Well, I suppose I’ll also share my interview experience although there’s not a tremendous amount to say that hasn’t already been said. I had my interview today, we decided to interview at his office and my interviewer had a conference room ready.
The first thing I’ll say is that the Stanford interviewer is very conversational. It’s certainly a two-way street and the interviewer is interviewing you as much as you’re interviewing Stanford. My interviewer made this very clear in the beginning.
The interview was supposed to run 45 minutes, but we ended up going a little over an hour. No trick questions in the interview. See below for the list of questions I was asked:
Questions:
- Give me the 60 second rundown on yourself.
- Why do you want an MBA? Why Now? Why Stanford in particular?
- Tell me about a time you overcame a problem or took initiative to solve something.
- What was the last non-business book you read? What did you learn from it? Why did you like it?
- Tell me about a time when you led a team and failed.
- Tell me about a time when you personally failed. How did you handle it?
- Tell me about a time when you received criticism? How did you handle it?
- How do you find the time to do all of these things given your life as a consultant?
- Have you visited Stanford?
- Why would you want to be in the college bubble that is Stanford?
- What would you view as your most significant accomplishment? Why?
Like I said, there really weren’t any tricky questions. I was a little surprised by the “how do you find the time to do all of the things you do…?” question, but I took it as a compliment that he was impressed with my accomplishments.
Regarding overall feedback, my interviewer gave me lots of advice around what I “shouldn’t miss while at Stanford” and things that he regrets not doing so that I wouldn’t make the same mistakes (as if I were already accepted)…I also took this as a good sign, but I’m assuming almost everyone’s interview goes well so I won’t read too much into it lest I’m one of the 60%+ that’s rejected after interview.
The one thing that was solidified was how great the alumni are. I really feel like Stanford values character before accomplishments, while I think HBS may be a bit the other way around (though I’m sure character is also high on their list). My interviewer was certainly accomplished (McKinsey, etc.) but he reminded me to pursue my dreams no matter where I go in life. Certainly much more inspirational than any other business school interview I’ve had thus far and far less accomplishments-focused.
So just be yourself and let your personality shine through…I’m fairly sure you have one if you’ve made it to the interview. I felt I was being treated like I was a friend-of-a-friend at first and less as an interviewee. Overall, it seemed like much more of a fit interview than evaluative. Hope this helps. Best of luck to all future interviewees and to those of you anxiously awaiting an invite!
