Interviews
Published: December 8, 2019
Stanford GSB Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Alumnus / Off-Campus
It was a very laid-back interview, held in the office of the alumnus. Both my wife and I interviewed back-to-back. He asked me (with some follow-ups): – Walk me through your resume – How would you make a decision as to which school to attend? – Tell me about a time you found a problem and solved it – Tell me about a time you convinced other people to do something – Tell me about a time you led a team – How did you change someone because of your mentorship? – Tell
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Published: December 8, 2019
Columbia Business School Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Alum / Off-Campus
My interview was with an alumnus from the batch of 1972. The alumnus was now retired after a very illustrious career where he led business divisions for large conglomerates. I didn’t expect I’ll get a chance to interview with someone as senior, and so when the interview got scheduled I didn’t know what to expect. I reached out to people I knew in CBS and luckily I was able to get in touch with people who had interviewed with him last year. They instantly put me at ease, their experience had been very pleasant, where the interview genuinely wanted to
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Published: December 8, 2019
Cornell Johnson MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Adcom / Skype
I interviewed with Eddie, who was very friendly and definitely put me at ease right off the bat. He asked how I was doing etc etc before getting into the actual interview. Questions he asked me: – Take me through your resumé, specifically your post-undergraduate work history – I currently work with a family member, so he asked if there were specific professional challenges working with family – Long and short-term goals – Why Johnson? (I spoke about both faculty and extracurricular stuff I’m excited about and that aligns with my goals) – What is
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Published: December 8, 2019
Cornell Johnson MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Student / On-Campus
The interview was short and very friendly. The student prefaced it with the fact that he had some notes from my application and would ask based on those questions, but that really it should be a two way conversation. Questions included in approximately this order- 1. What have you thought of Johnson so far? (Since I was there in person) 2. Why an MBA? 3. Why now? 4. Why Johnson? 5. Tell me about a time you had a failure in a team? 6. Will you continue your entrepreneurial pursuit while in school (most interesting
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Published: December 8, 2019
USC Marshall Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Adcom / On-Campus
List of interview questions: Tell me about yourself. What is something I wouldn’t know about you from just reading your application? Why USC? Why LA? What do you hope to gain from the program? What do you hope to gain academically? What would you contribute to the student body? Why an MBA? Why now? What questions do you have? What else? Anything else? What more? What else are you curious about? What else can I help you uncover about the program? Did you receive your admissions decision? Yes. What did you think of the interview? Very casual.
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Published: December 5, 2019
Harvard Business School MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Adcom / On-Campus
Interview was quite structured. AdCom hosts interview days, where you’re encouraged to join coffee chats with current students, sit-in on a class, or join networking lunch. When it’s time to interview, interview is held in interview rooms (similar to on-campus recruiting suites if you had that for undergrad). Some of the questions asked: 1. What did you do this morning? 2. Tell me about your country 3. Explain the difference of your consulting firm versus industry, which do you prefer 4. Differences between the US and Other country for consulting 5. What is my motivation
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Published: December 5, 2019
Stanford GSB Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Alum / Off-Campus
Interview was held in interviewer’s office – very conversational, but interview was clearly prodding for specific things but not sure what. Interviewer had a copy of my resume beforehand. Main questions were (not in order) 1. Tell me about yourself 2. Tell me about a time you failed 3. Tell me about your biggest accomplishment 4. Why is X your passion 5. Why Stanford MBA 6. What was your favorite project in consulting 7. Tell me about a time where you had to convince a team of an unpopular opinion Interviewer then asked
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Published: December 5, 2019
Columbia Business School Interview Questions & Report: Early Decision / Alum / Off-Campus
Fairly straightforward. Interviewer was friendly, 10+ year alum, interview took place in the co-working space he uses. I had sent him my resume when I emailed to schedule the interview, and he had it printed (though I had also brought a copy with me). His main focus seemed to be understanding my story – where I was coming from, why MBA, and where I want to go – and seemed very structured in asking questions that would chronologically develop this narrative in his perspective. Other than that, he asked some questions about living abroad (I’ve lived in 6 countries) and
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Published: December 5, 2019
Georgetown / McDonough MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / First-Year Student / On-Campus
I applied to Georgetown McDonough Round 1 and was invited to interview on campus or remotely. I was able to make it to campus on the last day available in the portal, just before Thanksgiving. I had already done self-initiated interviews at two other schools and bombed the first one – I wasn’t prepared and very tired so I rambled and the scheduled 30-45 minute interview lasted well over an hour. So I made sure to be well-rested and focused for the McDonough interview. I was interviewed by a first-year student at the admissions office in the business school. I’m
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Published: December 4, 2019
Wharton MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Adcom / Off-Campus Hub
I had my interview in London, with a member of the Adcom and five other candidates from Europe/Africa/Asia/America. We all got together about half an hour before the interview and got to know ourselves, which gave the tbd a relaxed feel. The interview was blind as the interviewer hadn’t seen my application or resume. I was asked why I wanted an MBA and why Wharton. One on one felt informal, and the interviewer was very open and friendly. Interview experience was pleasant overall. Preparing for your UPenn Wharton MBA Admissions Interview? Check out Clear Admit’s other resources:
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Published: December 4, 2019
Kellogg / Northwestern MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Alum / Off-Campus
Interviewer was very warm and nice. Asked typical behavioral questions that you can find on Clear Admit/GMAT club, but drilled down on a couple questions such as: 1. (After explaining my analytical background briefly) Can you tell me about a project where you showed your analytical skills? 2. (After walking her through a time I have failed) How did you handle it? 3. (After walking her through a time I led a project) What do you think is the contributing factor to the your success ? 4. (After reviewing my resume) what is your role and
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Published: December 4, 2019
Cambridge / Judge MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Faculty / On-Campus
I opted for an on-campus R1 interview on October 21st ’19. The night preceding the interview, the adcoms threw this amazing dinner at Queens’ College’s Old Hall which was absolutely stunning. The dinner was not assessed (at least that’s what they said) but both adcoms and current students are there for you to ask questions about. Feel free to ask them anything, especially the students. The following morning, a cab picked us up from Westminster College (a free night stay courtesy of the adcoms for some of us) and drove us to the School. We were handed these goodie bags
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Published: December 4, 2019
Chicago Booth MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Alum / Off-Campus
My interview was with a very senior alumnus in India. It was a blind interview and he had no access to my application. However, we spoke at length about my future goals. Questions were largely behavioural in nature – 1. What are your biggest professional achievements and failures? 2. Tell me about a time you worked on a team 3. How did you cope with negative feedback 4. Short and long term goals 5. Why Booth 6. Why MBA? Why not just startup right now? 7. What are your expectations from Booth
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Published: December 4, 2019
London Business School Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Alum / Off-Campus
Interview was in Mumbai at the office of my alumnus. It was an application-based alumni interview. He knew my goals and background. LBS interviews are long in nature (~2 hours). The format was – 1 hour of standard questions, 30 mins of presentation on case study, 30 mins of general chit chat. Standard Qs were on the lines of – 1. Tell me about a time you worked on a team 2. What is your long term goal 3. Short term goal 4. Why LBS 5. Professional experiences (deep into these) 6. Passions and
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Published: December 4, 2019
Harvard Business School MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Adcom / On-Campus
I only had the AdCom member in my interview, and did not have an observer. Here are the questions they asked: 1) I see you were on campus in [month]. What class did you visit? What did you like about it? 2) You grew up in [Country]. Do you remember any of it? Keep in touch with any of your friends from there? 3) So that’s how you started [niche EC]. I can’t imagine that was a thing in [NewCountry]. Makes sense! 4) How did you like [UG university]? 5) Why did you pick it?
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Published: December 4, 2019
Wharton MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Student / On-Campus
The team based discussion was fairly straightforward: 1) Got email for interview 2) Signed up for interview 3) Received prompt for TBD 4) Went to TBD During the TBD, there were 2 second-year students in the room evaluating us. They read a very generic intro statement at the beginning, which was fairly formal and seemed to add to the tension in the room. From there, we had the standard 35 minutes to discuss the topic and get to a recommendation. Others in the TBD were fairly talkative, but clearly lots of nerves in the room. Regardless,
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Published: December 3, 2019
Published: December 3, 2019
UCLA Anderson MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Student / Skype
I had my Anderson interview over video with a second-year student. Overall, I’d say it was the most conversational of all the interviews I had which I really appreciated as I got to ask questions about his experience and his overall demeanor definitely calmed my nerves. No major curve balls or unexpected questions. The interviewer was super nice and was clearly really excited about Anderson. Questions – Walk me through your resume – Why MBA / why Anderson / why now (he pressed on the timing) – What clubs would I want to join and why
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Published: December 3, 2019
UC Berkeley Haas MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Alum / Off-Campus
Type: blind interview (interviewer only sees resume) List of required interview questions: 1. Walk me through your resume 2. Why an MBA? 3. Why Haas? How will Haas help you achieve your short/long-term goals? 4. Tell me about a time when you were on a team where others didn’t agree with you at the start of a project, but by the end you had changed their minds…or something along those lines (can’t remember the exact phrasing) 5. Diversity question…something along the lines of “How have you actively promoted diversity in the workplace?” (question asked
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Published: December 3, 2019
Michigan / Ross MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Alum / Off-Campus
The interview was conducted at a local Starbucks by an alum who had read my resume briefly. He started with tell me about yourself and I walked through all of my resume experience – after that there wasn’t much questioning related directly to the resume. He also took notes via computer which was unusual for an interview, but was able to type while still looking at me. Not a huge factor, but just something very different than I’d experienced. Other questions included – 1. Why an MBA? 2. Why now? (really pried on these first two) 3.
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Published: December 3, 2019
Kellogg / Northwestern MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Alum / Off-Campus
The interview was pretty straightforward and casual – we met at a coffee shop on a Sunday and she was an alum of the 1Y program, as that’s what I applied to. She had marked up my resume and had some forms to fill out from Kellogg. Questions included – 1. Why Kellogg? 2. Why an MBA? 3. Why now? 4. Pretty pointed questions about each of my jobs as listed on my resume and extreme detail on some bullets or stories I told (I’m assuming this was personal interest as they had a supply chain tilt
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Published: December 3, 2019
Wharton MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Student / On-Campus
Got to the admissions office early to socialize with other applicants. I was lucky enough that two applicants with whom I was talking to ended up in my team, so I had had time to get to know their names and personalities beforehand (we were all wearing name tags regardless). During the TBD, there were two people with the same main idea so we went with that. Not sure how we would’ve decided on an idea otherwise. Be prepared to answer some basic questions that may come up if your idea is chosen, it can be your time to shine
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Published: December 3, 2019
Wharton MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Students / On-Campus
The interview was fairly quick and went as explained online. I showed up about half an hour before the scheduled time and interacted with the other students who had also arrived in the admissions office. When the time came, we were called into a room as a group of 6 for the Team-Based Discussion which followed the pre-posted prompt. It lasted for thirty minutes with one student in each corner of a small conference room while the team had its discussion around the main table. Then, one of the students pulled each of us aside for a ten minute discussion
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Published: December 3, 2019
Stanford GSB MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Alum / Off-Campus
Interview was blind and conducted with an alumnus off campus. Stanford admissions was very flexible with scheduling; when I received my invite to interview, I was required to submit my current location and given a 10-14 day interview window. However, due to military training I had to put multiple locations by date. The admissions director linked me up with an alumnus (State President for Fortune 500 Company) that happened to be in my training location, but said not to worry too much about the 10 day window and that Stanford Admissions could also arrange a different alumnus or even a
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Published: December 3, 2019
UT Austin / McCombs MBA Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Alum / Off-Campus
This interview took place in central London with an alumnus who is working in an internet/new media company in a senior program manager role, she also let me know that this is the 3rd organization she is working for since passing out of McCombs. Before setting up an alumni interview, the interviewee is supposed to look up the possible interviewers in her location from the alumni interviewer register, which would be made available to the candidate once she scores an interview invite. Unfortunately, I found out that there are only 2 interviewers available for UK, and only one of
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