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Published: February 10, 2014
Tuck MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Early Action / Second-year student / On-Campus
I interviewed on campus after completing a campus visit. My interview was with a second-year student. It was a blind interview–she only had my resume. It was a very conversational interview. Here are the questions I was asked: -Walk me through your resume. -Why an MBA now? -What are your short-term and long-term goals? -How will an MBA at Tuck help you reach those goals? -What will you bring to the community at Tuck? -Tell me about a conflict you have had in the workplace. -What would you do if you had a member Read more
Published: February 9, 2014
Columbia MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Rolling admission / Alumnus / Off-campus
The interview was conducted by an alum and took place in a conference room in his office. It was a blind interview, but I sent him my CV in advance. Questions: – Walk me through your resume – Why Columbia/ why MBA? – What other schools I’d applied to – My current role – What I had to bring to the table in the classroom setting He was a young and friendly interviewer. He gave me his background too. It felt fairly informal. There was time at the end to pose questions. He had a Read more
Published: February 9, 2014
NYU / Stern MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / On-Campus
I arrived to campus a day before to take the 04:00 PM tour – this was was very important. Next day the interview was at 9:30AM in the Adcom office. Very informal, no behavioural questions at all. Just a nice conversation, first about my trip to the US just for the interview, the snow, etc. Then: 1. Why do your MBA in New York City? (about the city.. not the school) 2. As an international, how would I find a job in the field that I want? 3. Ok, but why will they hire you Read more
Published: February 5, 2014
INSEAD MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-Campus
First and foremost, this is my first time drafting any MBA related report; this website has helped me out immensely both during the application process and the interviews themselves, hence I thought it’s the least I can do to help others who’ll be in my situation sooner or later 🙂 I applied in round 2 and received the interview decision which I was absolutely ecstactic about. It took some time for the admissions coordinator to locate alumni members in the country I’m in (funny enough there’s 4 or 5 different INSEAD grads at the organization I’m currently at), and initially Read more
Published: February 3, 2014
INSEAD MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-Campus
Writing this report as I have benefited from reading the other reports, hope it’s of some help. I applied in Round 2 and arranged interviews with two contacts provided by AdCom via email; they responded promptly and I booked my ticket to fly to another city (1 is not based locally). At this point I had been through an interview with another school so I didn’t prepare much except familiarising my essays. Two interviews did not differ in nature so I’ll summarise them into one. Both interviewers did their MBA in 200x and are now partners of private equity firms. Read more
Published: February 3, 2014
UCLA / Anderson MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Second-year Student / Skype
Interviewed about 10 days after the Round 2 application deadline with a 2nd-year student. Overall I feel like it went really well. There were a couple areas I wish I would have explained a little better, but I am happy with how I did. The interview was very conversational, and for the most part, no unexpected questions. Here is a general summary of the questions I was asked: -Tell me about yourself. -Why an MBA now? -Why Anderson? -Why are you looking to change careers? -What do you envision yourself doing when begin working in X Read more
Published: January 29, 2014
UCLA / Anderson MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Second-Year Student / On-Campus
I arrived in LA over the weekend to attend an info session and class Monday, and interview on Tuesday morning. The interview was blind and conducted by a 2nd year student. We engaged in a bit of small talk, I mentioned a class I attended (and was asked for the professor’s name – Bruce Carlin, great class!), and then I gave him a copy of my resume. Some of the questions were (not verbatim): – Walk me through your resume (While at it I covered short and long-term goals, though it seemed that this was going to be the 2nd Read more
Published: January 29, 2014
Ross MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Second-Year Student / Skype
A blind interview with a second year student, who was really friendly and was really excited about Ross. He had an artistic and creative personality, which really clicked with me. 1. Walk me through your resume 2. Why an MBA and why now? 3. What kind of consulting are you looking to get into? (Follow-up question for short term goals.) 4. Describe an experience in a team and what you can offer to Ross as a team player 5. What criteria did you use to define your school search? 6. Which social clubs do you Read more
Published: January 29, 2014
Ross MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Second-year / On-Campus
The interview was very casual and friendly. No surprising questions. 1) Explain your work history 2) Long term goal 3) Why Ross 4) Interests outside of work 5) Questions for the interviewer – this actually got cut rather short After the formal interview we all went to the second part of the interview which was a group exercise. We broke into groups of 6 and picked cards from a bag. Each card had either a place or a thing written on it. We then developed a case problem and solution using some of the cards we Read more
Published: January 29, 2014
INSEAD MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alumna / Off-Campus
The first interview was with an older alumna at her house. She first asked me casual questions about how I got there and any difficulties I may have had en route. She then took my resume and asked me the following questions: 1. Tell me about your career to date 2. Why INSEAD? France or Singapore? Why? 3. What do I hope to achieve after my MBA? 4. What other schools have I applied to? 5. What is the toughest conflict I faced and how did I handle it? She was very informative about INSEAD and the Read more
Published: January 20, 2014
INSEAD MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alumni / Off-Campus
I met with 2 alumni in Hong Kong, both entrepreneurs: one American-born Chinese lady, and one Indian man. The woman was very friendly, while the man was more professional and to the point. But both were nice anyway. First interview was in a coffee shop. It was quite short, around 35-40 minutes. Questions were very standard: – why MBA – why INSEAD – short-term professional goals When I told her my goal was to go back to my current industry / company, she looked surprised and asked me why I made this choice. Coming from Read more
Published: January 6, 2014
Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / On Campus
I interviewed with an admissions committee member on campus and the interview was blind. The tone of the interview was very conversational and lasted about 35 minutes. She asked me: – Walk me through your resume – Tell me about why you chose your undergraduate institution – Explain why you are trying to make such a drastic career change – How does Kellogg fit into the goals you have just stated? – Explain your leadership style – Can you give me an example of a time that you used this leadership approach? – Playing Read more
Published: January 6, 2014
Tuck MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Second Year Student / Coffee Shop – Delhi
I submitted my application for the November Round and got an interview call about a month later. I’m an Indian applicant and one of Tuck’s second year students was in my city for his Global Consultancy Project. So he scheduled a face to face interview and emailed me a week in advance. We met in the lobby of the hotel he was staying at. The interview lived up to my expectations in terms of being very relaxed and conversational. The interviewer introduced himself in detail – where he is from, what he did before Tuck, and what he’s doing at Read more
Published: December 22, 2013
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / Off-campus Hub
The 1-to-1 portion of the Wharton interview was held in a meeting room of an office in a hub city. There was one admissions officer who conducted the interview. She was cordial but also hard to read. The interview was rather surprising, with the admissions officer simply stating that she had not read my file and asking me to use the 15 minutes in whatever way I wanted. This did throw me for a bit. I ended up using the time to: 1. Describe my views of the TBD component. 2. Give a bit of background (essentially a “walk Read more
Published: December 22, 2013
UNC / Kenan-Flagler MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / Skype
Very nice talk. Here are the questions: 1/ Walk me through your resume 2/ Why MBA 3/ Why Kenan-Flagler 4/ Your team work experience 5/ One weakness that you want to address during bschool 6/ Looking back on your work experience, anything you wish you could have done better 7/ Your most proud achievement 8/ What do you do for fun Read more
Published: December 18, 2013
INSEAD MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alumnus / Off-Campus
I benefited from reading about interview experiences on this blog so I thought I’d contribute. As usual, with INSEAD, I was given the contacts of two alumni interviewers based in my country – one local, one foreigner. Both interviewers were fairly senior and were from my industry (banking/finance). They responded fairly quickly to my email to arrange an interview (within 1-3 days). I sent them copies of my CV and my application. It may be cultural (I’m from Asia and both interviewers are Asian), but the interviewers were polite (but not overly friendly) and to the point. Interviews lasted about Read more
Published: December 18, 2013
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / Off-Campus Hub
My interview took place in a quiet hotel area – I met the assistant dean of admissions at the Hilton in midtown New York. It was a blind interview, and she had my resume. She was prepared with a full sheet of questions, and she wrote down almost everything I was saying. The interview took about 30 minutes, as there were about 15 questions. What surprised me was that there were a lot of questions about times I had failed/times I had to overcome obstacles. I was more prepared to speak about my accomplishments so this took me by a Read more
Published: December 18, 2013
Cornell / Johnson MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-Campus
I arrived at the company twenty minutes before the set time and I was the fifth person to be interviewed. The person who interviewed me was a HR manager, a really nice man. I did not feel nervous at all, just very relaxed. Type of interview was blind. The HR manager asked about seven questions as below: 1. Introduce yourself. 2. Why are you leaving your job? 3. Why do you want this job? 4. Why should we hire you? 5. What is your greatest strength? 6. How do you handle stress and pressure? Read more
Published: December 18, 2013
London Business School MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-Campus
My interview was on-campus with an admissions fellow. It was 45 minutes long and blind – the interview was conversational The questions were fair and while they were not unexpected, it didn’t feel like the interviewer was simply going through a list. The interviewer had reviewed my resume and made a few notes beforehand. Below are the questions I collected from the interview: 1) Why did you choose your undergraduate major? 2) Tell me how you work as part of a team 3) What’s your long-term career goals? 4) Why do you feel you need an MBA Read more
Published: December 17, 2013
London Business School MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alumnus / Chicago
My interviewer had read my entire application, and was very prepared to ask some targeted questions. I knew that ahead of time thanks to the Clear Admit LBS interview guide, so thankfully I was prepared. The interview hit all of the main talking points (Why MBA/LBS/Me/Now etc). Once we built a rapport, the conversation was very enjoyable. I got the sense that they want to know if the applicant would be likeable as a classmate. They have your stats for the intelligence portion. The interview seems to round out the behavioral side of things. Be ready to state the case, Read more
Published: December 17, 2013
Stanford GSB MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-Campus
I arrived on campus a half an hour before my interview begin. It was part of a full day of interviews, organized by the department of admissions, and lasted about 30 minutes. Hope these questions help you for your interview. 1.Can you explain what you do in your daily work? 2.What would your co-workers say is your leadership style? 3. How do you show leadership at work? 4. Mention a project where you have been a leader? 5.How do you work with people from different cultures? 6. What do your co-workers say is your Read more
Published: December 17, 2013
Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: R1 / Alumnus / Off-Campus
After Kellogg mailed me the contact details for my interviewer, I wrote her an email asking for a convenient time during the coming two weeks. She replied with a range of dates and suggested Starbucks as the meeting place! I mailed her a copy of my resume and took some copies to the interview. She mailed me saying that she would be in casual clothes and I should feel comfortable being in casual clothes too! That email just took all my anxiety away and I felt excited to meet her! I still showed up in formal clothing and we joked Read more
Published: December 17, 2013
UCLA / Anderson MBA Admissions Interview Questions: R1 / Adcom / On-Campus
My interview was conducted by an adcom member on a Saturday. I arrived about an hour early and roamed around the campus a bit. On entering the admissions office, I was asked to sit in the adjoining conference room. There were about 6 other candidates there waiting to be interviewed. Everyone looked pretty nervous and we casually chatted about everyone’s backgrounds. The admissions committee members periodically came in the room and called out their assigned candidate. My interviewer was very friendly and made the atmosphere very casual. She told me she had only been through my resume and would be Read more
Published: December 16, 2013
Cornell / Johnson MBA Admissions Interview Questions: R1 / Adcom / On-Campus
I arrived on campus a couple of hours before my interview to meet with a current student who I had met during my school visit. I would highly recommend going to the campus early. It helps you relax and the energy in the Atrium gears you up to do your best (All I was thinking was- I sooo want to come here next year!) My interview was conducted by a member of the ad-com and the atmosphere was very friendly. She told me that she only had my resume and notes from the member who had reviewed my application. She Read more
Published: December 16, 2013
Duke / Fuqua MBA Admissions Interview Questions: ED / Alumnus / Off-Campus
I had to fly to another city, so the usual – the flight was late, made it to the interviewers office just in time. Realized I forgot to get a copy of my resume. Unfortunately the interviewer also forgot to get it, so he had to go back to his office to grab the resume. Started off with casual small talk about my city (which is the party capital of the country) spoke a bit about the nightlife, restaurants, etc. 1) Tell me about your Company. Some specific Company related questions … then even more specific questions. 2) Tell me about Read more

MBA Livewire

November 15, 2024 4:36pm ET
Accepted to NYU Stern
Round: Round 1
Received via phone November 15, 2024
GPA: 3.5
GMAT: 760
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Finance
Application Location: United States
November 15, 2024 3:55pm ET
Interview Invite to UVA / Darden
Round: Round 1
Received via email on October 27, 2024
GPA: 3.01
GRE: 319
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Other
Application Location: New York City
November 15, 2024 3:38pm ET
Accepted to Toronto / Rotman
Round: Round 1
Received via email November 15, 2024
GPA: 3.6
GRE: 331
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Marketing
Application Location: Nigeria
November 15, 2024 2:27pm ET
Rejected at Columbia
Round: Round 1
Received via portal November 15, 2024
GPA: 7.6/10
GMAT: 695
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Non Profit / Social Impact
Application Location: India
Note:

Did anyone else also receive the following in their decision letter?

Thank you for your application to Columbia Business School. Unfortunately, the Admissions Committee is unable to offer you a place in the August-entering MBA Class of 2027.

Please know that we did not reach this decision easily as we were impressed by your professional accomplishments, academic success, and personal attributes. Indeed, your profile and stated career goals may be a good fit for our January-entering MBA program (J-Term).

The J-Term, which has the same core curriculum and elective offerings as the August-entry MBA, allows students who do not need a summer internship to achieve their career goals to earn their degree in only 16 months. It’s ideal for students who wish to remain in the same industry after graduation or pursue entrepreneurial interests.

Although there is no guarantee of admission, we encourage you to learn more about the J-Term. If interested, contact us at [email protected] and we will connect you with an admissions officer.
November 15, 2024 2:20pm ET
Waitlisted at Columbia
Round: Round 1
Received via email November 15, 2024
GPA: 8.5/10
GRE: 317
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Finance
Application Location: México
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