The following UC Berkeley Haas MBA admissions interview questions were provided by an applicant:
I received an invitation to Haas’ February Super Saturday on-campus event back in January. The current students who facilitated the various sessions throughout the day were very outgoing, friendly and engaged. It felt like a very inclusive, collaborative campus filled with students who truly enjoyed and believed in the school and program. It was very intimate; Haas’ small size is no secret, so that was no surprise.
Due to the volume of students visiting for the event, we were separated into four (if memory serves me correctly) groups and rotated through sessions with Career Services, a Student Panel, a non-evaluative Group Exercise and our interviews. My interview was with a recent alumnus who was given 45 minutes and a list of very standard questions. It was blind, though I provided a copy of my resume.
– Tell me about yourself.
– Specific questions about companies I’ve worked for / roles I’ve served in.
– Why MBA? Why now?
– Why Haas?
– Tell me about a time you were a leader. What is your leadership style?
– Tell me about a time that you encountered a conflict working on a team, and how you handled it.
– I see that you participate in (INSERT EXTRACURRICULAR) – how did you get interested in that?
– How would you contribute to the Haas community?
– Having expressed interest in starting my own company, he brought up that many Haas students set out on an entrepreneurial track without thinking realistically about the potential for failure. Had I thought about what might happen if it failed? How would I cope with that? Did I have a Plan B?
– Any questions for me?
It was a pretty standard interview – far more formatted and less casual than others, but I expected as much given the environment and nature of Super Saturday. I genuinely enjoyed my interviewer, but the interview was such a small part of my experience that day that it’s hard to weigh it as others might who did not attend a full day of Haas-centric events.
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