My interview was with an alum. We met at a local Starbucks cafe. I arrived a few minutes before he did. He arrived on time, and apologized for having to read my resume in front of me before we began the interview. He hadn’t had time to read it beforehand.
He then jumped straight into, “Walk me through your resume” and interjected with additional questions as I did so. Then he asked the “why MBA”, “why Chicago” questions and interjected with follow-up questions as well. Specifically, he asked if specific companies recruiting in my area of interest do so at Chicago since it’s a more specialized area of consulting. He graduated in 2004 and wasn’t aware of some of the things I mentioned in my interview as they were not in place or had improved since he attended. He took notes and it seemed like he would verify some of these things later or at least include them in his notes to the school. I only covered my ST goal and he didn’t ask about my LT goal, nor did I raise it, which I wish I had done. He then asked, “tell me about a time when you dealt with an ethical issue” and “a time when you dealt with a difficult team situation”. I think this was it. EDIT: I can’t believe I forgot this question because it was probably my favorite question from all my interviews. He asked me if there was a course I took in college that had an impact on me and how it impacted me. I wasn’t expecting it but it was fairly easy for me to answer because there was course and a professor from my community college who changed my life completely by introducing this newly arrived African woman to the concept of critical thinking and paradigm shifts. That’s it!
When he asked me if I had any questions, I took the opportunity to ask him about himself and what he does now since he did not really tell me much of that at the beginning of the interview. I followed up with other questions as he responded. He emphasized Chicago being a quant school and asked me about my GMAT, and also told me to be open to a back-up plan for my internship and do due diligence on the industry i’m interested in. All in all, the interview lasted about 45 minutes, and it was very stress-free.
