Interviews
Michigan / Ross MBA Interview Report: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-campus
The following Michigan / Ross MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 2 applicant who was admitted. Congratulations to them! This interview made me understand what a conversational interview really means! And I also realized it is very important to have all points ready in your mind! The alumnus had been interviewing since 12 years, and it really showed through in the interview! He was a pro – and it was my most fast-paced and thorough interview experience compared to my 3 other interviews. my alumnus-interviewer was already seated in a corner of the cafe in the hotel. I
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UCLA Anderson Interview Report: Round 2 / Second-year Student / Skype
The following UCLA Anderson interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 2 applicant who was admitted. Congratulations to them! My MBA2 interviewer described the interview timeline to me – about 30 minutes for him to ask me questions and 5 minutes at the end for me to ask him questions. Walk me through your résumé. I gave an overview of my work at the companies I’ve worked at and my non-profit experience I can read what you’ve written, but give me some more flavor of your work at X (my 1st company). Described work responsibility, impact, and initiatives I drove.
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Northwestern / Kellogg Interview Report: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-campus
The following Northwestern / Kellogg interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 2 applicant. Good luck to them! I got my interview invite around Jan 25 and I scheduled it for the furthest possible date…14 days after the invite. I drove to my alumnus interviewer’s startup within my city and reached there 45 mins before time in the afternoon. It was pretty hot in my vehicle especially in business formals so I thought I’ll go up to his company and sit at the reception for 45 mins instead of sitting in my vehicle. Well, we instead started my
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USC Marshall MBA Interview Report: Round 3 / Adcom / Skype
The following USC Marshall MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 3 applicant. Good luck to them! I was invited to interview after being placed on the waitlist originally at the decision nofitication date. I submitted supplementary application materials and was contacted about 10 days later. I am not sure if this means they are still having movement from the waitlist. It was a straight forward interview application based but mostly just judging on experiences and your view of the MBA. Asked you the standard MBA questions you will come to expect (why mba, why now, why here? )
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Harvard Business School Interview Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Off-campus
The following Harvard Business School interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 2 applicant. Good luck to them! This interview was different from what I had previously done in that it was 2 people interviewing me, both whom where members of the admission committee. One had read all application materials vs. other had only seen my CV. Started with questions about professional experiences in different sectors? Why the change from one to the other? Did you want to remain in the same sector post-MBA or are you looking to switch again? Why are you looking to switch again?
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INSEAD Interview Report: Round 3 / Alumni / Off-Campus
The following INSEAD interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 3 applicant. Good luck to them! Interview took place in a coffee shop and my interviewer came dressed in a suit and tie. I luckily had erred on the side of caution and had worn a suit as well. This is one of my final interviews and I was very relaxed and felt that the interview was very conversational and not so formal as I thought it might be, especially since it was with alumni (but I guess this can vary depending on the person who is interviewing you). The alumni
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USC Marshall MBA Interview Report: Round 3 / Adcom / Skype
The following USC / Marshall MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 3 applicant. Good luck to them! Pretty straight forward interview which I was invited to after being waitlisted without interview. Was a skype interview with member of adcom and was blind interview (only had seen my résumé). Standard questions: • Why MBA? Why now? Why Marshall? • Short / Long Term goals • Team-work experiences / anecdotes • How would your peers/colleagues describe you? • Examples of leadership in the workplace Gave me about 5-10 minutes to ask any questions/follow-ups
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IESE Interview Report: Round 4 / Adcom / Skype
The following IESE interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 3 applicant. Good luck to them! Very informal interview, probably the most comfortable of all the interviews I have done. Started off with some small talk and background on my interviewer and then switched over to my experiences and extra-curriculars. • Asked the standard why mba? why now? why european mba vs. USA? • Professional experiences and career goals (short/long term) and how the european mba plays into that? • Leadership examples / problematic experiences in the workplace • Family background questions / family dynamics
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INSEAD Interview Report: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-campus
The following INSEAD interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 2 applicant. Good luck to them! First interview was with an ex-BCG consultant who graduated from INSEAD 20+ years ago. The interview took place at a local coffee shop near his office. Although he showed up in suits but the entire interview was very relaxed, and felt more like a conversation. The entire interview lasted about 90 minutes. Some of the questions that I could recall: What do you think about online market research? What role does (my ex-company) play when there’s already so many free online
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NYU Stern Interview Report: Round 3 / Adcom / On-campus
The following NYU / Stern MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 3 applicant who was admitted. Congratulations to them! Prior to the interview I was told that Stern’s interview style was very much a two-way street between interviewer and interviewee. In other words it was very conversational. Luckily I still did my homework as this was not at all my experience. Although the admissions counselor was gracious and polite her questions were formal and pointed and were certainly not conversational. Some questions I was asked: What is a typical workday right now at my
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Duke / Fuqua Interview Report: Round 3 / Skype / Adcom
The following Duke / Fuqua interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 3 applicant who was admitted. Congratulations to them! I submitted my application on the day of my deadline, May 4th, for the class of 2017. I’m not sure if that was the reason I was interviewed by the Admission Officer director, but I’m glad I did. The interview was very conversational and relaxed, but it was clear that he had a set of questions to ask me. Also, I was interviewed by video skype and it was very conforting seeing his face during the conversation. Here you
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Babson Olin MBA Interview Report: Round 3 / Second-year Student / Skype
The following Babson Olin MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 3 applicant. Good luck to them! I interviewed with a current student. It was approximately a 40-minute interview with all standard questions. No curveballs. It was a blind-interview as he had only seen my résumé (said to use examples from application if desired) – Walk my through your résumé. – Why MBA? Why Babson? Why now? – Position desired after MBA and how you intend to obtain it – Biggest failure? Greatest achievement? – What would you bring to the cohort?
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Indiana / Kelley MBA Interview Report: Round 3 / Second-year Student / Skpe
The following Indiana / Kelley MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 3 applicant. Good luck to them! The interview was pretty straightforward interview with a current second year student. Typical questions that started with walking through résumé and explaining decisions on switching from job to job. Asked about leadership experiences and working in different cultures / businesses. Then: why MBA and why Kelley? What drew me to Indiana as a state / community. Asked about my short term goals and how the MBA would help in achieving them and finally closed with a question I had
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Michigan / Ross MBA Interview Report: Round 3 / Second-year Student / On-Campus
The following Michigan / Ross MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 3 applicant. Good luck to them! I attended the Round 3 Interview Day at Ross. There is only one on-campus interview day for Round 3, and there were about 45 people there. A week before the interview, Ross will invite you to a GroupMe Group to get in touch with other interviewees. We used the group to plan out rideshares from the airport and also schedule a dinner for the night before the interview. This was really awesome, and just emphasizes Ross’s collaborative culture. Warning
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CMU / Tepper Interview Report: Round 2 / Adcom / On-Campus
The following CMU / Tepper interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 2 applicant. Good luck to them! I was invited to Tepper’s Women’s weekend, which was held on campus. There were about 50 women there, and there was a day of events geared towards showing women why Tepper is a good place to pursue an MBA. It was an exhausting day, with a lot of sessions including a mock class, a presentation by career services, etc. I interviewed first thing in the morning, but the interviews ran all day. The interview went okay, but it did seem a
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Published: April 30, 2016
UPenn / Wharton Interview Report: Round 1 / Adcom / Off-Campus Hub
The following UPenn / Wharton interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant was who admitted. Congratulations to them! The atmosphere was competitive yet friendly. Since no one knows what to expect in the team-based dynamic (TBD), it is a good idea to arrive early in order to know the people in your group. The TBD went smoothly, there are no questions asked at this point; only instructions given at the beginning …and then a lot of note-taking from the interviewer. In the one-on-one interview, the questions are really tailored to one’s experience at the TBD, including topics such
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Published: April 29, 2016
Yale SOM Interview Report: Round 1 / Second-year student / On-Campus
The following Yale SOM interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming. The school had a full day of activities planned out for us prospective students. At the same time, people were nervous, asking about how the interview went for you (if you went before them), etc. I personally chose to have my interview at the beginning of the day. Pros: don’t feel stressed throughout the day and the activities, can enjoy the activities to the fullest without your mind wandering towards thoughts about the interview, it feels good to be able
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Published: April 28, 2016
UVA / Darden MBA Interview Report: Round 2 / Second-year Student / On-campus
The following UVA / Darden MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 2 applicant who was admitted. Congratulations to them! Thank you Clear Admit for these wonderful interview reports! I completed an interview with Darden for the second round, and it was EXACTLY what I expected based on previous interview reports. Most other interviews that I did were more question and answer, question and answer, question and answer. Darden was different in that the interviewer, in my case a second-year student, laid the ground rules, but basically said, “Tell me your story.” I actually rolled through the typical
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Published: April 27, 2016
Cornell / Johnson MBA Interview Report: Round 3 / Second-year Student / On-Campus
The following Cornell / Johnson MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 3 applicant. Good luck to them! I was invited to attend the Johnson LEAD Event, which was a two-day leadership and team-building event/interview. It was an excellent opportunity to meet my potential future classmates, engage with current students and faculty, and talk with administration about opportunities at Johnson. By the end of the second day, I had my interview with a second-year student. The interview was predictable and short, but I was prepared with multiple questions (many of which I had developed from prior conversations with students
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Published: April 26, 2016
Cornell / Johnson MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Second-year Student/ On-Campus
The following Cornell / Johnson MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant. So, I applied with Johnson at Cornell for the first round, but I took the interview during the second round. Interestingly enough, I missed the first round interview scheduling deadline, and I was able to reschedule for the second round deadline. It seemed like as if it were rolling. Since I was looking at the Park Fellowship, I was required to complete the LEAD event on campus. This included days worth of events including an interview. I went ahead with the interview, and it was a
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Published: April 26, 2016
Cornell / Johnson MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Second-year student / On-campus
The following Cornell / Johnson MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant. I interviewed Round 1 with a current second-year student on campus. The interview was very conversational and it seemed the interviewer had looked over my résumé prior to meeting with me. He had a print out of my résumé and took diligent notes during the interview. He was friendly and seemed very interested in learning about me. Walk me through your résumé Why do you want to get your MBA? Why Cornell Why is now the time for your MBA?
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Published: April 18, 2016
INSEAD Interview Report: Round 1 / Alumni / Off-Campus
The following INSEAD interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant. Good luck to them! I’m a R1 candidate for the Jan 2017 intake and I interviewed with a relatively recent alum who works in finance in London. INSEAD assigns interview candidates with 2 alumni in your city, and it’s up to you to schedule them yourself. I was asked to send both my CV and the majority of my application (up to the job description essays) to the alumni. We met in a conference room at his office. He had printed out my application and CV, and seemed
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Published: April 17, 2016
HBS Admissions Director Shares Updates on Round 3 Interview Invitations
It’s not often that Harvard Business School (HBS) Managing Director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid Dee Leopold misses a deadline, but her most recent Direct from the Director blog post started like this: “So sorry for being later than promised on this!” (Looking back, it does appear that she’d hoped to have updates available a week earlier, but we’ll cut her some slack since it’s the last round of her last season as adcom director!) Here’s what she had to say in her April 13th post: “On April 20th (at 12:00 noon Boston time) we will
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Published: April 14, 2016
Vanderbilt / Owen MBA Interview Report: Round 2 / Adcom / On-Campus
The following Vanderbilt / Owen MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 2 applicant who was admitted. Congratulations to them! I interviewed with the director of admissions at Vanderbilt and it was a fantastic experience. Questions asked were some of the usual: Walk through résumé. Why MBA? Goals? Why Owen? How will you contribute to the community? Target companies? After the interview, I was able to ask several questions about the program and received incredibly useful replies. I would encourage people to ask about the program’s intangibles. We can all find out (through
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NYU Stern Interview Report: Round 3 / Adcom / On campus
The following NYU / Stern MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 3 applicant. Good luck to them! Total interview time: 30 minutes Questions: Tell me about your move to New York. Why do you like New York? Walk me through your résumé. How would your co-workers describe you? Why do you want an MBA? Post grad goals? Three companies you want to work for? What do you do for fun? It was the most basic, ridiculously shallow interview. I felt like I did not have the
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