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Published: March 6, 2022
UPenn Wharton Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Second-Year Student / Zoom
I completed the Wharton Team-Based Discussion (TBD) and 1:1 interview recently, with two second-year MBA students as observers for the TBD, then the 1:1 with one of the two students. Most people (6 candidates total) joined about 10 minutes early and introduced themselves, and made some small talk. After the 10 min mark ended, the two MBA students introduced themselves, and then asked us to share our name, current company, and intended major at Wharton. They then quickly explained the TBD instructions and process (35 minutes to come to a conclusion answering the prompt, including the 60 second pitches and Read more
Published: March 6, 2022
UPenn Wharton Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Second-Year Student / Zoom
Team based discussion followed by a 10 minute interview with two questions: Why the MBA and Why Wharton? Team-Based Discussion Before the TBD started, we had about 10 minutes of small talk/introductions. My slot was for 5:15 pm. Once it started, the moderators (two second-year students) read out the instructions and acted as observers for the rest of the discussion. They also stated that we would be given a visual indication when we had 10 mins and 5 mins left. We had 35 minutes for the entire conversation including the presentation. Initially, I was concerned as everyone seemed very talkative with some Read more
Published: March 5, 2022
Georgetown McDonough Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Second-Year Student / Zoom
This year, McDonough allowed you the option to choose your interviewer via a portal, with the ability to filter by clubs / organization affiliation (students / admissions office ). I had chosen a second-year student, but she was unable to interview me last minute and had somebody fill in for her. My interview was resume-based, and very casual. Questions included: 1. Tell me about yourself. 2. Why MBA? Why now? 3. Why McDonough? 4. Tell me about a time you had a conflict at work. 5. Tell me about a time you took initiative. 6. Read more
Published: February 28, 2022
NYU Stern MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Zoom
The interviewer was very friendly and very familiar with my application. She was very engaging and allowed my to ask questions of her, too. 1. Pick six. 2. Tell me what you do at work — I am from an atypical background so I basically explained my job to her. 3. Why MBA? 4. Leadership experiences? 5. My recruiting plans? 6. Questions for admissions? Read more
Published: February 28, 2022
Georgetown McDonough MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Zoom
I met with a senior adcom member. The format was very Q&A, less of a conversation. Honestly it felt a little stilted and formal. 1) Tell me a little bit about yourself/why Georgetown? 2) Short- and long-term goals. 3) How will you contribute to McDonough from a DEI lens? 4) How do you operate within a team? 5) What are some of the things you’re lacking right now? How are you working on them? 7) Tell me about a time you dealt with conflict. 8) Tell me about your biggest accomplishment. 9) Something Read more
Published: February 27, 2022
Wire Taps 218—Corporate finance to CFO, Civil engineer to mobility, Anderson versus Ross and Stern.
In this edition of WireTaps, Alex and Graham discuss the release of MIT Sloan interview invites (more or less accurately predicting their arrival – despite recording the episode prior to the release!). Your hosts also talked a little more about the UPenn Wharton team-based interview and recommended a previous episode of the podcast for those prepping. Graham noted the release of the Real Humans MBA Alumni series, featuring grads from Chicago / Booth and HBS, working at Bain and Amazon, respectively; there was also discussion about the release of the Real Humans of Wharton (apparently a Read more
Published: February 26, 2022
INSEAD MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Alumni / Zoom
I was invited to complete two rounds of interviews with 2 INSEAD alumni. I understand they were selected as my interviewers considering they both worked in industries or functions that I intended to pivot to after my MBA. My first interview was smooth and centered around general school fit. My interviewer also allocated a large part of the conversation to allow me to ask him questions, as he wanted me to ensure that INSEAD was a good fit for myself. I was asked about other programs I applied to and why I chose to do an MBA and specifically at Read more
Published: February 24, 2022
Chicago Booth MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Alumnus / Virtual
I wore business professional / formal attire with a tie, but the interviewer works in tech, so he was quite casual. He introduced himself and then asked if I had any questions, I really didn’t have any at that point and said I was just excited to get started. The questions were asked in a conversational way: 1) I’ve read you’re resume, can you help bring it to life? Tell me your motivations from college / major to your professional experience. 3) Short-term, long-term goals? 4) Why MBA? 2) Tell me about a time you received feedback Read more
Published: February 23, 2022
Michigan Ross MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Alumnus / Zoom
Interviewed with a recent alum on Feb 10, 2022. Very casual and friendly. They had my resume, but had not seen my application. The interview lasted for 30 minutes. Questions: • I’ve already looked through your resume so I won’t ask you to walk me through your resume. Instead, what about your experiences do you most want me to know? • Why MBA? • Why Ross? • (Follow-up question to “Why Ross?”) That’s a great interview answer. What’s your real answer? (note: this really threw me off, but I think it was actually a great opportunity Read more
Published: February 23, 2022
HBS MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Adcom / Zoom
Very personalized interview asking about specific components of resume and application. Asked about unexpected aspects of resume, including community service listed under college experience on my resume. Also asked about strengths / weakness / something people would find surprising about me. Overall neutral experience and interview goes by very quickly. Know all of the details of your full application very well! Read more
Published: February 23, 2022
MIT Sloan MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Adcom / Zoom
My interviewer was pleasant throughout our discussion and the tone of the interview was very conversational. The Zoom room was opened at precisely the scheduled time, and we concluded the call at exactly the 30-minute mark. The questions that I was asked in the interview include: • Do you have any updates to your candidacy before we start? • Tell me about your greatest recent accomplishment. • Tell me about your biggest recent failure. • Tell me about a time that you had a difficult team member. • Tell me about a time that you were Read more
Published: February 21, 2022
Chicago Booth Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Alumni / Virtual
Was a really engaging interview. Started off with a bit about himself, then introduced myself and we had some conversations on some of my academic awards and projects I had worked on as part of my job. Then got into the Q&A bit, which was less conversational. 1) Why MBA? Why Booth? 2) One way you have grown in recent years. 3) Tell me about a time when you took an initiative. 4) Tell me about a time you failed. 5) Tell me about a time when you realised you needed help. 6) Tell me Read more
Published: February 20, 2022
Michigan Ross MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Alumnus / Zoom
The interviewer was a 2016 alumni. The conversation was super friendly and he seemed genuinely interested in connecting and getting to know me. I had previously sent my resume through the school platform, and he had previous access to that. He presented himself and told me the interview would last for 35/40 minutes. He asked me the following questions: – Walk me through your resume. – Why MBA? (he really insisted and dug deep on this one) – Why Ross? – Failure story. – Story about dealing with different cultures. He sometimes asked me to Read more
Published: February 20, 2022
Wire Taps 217—Budding Product Manager, Investment Banker and Entrepreneur, Haas versus Darden, for now.
In this week’s episode of WireTaps, Graham and Alex discuss the recent release of the Financial Times MBA rankings, and the challenges the FT faces in being the only leading MBA ranking that combines programs from around the world into a single list; Wharton took the top spot. Graham highlighted a yearly favorite, a piece on Northwestern / Kellogg’s assessment of the Superbowl ads. Graham also mentioned the career reports from Chicago / Booth and UVA / Darden, both programs showing nice geographic and industry diversity. Graham also noted another recent podcast he did with the Read more
Published: February 17, 2022
Chicago Booth Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Alumnus / Virtual
Resume Based. Interviewer was a grad from 2014. Only went for 25 minutes and felt extremely rushed compared to previous interviews. I was surprised when the interviewer did not ask one single behavioral based question (tell me about a time when). It started off with her telling me about her background and career pivot post Booth. It then turned over to me. 1) Introduce yourself, walk me through your resume. 2) Follow-on questions of digging deeper into roles/responsibilities and the “why” between my transitions. 3) Why an MBA now? 4) Why Booth in particular? 5) Short Read more
Published: February 17, 2022
Dartmouth Tuck Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Second-Year Student / Zoom
Interview with second-year student at Tuck was quite conversational and lasted about 50 minutes. The questions were standard: – Why MBA? – Why now? – Why Tuck? – What are your ST and LT goals? But also included a fair amount of behavioral questions: – What were your biggest challenges at work? Can you give an example? How did you resolve them? – Can you give an example where you had an issue with a coworker? How did you resolve the issue? All in all, the interview went pretty quickly and the student was really receptive and engaged Read more
Published: February 13, 2022
Wire Taps 215—Chemical Engineer, Duke Wait List, Haas with money versus Stanford
Is it too late to apply this season? What about candidates on waitlists – how might they fare in the months ahead? In the latest episode of the podcast, Graham and Alex shared their thoughts regarding the assumed drop in application volume and how this may impact candidates who might still want to apply, or have been waitlisted from Round 1; this may all be good news. Graham also highlighted the Real Humans piece for ESADE and the employment report for Berkeley / Haas, which led to a bit of a teaser about some pending career content Read more
Published: February 10, 2022
Texas McComb Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Alum / Zoom
Interviewed with an alum over Zoom on Feb 9, 2022 for Round 2. They had access to my resume, but not my application. They asked questions for ~30 minutes and I asked questions for another ~15 mins. They asked: • Walk me through your professional experience. • Short-term and long-term goals? • Why McCombs? • Why an MBA? Do you need an MBA to obtain your goals? • What are the strongest and weakest parts of your application? • What have you learned about yourself in this process? • What other schools have Read more
Published: February 10, 2022
Texas McCombs Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Second-Year Student / Zoom
Very casual environment, allowed for open conversation between and after questions. Interviewer was very friendly and shared about her background and experience with McCombs. Questions were essentially the same as another poster here, though not in this exact order. 1. Take me through your professional journey. 2. Tell me about a time you had to come up with a unique solution to a business problem. 3. What is the biggest challenge you’ve experienced in your professional career? 4. What’s a surprise that you’ve had in your career in the last couple years (during COVID)? 5. Read more
Published: February 6, 2022
Episode 213: Wire Taps—Strong profile from an over-represented population, should they wait? Engineer with great numbers, on the waitlist, and waiting for Round 2 offers. Haas versus Darden with more money, a tough call.
Welcome back to another episode of your friendly MBA-neighborhood podcast!  The big conversation from last week’s MBA admissions activity centered around the interview invite releases of Harvard and Michigan / Ross (note: Alex and Graham somehow neglected to mention the release of Duke / Fuqua’s Round 2 invites, also heavily reported on MBA LiveWire). Alex put Graham on the spot about his own experience interviewing at HBS, and after diving into that topic a bit Graham called listeners attention to Real Humans piece on UVA / Darden, and the employment report for Cornell / Johnson. It was no surprise that Read more
Published: February 2, 2022
Stanford GSB Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Alumnus / Zoom
The interview was scheduled based on the alum’s availability and lasted for approximately 1 hour. I was matched with an alum with whom I shared the same undergrad school (different industry though). He was a 2010 GSB graduate. He was friendly and the interview flowed like a conversation – in fact, some 30 minutes into the interview, we took a break for some time where he asked me if I had questions for him (in most interviews this is done towards the end). The interviewer had access only to my resume. There were a few standard questions at first – Read more
Published: February 1, 2022
Cornell Johnson Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Student / Skype
Top-level: It was a relatively low-stress typical interview with fewer ‘situational/behavioral’ and ‘how-would-you-contribute’ questions than other schools. Tips for applicants: Don’t forget your driver’s license. Make sure to ask the interviewer to repeat their name and email very clearly so that you can write it down and thank them after the interview since Skype closes pretty quickly. Only name-drop a current student or recent alum with whom you truly had a memorable conversation because the ad-com or second-year student interviewer will likely know them better than you. Because of an earlier issue with my transcript, my invite Read more
Published: January 31, 2022
Yale SOM Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Second-Year Student / Zoom
The interview was with a Y2 student via Zoom. Interviewer was extremely welcoming and friendly, told me it would be a very casual 30min conversation, that she had a list of questions she needed to ask and would be taking notes. We exchanged some casual ice-breakers about CNY. It was standard Yale-style of blind interview (interviewer only had access to resume) and no “tell me about yourself”. 1. I won’t ask you to tell me about your resume. Instead, choose a professional experience that is meaningful to you and talk about what the outcome was. Why was it meaningful to Read more
Published: January 31, 2022
Minnesota Carlson Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Zoom
The Carlson interview was very short, and it looked the Adcom member was just trying to run through the list of questions he had written down. It was a blind interview, the Adcom member only had my resume and not the rest of the application. 1. Walk me through your resume. 2. Why Carlson? 3. How will you add value to the Carlson community? 4. Short term and long term goals? 5. Tell me about a time when you had a difficult conversation with someone. 6. How have you shown your commitment to diversity? Read more
Published: January 30, 2022
Episode 211: Wire Taps – Potentially very strong candidate, needs to shape their story. A candidate with interesting work experience…but is low GPA a killer? Darden ($0) vs. Johnson ($80K) for consulting (or maybe IB)?
As Round 2 interview invite season continues, Alex and Graham discuss Harvard’s release date (Wednesday of this upcoming week) – something your hosts had indeed speculated would be the case in last week’s episode. Graham also highlighted the latest Real Humans piece from Georgetown / McDonough and noted some fun facts and figures from the employment reports for MIT / Sloan and Yale SOM. Your hosts then discussed the latest MBA rankings from US News – for online programs – and wondered why Michigan / Ross was not included. As has been the case of Read more

MBA Livewire

November 18, 2024 11:24am ET
Interview Invite to Dartmouth / Tuck
Round: Round 1
Received via email November 18, 2024
GPA: 2.77
GMAT: 760
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Finance
Application Location: Cambridge, MA
Note:

Consortium Applicant
November 18, 2024 10:57am ET
Interview Invite to Duke / Fuqua
Round: Round 1
Received via email on November 13, 2024
GRE: 318
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Finance
Application Location: Canada
November 18, 2024 9:48am ET
Rejected at Columbia
Round: Round 1
Received via portal on November 14, 2024
GPA: 3.54
GMAT: 740
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Other
Application Location: USA
November 18, 2024 9:03am ET
Accepted to Toronto / Rotman
Round: Round 1
Received via email on November 14, 2024
GPA: 3.72
GRE: 324
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Consulting
Application Location: Canada
Note:

Received entrance scholarship of $40k. They asked for deposit by Dec 6.
November 17, 2024 2:39pm ET
Interview Invite to Duke / Fuqua
Round: Round 1
Received via email on November 11, 2024
GPA: 3.79
GRE: 321
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Finance
Application Location: Chicago
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