Our archive of over 2,000 MBA admissions interview questions includes self-reported accounts from applicants. Please use the dropdown menu to view filter reports by school.
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Published: January 30, 2011
Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Adcom / Off campus
I met with the alum after work at her office. She was friendly and immediately gave me a heads up to relax and be informal. She had a few must ask questions but mentioned that at anytime if I felt I need to add or talk about some other aspects of my application that would be fine. My interview lasted 30-45 minutes. Tell me about yourself. Walk me through your resume and highlight your achievements. Why MBA and Goals? Why Kellogg? Impact on Kellogg? You have led a few teams, what is your leadership style? How did you creatively solve
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Published: January 30, 2011
Duke / Fuqua MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Off-Campus / Alum
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
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Published: January 29, 2011
Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alumni / Off-campus
10am interview. Alumunus showed up 15 minutes late, but apologized profusely. She was very nice and a similar background and went into depth explaining her pre-mba experience, her time at Kellogg, and what shes doing now. We then jumped into questions for me: Team experience in which you faced a challenge Why Kellogg? Why MBA? Give me your 2 minute elevator pitch What do you do for fun? Took 1 hour to finish.
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Published: January 28, 2011
Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Adcom / On campus
I visited Kellogg on Thursday: class visit, lunch with students, information session and building tour. Meeting with students the day before my interview helped a lot. My interview lasted exactly 30 minutes. Tell me about yourself Walk me through your resume and highlight your achievements Why MBA and Goals? Why Kellogg? Impact on Kellogg? What would your colleagues say about you? What kind of teammate is hard to work with? Give an instance. What is your leadership style? What do you do for fun? Anything else you want to add? Questions? We talked about football (commiserating about Bears and Patriots),
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Published: January 26, 2011
NYU / Stern MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / On-Campus
I interviewed on campus. The adcom is starting to get busy and I needed to wait a bit (about 15-20 minutes after my scheduled slot). My interviewer was extremely friendly and had a very positive vibe, which put me at ease. My questions were pretty straightforward (all were included on this page of questions, and I was well-prepared). Given that the interview is only 30 minutes or so, I highly recommend adding as many important details as possible into your responses without rambling. How did you choose your undergraduate school? – I was a little surprised they asked this, considering
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Published: January 26, 2011
USC / Marshall MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / On-Campus / Adcom
The interviewer was fully familiar with my essays and resume. He had very particular questions based on my essays and resume. The following are the questions. What I was doing currently ( I am unemployed currently). My work with an NGO – the nature of work, responsibilities, changes I saw etc.( Had mentioned in my resume) Leadership experience related to work( was in an essay )- The discussion included the biggest challenge, how to deal with colleagues who were not pulling their weight, results etc. Why MBA – Career Goals. Why Marshall. Why now? Then couple of questions pertaining specifically
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Published: January 25, 2011
Columbia MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Regular Decision / Alum / Off-Campus
I had an alumni interview in my city a couple weeks before the holiday weekend. It was located in a conference room where he works. He arrived a little late, but he was extremely nice which put me at ease and started talking about himself and his background. He didn’t print out a copy of my resume, so I gave him a copy I had. The questions he asked: So why don’t you walk me through your resume? Why business school, what are your goals? (A follow up on my goals on specific companies, job positions) Specifically why Columbia? (When
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Published: January 25, 2011
NYU / Stern MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / On-campus
I interviewed on campus. The interviews were well organized and ran on time. I showed up 15 minutes prior, and was asked to take a seat. My interviewer called me into her office and asked the following questions (there were 1 or 2 others that I can’t remember, but this was basically it): Tell me more about your interest in (specific activity I brought to light in my application) Tell me about your background? What are your goals? How does your current experience feed into your goals? What courses do you plan to take outside of your specialization? What would
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Published: January 25, 2011
Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Adcom / Telephonic
Well, I’m deployed to Afghanistan with the Marine Corps so I received an interview waiver. I was told to arrange a phone interview for the 20th on the 19th of January, but I didn’t see the e-mail until the 22nd because I don’t have ready access to my e-mails out here! But I called the office and they were very understanding of my circumstances and got me another interview the next day. Questions he asked: Tell me about your undergraduate experience Tell me about officer training Tell me about joining the Marines (your present unit) Tell me about what you
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Published: January 23, 2011
Chicago Booth MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-campus
I just had my off-campus interview with a recent alumnus. It took place at a local coffee shop and took a little more than an hour in all. It seems he was supposed to take roughly 30 for the interview and 15 minutes for answering my questions about the program but we had such a lively discussion about his experience in consulting and the many opportunities Latin America offers for MBA grads that we lost track of time. The interviewer was an extremely nice person. He gave me some great career advice, given that I’m looking to go into consulting,
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Published: January 23, 2011
Berkeley / Haas MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / Off-Campus
The interview was with someone who currently works at Haas and was on the east coast for a few days. He was friendly though in truth we didn’t have a lot in common. There weren’t any questions out of left-field. Here’s what I remember: Walk me briefly through your resume Tell me about a challenge you faced at work What about an interpersonal challenge? What are your short and long term goals? What would your current supervisor say is your greatest strength, and what would s/he say you need to improve? Tell me something about yourself that’s not on your
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Published: January 17, 2011
Columbia MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Alum / Off-Campus / RD
I had to email six of the nine alumni names provided by Columbia before one responded. However, after getting in touch I was able to schedule the interview just two days later. The interview was at the alum’s office and was very casual – really just a conversation about Columbia without some of the behavioral questions asked of others. Questions: Why Columbia? Why MBA? Walk me through your resume. Tell me about your career goals. Any questions for me?
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Published: January 16, 2011
Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alumn / Off-Campus
Interview in a Caffe Nero, nice interviewer, put me comfortable from the beginning. He said that the interview would last about 1 hour, it actually lasted 1h20. He started to explain to me his background before/after Kellogg and then handed over to me to present myself. Questions he asked: Go through my work experiences Why MBA / Career aspirations Why Kellogg Why not just keep working How I would contribute to Kellogg Other schools I applied to If accepted to two or more, how I would go about and make my decision How I have dealt with diversity in the
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Published: January 16, 2011
Stanford GSB MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alum / Off-Campus
I had a R1 admissions interview in November at an alumn’s office. These are some of the questions and issues we addressed in the interview: Take me through your resume. Then addressing how I made decisions to pursue different job opportunities, the biggest professional challenge I’ve faced and how I addressed it, and my biggest accomplishment Why MBA? Why Stanford? What is your leadership style? What would you do as a Plan B if your first choice for your career didn’t work out? The interview went smoothly, and the interviewer was friendly and complimentary. We had a great discussion about
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Published: January 11, 2011
Columbia MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Alum / Off-Campus / RD
Dates – Submitted 11/13/2010, Interview Invite 12/20/2010, Interview Date 1/6/2011, Report Completed 1/7/2011, Accepted 1/11/2011 I emailed out to all 9 of my alum choices and went with the one who responded first. He told me to schedule the meeting with his secretary for after the holidays as I was invited to interview around Xmas time. I met him at his office, was asked to wait a few min by his secretary. I know a lot of people experienced casual interviews, but mine was definitely on the more formal side. He was pleasant though. Questions: Tell me about yourself (resume
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Published: January 9, 2011
Harvard MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Off-campus (phone interview) / Adcom / Admitted
I had my interview on the phone. The lady was really nice. Right at the start of the interview, she told me that there will be no time for me to ask questions and that she would take exactly 30 minutes. She did. I didn’t get many of the standard questions that I had read on this site or on others but preparation was definitely the key – I didn’t hesitate to answer questions and overall felt well prepared. Harvard prefers to do all its interviews via adcom rather than alumni so be prepared for someone who has heard all
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Published: January 2, 2011
Columbia MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Alum / Off-Campus
Dates – Submitted 10/06/2010, Under Review 10/22/2010, Interview Invite 12/06/2010, Interview Date 12/15/2010, Report Completed 12/15/2010, Accepted 12/23/2010 I scheduled the interview with an alum in my city. It was held in his office and the setting was informal. He put me at ease right away and the questions came up naturally in conversation rather than in interview style. Questions: Walk me through your resume Have you enjoyed working with people? leading to a conversation about my experience with working in teams. What did you do when there was a conflict in your team? Columbia students live and die by
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Published: December 21, 2010
UNC / Kenan-Flagler MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Adcom / On-campus
The school was virtually empty as exams had just finished and it was holiday season. There were no class visits on this day, but I had already attended a class visit and campus tour. However, I recommend that you do attend the class visit and talk to students to get a good perspective of the school. My interview was at 2 45 PM on Monday, so I flew in that morning. I reached an hour and a half early (because I could not take a chance with any flight delays) and spent the time in the admissions office talking to
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Published: December 21, 2010
Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1/ Alum / Off-Campus
If it helps, here’s how my interview went. It was 30 mins long, and I think that’s because he’s an i-banker and didn’t have much time. Questions asked were: walk me through your resume (and lots of questions re: things on my resume) why MBA why Kellogg best leadership experience biggest challenge with that leadership experience 3 best qualities about me
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Published: December 21, 2010
Georgetown / McDonough MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Adcom / Off-campus
Had an off-site face-to-face interview with Georgetown. The interview highlights: Interviewer: an admissions officer. Duration: strictly 30 minutes. The interviewer had next appointment right after me Format: blind, the interview had only my resume Tone: friendly, warm, and encouraging. The interviewer made me comfortable right away, and I did not feel “interview-nervous” at all of Questions: the number of total questions I received was 3-4, less than during the interviews with other schools. This is partly due to the 30-minutes restriction. With other schools, my interviews lasted up to 60 minutes. So if you are preparing for yours, I’d recommend
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Published: December 19, 2010
London Business School MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alum / Off-campus
My interview was scheduled for 10 AM at the interviewer’s office. I reached about 15 mins early. He was in on a Saturday only to conduct LBS interviews. Just glad that mine was the first. Entire interview was conversational in nature and did not feel like a question-answer session at all – especially when I compare it to some of the other schools I have interviewed with in the past. Questions asked were – Where are you in the application process?…This was the first question and was a veiled manner of asking how are you doing on the other schools’
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Published: December 19, 2010
UCLA / Anderson MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alum / Off-Campus
I interviewed in late November with a UCLA alum who had graduated in 2008. The interview took place in the alum’s office conference room. His assistant hadn’t told the front desk to expect me and he was a little late, so I saw this all as kind of a shaky start. Interview questions: Tell me about yourself Walk me through your career/resume Why are you interested in business school Why now? Why UCLA? What would you contribute to UCLA? He also gave me time to ask any questions. He was very particular about not exceeding 1/2 an hour. Other than
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Published: December 13, 2010
Columbia MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Regular Decision / Alum / Off-Campus
I scheduled the interview with an alum in my hometown. It was held in his home at the dining room table, which created a very relaxed atmosphere. He started the interview itself by saying that the format was very informal. He took notes while we talked but maintained good eye contact. Questions: Tell me a bit about what you do and how you ended up at your current job? (i.e. walk me through your resume) Why the MBA? Why do you want to leave your current job? (he previously worked for the same consulting firm as I do) Why Columbia?
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Published: December 13, 2010
Harvard MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / On-campus / Adcom / Admitted
This site was really useful for me while prepping for the HBS interview, so I wanted to share my experience: 5 mins after being sent the online link, all of the slots on the two or three latest interview days available were already completely booked – so if for whatever reason you need maximum time between the interview notification and interview date, make sure you have a fast connection and fast fingers. I signed up for a class visit the day before my interview. I wasn’t ultimately asked about it, but I think it was helpful to see the case
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Published: December 12, 2010
Berkeley / Haas MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alum / Off-Campus
I completed my interview a few days ago. The questions were pretty standard – why MBA, why now, why Berkeley, post-MBA goals. In the beginning we talked about my background from the perspective of the decisions I took in my life – how I chose the university, my first and second jobs and what I learned in each of these positions. Then a few typical behavioural questions followed – give me an example where you led a team, where you challenged the status quo, where you went beyond yourself and so on in line with the defining principles of Haas.
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