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Published: December 16, 2013
Harvard MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / Off-Campus Hub
The atmosphere was very neutral, a kind of perfect façade of pleasant interest that gives you little or no clue as to how you are doing, in terms of whether your answers are genius or utter rubbish. I was interviewed by one interviewer, who had a copy of my CV with her and took copious notes during the interview. She mentioned that she was familiar with my file and that I should use examples that were not already in my application. To start with, there was a bit of light conversation about whether I had found it hard to get Read more
Published: December 9, 2013
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / Off-Campus Hub
I arrived 15 minutes before the scheduled time and had a chat with other participants of the group discussions. We were 5 in total, all males. Then, we were invited to another room by the adcom representative. After we took our seats she gave a guideline on the discussion format. She took notes and kept time. Each one of the participants made a brief introduction of his idea. Next, we selected one common idea and elaborated on it. Quite quickly we came up with a constructive idea and added some solid layer of details. Then, one of the guys made Read more
Published: December 9, 2013
Chicago Booth MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alumnus / Off-campus
I had the interview in a coffee shop near the area where alumnus lives. The atmosphere was very relaxed and casual. The alumnus had graduated this year and had up to date knowledge about the school curriculum and activities. The interview started from the typical “walk me through your resume” questions. (I sent him my resume two days before the interview). Then, he asked me to elaborate on some of the experiences that I described. The next parts were “why do you need Booth” and “why Booth needs you”. He also asked to describe in detail my short- and long-term goals. Read more
Published: December 9, 2013
Chicago Booth MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Second-year student / On-campus
My interview was on-campus with a second-year student (Admissions Fellow). It was 45 minutes long and blind, although the interviewer had reviewed my resume and made a few notes beforehand. The questions were pretty consistent with what other applicants have reported on this and other sites: 1) Why did you choose your undergraduate major? 2) How did you decide to work in the field you’re working in (different from what I studied)? 3) What made you move from Role X to Y (when I changed jobs)? 4) What are your long-term career goals? 5) Why do Read more
Published: December 9, 2013
Georgetown / McDonough MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / Off-Campus
I met the assistant dean of admissions at the Hilton in midtown New York. Though the hotel was crowded, we had a quiet area. It was a blind interview, but she had my resume. She was prepared with a full sheet (front and back) of questions, and she wrote down almost everything I was saying. The interview took a full 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 Read more
Published: December 9, 2013
Duke / Fuqua MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / 2nd Year / On-Campus
It was a resume-based interview, with the interviewer having no exposure to the other portions of my application. In addition to my resume, the interviewer had a sheet of questions with spaces to write answers/notes, and continued to make reference to the need to follow the sheet (my experience was more conversational than most of the other interviewees reported during subsequent discussion) Thus, the questions asked were: -What is your story? -What do you want to do, and why do you need an MBA to do it? -Why does that MBA need to be from Fuqua? -What will you contribute Read more
Published: December 8, 2013
Oxford / Saïd MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Sector Consultant / Skype
I want to write about my interview experience as I have benefited from reading other people’s experience. I had my interview over Skype and it lasted 30 minutes, with a sector consultant specialised in finance. Questions were all expected though communicating over Skype and not being able to sense the interviewer’s body language made me more nervous and affected some of my answers. I had no idea how it went afterwards and eventually received an offer. Interview Questions （not in exact order) – Why MBA, why now and what I am looking to gain from MBA – Consideration on Read more
Published: December 8, 2013
MIT / Sloan MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / Off-Campus Hub
My interview was held in the offices of MIT alumni and I was allotted 45 mins. I was the second interview of the day out of a total of 12 on the schedule. My interviewer was friendly, but professional. While I felt like I connected with him during the interview and we had an easy conversation, I could not read him at all and have no idea what he thought about my answers. The probing follow-up questions made me feel like I wasn’t answering his original questions the right way. The questions asked were: – Any updates to your Read more
Published: December 3, 2013
INSEAD MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alumnus / Off-campus
INSEAD requires two interviews with alumni who live in your country of residence. I had to catch a short flight and managed to do both interviews in the same morning, last week. Here’s my report. The first interview was with a director of a large petrochemical company. The interview took place at his office and was quite informal. He was around 40, quite busy, but very open and friendly. English is not our first language, so we chatted a bit in Portuguese to break the ice and then we started the interview in English. He asked me to talk about Read more
Published: November 26, 2013
Tuck MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Second year student / On campus
The interview was held on campus, by a second year student and lasted about 45 minutes. The interviewer created a very friendly atmosphere and started by talking about her background and experiences. She basically listened and made a few remarks about life at Tuck. 1. Tell me about you (I added “why MBA” and “why now” at the end of my answer) 2. Why Tuck? 3. Tell me about your teamwork experience. 4. Tell me about a difficult situation you have been through and how you handled it. 5. What legacy would you like to Read more
Published: November 25, 2013
London Business School MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alumnus / Off-campus
Overall: • Length: 1 hour (exactly) with 10 mins for questions, around 4 mins to prep for presentation and 2-3 mins to present • Alum was very friendly and easy to talk to • Alum had a list of questions LBS provided and he highlighted the ones he wanted to ask me about (there were probably 4 pages of questions and he asked me about 10-15) Questions: • Tell me about your background • Can you explain what you do in your daily work? • What would your co-workers say is your leadership style? Read more
Published: November 25, 2013
Chicago Booth MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alumnus / Admissions event in Sao Paulo
The interview was held off-campus, in a company building owned by an alumnus, in Sao Paulo / Brazil. It was part of a full day of interviews organized by the department of admissions, and lasted about 50 minutes. My interviewer was an alumnus that graduated more than two years ago. He created a friendly atmosphere and conducted a very conversational interview. He began by providing me with some of his background and experiences. I was asked just a few basic questions, to which he added some comments and personal remarks. The questions asked were as follows: 1. Walk me me Read more
Published: November 21, 2013
Georgetown / McDonough MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1/ Adcom / Skype
Had interview with Associate Dean of MBA Admissions. Lasted 35 min + 10 min Q&A. Questions: Tell me a time when you persevered despite your better judgement. What are the 3 most important characteristics of a leader, and how have you demonstrated these qualities? Read more
Published: November 20, 2013
Stanford GSB MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alumnus / Off-campus
Alumnus asked me to meet him at a hotel bar. I was on time but he was 45 mins late. The overall interview was very conversational. He did not take any notes and even declined to have a hard-copy of my resumé. He said he had already taken a look at it, and that would be enough for him. This is how it went – He introduced himself – Resume walkthrough – He talked about his own experience – Why an MBA ? He insisted a lot on this question – I asked about Read more
Published: November 20, 2013
UCLA / Anderson MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Second-year student / Skype
The interview was very casual and straightforward. Since it is very short and the interviewer has quite a lot of required questions to ask, you don’t really get time to do small talk. The student had only access to my résumé, which he looked at to keep track of what I was saying. I appreciated the fact that he was very punctual and cheerful. The questions I got were: Walk me through your résumé (with some additional questions around specific points) Why do you want an MBA and why now? He insisted a lot on the “now” Read more
Published: November 20, 2013
Chicago Booth MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Second-year student / On-campus
The interview was held on campus. It was with a second year student and lasted for about 50 minutes. I was surprised by how friendly the interviewer was and this led to a very conversational interview. The interviewer began by providing me with some of his background and experiences. As it turned out, we shared a number of similar interests and the conversation developed from here. I was only asked four standard questions and got the impression the interviewer just wanted to get these out of the way so that we could continue with the conversation. The questions asked were Read more
Published: November 20, 2013
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Group Interview with Second-Year student / On-Campus
I got there early and waited in the waiting room with the other interviewees for my time slot. There were 18 of us, and one student came out at a time to lead six of us back to the interview room for the team-based discussion. I’m a military person, and in my group we had an aerospace engineer, a business development person for a construction company, two real estate investors, one consultant, and an accountant. The second-year students gave us 30 seconds to introduce ourselves, and then they read off the team-based discussion question (which we’d already been emailed, but Read more
Published: November 20, 2013
Harvard MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / On-Campus
The atmosphere as I checked in was very friendly. When I got to the room in the Student Center where they had us meet, the ladies who welcomed me were smiling and affable and gave me a packet of info about the school, visiting, a map, and a note from Dee Leopold. Since I got there so early, I sat down with a few other interviewees and we discussed our backgrounds. Ten minutes before the interview time, an adcom member led us upstairs to another waiting room. Then one by one, an adcom member came out, called our name, and Read more
Published: November 18, 2013
Ross MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alumnus / Off-campus
The interview was held in a coffee shop in the alumni’s area. It lasted about 60 minutes and was straight and to the point, without much introduction or simple chat in between. I hoped for a casual conversation but was informed beforehand by a friend that this interviewer is a bit tough. The normal questions appeared – Why MBA, why now, why Ross. I wasn’t asked explicitly for my career goals (ST and LT) but inserted on my own through the other answers. When my answers weren’t clear enough, he pressed harder (but the atmosphere was business-like and did not Read more
Published: November 14, 2013
London Business School MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alumnus / Off-campus
My interview was at the alumni’s office. The interview lasted about an hour and was very much a relaxed conversation more than a formal interview. The questions asked were along these lines: Tell me about your work experience so far Why am I doing an MBA Why did I apply to LBS What do I know about LBS What are my strengths He asked me about group experience and how I work in a team How do I deal with stress Explain a failure I’ve had and what it taught me Presentation Topic Read more
Published: November 12, 2013
Chicago Booth MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alum / On-campus
It was very conversational. The questions were: Walk me through your resume? What are your short- and long-term goals? Why MBA? Why Booth? Any failures? Extra-curriculars activities ? {This one was good.} Any questions for me? Overall, it lasted for 27 minutes. It was really good. Read more
Published: November 11, 2013
Tepper MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / On-campus
Interview was pretty informal. It was blind, but the adcom had a copy of my resume in front of her. Questions asked: -Walk me through resume -Specific question on one of my positions (position X) -Tell me more about global experiences during Position X -Do you have an example of working in a team/what type of leader question -Why did you move from Company X to Company Y -What did you learn moving from Company X to Company Y -Short term goals? -How are you qualified for short-term goals? -Why Tepper Read more
Published: November 10, 2013
Ross MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alumnus/ Off-campus
My interviewer was in a hurry from the time we started. He started by saying that he was looking for a 15-20 minute interview and it lasted for 20 minutes only. He wanted the answers to not last more than 1 -1.5 minutes. He asked the following questions: 1. Tell me about yourself (he wanted only top line and interrupted when I was getting into details. After that I just gave him a brief idea) 2. Why MBA 3. What do you want to gain from an MBA to get into consulting. 4. Why Ross Read more
Published: November 10, 2013
Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alumnus / Off-campus
I felt the interview went well, was a casual, friendly discussion. Alum admitted how Kellogg classes are made up of good people. Asked some of the following: Talk about your professional background / work history, with specific questions about the various experiences. Why you came to this country? (I’m not working in my home country) Why Kellogg (specifically)? Why a MBA, and can’t you do that without Kellogg? What’s your management style? Read more
Published: November 6, 2013
Columbia MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 (ED) / Alumnus / Off-campus
As other people have stated, spend some time to choose your interviewer. Also remember a recent graduate is not necessarily going be easier to interview with… senior alumni can make sometimes better interviewers as they have done hundreds of them and it will be just one more for them and are a lot more confident. Interview was exactly as described here by everyone else. We held the interview at his office in a meeting room. It started off as a normal job interview and slowly changed into a conversation. I also felt that he placed a lot of weight on 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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