I interviewed in the beginning of January at a local coffee shop with an alum who had done quite a few business-school interviews for Duke. The conversation lasted an hour, was conversational but on-point with little chit-chat in between. The questions were standard and straight-forward, a mix between behavioral and personal; no trick questions or curveballs (such as: define success). The most important question for my interviewer was why Duke, specifically, as opposed to any other top school. I had read earlier that if you can answer this question successfully, it increases greatly your chances of getting in, b/c Duke is usually seen as a backup school to other top-tier schools despite being top ten in rankings. (Hence their early admission program.)
Questions were:
- Walk me through your resume.
- Why MBA? / Why Duke? Why Duke as opposed to the other schools you applied to?
- What are your career goals and how will Duke get you there?
- What can you contribute to Duke?
- Strengths and weaknesses (3 strenghs, 2 weaknesses)
- What would your colleagues say about you?
- Think about your favourite boss. What are some of the qualities you liked about him/her?
- Tell me about a time where you worked in a team but someone wasn’t pulling their weight.
- Tell me about a time where there was conflict in a team.
My interviewer mentioned that learning how to work in a team was the most important skill he’d learned at Duke. I’d suggest framing your responses about teamwork and emphasizing those skills, if applicable to you.
