I had an interview scheduled with an alum in a coffee shop and got there well in advance. My interviewer came on time and after a few pleasantries we started off. He explained the format of interview (blind), anticipated duration (45mts), Q&A time (10mts) and had a copy of my CV although he had not looked through it. He jotted down notes as he spoke to me. The questions were pretty standard, but it became very very conversational, casual and zero stress. It was interesting in that he was a client of my current company and so I had some specific challenges that he posed.
– Elevator pitch: Take me through your resume (He interrupted me after 1 minute and asked me to elaborate a few points that interested him)
– Why change in industries between Job 2 & 3
– Specific questions about my consulting background and some challenges based on working with my company
– Why MBA?
– Why Kellogg?
– Why 1Y (this got answered in the process of answering the prior qns. He stopped to offer some advice based on his experience here)
– Which other schools did you apply for?
– An example of how I manage a global team
– An example of a successful & challenging consulting engagement – He probed with: 1) What did you do specifically?
– What was a difficult decision you made as a team leader that impacted your team? (I took some time to think about this as it was not something I prepared for)
– What clubs will I participate on campus?
– What is the single most weakest point in my application (I had prepared for this, but he delved deep into this point and so important what you choose to answer. I think I came out strong but we will see.)
– Being a member of a demographically over-represented group, he asked how will my application stand out of my peers?
He then asked me about any questions I had. We discussed for a while and he wished be the best in my application process. Overall this was an anticipated Kellogg interview with no surprises. I think it is great that Kellogg adds this additional dimension to evaluate all applicants and add a personality to each essay they read. Hopefully I land in Evanston with my performance and wish all R2/R3 applicants all the best.
