The following MIT Sloan MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant.
I interviewed at 6 schools, and this was my most stressful experience. Most of my friends had a similar experience in that they left not knowing how it went. I personally left thinking it didn’t go too great. I felt the least confident in this interview due to the nature of it and the personality of the admissions officer.
Once I finally located the interview room after some tense minutes in the rain, I waited my turn with other applicants. I was impressed with the caliber of other applicants in the room – a lot of people from Ivy’s working at top firms. Everyone was very nice, including the MIT staff (I had thought this previously when I visited – their visit day is incredibly organized and impressive). My interviewer was a bit late and finally called me back into a room.
It lasted maybe 30 minutes and consisted of a brief introduction followed by behavioral questions. The interviewer didn’t speak or smile much but to ask follow-ups. A lot of these behavioral questions seemed incredibly similar, and while I had a deep bench of examples prepared, I still struggled to come up with response after response. The questions were as follows:
-Has anything changed since you submitted your application?
-Explain certain aspects of my (she had highlighted some areas on my application and résumé)
-Why MBA?
-Describe a time my expectations were not met (was not prepared for this)
-Describe a time something did not go as planned (would have wanted to use same example but had to come up with something else)
-Describe a time I felt overwhelmed (again, same example)
-Describe a time there was a conflict on a team
-Describe a time I had to give someone feedback
-Describe a time I received feedback
-Describe a professional success (I re-iterated what I said in my essay – probably not the best idea)
-Anything else we haven’t covered?
-Any questions for me? (I was able to fill 10 minutes with solid questions – interviewer seemed impressed here – given we breezed through the above)
I was concerned at how quickly the questioning ended, and the interviewer was very stoic. It was definitely not conversational. I’ve heard others have similar experiences and others have totally different experiences. The interviewer’s style combined with the fact I was incredibly nervous/hadn’t slept the night before did not make this my finest performance. Anyways, I was still wait-listed, but I got into Wharton & Kellogg, so I will not be remaining on the list. Good luck everyone!
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