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Clear Admit is the leading resource for top-tier MBA candidates.
Published: March 31, 2013
Chicago Booth MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Second-year student / On campus
I’m a round two applicant. I attended the Booth Live event on Friday. The event was awesome! I recommend that every applicant attend this event–before completing the app if possible. It gives you much better insight into the Booth culture, admissions process and committee members, and student personalities. Try your best to engage with as many of the Booth students and admission members as possible–they may remember you and fight for you during their review process. I had my interview the following day at 1pm. There was a first-year student or two hanging around the lobby talking to interviewees and Read more
Published: March 26, 2013
Exclusive GMAT Insights and Advice for MBA Hopefuls From Top GMAT Community Leaders
Each year thousands of individuals begin journeys that they hope will ultimately lead to an acceptance offer from top-tier business schools around the world, and for the majority of these applicants one of the first steps on the b-school path is studying for and taking the GMAT exam. With the 2012-2013 application season wrapping up, a whole new cohort of aspiring MBA students are beginning to get serious about their own school choices and application materials. Most schools won’t be releasing their updated application requirements until later in the summer, so one concrete element of their application that they can start working on now is properly preparing themselves for taking the exam.  We sat down with the founders of the major online GMAT communities (Beat The GMAT and GMAT Club) as well as the Director of Academic Programs at leading GMAT test prep firm, Veritas Prep. These individuals have a combined wealth of experience to draw upon when providing helpful tips and insights to share with anyone contemplating an application to business school in 2013-14. In the article that follows, readers will have the opportunity to learn about common misconceptions many test takers have about the exam, successful approaches to creating a study schedule, specific tips that can help those who struggle with either the verbal or the quant sections, and valuable insights on how to approach retaking the test. We additionally have checked in with the official information provided by GMAC, the organization that creates and administers the GMAT exam. Read more
Published: March 25, 2013
Clear Admit Co-Founders Quoted in National, Local Press on Group Interviews for MBA Admissions
Clear Admit co-founders Graham Richmond and Eliot Ingram contributed to articles this week in both the national and local press, sharing their expertise in the MBA space and advising prospective applicants on how to prepare for the group interview component that some top schools are choosing to include as part of the admissions process. Richmond’s comments appeared in a Bloomberg BusinessWeek article entitled, “How to Stand Out in an MBA Group Interview.” The University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business is the latest top MBA program to require applicants to work as a group as part of the application process, joining Switzerland’s IMD and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Bloomberg BW notes. Though the schools are taking this step in an effort to elicit more off-the-cuff responses from applicants, there are still ways to prepare for these new exercises. Read more
Published: March 18, 2013
Tips for Telling Your Boss You’re Headed to Business School
For those happy applicants who now hold acceptance letters from their target business schools, there still may be important work ahead: namely, breaking the news to your current employer. In a post to the Forté Foundation’s Virtual Campus website, a Forté Fellow at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business shares some tips for telling your boss you're headed to business school. Tricia Felice, Chicago Booth MBA 2014, tells us her best practices for how to approach this task with tact and technique – maintaining valuable relationships that could serve you in the future. Felice left a full-time job in Los Angeles to start her MBA program. She is the recipient of a fellowship through the Forté Foundation, an organization dedicated to increasing the number of women in MBA programs and business leadership. “Telling my boss about my decision was difficult, but it helped to remain focused on the personal progress I knew I would experience through my MBA,” she wrote. Read more
Published: March 11, 2013
Admission into Harvard Business School with a 570 GMAT Score? Clear Admit’s Graham Richmond Shares How It Might Happen
Harvard Business School (HBS), which publicly discloses the range of GMAT scores by enrolled students every year, got folks in the MBA admissions world talking when it revealed that a student with a score of 570 will be part of next year’s class. How could someone who scored 160 points below the class median on a test considered by many to forecast business school success possibly still get in? To HBS, of all places, where only 13 percent of the close to 9,000 eager applicants this year secured a spot? PoetsandQuants (P&Q) posed the question to the HBS admissions staff, which declined to shed any light on the successful candidate. So P&Q then turned to MBA admissions consultants, Clear Admit’s Graham Richmond among them, to guess about just what might be going on in the offices of HBS MBA Dean of Admissions Dee Leopold. Read more
Published: March 11, 2013
Clear Admit’s Kevin Chen Gives Advice to Asian MBA Applicants Targeting Top Business Schools
Navigating the MBA admissions process in the United States and Europe is a tricky task, even for applicants familiar with the expectations of the Western academic and corporate cultures. However, the process presents special challenges for East Asian applicants, who often possess cultural assumptions that can work to their disadvantage. Clear Admit admissions counselor Kevin Chen has nearly a decade of MBA admissions consulting expertise, and has worked extensively with Asian applicants to help them overcome these cultural hurdles and gain admission to top MBA programs including Harvard Business School, Stanford GSB, Wharton, Chicago Booth, INSEAD and London Business School. Chen, who is fluent in English, Chinese and Taiwanese, has been a successful applicant himself: he holds master’s degrees from both Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He also has a wealth of relevant professional experience, as a consultant, marketing professional and writer for firms including McKinsey & Company, the National Basketball Association and Reuters, the largest global news agency. Last week, Clear Admit spoke with Chen about the common missteps and trends he observes in Asian MBA applicants. Read more
Published: March 4, 2013
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Second-year student/ On-campus
The team-based discussion included six interviewees and two admissions fellows. The fellows took notes during the entire session. First, they read the prompt and said they would only interject with timing updates – they also let us decide who would pitch first. We went around the table (not necessarily in order) and each gave an idea. I was lucky to have a great group, which led to a really good discussion. After the team-based discussion, we were called back into the room for the one-on-one. The admissions fellow said that it was a blind interview – they are not given Read more
Published: March 4, 2013
Berkeley / Haas MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alum / On-Campus
The interview lasted about 30 minutes. The questions they asked me were: Walk me through your resume. Asked some specific questions about my experiences and seemed to be testing my technical and market knowledge. Why MBA? What are your short and long term goals? Why Haas? Tell me about a time when you displayed good teamwork. Tell me your leadership style. Was there any other question I wished he had asked me. Very comfortable interview overall! Read more
Published: March 4, 2013
UNC / Kenan-Flagler MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alum / Off-Campus
A summary of questions asked: Top 3 accomplishments Teamwork Walk me through your resume Community involvement and extra curriculars A lot of grilling on why MBA, why UNC and short term and long term goals Plan B if the school rejects you Small town/ big city orientation International exposure A lot of personal questions regarding family. Which other schools have you applied to and why? He also gave me inputs about his stay at UNC and what were the key takeaways for him… Tt was fairly conversational and he put me at ease. All in all, a very Read more
Published: March 4, 2013
Cambridge / Judge MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 3 / Adcom / Phone
I was eager apply to Judge primarily because of three factors: 1. The program: With three consulting projects and one year less to spare the program structure appeared to be solid and value for time/money 2. The people: The class size is ~150 with nearly 50 nationalities making it a truly diverse and international program. Not to forget selective too! 3. Cambridge: You can’t discount the Cambridge factor. Its arguably the best university in the world and has a network and history that very few can match. I interviewed over the phone by a faculty from the School. Read more
Published: March 3, 2013
Duke / Fuqua MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Adcom / Off-Campus Hub
I applied to FT MBA in second round. My interview was scheduled on 19th February with Adcom who flew to my country. I saw her only take note on blank paper. It was 40+15 minutes. We started with 1-2 minutes chat and then took off. Questons are: – My background. She seemed to be interested in why I chose studying in Engineering, why I chose this school, detail of my internship (which was stated in resume), and why I chose to work with current employer. – Why MBA? – Why Duke? – Explain my role in Read more
Published: March 3, 2013
Tepper MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Adcom / Skype
I applied to second round and was invited on 15th of January. Originally I was invited to interview in hub cities with Adcom but I could not arrange the trip due to visa issue. So I ended up schedule interview with another Adcom via Skype. My interview was on 12th of February. It was very conversational and he seemed to be very professional in keeping the interview interesting and moving it forward. He did not take note at all. Overall, he looked for how much I had researched about Tepper and why I want Tepper. Here were the questions. Read more
Published: March 3, 2013
Ross MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-campus
My interview was on 26th January 2013. I applied to FT MBA in second round and was invited on 10th Jan. I had to submit my resume in scheduling system and that was all the alumnus had except the interview form to fill in. We met in a local coffee shop, and the interview was 30+15 minutes. Overall was very conversational, even though my interviewer was not that chit-chat. Here were the questions I was asked: – Started with introducing herself with how thing would be proceeded. – Run me through your resume. She asked a question about Read more
Published: March 3, 2013
USC / Marshall MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-campus
My interview was a personal one with a student. The interview was very general. A few questions were asked about my goals and why Marshall etc. (What are your short- term and long-term post MBA goals? How will USC Marshall help you achieve these goals) but after that we started discussing my personal life (“A challenging international experience?”,”A personal or professional setback”, “An entrepreneur you admire”) and then more random stuff, like cloud computing and Spanish language. So according to me, when you’ve got an interview, it means that you’re already a good contender and they just want to get to Read more
Published: March 3, 2013
UT Austin / McCombs MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 3 / Second-year student / Skype
I had read some of these reports prior to my Skype interview, so the questions were pretty similar. This was my last interview, and I found that it was also the most structured/formal wise. It was pretty clear that they have a list of questions that they requires the students to ask, and at times it felt more like a job interview than a conversation. Some of the questions are, it was a blind interview, she only had my resume to go off of. There was a focus on leadership type questions, to the point where I felt that I Read more
Published: March 3, 2013
Yale SOM MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round2/ AdCom/ Off-campus
Conversational. Lasted for 40 mins. Very polite interviewer. He told me that he had only seen my resume, not the rest of the application, so he might be asking questions that I might have already answered in my essays and other parts of the application. 1. You have varied experience [read as job switches], can you please take me through them? (basically a resume walk) 2. What’s your long term goal, why MBA and what do you want to do after your MBA? 3. Leadership example! 4. What is that you don’t like about your job, Read more
Published: March 3, 2013
Oxford / Saïd MBA Admissions Interview Questions:Round 2 / Careers Director / On Campus
I participated in an interview day at Oxford SBS, along with about 30 other applicants who had travelled from literally all four corners of the earth to be there – USA, Australia, Canada, Nigeria, the Middle East etc. Upon arrival, we were all given a welcome packet which contained a guide to the interview process and a short bio of our individual interviewers, before being shown to a conference room, where we chatted amongst ourselves and mingled with a faculty member and adcom staff while everyone got their individual interviews out of the way. We then had a group tour Read more
Published: February 28, 2013
UNC / Kenan-Flagler MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 3 / Adcom / Skype
The interview lasted approximately 45 minutes and it started with the AdCom saying that she had my resume and that she hadn’t reviewed my application but she had notes from others who did review it. The questions she asked me were: “Walk me through your resume” “Your GPA seems low. Are there any extenuating circumstances or explanations for that?” “Why are you interested in getting your MBA?” “Why now?” “What are your goals?  “Tell me a couple of adjectives to describe yourself.” The AdCom was very professional but still pleasant. The interview was very formal and she did take notes Read more
Published: February 28, 2013
Berkeley / Haas MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-campus
Interview scheduled with an alum in a coffee shop He explained the what a blind interview was, and told me the duration was 45min. He then asked me: “Tell me about a time when you were given constructive feedback. How did you respond?” “Have you ever experienced conflict with someone on your team? How did you resolve it?” “Tell me about your experiencing managing people. Have you managed direct reports?” “What kind of leader are you?” “Tell me about challenges you’ve faced you have faced at your workplace and how you resolved them?” “Which book are you currently Read more
Published: February 28, 2013
UNC / Kenan-Flagler MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2/ Admissions Officer / Off-campus
When I arrived I was asked to submit my resume and told that my interviewer would go through my resume mins before the start of the interview. The interview was blind. The only information my interviewer had was my resume. The interview started and they asked me to walk them through my resume, because they told me there were bits that needed clarification. Then they asked, “Why do you want to get an MBA?” “Why an MBA from Kenan Flagler?” “What qualities do you hope to develop during your MBA?” “What do you plan to do after your MBA?” Read more
Published: February 27, 2013
USC / Marshall MBA Admissions Interview Questions:Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-campus
They first asked me to introduce yourself and tell them 3 key learnings from my work experience. Then, the classic “Why MBA?” followed by “Why do you want to do MBA at this stage in your life?” They were intersted in my short- and long-term career goals? and asked me”Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” Afterwards, they told me to tell them about a challenging situation that I’d faced and how did I resolve it? They moved on to “What are your greatest strengths? Give examples” and “What are your weaknesses? Give examples” Finally, Read more
Published: February 27, 2013
Berkeley / Haas MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Adcom / On Campus
I had the first round of the interview on campus, and to be honest it lasted less than I had expected (30 minutes). I was a bit nervous at first, but when I finished I was calm and I felt the interview was very promising. They asked all kind of questions: Why Haas? What excited me most about the program? My long-term plans Discussion on the state and future of the sector What my most embarrassing moment in my professional career had been Walk them through my resume my leadership experience My goals What do I know about Strategy Consulting? Read more
Published: February 27, 2013
NYU / Stern MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1/Adcom/On-campus
These are the questions they asked me. 1. Tell me about yourself? 2. What do you feel is the weakest aspect of your resume? 3. Which achievement are you most proud of? 4. Is Stern your first choice? If you are admitted to other schools, what criteria your decision will be based on? 5. What’s the main difference between your current position and your goals? Why do you think you are ready for an MBA at this moment of your career? 6. What programs have made you interested in Stern? And what clubs will you Read more
Published: February 27, 2013
UNC / Kenan-Flagler MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1/Alumnus/On-campus
There were no questions on Why MBA, Why Now or What have I done to date at my work place. The questions were on my achievements outside of my work area, my other extracurricular activities, my interests, my personal background and other similar stuff. He also asked me about other schools in my list and we also talked about the current economic scenario. We talked about some of his experiences at the school and while finding jobs and internships. Finally, it came to questions from my side. I asked him 2 questions and got the answers. Read more
Published: February 27, 2013
NYU / Stern MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / On campus
I interviewed with a “senior associate admissions director.” The conversation is very friendly. She took very few notes (which at the time to me could be good or bad). She definitely knows my application from inside out. When we sat down she smiled and said “so you play the guitar?” (She was referring to part of my essay 3). “When/how did you start and what kind of songs do you play?” Then the interview moved to real business: Tell me about how you ended up at your current role (job)? What’s your post-MBA career goal? How is your Read more

MBA Livewire

December 18, 2024 6:09am ET
Accepted to UT Austin / McCombs
Round: Round 1
Received via phone on December 16, 2024
GRE: 332
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Consulting
Application Location: India
December 18, 2024 1:57am ET
Accepted to UPenn / Wharton
Round: Round 1
Received via portal
GMAT: 705
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Technology
Application Location: Taiwan
December 18, 2024 1:51am ET
Waitlisted at Carnegie Mellon / Tepper
Round: Round 1
Received via email on December 04, 2024
GPA: 2.6
GRE: 337
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Technology
Application Location: Asia
December 18, 2024 1:50am ET
Waitlisted at Michigan / Ross
Round: Round 1
Received via email on December 05, 2024
GPA: 2.6
GRE: 337
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Technology
Application Location: asia
December 18, 2024 1:48am ET
Rejected at USC / Marshall
Round: Round 1
Received via email on December 14, 2024
GPA: 2.6
GRE: 337
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Application Location: asia
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