I arrived to the admissions office 30 min early and made conversation with the front desk admin staff and another applicant waiting to interview – this helped me loosen up and I believe was a positive first impression that two interviewers saw two candidates exchanging business cards and wishing each other luck. Interviewer started off explaining the style of the behavioral interview and noted there would be time at the end for me to ask questions. True to MIT Sloan interview guidance – the interview was strictly behavioral and all questions were either “give me an example of…” or asking for further detail from a previous response. At no point did the interviewer ask “Why MIT,” “Why Sloan,” or “Why now.”
Tone of interviewer was courteous but not overly-friendly. The entire conversation felt extremely professional until the end of the interview when we made a personal connection. It was impossible for me to read the responses of the interviewer – she took copious notes while I spoke and had my resume in front of her on an iPad.
Questions:
- Give me a short description of a recent accomplishment that’s not in your application
- Tell me more about your [accomplishment I discussed in my cover letter]
- Give me an example of a time you had to convince someone (a couple very specific follow-up questions from my story – e.g., “why do you think X person responded so defensively to your recommendations? What steps did you take to address his concerns?”)
- Give me an example of a time you had to mentor someone (same as above, a couple very specific follow-up questions)
- Are there any other questions you have for me?
In response to all the questions, I only used recent examples that were not included in my application. It felt like she was through with her questions early (perhaps 25 min into the interview), so I used my questions to highlight other aspects of my resume that were not discussed (primarily community service involvement). I also called out specific areas of my resume that I thought required further explanation (e.g., college transfer). As we wrapped up, she asked if I planned to attend the current students lunch following the interview and her response indicated that it was a good thing I would be joining – I advise future applicants to join the lunch with students even if they’ve previously visited campus.
Interview took 45 minutes exactly.
Decision: Admitted R1
