We met in a quiet coffee shop close to his work. It was an alumnus who had graduated in the mid-2000s. He had my resume in hand, and after some small chat, he asked me to take him through my resume. Mid-way through my discussion however, he became interested in one particular part of my work experience and started asking me more in-depth questions about the clients I worked with, and the larger social issues that had led to them needing services. We talked about this for a bit before he realized that it was less relevant to my specific work experience, and we returned to my resume review.
The bulk of my interview, which I did not expect or prepare for, was actually focused on talking about my long-term goals – what exactly would I be doing, why did I need an MBA for that role, what would my day to day look like, who would be the stakeholders I would engage with, what organizations were currently doing similar work, and what were my short-term goals and how did they relate to my goals long-term.
My interviewer was unfamiliar with my field or end goals, so the main purpose of the interview really seemed focused on him trying to understand why as an untraditional applicant I needed an MBA, and exactly what my goals entailed, since he was not familiar with the concepts. After about 45 minutes, the formal portion of the interview ended and we chatted casually for about 15 minutes, returning the original convers
ation we were having on the social issues that he had been interested in discussing early on.
The interview was not at all what I expected or prepared for, but it did reinforce for me that Haas is really a school that values you as a whole person, and that even alumni who are not within the social impact field really still are interested and care about social issues.
