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Published: November 20, 2022
Michigan Ross Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Alumnus / Zoom
Interview was on Zoom with an alumnus based in Chicago working in tech and a former MBB consultant. The vibe was relaxed, although the interviewer was a little ranty, telling me why consulting work-life balance sucked and why he’s glad he got out. The first question was an icebreaker – what did you have for breakfast. Then we got into the substantive questions. Surprisingly, the interviewer did not ask me to tell him about myself or walk through resume. Instead, the first question(s) were: Why MBA? Why Ross? Why now? Then, we dove into behavioral questions, which included: Tell me Read more
Published: November 20, 2022
Stanford GSB Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Alumnus / Zoom
They seem to match interviewer based on region and industry. My interviewer has similar background with me and knows a lot about my industry. The interview is largely resume-based (the interviewer only has my resume). Interview questions include: Tell me about yourself. More details about the projects you were involved? How do you think about xx industry? Why did you make the career move? What was your thinking process? What’s your long-term career goal? What are your extracurricular involvements? Why MBA? Why Stanford? Any questions for me? I think the questions are pretty standard and the interview is quite friendly. Read more
Published: November 20, 2022
Wharton MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Student / Zoom
Date of interview: Nov 9 Interview atmosphere: Second-years are casual and friendly. Among the group, there is definitely an effort to be friendly and supportive. However, there is always a hint of competition as expected. Type of interview: Team-based interview followed by a 10-min chat with second years Interview question: Why MBA and why is Wharton the ideal place to do the MBA? Commentary: Team-based discussion went pretty well with robust time management. Everyone had a chance to speak up, but you could see some individuals getting annoyed/upset that their choice of country was not picked. Read more
Published: November 20, 2022
Wharton MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Student / Zoom
The interview took place on Zoom with two second-year students. They let us into the room about 10 minutes before the TBD was scheduled to start. There were 6 prospective students participating. We were all American. I actually knew one of the other interviewees, but neither of us let on to the rest of the group that we knew each other. We spent this time with getting to know each other. After 10 minutes, the two second-year students gave us instructions and read us the prompt. Then, they had all of us go around and introduce ourselves with our name, Read more
Published: November 20, 2022
MBA Wire Taps 262—Female Asian attorney. Hispanic in Private Equity. Phoenix-bound
This week’s episode of the podcast kicks off with Graham and Alex discussing the latest activity on MBA LiveWire which included interview invites from Berkeley / Haas and Stanford. Graham then highlighted his recent tour of leading MBA programs on the east coast, including Harvard, Dartmouth / Tuck, MIT / Sloan, Yale SOM, NYU / Stern, and Wharton; he noted the energy and diversity of the student bodies he observed on the campuses. Graham and Alex also reviewed the employment reports for Harvard and Duke / Fuqua. Both programs released strong numbers, including increases in average starting salaries. Read more
Published: November 17, 2022
MIT Sloan Employment Report: MBA Class of 2022 Secures Strong Employment Outcomes
The MBA Class of 2022 of the MIT Sloan School of Management saw upward trends in placement and salary, according to the MBA employment report.  Sloan MBAs are looking toward their futures, with 42.3 percent citing growth potential as their top reason for accepting a position. Within three months of graduation, 96.6 percent of graduates had received job offers. The median salary this year improved 10 percent from the Class of 2021 to $165,000, and the median signing bonus held steady at $30,000.  Where MIT Sloan Read more
Published: November 16, 2022
Duke Fuqua Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Student / Zoom
Pretty friendly second-year 1. Walk me through your resume. 2 Why MBA? 3. Why Fuqua? 4. What will you contribute to Fuqua? 5. What do you know of the Team Fuqua Spirit? 6. Tell me about a time when you helped advance a team. 7. Tell me about a time when you disagreed in a team. 8. Tell me a leadership success story. Read more
Published: November 16, 2022
Real Humans of the HEC Paris MBA Class of 2024
This edition of Real Humans: MBA Students takes us to France to meet some new members of the MBA Class of 2024 at HEC Paris. The Class of 2024 is comprised of 235 students, who may matriculate in September or January (class profile stats are an estimate until students matriculate in January). Thirty-six percent are women and 96 percent are international. During their undergraduate years, a third of HEC Paris MBAs earned degrees in engineering. Twelve percent had majored in business & commerce followed by 10 percent in economics. Seven percent had studied Read more
Published: November 15, 2022
Michigan Ross Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Alumnus / Zoom
I had my interview with a 2019 alum. He was in fact very responsive and quick in setting up time. We scheduled an hour, but when we started he said we will do 30-40 mins of Q/A and then questions for him: 1. Started with tell me about yourself and overview of resume. 2. Short-term and long term goals? 3. Why MBA? 4. Why Ross? why now? Then we jumped to behavioural questions: 5. Time when you didn’t know anything in project and still went ahead. 6. Time when some colleague disagreed. 7. Time when Read more
Published: November 15, 2022
Cornell Johnson Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Student / Zoom
List of interview questions 1. Walk me through your resume. (I was cut off after a very short amount of time. I only got to mention my undergrad and one of my three jobs) 2. Why an MBA? Why now? 3. What attracts you to Johnson? 4. Do you feel you will be at a disadvantage going into consulting (I’m not sure why they thought this. It’s not my plan. The interview seemed very robotic and all questions were pre-planned rather than questions to learn more about me or expand on what I had said earlier.) Read more
Published: November 15, 2022
Harvard Business School Employment Report: MBA Class of 2022 Excels
The Harvard Business School employment report shows a successful MBA Class of 2022 that secured a high median base salary of $175,000. Of the 732 students who matriculated for the class, 71 percent were seeking employment post-MBA. Of those, 95 percent secured offers and 90 percent accepted offers. Twenty-nine percent of the MBA Class of 2022 did not seek employment. Thirteen percent started their own business and 12 percent were company sponsored or already employed. Industry Choice Positions in the financial services industry, including investment banking, investment management, venture capital and Read more
Published: November 14, 2022
Berkeley Haas Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Alumnus / On-Campus
I went through an interview day at the Haas campus. There was a lunch, campus tour, student panel, and a team building session with fellow candidates who were there, followed by a reception/happy hour. All in all it was about a 7-hour long day including the interview and a great time meeting fellow prospective students as well as current students! My interview was a standard 45 minute interview with an alumnus in the middle of the events mentioned above. My interviewer was incredibly friendly and took the time to put me at ease before getting into the questions by going Read more
Published: November 14, 2022
Real Humans of the Washington University Olin MBA Class of 2024
Meet some new members of the Washington University Olin Business School Class of 2024 in St. Louis in this edition of Real Humans: MBA Students. 69 full-time MBA students matriculated at Olin in the fall of 2022. Women comprise 47 percent of the class and 49 percent are international, representing 18 countries by citizenship. U.S. students of color, which includes American Indian, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Black or African American, Hispanic, and Multi-racial/Ethnic, make up 49 percent of the class. During their undergraduate years, WashU Olin MBAs averaged a GPA Read more
Published: November 13, 2022
NYU Stern Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Adcom / Zoom
The interview experience was amazing. First, an icebreaker comment regarding my pick-six. Then, the questions were: i. My day-to-day at my current role. ii. Describe my leadership style. iii. Why an MBA? iv. What are the key aspects you consider to choose a business school? v. Recruitment strategy while at business school & alternative plan. vi. Describe a time when you faced a challenging situation/setback at work? vii. What are the positive things and the challenges of working with me from a perspective of a coworker? The interview took about 25 minutes, and then Read more
Published: November 13, 2022
Berkeley Haas Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Student / Virtual
Interviewed with a second year, was conversational and the interviewer was very friendly and willing to share own experiences. Started with a brief about the procedure and how the interview will go on and then intro about self. Then the questions were as follows – – Intro – Why MBA? Why Haas? – in same question – Time you took a risk in professional setting. – Time you convinced someone to do something out of their job description. – Anything else you wanted to discuss? – Any Questions? Went on for about 35 Read more
Published: November 13, 2022
Chicago Booth Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Alumnus / Zoom
I had a lot of help from Clear Admit, so I thought I might pay it forward. Very nice interviewer. He started by introducing himself. What year he graduated. What he does at his current job. Questions were: – Walk me through your resume. – (Then he stopped me and asked – Who is the biggest player in the industry?) – Tell me more about the AI project you did. – Why MBA? – Why now? – Where did they do their MBA? – What’s your short-term and long-term goal? – Read more
Published: November 13, 2022
Chicago Booth Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Student / Zoom
It was one of the most difficult interviews I had. The second-year student had 3-4 follow up questions for each of my stories, which really made me think in-depth. It didn’t go well for me. 1. Walk me through your story. – why you made the decisions on some instances. 2. Tell me a time when you had to face challenge. – How did you manage the situation? – What was the result? – What would you have done differently? 3. A situation when you made a decision, but then you thought you could Read more
Published: November 13, 2022
Duke Fuqua MBA Employment Report: Daytime Class of 2022 Sets New Records
See the Duke Fuqua employment report for the MBA Class of 2023 here. Based on their 2022 Daytime MBA employment report, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business reports that the Class of 2022 has set new records for the school in median salary and job acceptance rates. At the three-month post-graduation mark, 98 percent of MBAs had received a job offer, and acceptances reached 97 percent. The median base salary for the Class of 2022 is $160,055, an increase of 14 percent over last year’s median. The Read more
Published: November 13, 2022
Wire Taps 261—Nigerian M.D., next season. Indian, family business. Central Asian, in the U.S.
This week’s episode kicks off with the usual rundown of recent activity on MBA LiveWire, which included admits for Cornell / Johnson’s Round 1 and interview invites for Berkeley / Haas.  In terms of upcoming dates of note, this week INSEAD has its Round 2 deadline. Graham highlighted the Real Humans pieces for INSEAD, Haas, and Boston College / Carroll as well as a recently published focus on two veterans at NYU / Stern and an interview with Georgetown / McDonough’s Career Services Director. Alex and Graham then discussed the recently published employment report Read more
Published: November 10, 2022
Meet the New Director: Inside MBA Career Services at Georgetown McDonough
Sponsored Content The new Associate Dean and Managing Director, Career Services at Georgetown McDonough, Christine Murray, leads a talented team of career services professionals to help students achieve their career goals. Christine Murray, Associate Dean and Managing Director, Career Services at Georgetown McDonough “I arrived at McDonough through a simple exploratory conversation that evolved into a series of conversations and ultimately an opportunity for me to apply my love of strengthening, building, and creating ways to connect student talent with career advancement opportunities,” she says. After working at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) for almost 15 years, and helping to build Read more
Published: November 10, 2022
Real Humans of the INSEAD MBA Class of 2023
Whether you matriculate in January or August, in Fontainebleau or Singapore, INSEAD offers an intense and international MBA program. In this edition of Real Humans of MBA Students, we meet some new members of the INSEAD MBA class graduating in July of 2023. Typically, INSEAD enrolls ~1,000 MBA students in their two classes for the year. 404 students matriculated as members of the 23J class in August of 2022. Thirty-four percent are women and the class represents 65 different nationalities. During their undergraduate years, 35 percent of the INSEAD MBA Class of 2023 studied business/administration. Engineering followed at Read more
Published: November 10, 2022
Fridays from the Frontline: Veterans Pivot Career Paths at NYU Stern
In this edition of Fridays from the Frontline, NYU Stern Military Veterans Club Co-presidents Thomas Dunn (MBA ‘23) and Constantine Filipos (MBA ‘23) reflect on their transition from the Military to Stern. From the Corps to Consulting Constantine: I served seven years on active duty as a Marine Corps Infantry Officer. I spent the first half of this time as a platoon commander leading a team of 45 Marines and Sailors, and the second half as an instructor and advisor teaching military planning to senior U.S. Naval Officers and to partner nation militaries in Read more
Published: November 9, 2022
Wharton Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Student / Zoom
The interview was really straightforward: “I want you to tell my why MBA and Why Wharton.” The student listened to me, not saying a word and asked in the remaining 1’30” if I had any questions. Not much of an interaction. Read more
Published: November 9, 2022
Real Humans of the Boston College Carroll MBA Class of 2024
We welcome some new students of the Boston College Carroll School of Management MBA Class of 2024 to this installment of Real Humans: MBA Students. Seventy-six students matriculated into the Carroll MBA program in the fall of 2022. Thirty-five percent are women and 24 percent are international. Eighteen percent of U.S. students identify as African-American, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American. During their undergraduate years, Carroll MBA students had an average GPA of 3.36. Eighteen percent had earned degrees in business and 16 percent studied math/physical science. Thirteen percent had majored in humanities/social sciences. Eleven percent pursued degrees Read more
Published: November 8, 2022
Chicago Booth Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Student / Skype
The interviewer was a second-year student who did not belong to my target industry. She seemed welcoming and friendly, and made the interview conversational. It lasted about 45 mins in total. It started with her congratulating me on getting to this step and introducing themselves. Questions asked: Walk me through your resume. Why MBA? Why now? ST/LT goals? Tell me about a time you led a team and what your experience was? Tell me about a time you tried to incorporate an external source of inspiration into an actual team project? What 3 words Read more

MBA Applywire

4
November 27, 2024 12:00pm ET
Applying: Berkeley / Haas, London Business School, Northwestern / Kellogg, Stanford GSB
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Eingeneer
Post-MBA Target Industry: Other
GMAT: 675
GPA: 3,5
Years of Work Experience: 4.8
Location: Chile
4
November 27, 2024 9:07am ET
Applying: Duke / Fuqua, Michigan / Ross, Northwestern / Kellogg, NYU Stern
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Finance Manager
Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting Companies: Accenture , AT Kearney , Bain , BCG , Deloitte , Ernst & Young , McKinsey , PWC
GMAT: 690
GPA: 3.79
Years of Work Experience: 2
7
November 27, 2024 9:07am ET
Applying: Carnegie Mellon / Tepper, Duke / Fuqua, Michigan / Ross, Notre Dame / Mendoza, UNC Kenan-Flagler, UVA / Darden, Vanderbilt / Owen
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Banking
Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Commercial Banking Companies: Accenture , AT Kearney , Bain , PWC , Bank of America
GRE: 306
GPA: 3.64
Years of Work Experience: 5
Location: Africa
Notes:

Recently wrote the GRE. It's not a super score but I will probably apply with it anyway. I am still considering retaking the test, as the next time I can take it is around the Round 2 deadline.

My educational background is in social sciences, so wasn't very quant-heavy. Looking at taking an additional quant course to back up my GRE score as the exam fee is about 10x the minimum wage in my country. Any suggestion is welcomed.
5
November 27, 2024 6:51am ET
Applying: Dartmouth / Tuck, Harvard Business School, Stanford GSB, UPenn / Wharton, Yale SOM
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Program Manager, Humanitarian INGO
Post-MBA Target Industry: Entrepreneurship, Non Profit/SI
GMAT: 685
GPA: 3.27
Years of Work Experience: 4
Location: US Citizen (positioned abroad)
Notes:

Long time listener first time caller. Love the podcast! Adding my profile just because I want to be part of the community.

R2 applicant for Fall 2025 entry.

Background: mid-to-late 20s US citizen, lower-income single parent upbringing.

Work experience: currently a manager at a humanitarian INGO in active / post-conflict settings (think Afghanistan, Yemen, etc.) with several million in project budget under management and overseeing multiple teams. Will have been in emergency aid for 2 years upon matriculation, career before that was 1 year quantitative analyst ---> 1 year teaching English abroad. High impact job, recently promoted.

Academics: 3.27 cumulative. Small state school for first year with a 4.0. Transferred to an Ivy, but had to work full time to support family, had just above a 3.0 at the Ivy. I've also done a masters since at a top 5 UK (shout-out to Alex!) with distinction (3.9+ equivalent). Additionally, took Calculus this year (got an A-) to give schools a bit more reassurance on quant abilities since my quant record in college had its ups and downs, and to demonstrate respect for the rigors of the Y1 MBA curriculum.

Test: took the GMAT only once, 685 (86V 82Q 84D). First mock exam was a 625 with a terrible quant score, but brought quant up to 76th percentile with a couple months of study. Internet is too slow to take online, so only had one chance to do it in-person while I was on leave -- retake physically impossible even if I wanted to.

ECs: Very focused on social entrepreneurship. Have also been helping teach / support one of the foreign language programs at the state school I originally went to and transferred out of. Community service award as well, and mountain climber.

Post-MBA goal is social entrepreneurship that can help people in crisis contexts.

I've listened to enough Wire Taps to guess exactly what the advice will be: "You might want to cast a wider net due to the lower GPA, right now you're only targeting top schools." -- Absolutely fair call. However, what I want to do is extremely difficult and will require a ton of resources. I've selected the programs I think best fit my goals / have a strong social and entrepreneurial mission. I don't particularly mind getting dinged everywhere and reapplying next year if need be.

Long post, thanks for reading! Have a great holiday!
2
November 27, 2024 3:06am ET
Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Harvard Business School
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Technology
Post-MBA Target Industry: Technology, Entrepreneurship Companies: Amazon , Apple , Microsoft
GMAT: 675
GPA: 3.2
Years of Work Experience: 5
Location: India
Post MBA Location: Bay Area / New York
Notes:

I wanted to get your thoughts on my R2 Strategy.

I've 2.5 years of work in Deloitte Strategy Consulting (promoted)
Worked at a unicorn tech startup for a year in a strategy team
Founded my own startup, after multiple side projects for an year
Currently working at another early-tech startup as a program manager

In the long and short term, I'm looking at entrepreneurship. with short-term flexible to be PM in Business Technology companies

I'm interviewed at Columbia MBAxMS, Cornell Tech MBA, USC Marshall
Waitlisted at NYU Tech MBA.

What should be my R2 strategy. Thinking to go optimistic and target dream schools.
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MBA LiveWire

November 27, 2024 1:46pm ET
Rejected at Washington U. / Olin
Round: Round 1
Received via portal November 27, 2024
GPA: 3.9
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Operations Management
Application Location: Asia
November 27, 2024 12:44pm ET
Accepted to Washington U. / Olin
Round: Round 2
Received via phone November 27, 2024
GPA: 3.75
GRE: 330
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Consulting
Application Location: Phoenix
Note:

Consortium and received a full-ride plus a stipend. Interviewed on November 10th and received offer today, November 27th.
I feel very optimistic for Booth and Yale results next week.
November 27, 2024 12:29pm ET
Accepted to Cornell / Johnson
Round: Round 1
Received via portal November 27, 2024
GPA: 3.94
Program Type: One Year Program
Target Career: Technology
Application Location: India
Note:

Interviewed for Cornell Tech MBA program on 13th Nov. GMAT/GRE test waiver.
November 27, 2024 10:41am ET
Accepted to NYU Stern
Round: Round 1
Received via email on November 25, 2024
GMAT: 715
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Finance
Application Location: India
Note:

Interview on 7/11. Received email regarding a status update. No scholarship
November 27, 2024 10:38am ET
Accepted to Cornell / Johnson
Round: Round 1
Received via email November 27, 2024
GPA: 3.65
Program Type: One Year Program
Target Career: Entrepreneurship
Application Location: New York City
Note:

Interviewed on November 11th. Received admissions offer on November 27th. Applied for Cornell Tech MBA.
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