Interviews
Published: December 17, 2015
MIT Sloan MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Adcom / On-Campus
The following MIT Sloan MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant. I interviewed at 6 schools, and this was my most stressful experience. Most of my friends had a similar experience in that they left not knowing how it went. I personally left thinking it didn’t go too great. I felt the least confident in this interview due to the nature of it and the personality of the admissions officer. Once I finally located the interview room after some tense minutes in the rain, I waited my turn with other applicants. I was impressed with
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Published: December 17, 2015
Michigan / Ross MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Second-year student / On-Campus
The following Michigan / Ross MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant who was admitted. Congratulations to them! The interview day overall was a very pleasant experience. After a brief welcome session, we were broken up into two groups. I was to interview in the first group and was taken into another building where I met my interviewer, a second-year student. He was friendly and spent most of the time asking me questions and jotting down my responses. The questions asked were as follows: -Why MBA? -Résumé walk through
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Published: December 17, 2015
Kellogg MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Alum / Off-Campus
The following Northwestern / Kellogg MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant. Very straightforward behavioral interview with challenging interviewer who was persistent with follow-ups and feedback. He was honest and conscientious. The most off-putting element of the interview was the fact that he was willing to provide feedback on answers immediately after they were given, thus creating a more tense feeling. Questions focused on growth-centric element of Kellogg and how this applied to my experiences and aspirations. Compared to other interviews I’ve had, Kellogg focused more on future expected outcomes rather than past performance.
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Published: December 17, 2015
Michigan / Ross MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Second-year Student / On-Campus
The following Michigan / Ross MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant. By far the most laid-back interview setting I experienced in Round 1. This interview took place in a student meeting, and felt like we were collaborating on a group project. Interviewer was not intimidating in any way, and seemed to take a personal interest in my living situation and individual goals. Prior to the interview, Ross puts on a very comprehensive pre-interview presentation on the day of the event. Admissions Director Soo-Jin Kwon is present for the event and comes around to network
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Published: December 16, 2015
MIT Sloan MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Adcom / On-Campus
The following MIT Sloan MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant. Questions: How long have you been at [current company]? Talk to me about the transition from [previous company] to [current company]. How is your role different or similar between the two? What do you enjoy most about your job at [current company]? What is most difficult about working at [current company]? Tell me about a time that you had to bring a team on-board with your decision. Tell me about a time that you had
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Published: December 15, 2015
MIT Sloan MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Adcom / On-Campus
The following MIT Sloan MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant who was admitted. Congratulations to them! My interview lasted about 45 minutes and the interviewer was extremely nice. I was expecting more behavioral questions but she ended up asking me a lot about my work. I was also told that interviewers will ask probing questions regarding my résumé/essays and also ask follow-up questions about my interview responses, but that wasn’t the case. I didn’t get any questions about my résumé or essay, and the interviewer had written down a list of questions beforehand in a
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Published: December 15, 2015
UVA / Darden MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Second-year Student / On-Campus
The following UVA / Darden MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant who was admitted. Congratulations to them! I arrived and waited in the lobby of admissions, networking with other interview candidates. There were about 20 of us. All of the interviewers (both adcom and 2nd years) came out and found their candidates to take to a private interview room. The interview was as expected from previous accounts. The interviewer explained the format for the first 5 minutes. Then gave me 25 minutes to tell my story. It ended with 10 minutes of Q&A about the
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Published: December 14, 2015
UPenn / Wharton MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Second-year student / On Campus
The following UPenn / Wharton MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant. Good luck to them! I showed up about 30 mins early. This paid dividends because I was able to meet several individuals before entering the TBD. Fortunately, I actually had a mini-conversation with each person in my group prior to the TBD, which facilitated a more comfortable flow for the discussion. My strategy going into the TBD was to volunteer to be timer; however, someone else chose that so I volunteered to hold the group accountable throughout the conversation to ensure our plan
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Published: December 14, 2015
MIT Sloan MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Adcom / On-Campus
The following MIT Sloan MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant. Good luck to them! My interview was with an admissions officer. While it was a bit less conversational than interviews with students, it was still fairly casual and they were very friendly. I was asked: 1) What’s new since your application? 2) Why MBA? 3) Why Sloan? 4) Talk about a time a coworker’s work wasn’t up to standard and how you handled it. 5) Talk about a time when morale was low and how you
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Published: December 14, 2015
UPenn / Wharton MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Second-year student / On-Campus
The following UPenn / Wharton MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant. Good luck to them! Everyone was hanging out in the waiting room when a couple of second-year students came out and called a few names including mine for our discussion group. Everyone in the waiting room was introducing each other and making small talk so I actually had a little rapport with some of the people in my group already, which I found really helpful. We went into a small room and all six of us interviewees sat around a table with the
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Published: December 14, 2015
UPenn / Wharton MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Second-year student / On-Campus
The following UPenn / Wharton MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant. Good luck to them! The TBD was punctual and to the point. No time was wasted as we all started with introductions that included your pitch for the expo/conference to hold at Wharton, right after the committee introduced themselves (2 second-year students). Everyone’s pitch took about an average of 50 seconds so we had enough time to discuss, come to a conclusion, and present to the committee with everyone contributing all within the allotted time. Our team tried to mesh a
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Published: December 14, 2015
MIT Sloan MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Adcom / On campus
The following MIT Sloan MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant. Good luck to them! The Sloan admissions office was bustling on the day I interviewed, with multiple students interviewing in each 30-minute time slot. I met with an adcom who seemed relatively new to Sloan but used to do consulting recruiting. Unlike many interviews, this one was NOT focused on 1) why I wanted an MBA, 2) why I wanted to get into Sloan, or 3) what I intended to do with my MBA. Rather, this seemed like someone walked into a
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Published: December 13, 2015
Duke / Fuqua MBA Interview Report: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-Campus
The following Duke / Fuqua MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant. This Interview Archive has been a really helpful resource, so in the spirit of Team Fuqua… Note: I’m American living overseas. The alumnus is a national of the country. We met in a café. She only had my résumé, which she had received prior to the interview. The interview was conversational, rather than strict Q&A, so one question flowed to the next in general categories. Sometimes a lot of time passed in discussion without a question being asked. Overall it was very friendly.
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Published: December 12, 2015
London Business School MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Alumnus / Off-campus
The following London Business School MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant who was admitted. Congratulations to them! If you are reading this report as you prepare for your LBS interview, firstly – congratulate yourself for making it this far – you deserve a pat on the back! Making it this far is no easy feat, and you should take a moment to reflect on your accomplishment. Now channel this positive energy & confidence into the next steps, i.e. cracking your interview. I won’t deny, I was definitely nervous going into my interview –
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Published: December 9, 2015
Harvard MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Adcom / On-campus
The following Harvard MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant who was admitted. Congratulations to them! I am an international student and I chose to go to Campus for the interview. It lasted exactly 30 minutes, all the questions were about my CV and about projects mentioned by my recommenders and there were no surprise/tricky questions that could through me off-base. There was a student taking notes but all of the questions were made by an Adcom. Some of teh questions were: -What did you like about the College you attended? -Why
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Published: December 9, 2015
Harvard MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Adcom / On-campus
The following Harvard MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant. The admissions officer was very nice and welcoming. We spoke about my résumé in detail. There were a lot of “Why’s” to understand the decisions I made in my career. She also probed on the outcome of various projects I’ve worked on and seminars I’ve led to understand the impact I’ve had on my organizations. The interview went by surprisingly quickly. We went through about 13 questions in 30 minutes allowing about 2 minutes per question. Overall, extremely positive experience interviewing on campus. Preparing for
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Published: December 9, 2015
Dartmouth / Tuck MBA Interview Report: Early Round / Second-year Student / On-Campus
The following Dartmouth / Tuck MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by an Early Round applicant. For everyone who tells you that the interview is conversational, don’t listen to that advice. My interviewer was super focused and pretty much asked me every question that you can think off. I think she had a long list of questions that she wanted to go through. Here are the questions: Why MBA? Why Tuck? Greatest accomplishment? Where do you want to work after MBA? Give examples of leadership.
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Published: December 9, 2015
Harvard MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Adcom / On-Campus
The following Harvard MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant. Interview was very straightforward. I was prepared for an intense interview, but the two admissions officers couldn’t have been friendlier. Conversation was amicable and easy from the start, and we largely just went through my résumé. There were a few tangential questions – how I work in a team, my favorite project, etc., but nothing off the beaten path. Everyone in the waiting area and on tours/classes was beyond friendly and helpful. Conversation extended beyond the allotted interview time while being walked out
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Published: December 9, 2015
U. Chicago Booth MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Second-year Student / On-Campus
The following U. Chicago Booth MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant who was admitted. Congratulations to them! The atmosphere was very casual. They have first year students in the waiting room casually chatting you up so I didn’t really have a chance to sit there and make myself nervous. I thought that was a really nice touch. From there, my interviewer came out and called my name and introduced himself with a big smile which instantly put me at ease. He asked me to tell him my story, which I
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Published: December 9, 2015
Yale MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Adcom / On-Campus
The following Yale MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant who was accepted. The interview was super conversational. Most of the time the interviewer was explaining about the school and how/why its distinctive. Very basic questions: – Walk me through your résumé – Explain your current role – Why MBA? – Why Yale? – One final long question about how I have adapted to different culture, workplace or environment? Like what I did, how did you solve problems, etc. They are looking for
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Published: December 9, 2015
Stanford MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Alumna / Off-campus
The following Stanford MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant who was accepted. I interviewed with an alumna at a local coffee shop. I had emailed her my résumé, as requested by Stanford GSB and she brought a printed copy which she had clearly reviewed ahead of time. She began with the why triad (Why MBA? Why now? Why Stanford?), then shifted gears to behavioral questions drawn from a printed list. From what I recall, the questions were as follows: – Tell me about your career path. – Tell me
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Published: December 8, 2015
U. Chicago Booth MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Second-year student / On-Campus
The following U. Chicago Booth MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant. Good luck to them! Booth focuses on making the interview experience comfortable. They brought in greeters (1st year students) to the waiting room on the half hour and interviewed on the hour. The data point was from a second year student and the objective seemed to be to gain a ‘do you like this person / do they fit with Booth’ decision for the interviewer. Interviewer had a copy of my résumé, but didn’t have knowledge of my application
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Published: December 8, 2015
U. Chicago Booth MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Second-year Student / On-campus
The following U. Chicago Booth MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant. Good luck to them! I met the interviewer in the admissions office after having lunch with another student. He was very friendly. We walked through my résumé, and he followed up with behavioral questions: tell me about a time when you had to deal with a coworker you disagreed with kind of stuff. He asked me why I was interested in Booth in particular and asked about what clubs/classes I was particularly interested in. He was definitely looking to see if
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Published: December 8, 2015
Harvard MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Adcom / On-campus
The following Harvard MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant. HBS has a full day of interview activities in Boston, which I highly recommend taking advantage of. They helped me really understand the core of the HBS experience, which helped me in the interview. The interview was focused on my experiences. We walked through my résumé, focusing on transition points. Why did you choose your university? How did that experience lead you to your job? What about what you’re doing now makes you want to go to
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Published: December 7, 2015
Stanford MBA Interview Report: Round 1 / Alumna / Off-campus
The following Stanford MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant who was accepted. Congratulations to them! My interview was scheduled for 4:15pm on a Friday – this was a bad choice (duh!). My interviewer came in 10 minutes late and had to leave precisely on time, so what I thought would be a 45-75 min interview was only 35 minutes. The interviewer also seemed tired and disengaged. My advice: schedule something Tuesday or Wednesday morning. I had also prepped too much for this interview — two mock interviews, read every anecdote online that
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