I interviewed on campus in January for Round 1. This was my first time inside the Kaufman Center, which is an attractive building. I took a tour later in the day of my interview and thought it could have been better. The student leading the tour was quite knowledgeable and well-spoken, but verbose. The tour needed less “student” and more “tour.” The tour group visited several floors but we often found ourselves standing outside of the elevators–I feel like we could have been shown more of the facilities.
Back to the interview itself:
An admissions committee member greeted me on time and made small talk as we walked back to her office. Stern is not a blind interview, and it was my first interview where the interviewer had read my application. Even so, I didn’t do much extra preparation (just know your essays and application well). While the interview wasn’t blind, I was still asked the standard set of questions plus a few others (but even these weren’t tailored to my file). I noticed that the Stern interviewer asked me more follow-up questions than interviewers at other schools. Her questions included:
- Why MBA?
- Why Stern instead of other leading programs?
- Why now?
- What would you contribute to the program?
- Describe some firms you are interested in working at (NY-based)?
- What are you going to do to get hired?
- At graduation how would you want your classmates to remember you?
I was quick to answer most questions. The only one that caught me slightly off-guard was the one about how I would work to find a job. I also made sure to prepare several things that differentiated Stern from competing schools (such as things Stern has that Columbia doesn’t).
I know that Stern admits a higher percentage of interviewed applicants than other schools, but my sense is that this percentage is a little lower this year (waitlist seems to be heavy). Nonetheless, I was offered admission within 2 weeks after my interview. While I believe Stern is an interesting program, I plan to attend another school.
