The following is a guest post from Vandana about her UCLA Anderson MBA admissions interview that was originally published on the My Journey to Business School blog. For more insights and stories from Vandana, follow the My Journey to Business School blog!
I just finished my Skype interview with a 2nd year student at UCLA Anderson. It was super friendly and the interviewer really put me at ease before we started. I think the interview went well. Keeping my fingers crossed. I have a good feeling about Anderson – I hope Anderson feels the same way about me. 😀
As for interview questions, they were pretty standard:
1) Walk me through your resume.
2) Tell me about a time you led a team. [I probably could have used a better example here – he asked me multiple follow-up questions on how I did what I did.]
3) Why MBA? Why now?
4) Why UCLA Anderson? [When I mentioned interacting with current students/alumni, the interviewer asked for specific names of students I connected with. It turned out that one of the students I talked to was a close friend of the interviewer!]
5) Plan B if my current goals do not materialize
6) Leadership Style
7) What do you do outside of work?
That was pretty much the crux of the conversation we had. He asked follow-up questions to some of my answers, especially about my interests outside of work. 🙂 I asked him a few questions at the end of the interview and he shared his email ID with me so that I can reach out to him in the future with any questions I might have. It was a positive experience overall, and to those applicants with interviews coming up, I have just one piece of advice – just relax and be yourself. It’s a really laid back interview – treat this as you would any interaction with a current student – an opportunity to get to know more about Anderson and to showcase your enthusiasm for the school.
If any of you would like to talk more about Anderson or have any specific questions about my interview experience, do let me know!
EDIT: People preparing for the interview or waiting for an invite should read this blog by the UCLA Anderson Admissions team. I think it’ll put some people’s mind at ease.
