that would help me move closer to my career goals. Was I specific in citing those resources.Was I aware of Kellogg’s focus on contributing to peer development. Had I taken the time to engage with the Kellogg community to determine fit. Did I have a clear idea of how I would contribute to the growth of my peers? Was I committed to attending Kellogg if I was admitted. Who was the competition.

Legacy – How what I did in the past predicts (or doesn't) future success. Have I been intelligent about the choices that I have made. What were my reasons for these choices. Do they demonstrate a consistency in purpose and mission.

I hope this helps. If you have any questions, post a comment and I’ll get to them when I have a few minutes to spare. Good luck everyone!

69. Round 1 / Alumnus / Off-campus (Published November 4th, 2009)

The interview took place off campus at a small interview room at his office. It was at 8PM and lasted until 10PM. The experience, overall, was not astoundingly positive.

The interviewer arrived 15 minutes late and offered no apologies. He admitted that he had not read my resume, and did not know my name. He sat down and started the interview with what I consider a very odd blanket request - "So...tell me whatever it is that brought you to do whatever it is you do." The rest of the interview was very unstructured, and not really conversational as he would sit in silence if I was not speaking. When he asked follow-up questions, they were so specific that they were difficult to answer - "So. I see you worked in country X. Tell me about a team there where one member was not contributing." - I did not have that situation happen in that country. I felt that I had to "shoe-horn" in my credentials and selling experiences in order to get my candidacy across.

I also felt odd because I brought a level of energy and enthusiasm to the meeting that was strong, and represented my zeal for Kellogg. My interviewer was not at all interested in what I had to say and remained stone-faced 90% of the interview which caused forced me to falsely hold back enthusiasm.

That being said, the interviewer was kind, respectful, and professional. He could have been having a bad day for all I know. That being said, I do not feel that I was given a chance to perform, and worry about whatever report he may write back to the school. This, I suppose, is the challenge with alumni interviews. Overall, disappointing given the amount of work I put into the application!

I hope things go well.

68. Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-campus (Published March 25th, 2009)

Interview took place in January 2009 in the office of a male alumnus who is a senior executive at a major Australian bank.

The interview was scheduled for one hour but ended up extending a full two hours.

The tone was relaxed and casual but certainly even keeled - never too serious yet never overly friendly.

There was a very distinct lack of structure - we began by talking about work/life in general and slowly transitioned to the school itself.

It was an hour before we actually addressed any of the official questions yet by this time the following topics were already covered to some extent: (N.B. this was due to my actively (yet subtly) steering the conversation towards these subjects)

My reasons for wanting get an MBA
Why I particularly want to attend Kellogg
Elements of my previous work experience (particularly strategy consulting as this is a background we both share)

His view on the relative merits of the school - in comparison to other top tier schools, all of which he was admitted to The official questions covered were: (N.B. this lasted all of 15 minutes before the conversation shifted back to the Kellogg MBA in general)

Describe a difficult team situation you have had to deal with in the past?
Who do you admire as a leader?
How do you envision yourself being involved in the Kellogg community?

The interviewer was eager to share with me his experiences from Kellogg from an academic perspective as well as a people/culture and community perspective. I found that his accounts were very sincere and he was constantly putting a 'sell-job' on the school.

We discussed in detail the differing philosophies of the Australian, European and US education systems and how this related to study at Kellogg, what one would get out of attending there and the opportunities available from an academic standpoint.

I found that the coincidental extracurricular similarities between myself and my interviewer (e.g. music) served as a perfect way to build consensus and trust between us and much of the latter half of our discussion centered around this. He recommended a few clubs and societies that I might want to explore should "when I get there". It was almost as if this qualified me as a strong potential candidate in his eyes, ceteris paribus.

Overall I was very pleased with the interview - my only gauge on relative success is that if he didn't think I was a worthwhile candidate then he wouldn't have wasted a full 2 hrs on me. That being said you never really know.

67. Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-campus (Published March 5th, 2009)

I had my interview in November 2008 in a café in the city center. The Alumnus graduated in 1998 and holds a very senior position in a leisure company. The interview lasted more than one hour. Among the several questions I was asked:

my undergraduate and graduate degree (I have a MSc in Economics), and why I chose a career in Finance over Academia
my current responsibilities at work
the standard why MBA / why Kellogg / post MBA goals
teamwork experiences (e.g conflicts, negotiations, critics) at work and during my extra-cv activities
clubs I plan to join at Kellogg
how I can contribute to the Kellogg community

It was my first interview and I did not performed as good as I expected (in fact I was dinged). It is crucial to prepare well doing mock interviews, to answer concisely and effectively and to have very clear your story. Good luck to every applicant!

66. Round 2 / Adcom / Phone Interview (Published March 3rd, 2009)

I am an international applicant. I got a interview waiver first but later a mail asking for a telephonic interview. The interview was exactly 30 mins long. The interviewer told me in advance that she has read only my resume, not my application. Here are the questions asked in actual order:-

Tell me about your undergraduate experiences.
Based on your experiences in college, when did you decide to join company X and why.
Tell me about your work at company X.
What is your most important contribution to your company?
Have you held any leadership positions at work?
Have you faced any challenges as a leader at work? How did you deal with them?
Are there any other leadership experiences at work or in college that you would like to share?
What are your goals? How would an MBA help you accomplish them
Why Kellogg? Here among other things I mentioned abt the 360 degree leadership assessment. So she asked a follow up question:-
What do you expect the 360 degree leadership assessment to tell you about your leadership style?
Which clubs will you participate in at Kellogg?
What are your interests outside work? - Here I mentioned my love for aerial adventure sports - skydiving, parasailing, flying planes, paragliding etc. On that she remarked that I better have a good Health Insurance :)
Would you like to tell me anything else abt yourself?
Questions.

The interview was extremely easy going and comfortable and I believe it went pretty well.

65. Round 1 / Alumnus / Off-campus / Dinged (Published January 31st, 2009)

I met with an alum at Starbuck. As the interviewer send mail last night (and I got the mail in the morning), I made a mistake in the time. But the alum is nice and he agree to change the time.

The interview carries in a casual manner. The interviewer is from Consulting and down-to-earth.

The standard questions I was asked:

Walk me through your resume on how you got to where you are today.
Why an MBA?
Why Kellogg?
Career Goal
Strengths and Weaknesses?
Any Question for me?

The interview lasted around 1 hour. Beyond the standard questions, we had many discussions on my job, the expansion of my company, and the the industry I am working in.

I don't know why I was Dinged but I suppose Kellogg interview is not as important as many other schools'.

64. Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-campus (Published January 9th, 2009)

I met with an alum in his office. The questions I was asked:

Walk me through your resume on how you got to where you are today.
Why an MBA? How will the MBA get you to where you want to go.
Share with me a team experience of yours.
Share with me another team experience of yours.
What will your contribution be to Kellogg?
What clubs will you participate in?

63. Round 1 / Alumnus / Off Campus (Published January 8th, 2009)

Interview took place in October 2008. He was on a tight schedule to complete the interview in one hour. This was a restriction the school had imposed. He also made lots of notes, which he said he needed to write up and send back to the school. He took the questions (or at least some instructions) out of an envelope, which made me wonder whether the school had prescribed some things to him.

Walk me through your resume: focus on transitions and why you changed roles.
Questions specific to me
- What did you learn from that (particular experience)?
- Your current job involves working / influencing several departments. How do you manage to do that when people must have their own silos?
Why an MBA?
Why Kellogg?
Have you considered doing the 1Y program?
What legacy did you leave at your undergraduate university?
Tell me about a leadership experience you have had.
Tell me about another one.
When have you had a challenging interaction and how did you handle it?
What are your two main strengths?
What are your two main weaknesses?
If time and money were not an issue, what would you do?
What three words would you use to describe yourself?
Besides what you have mentioned in your essays, What do you do outside of work?
How will you enhance the diversity of the Kellogg class?
Now, we have 10-15 mins left. What questions do you have for me? --> this question seemed to be to more about gauging my level of interest in the school.

He seemed to have some stereotypes for types of Kellogg students: "consulting crowd", "hard core private equity folk"... I could not help but feel that he was trying to peg me into one of these holes.

62. Round 2 / Alumnus / Off Campus (Published December 28th, 2008)

In order, these were the questions I received:

Tell me about a challenging situation you faced in a group / team situation
How do you define leadership?
Who is a good negotiator?
Have you ever been in a negotiation where it wasn't win - win, rather, win-lose or lose-lose.
Describe an accomplishment you're proud of.
Why Kellogg?
At Kellogg, students tend to get involved in a lot of clubs - which ones would you be interested to join?
Where do you see yourself in five years? (When I said I was interested in consulting, he asked me about specific firms I might be interested in)
What other schools are you applying to?

Then he allowed me to ask him some questions. I asked him the following:

Tell me about your Kellogg experience
Which schools did you apply to and how did you choose Kellogg?
Did you go on one of those Global Immersion Trips?
Have you had much interest this year from Australian applicants? To this last question, he replied that I was the first one he was interviewing for Kellogg (and that he'd interviewed a few in previous years. Also, he has 2 or 3 other alumni friends in Aus who have reported that they've been talking to a few candidates this year).

My interviewer was pleasant and generous with his time. He took the time to talk about Kellogg as well as his experiences post Kellogg. A good interview experience.

61. Round 2 / Alumni / Off Campus (Published December 19th, 2008)

I interviewed with a Kellogg alumni today. Here are the questions he asked:

Why do you want to get an MBA in Chicago?
Walk me through your undergraduate experience.
I've gathered that you would like to go in to [your career], why is that?
Walk me through your resume. (The interviewer stopped me intermittently to probe further about certain experiences and accomplishments.)
Tell me about your leadership style.
What do you find most challenging about your work?
If admitted to several top schools, how would you choose between them?
What do you do outside of work?

The interview was VERY comfortable and conversational. The interviewer seemed genuinely interested in me and my career goals and background and was a great ambassador for the school. He left about 20 minutes at the end of the interview for me to ask him questions. The interview lasted about one hour.

60. Round 1 / On Campus / Adcom (Published December 18th, 2008) / Original Post at rickysgmatprep.blogspot.com

Well this one comes from the Chicago O’Hare airport.. I am on my way back from Evanston after my interview at Kellogg.. The best way to kill time while I wait for my flight would be to pen down my Kellogg Interview Experience..

Overall, I would not rate my interview good.. L.. not all went my way in this one.. It was an interview with adcom, on-campus… I would say the connection was just missing … For some reason, I was unable to share so many things that I would have liked to share with the Adcom.. Although, there was nothing wrong with the interview.. bt the little ‘extra’ which would make the interview from ordinary to extra-ordinary was missing…there were some googlies.. bt I think I handled most of them.. what was surprising was the lack of the standard questions like Why Kellogg?, What will you contribute to the class? etc. and that is where I think I missed out on certain things.. e.g. I didn’t mention GIM at all.. now who would do that in his/her Kellogg interview.. and especially when I think I that those kinds of events are where I can contribute the most… Anyways, here are the questions..

Tell me something about your undergrad experience..
Ok, let’s talk about your experiences at work.. what have been your accomplishments
So, what do your clients say about you and what feedback have you received.
Okk.. what did your manager see, that he gave you that he promoted you to this role..(jst gave one-two points here could have added a lot more…)
If everything is going so good, then why go for MBA..
Lot of people here at Kellogg have the same post-mba short term goal as yours.. What alternative do you have in case everything doesn’t go well bcoz of the competition.
What do people misperceive about you in first meeting?
Tell me something that I cannot see from your resume.. (I gave one point here.. bt could have talked about a lot more LL.. sad abt that.. )
What clubs would you like to be involved at Kellogg.. (again jst mentioned the names of the clubs.. didn’t get into the details why these clubs appeal to me.. and what I could add to them.. )
Is there anything that you want to add.. Something that we have not covered…
Do you have any questions for me?

My Verdict: Could have been better.. marginal call on the –ve side.. Kellogg’s verdict: Awaited.. (with fingers crossed)

59. Round 1 / Phone Interview / Adcom (Published December 11th, 2008)

The interviewer told me up front the interview was blind and that all she had was my resume. It lasted 18 minutes. These were the questions she asked.

Tell me about your career progress.
How have you made progress or moved ahead from job to job?
Given all your experience, why do you want to quit your job now and get an MBA? (I clarified that I will be returning to the same company post MBA and proceeded to answer why MBA and why Kellogg.)
If things don't work out at your current firm then what will you do? - told her I was committed to private equity and might even raise capital and start my own private equity firm
What would you say is a weakness in your application? - stated the obvious about short durations at the last couple of jobs, but said I had good reasons for moving each time.

58. Round 1 / Adcom / On-campus (Published December 4th, 2008)

Interview in Round 1, on-campus with an Admissions Officer (1 hour)

The interview was in the afternoon so I had some time to take a class, talk to numerous students and have lunch with them to talk about the program-this helped significantly for the interview.

The interviewer was very nice. We sat down in her office, each on a chair without a table between us. I found that really intimidating because I could not pull out my resume and have it next to me, it was really just her and me. So know your resume well enough as you might not be able to look at it during the interview. Also pay attention to your posture and gestures as the interviewer can see your entire body throughout the interview.

Questions were fairly typical:

Walk me through your resume
Tell me why you chose your undergraduate major? Your school?
What type of organizations were you involved in while in college?
How did you choose your first job out of college?
Why an MBA? Why Kellogg? Goals-we spent a significant amount of time talking about my long-term goals in great details.
Tell me about your leadership experiences?
What's your leadership style?
If I asked your colleagues about you, what would they say?

This was a blind interview so she had not read my file and she asked questions similar to those in the essays. One thing she did not ask was how I would get involved in the community, so I used the "is there anything else you would like the admissions committee to know about you?" question at the end to talk about that.

Good luck!

57. Round 1 / Adcom / Off-campus (Published November 21, 2008)

The questions I remember:

Talk about your college experience
What would you change about your college experience
What are your strengths and weaknesses
Describe some leadership experiences
Talk about a failure and how you dealt with it
Describe your leadership style
Tell me something that is not on your resume
Why MBA/Why Kellogg
How would you enhance fellow students' experience

Best of luck!

56. Round 2 / Adcom / On-campus (Published Nov 15th, 2008)

A tad late posting here, but this what I went through earlier this year. Met with an associate director in Admissions.

Why computer engineering?
Can you walk me through your key leadership experiences at company X?
You have all this great experience (7+ years). Why do you want an MBA now?
Can you talk about your community experience?
Tell me 3 things you are good at? Or 3 good characteristics.
What would your colleagues tell me about you?
What kind of a person are you on a team?
What is an ideal teammate like?
What kind of a teammate is hard to deal with?
What do you do for fun?
What kind of extra-curricular activities do you plan to take up at Kellogg?
What feedback have you used to do better?
What part of your application makes you nervous?
What do you want the reviewer to notice?
Anything else you would like Kellogg to know about you?
If chosen by many schools how would you select from amongst them?

Interview lasted around 40 minutes.

Good luck to all aspirants!

55. Round 1 / Alumni / Off-campus / (Published Nov 7th, 2008)

I got my interview assignment on 23rd of Oct and I finally contacted the alumni on 1st Nov. The alumni, despite his high post (he is the vice president) in a large company, was quick to respond and his secretary booked an appointment for me on 6th Nov @ 11 am.

Preparation for interview - Did not get much time to prepare though I kept aside two hours before the interview and tried to jot down some points and verbally rehearsed my answer, so as to clear my line of thought.

Interview Day - Fortunately, his office was the building in front of my office, and I had to just cross the roads to get there. It took around 10 minutes to get past security and I was led to his cabin.

Interview - After a brief greetings he started the interview and asked me to walk him through my life. I kept the answer brief, just highlighted the important points - one line statements about various phases starting from undergraduate school to my professional experience. The following questions were pretty straightforward and sometimes derived from the earlier questions

Most of the questions were for 5 mins duration

1. The usual Why MBA?

2. You had been working in IT for past 5 years, why switch to marketing (that's what I want to do) now?

3. How do you find it beneficial working in a team

4. like about working in a team

5. dislike about working in a team

6. One situation where I made a difference as a leader

7. one thing I would like to change the way I did

8. one decision that I am proud of

9. Why chose Kellogg

10. A soft question about other schools that I am applying

11. I finished with a question about how his product marketing (googled for this info) approach was influenced from his Kellogg education. also discussed with him his idea about one of my venture plans(a small experimental website idea)

The interviewer impressed me with his clear line of thought and his structured explanations.

Definitely a good ambassador for Kellogg.

Total ~ 50 mins

Good luck for everyone.

54. Round 1 / Alumni / Off-campus / (Published Oct 24th, 2008)

Kellogg gave me a month to schedule an interview with an alumni in my city. The interview took place at a Starbucks on a friday evening @ 6 pm. I wore a suit for the interview.

I reached the location around 5:50 pm and the alumni arrived right on time. We ordered (and paid) for our individual coffees. We had already started an informal discussion about where the alum worked, as I used to live close to his office earlier and had something to relate to. We sat in the middle of Starbucks and promptly started around 6:05 pm. I handed over a copy of my resume to the interviewer even though he had a soft copy on his laptop and asked me if he could type while I talked and fill up the online form.

Preparation Material: I went over this site and accepted.com to obtain the standard list of questions that had been posted by others. I DIDN'T go over my application again before the interview, as I had just submitted my app 15 days back and all my essays were still very fresh in my mind. I prepared answers for all the unique questions that I had collected. I practiced answering the questions in front of a mirror during my prep.

Interview Experience: Very pleasant experience. The interview was conversational and the interviewer added to and confirmed during the interview by adding his own remarks. I even asked him questions during the whole interview process.

The questions asked were straightforward. 1. Why MBA? I answered this question starting with my current work exp and my extra-curricular involvements/initiatives/experiences that have helped me shape my future long term and short term goals. The interviewer was very pleased with what I want to do in the future and confirmed that an MBA from Kellogg will totally enable me to achieve my goals. (6-7 mins)

2. Why Kellogg? (5-6 mins)

3. My leadership expeiences? I asked if the interviewer wanted to know my work or non-work related experiences and he said, I could choose any. I added that I will give one of each. (I gave 2 examples and during one of them, he asked me more about how I had hired and motivated my employees [I am an entrepreneur]) (7-8 mins)

4. Conflicts at work place. (I gave 2 examples - 7-8 mins)

5. Tough decisions at work place? (I gave two situations - 7-8 mins)

6. A situation during work when, I could see a solution that others could not. I just gave one situation, but I was prepared with a few more. (5 mins)

7. What clubs will I get involved at Kellogg and why? (5 mins)

8. What unique traits will I bring to Kellogg? I answered this questions by talking about my values, ethics, my achievements since i was in 1st grade, what I have learned over the life thru all my experiences and involvments, the successes and the experiences gained, my strengths and which all areas will I add value to at Kellogg and how these will enhance others lives at Kellogg. The interviewer confirmed that he could already see my strengths that I claimed. (5-6 mins)

9. Finally I asked the interviewer about his experiences and his current job. etc. The interviewer very pleasantly answered my questions and added that he was happy that I asked him those questions. (15 mins)

Total ~ 65 minutes

Overall a very pleasant and satisfactory experience and I am just keeping my fingers crossed.

53. Round 2 / Alumni / Off-campus / Originally shared at Pursuit of My Dreams (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'll keep the interview conversational.

The questions asked were straightforward.

Walk me through your resume elaborating in detail 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.

Result: Dinged one month after the interview.

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

I had my interview on the first week of Feb with an alumni. 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:

Walk through resume
A little detail of each job
A leadership case
A teamwork case
A career vision question
A 'why Kellogg MBA' question
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.

51. Round 1 / Alumni / Bee to B-School (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-scheduled 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:

Walk me through your resume. Then some follow up questions.
I'm very interested in your community activity, tell me more about this.
So, help me to understand your experience in XX company.
What did you do as YY (role) in XX?
How did you work in team?
What do you think that your peers or teammates will say about your strengths?
Weaknesses?
What will your manager say about your strengths & areas of development?
Tell me about a time when you manage a conflict in a team.
Why business school?
Why Kellogg?
What is your goal?
What is your GMAT score?
What is your GPA? How were you ranked?
Which schools are you applying to?
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 adcom will see that my overall application is good enough to get an acceptance. Really like the school so far!

50. On-campus interview / R1 / AdCom / Admitted (Published January 31st, 2008)

Very little chit chat to start, though adcom 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. Adcom's fiance 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.

49. December 2007 / On-campus Interview / R1 / AdCom / (Published January 15, 2008)

Standard MBA interview with AdCom in the admissions office. It was very friendly. The adcom's 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 of interest on the resume.

Some of the questions:

Walk me through your resume
Why an MBA?
Why Kellogg?
Long term/short term goals?
What will my business do when I'm gone? (I'm an entrepreneur)
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 adcom reflected that.

I got the admit day after the decision deadline.

48. 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:

Walk me through your resume. (approximately 5 minutes)
Why an MBA? (1 minute)
Why Kellogg? (2 minutes)
What do you want to do after your MBA? (2 minutes)
Why? (1 minute)
Why Kellogg, from an academic perspective? (my previous response was around the personality and style of Kellogg's students and approach;2 minutes)
What did you do at Organization X? (2 minutes)
How did that compare to your internship at Y? (2 minutes)
I've heard [general perceptions] about X and Y; did you find these to be true? (1 minute)
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.

47. November 29th, 2007 / Phone Interview / R1 from hazyblur (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 team mates 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.

46. 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 can not 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?

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

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

What will your colleagues miss most when you leave?
What are your biggest regrets (what could you have done better) at your current job?

44. 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?

43. 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!

42. 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!

41. 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.

40. 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?
- How big is your company?
- What does your company specialize in? (She asked me very specific questions about my company that I could have never prepared for)
- 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.

Best of Luck!

39. Jan 15, 2007 / Alum interview / R2 / MBA Dutchie (Published March 30, 2007)

My interviewer was a recent Kellogg grad 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 extracurriculars, and, amazingly, he had had the same problem in his application. We exchanged views on the merits of extracurriculars 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 teamplayer, 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

38. Feb 23, 2007 / On-campus / Adcom / R2 (Published March 3, 2007)

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

Questions -

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.
Why MBA?
Why Kellogg?
What else do I enjoy outside work?
How am I involved in community?
What will my team members say about my strengths & development needs?

We can 10 mins over the scheduled time of 30 mins, 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!

37. R2/Intl/Adcom/Telephonic (Published March 1, 2007)

Very relaxed & conversational. The interview started 10 minutes late and lasted another 20-25 minutes:

The adcom 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 team-mates?
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 thats left is to wait.

36. 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?

35. Kellogg On-Campus Interview (Published February 27, 2007)

The interview was about 45 minutes and was with an admissions committee member. I highly reccomend 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?

34. 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 adressed 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

For additonal reports: View Archived Kellogg Interview Reports

Retrieved from "http://clearadmit.com/wiki/index.php?title=KelloggInterview"

KelloggInterview

From ClearAdmitWiki

Views

Personal tools

Clear Admit

Site pages

School pages

Navigation

Search

Toolbox