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: December 24, 2006
Stanford GSB MBA Admissions Interview Questions: R1, Alumni
I interviewed with a local alum. After going back and forth over email, we found a mutually convenient time to meet at his office. There was _nothing_ surprising about the interview. All the questions were asked in a very conversational, yet professional, tone. 10 minutes of icebreakers/small-talk. When did you realize you needed an MBA? Time when you saw poor leadership at work? Time when you did something that impacted people (in work or outside of it). Why Stanford? Favorite course at school, and why? <insert more generic questions here> Overall, it was a very pleasant conversation. My interviewer was
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Published: December 19, 2006
London Business School MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alumni
Interview was conducted in English. It took place on a weekday evening in my interviewers office. He received my current application, essays and CV. No recommendation letters or even the recommenders’ titles, no last year application (I am a reapplicant). He was curious “what were those huge improvements and changes that made adcoms consider you this year” so we talked about my last year aspirations as well. I wasn’t asked about Life and Universe and Everything (I mean why MBA, why NOW, why LBS), but this question loomed in the air. What I was asked: Your short-term and long-term goals.
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Published: December 19, 2006
Stanford GSB MBA Admissions Interview Questions: R1, Alumni
I interviewed with an alum. The interview began after some initial chit chat and lasted for 45 minutes. The interviewer was extremely friendly. The interview itself was more of a dialogue rather than a set of questions followed by my answers and his taking notes. Here are the questions that I was asked: What has been your most rewarding experience among your two jobs and education? Why is this so? What have you learnt from this experience? How have you evolved as a person? Why do you feel the need for an MBA when your career seems to be going
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Published: December 18, 2006
Yale SOM MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1, Adcom
My interview was with an admissions officer in November 2006. She was incredibly nice. The atmosphere was relaxed. It completely threw me off. I went in expecting a hard grilling session and had studied tons of interview questions. That was a mistake. The interview started with a “walk me through your resume” question. Basically, I think I blew it because I was deconstructing other answers in my head and re-forming it as I talked. Not smart on my part because it came out jumbled, or at least I thought so. Time alloted was 30 minutes. We went to 45. Not
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Published: December 17, 2006
London Business School MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alumni
Location: His office in a stylish skyscraper. Time: Early morning His sector: Private Equity His Previous Job: Consulting My background: Sales/Marketing in a famous multinational.Only 3 years experience but good progress. Strong GMAT/GPA. Strong Essays. Summary We bought coffee and muffins from the cafe downstairs; immediately he put me at ease by being very friendly. I asked him questions about the deal his firm was trying to close.(something I learned by researching about him) Interviewer had read my application carefully. He had specific questions to ask,making the interview experience similar to that of HBS. He walked me through his own resume first,then said ,now it is you
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Published: December 17, 2006
Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Telephonic / second year student / Round 1
NOTE: My interview was earlier waived, citing heavy application load. After reviewing my application, AdComm invited me to have a telephonic interview. I called AdComm to schedule an interview and this post is a briefing of the telephonic interview. I spoke with a second year student as a part of the Kellogg admission process. The call came in 20 minutes late. The interviewer seems to have had some trouble reaching me. The interview started with apologies from either end, she for having kept me waiting and me for the trouble she had in reaching me. The interview began with the
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Published: December 14, 2006
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / On campus
I scheduled an on-campus interview for Round 1 Interview on Dec 1st 2006. I would really like to say that credit must go to Wharton for making the Interview atmosphere stress-free and very friendly. Even though, all applicants sit in their dark-blue / black suits in a common waiting area, first-year students keep dropping by and really make applicants comfortable. I would also like to mention that the Lady attendant in the MBA admissions office at Wharton deserves special credit; she is very cheerful and makes the applicants at ease before the interview. Coming to the questions I was asked
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Published: December 14, 2006
Stanford GSB MBA Admissions Interview Questions: R1, Alumni
I interviewed with an alum. The interview lasted for 45 minutes and after some conversation on sports and weather, we dived into the interview immediately. My interviewer explained the admissions process and told me that I will have an opportunity to ask questions at the end. Here are the questions that were asked: Why do you need an MBA? My interviewer then asked me about a specific volunteer work that I was doing and asked me to elaborate on how I felt working for that organization Can you talk about an instance at work that made you realize you need
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Published: December 13, 2006
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: LAUDER / Round 1
Here are the questions he asked: 1. Tell me a little bit about your career, starting from university, why you chose that university, etc. 2. Tell me a little bit about your experience working in London – how was it different from working in an emerging market, etc. 3. What are your short-term and long-term goals? 4. Why Western Europe and French? 5. Elaborate on the similarities between Western Europe and emerging markets (something I mentioned in my previous response) 6. When did you first start learning French and how has that progressed? Have you been on an immersion experience
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Published: December 13, 2006
Chicago Booth MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1, Alum
I had my Chicago GSB interview in the morning today with an alum in his office. He is an entrepreneur and heads his own company. I reached his office 20 minutes early. We started the interview 10 minutes before the stipulated time. He didn’t have a copy of my resume. I had brought 3-4 copies so i gave him one. The interview was ok. The inetrviewer was passionate and enthusiastic. It was more of a discussion than interview. The alum had some 20 years of total experience, so he handled the interview quite maturely. Some of the questions i remember
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Published: December 9, 2006
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / On campus
My interview was on campus with a second year student. The time went by quite fast so I felt like I was not asked a lot of questions. The interviewer made me very comfortable and asked me the following: Walk me through your resume. Can you give some details on what you do at work? Why Mba, why Wharton? Why now? Please talk about one of your strengths and one weakness Do you want to mention anything that the adcoms should be concerned about that you may not have communicated in the application? Do you have any questions for me?
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Published: December 8, 2006
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Reapplicant / Round 1 / Adcom
I had my interview with Marilyn Yakowitz from adcom. Just like last time, it was a very comfortable and positive experience. I had prepared the same questions as I had been asked last time, and also more on developments since last time, etc. The interview was scheduled for 30 minutes, but went on for 40. I told her upfront that I am a reapplicant, and a first time applicant to Lauder. Here are the questions she asked: 1. It’s interesting to see you went to university in Canada and England. Why did you choose these countries? 2. Why did you
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Published: December 7, 2006
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / On Campus
The Wharton interview went well. I was interviewed by a second year student. It was very conversational. There were quite a few laughters and “Good … Very Good” comments during the interview. I was asked the following questions: 1. Explain how you have made all the academic and career choices so far 2. Example of teamwork, what makes you succeed as a team leader 3. Define leadership, which of those attributes do you possess 4. Why MBA and why Wharton 5. What would you have contributed to Wharton at the end of 2 years? 6. Why did you start the
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Published: December 6, 2006
London Business School MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alumni
The interview lasted over 1.5 hours. The interviewer was very personable, and we met in her office. These are roughly the questions I was asked (tough to remember all of them given that the interview was quite long). Tell me about your job. What are your responsibilities? What do you do on an average day? What do you like about your role? What do you dislike about it? What are you strengths and weaknesses? Give me an example of leadership (this is where I was told that I needed to provide a more recent professional example). How do you deal
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Published: December 6, 2006
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / On Campus
The interview was very structured (yet still relaxed) and the 2nd year student seemed like he wanted to hit certain points. Overall, the interview lasted 40 minutes or so. 1) Why did I pick to work at XYZ? 2) Why MBA? Why Wharton? 3) ST/LT Goals 4) What do I bring to Wharton? This took about 15-20 minutes or so. Then the next section was pretty much all teamwork questions. 5) Time that you had to encourage a team member who wasn’t performing. 6) Time that you had to challenge a manager. 7) Why do you think Wharton has
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Published: December 6, 2006
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / student
The Wharton interview was more of a conversation than an interview. I interviewed with a 2nd year student on Wharton’s campus. I could have done an alumni interview in my home city, but I wanted to check out the school, as I had not visited before. The interview is blind (the interviewer only has your resume). What led you to your current job? Why do you need an MBA? When I told him what I wanted to do post-MBA, he followed up with Why do you want to go into that field? He also happened to know something about that
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Published: December 3, 2006
Chicago Booth MBA Admissions Interview Questions: On campus, Student, Round 1
All of the questions that I was asked are already listed on this page. The interviewer was friendly and stuck to the standard MBA interview format. The interviewer probed why I was pursuing an MBA now because I would have less than 5 years of experience when I start the program. I am planning a career change, so I mentioned how continuing in my current path isn’t going to be much useful in the long run. I also reiterated how leadership experiences acquired through work and extracurricular have prepared me for my future career. The best way to prepare for
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Published: November 29, 2006
Columbia MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Alumni / ED
I had no trouble contacting one of the three alumni about an interview. The alum asked me to email my resume beforehand. The day of the interview, I met with him in his offices. He was friendly yet professional. There was no “take me through your resume” question… Right off the bat, he asked why business school – but then limited my answer by saying “but i don’t want to hear its because you need to learn about finance and accounting to start your own business, because you can always hire someone else to do that ” (I plan to
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Published: November 29, 2006
Chicago Booth MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1, Alumni
I am an applicant from India and I had my interview with an alumni yesterday (29th Nov 2006). I am a first time applicant to the GSB. A snapshot of my profile would be: working in Information Technology since July 2003 (3 yrs and counting) undergrad GPA – 3.7 GMAT – 750 (Q50, V41) The interview started with my interviewer explaining about his work, recent schedule (he’s been traveling around a bit) and how things got out of his hands (because of which my interview got postponed twice) and stuff like that. And then we went on to discuss about
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Published: November 27, 2006
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alumni
The alum used to be a part of the admissions committee and was very particular about ending the interview after 45 minutes. in the end it lasted about 50 minutes. The interview was very conversational and one question led to another. 1) Tell me about your career and how you chose your company and industry. 2) you have a great career so far . why do u want to give it up and pursue an MBA. why now? 3) why wharton? 4) what is your leadership style? 5) how do you work in a team setting? what role do
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Published: November 26, 2006
Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Adcom
I had my Kellogg interview yesterday. The adCom member lady asked me following questions. Tell me more about your undergraduate experience – why this program, Extracurriculors, accomplishments. Walk me thru your resume – career progress and choices (why), accomplishments, Career goals (long term and post mba), why MBA, why kellogg, what do I do outside work. The only slightly different question was – what is it that the AdCom should have asked (that we have not covered in the last 30 minutes) That’s it. Hope this helps.
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Published: November 26, 2006
Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: On-Campus / student / Round 1
All of the questions that I got asked are already listed on this page. The interviewer was friendly and appreciated the leadership experiences that I have had. I found Kellogg grads to be enthusiastic and high-energy people. During the interview, I was able to communicate enthusiasm for the school by drawing on experiences from the class visit and lunch event. You can find out about the hottest things in school like GIM, Happy hour and talk about them during the interview. The best way to prepare for an interview is simply to practice crisp answers to the standard questions –
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Published: November 25, 2006
Tuck MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Second Year Student
My interview experience with Tuck second year student: He was very friendly and on the way to his office, we started talking about my working experience and the projects I have worked on. After we sat down, we continued this topic and I gave him a bunch of funny stories and interesting experience about my projects. Considering his real estate background, I explained my experience pretty well as I used few tech terms and he nodded with smile. After we finished with those fun information exchange, he asked the following questions: go over your resume and talk about team experience
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Published: November 25, 2006
Harvard MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / adcom
I was given a date and time to appear on campus in Boston. I arrived 20 minutes prior to the interview, and I was greeted by the adcom at precisely the time indicated. We went up to her office in Dillon (the admissions house). My questions were quite specific to my application but not quite in the way I had imagined. My interviewer used what I had in my essays as a springboard to delve further into certain aspects of my candidacy, but she didn’t reference any of the items I had written about at any point. In fact, she
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Published: November 24, 2006
Columbia MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alumni
For Fall 2007 The interview went well overall. It was at the alum’s office. The interviewer said it would be around 45 minutes but I think we ended up talking about an hour or so. Questions: Take me through your resume Tell me about one signficant leadership experience You seem to be having a great career so far. why do u want to give that up and go for an MBA What other schools are you looking at Why Columbia How do you work in a team setting? Describe an event where you had a difficult time in a team
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