Haas invited me to interview off-campus in the Bay Area about three weeks before the decision deadline. While I was initially confused and concerned that my interview would be off-campus as opposed to Super Saturday, I learned from reading some online chats with Haas Admissions that Super Saturday is primarily for non-Bay Area residents and that an alumni interview was certainly no slight.
I met the alumnus at his office, and he escorted me to a conference room. The alumnus was very friendly and prepared to interview me that morning (e.g., my resume printed out with some notes on it). The interview is blind except for the resume.
The interview lasted an hour and was quite relaxed and enjoyable, albeit still professional. The main questions were:
- Why MBA?
- Short-term and long-term career plan (both goals and how I plan to go step-by-step toward those goals)
- What specifically I hope to gain from Haas (including what classes I was interested in taking)
- What specifically I can contribute to Haas
- Tell me about your job and what you do at the office
- Tell me about a time when you had a difficult interaction with someone at work
- Tell me about a time when you made an impact at work
- Questions for him
I was surprised by just how specific I was asked to be about the program, so it is essential that you have done thorough homework about Haas and know exactly how Haas fits into your career goals. That being said, the interviewer absolutely wanted me to succeed and did not try to grill or trick me. He wanted to make sure that I understood what Haas was all about and that I would be a good fit for the program.
The best way to prepare is to compile a list of all of the questions that have been listed in this wiki for Haas (and probably from other schools with alumni interviews, such as Stanford) and then go through all of the questions to compile answers or stories that you would give. Other than that know details about Haas that are compelling to you and be yourself.
