The interview lasted about 45 minutes. It was entirely conversational and felt more as though my interviewer wanted to get to know me (as opposed to seeing how I reacted under pressure).
She began by telling me about the application process, and that she wasn’t on the admission’s committee. She wanted to get to know me and that her interview notes would be added to my application. After the disclaimer, she spent about 3 minutes telling me about herself (e.g.: undergrad, post-undergrad work experience, grad school, and her time working at Kellogg).
After that I was asked to walk through my resume. I started with my undergrad experience. I talked about my major, extenuating circumstances that affected my overall GPA, and academic accomplishments. I then segued into my professional work experience (making it a point to proactively explain the unemployment gap between graduation and when I started working).
For each job title/position on my resume, I gave an overview of what my role and responsibilities were. She would then follow up with a question. For example, I talked about how in one role I managed and trained interns. She followed that with, “based on that experience and your accomplishments in that role, how has your leadership style evolved? what kind of leader were you before that role and what kind of leader are you now?”
Because I focused on highlighting the skill sets I gained in each role/job instead of solely focusing on the outcome/results (e.g.: I reduced my companies expenses by X%), the questions naturally came up along the way. I was also asked questions along the lines of…
– Given your humanities undergrad degree how did you learn to succeed in this quantitative function?
– What would your colleagues say are your strengths and your weaknesses? How do you manage your weaknesses?
– What is your most significant accomplishment at your current position?
– Why did you pick this industry to work in?
– Why did you switch companies?
– What is the education/professional background of your peers or other people at your company who perform your role?
– How many people are employed at your company?
– Why do you think you were selected for (or promoted into) your current role?
After walking through the resume it was the standard…
– Why the MBA? Why now? Why Kellogg?
– What clubs do you plan on being involved in and in what capacity?
– What do you plan to major in?
– Post-MBA short-term and long-term career goals?
– Any questions for her?
– Is there anything else about myself that I would like the admissions committee to know?
Before I knew it, the interview was over! Overall, the interview was very pleasant. I felt as though my interviewer and I easily could have talked for another hour. I already knew I loved Kellogg, but this interview cemented it for me.
