My interviewer was an alumnus working in the finance industry. We met at a Starbucks in Oakland, which was pretty crowded in the evening, so we actually talked sitting outside. He started off with the standard Why MBA, Why Now, Why Booth questions, but asked them all together. I had answers ready for this question, but due to this three-in-one punch, I struggled to get all my points across. He stopped me here and there, probing further about my career goals and how an MBA would actually help me. As I was just beginning to get into Why Booth, he asked me whether I chose a top-school only for its brand. He basically asked whether I was applying to Chicago Booth for the piece of paper, the Diploma, certifying that I graduated from Booth. I was thrown off by this question – I kind of thought that he wanted deeper reasons from me for attending Booth. So I talked about the rigor and value of the education, the leadership opportunities, and the global network. He didn’t seem to like my answer, and started telling me stories about how much just the brand name of Booth was valued in the business world, how it will open new doors for me, and how even a not-so-smart guy could also greatly prosper with a degree from Chicago Booth. Unable to completely understand my interviewer’s inclination, I showed my agreement with him in whatever ways possible. In between all these philosophical stories from my interviewer, I reminded him that I still wanted to talk about my personal reasons for attending Booth. He kept saying that he would give me a chance to do that, but his own stories took so much of the time that I never got around to it.
The next question for me was to talk about an ethical dilemma I faced at work and how I dealt with it. Then it was time for questions, and I asked about the strength of the alumni network, and his experience at Chicago Booth, related to the general management curriculum. At the end, my interviewer asked me whether I wanted to add anything else. That’s when I squeezed in some of my points about Why Booth, but by then, I lost my flow.
One advice for future applicants – make sure you can touch on Why Booth, as part of your answers to the interview questions. No matter how intimidated you may feel by the questions, please blend in your reasons (specific, personal) for attending Booth in there somewhere somehow. As I read in many of the blogs and websites and experienced myself, Chicago Booth alumni really want to know about your feelings for the school. My interviewer asked me in several different ways whether I would attend if offered admission, and I tried to convince him in every possible way that I would. He asked me about all the schools I applied to and gave me brief comparisons, for e.g. among Stanford, Wharton, and Chicago Booth, and outlined reasons for me to choose Booth over the others.
Overall, I felt that I could have done much better. I also felt that I prepared my answers too much and froze at the real show. Please make sure you allow your brain to cool down a little bit before you sit down with your interviewer. Especially for Chicago Booth, make sure you know the basic questions well and be ready to go a bit more into the details of your answers. I believe you won’t be frequently asked tricky or odd questions (although I was asked one of them, unfortunately!), so feel relaxed and you will be all right.
All the best to you in your application process.
