Originally shared in Jacek’s blog
Interviewed by Genevieve Slonim – NYC – May 10th via VC
First of all, if you have the means to interview in person, do not rely on VC, it is impersonal, and distant. My experience included the VC place giving me the wrong ISDN No., the call dropping every few minutes, the sound / video quality was awful, the room was dry, and as someone who does magically interviews the whole VC thing was an utter disaster.
Moving on, I was initially asked about my background. I plan to move to Europe upon matriculation of my MBA, and being 19 years in the States, she wanted to know how my native tongue was. I said I was fluent, but I doubt she bought it.
Then we went into one long question after another about my employment history. It was very meticulous, and thorough, and I was asked numerous questions on why exactly I had made that choice and not another.
Post work history I was asked …
- Why do I want an MBA?
- If accepted, how and what can I contribute to the class?
- Why do I want to head my career into nation development?
- Finally, she asked if this was the only choice of employment that I would consider, and expressed to tell me that IESE only has had one or two individuals land at places like the World Bank or the EBRD.
Then it was my turn to ask questions, I asked about the Exec. Development program started in Warsaw, where IESE was headed in the future, how it was dealing with current economic conditions in the EU, and the outlook for the future. If IESE was doing any research on Energy Policy on the continent, and whether classes were taught by any professors who were on advisory boards to governments. In the end we finished the interview by phone as the VC time on their end had run out, and she told me that they would get back to me within two weeks. In the end I was not accepted and will be attending ESADE instead. However, there are / were issues with IESE that, although a great school, made me somewhat apprehensive about it.
Also should you want – there is more info on my MBA Blog, and if you ahve any questions contact me a jgrebski @ gmail.com
