I was interviewed by a 2nd-year student on February 9th in a conference room in Gold Hall. After telling me about her background, she began the interview by asking me to walk through my resume. The conversation flowed naturally into “why MBA, why now, what short- and long-term goals, why UCLA?” At this point, I had covered so much that she looked up at the clock expecting the 25 minutes to be up. Since only 15 minutes had passed, she asked me one off questions for the next 10 minutes:
- Strengths and weaknesses?
- Teamwork experience and difficulties faced?
- Leadership experience and difficulties faced?
- Greatest accomplishment and failure?
- What clubs/activities do I plan on getting involved in at UCLA?
After this, I had the opportunity to ask her questions for 5 minutes. I was surprised how quickly the interview was over — 30 vs. 45-60 minutes for other schools — but maybe it seemed short because it went well. Overall, it was casual/mellow.
Honestly, I wasn’t very impressed by my interviewer, and I was a bit worried about her ability to be objective because she went to my rival high school. In general, I prefer to be interviewed by a member of the admissions committee, but I understand that this is not feasible for some schools.
I was admitted to UCLA on March 23rd but not offered a fellowship. USC gave me a full ride, so I filed an appeal with the Financial Aid office at Anderson for reconsideration. They were very nice and promised to give me an appeal decision within 7 days. Supposedly, they offer fellowships to the top 1/3 of the incoming class, but the top 1/3 isn’t necessarily based on numbers (I have a 3.7 GPA and 760 GMAT).
Anyway, Good luck!!!
