As expected and suggested by the agreed venue —a relaxed coffee shop— the interview was very pleasant and chatty. The structured part lasted 30 minutes, but we spent a good hour after that discussing my interviewer’s story and chatting about areas of converging interest. We kicked the conversation off by speculating jokingly about how Stanford selects its interviewers, and after a minute or two he pulled out a sheet of very standard questions which he annotated sparsely as the interview progressed.
- Why an MBA, and why Stanford? (This lead into talking about my long term goal)
- Tell me about a time —maybe the most recent example— when you lead a team
- Tell me about a time when you failed within a team
- Give me an example of constructive criticism you’ve received, and tell me how you reacted
- Tell me about a good or bad leader you’ve worked with
- Give me an example of a time when you had to choose between two equally attractive options
- Have you ever stood to defend a position that wasn’t popular or easily accepted?
- What are your extra-curricular activities?
- What are you reading at the moment, if anything?
- You’ve done a lot of travelling – tell me about that
He mentioned at that point that the formal part of the interview was over, and that I could ask him whatever I wanted about Stanford. I think it’s important to realize that you’re still ‘on the record’ at this stage. I’d read up on what he had done since high school and was intrigued to hear the details, so I simply asked him to take me through it, pre-, at and post-Stanford. As an accomplished entrepreneur, he was an excellent advertisement for the program. To re-iterate what is inferred in all these posts, the interview was ostensibly an assessment of my interpersonal skills and general demeanor rather than a mental test or grilling over my accomplishments. It was the most pleasant and inspiring interview I’ve had.
