I flew to Barcelona to interview on campus having read a number of horror stories about VCs going wrong. I interviewed with a member of adcom, who was friendly, but quite business-like. Having previously interviewed for another school, I found IESE’s questions quite unusual. To start, the adcom told me that we would discuss my background, childhood experiences and the like. She seemed much more interested in this area than in the standard questions – possibly because she had already read my file (this is not a blind interview).
Questions included:
- Tell me about your background (personal and professional)
- Career goals (I mentioned I wanted to move to consulting and she asked me to name 3 companies that I would want to work for)
- What other B schools have you applied to and why? How successful have you been at these schools? If you are accepted to all the schools you have applied to, is IESE your first choice?
- How do you handle conflict?
- Leadership experience and example
- How I intended to finance my MBA (as I had indicated I would be applying for scholarships and fin aid)
Interestingly I was asked whether or not I’d felt pressured to travel to the school for my interview as VC was an option for me – I think this really demonstrates that IESE does not see a campus visit to be integral to an admissions decision, so don’t worry if you can’t travel there!
My interview was conducted on a Monday, 2 days prior to an adcom decision meeting (Wednesday) and I received my decision on Friday morning (via email, not a telephone call). This was substantially earlier than the stated deadline on the website for R2 admissions, but as a member of their adcom committee told me, their deadlines are more like guidelines.
While the interview questions are not necessarily standard MBA questions, I think it’s important to remember that IESE is really interested in the individual and your fit with the school. As long as you remember to highlight your fit with every question, then it’s quite straightforward (e.g. if you’re asked where else you’ve applied, don’t say Harvard as IESE is known for small class size and individual, humanish approach – technically this shouldn’t be an issue anyway if you’ve thought seriously about your application).
