I completed my Booth interview (Round 1) with an alumnus Saturday, November 6. We met at a local coffee shop and chatted for an hour. The only thing my interviewer brought with him was my resume and a pen to make notes. He kicked things off by asking me to walk him through my resume. From there, he asked specific questions about my work experience and he worked in the three questions that you should know COLD for each interview you do:
- Why do you want an MBA?
- Why do you want to get an MBA now?
- Why Booth?
I was prepared to answer questions about facing ethical dilemmas, personal weaknesses, and a handful of other potentially tricky questions, but they never came up in our conversation.
For those of you who are waiting to interview, I encourage you to reflect deeply on your career, decisions that have led you to your current position, and where you want to go with your career in the future. Accepted.com has a nice list of typical MBA admissions interview questions (http://www.accepted.com/mba/questions.aspx). Review those and practice your answers out loud, paying close attention to your tone, confidence, and what you may be implying by what you say. You don’t want to unintentionally imply something that would paint you in an unfavorable light – especially if that implication is not true!
Finally, take a deep breath and RELAX. If you’re applying to top-flight schools like Booth, chances are you’ve already been through some rigorous job interviews that are designed to make you uncomfortable and to set you up to fail. MBA admissions interviews are the complete opposite. As long as you know yourself and your goals, the questions served up should be layups.
Good luck guys.
