MBA Interview Tips & Resources
Welcome to the MBA Interview Resource Hub
Are you about to interview at a top business school? Looking to ensure you can ace every MBA admissions interview question? We’ve gathered together all of our interview prep resources in one place to help ensure you spend your time efficiently and can excel in your interview.
In the interview, the MBA admissions committee is seeking to get a sense of who you are, the choices you have made to date, and your reasons for seeking an MBA at their program. The schools also use the interview to gauge your “fit” with their cultures and offerings.
Given the importance of the interview, it is essential for you to prepare. On this page you will find a list of key Clear Admit MBA admissions interview tips, advice and resources that will help you ace your interviews.
Clear Admit Admissions Tips: Interview Prep
Understanding Interview Procedures
Interview Preparation and Follow-Up Advice
Clear Admit Interview Strategy Videos
Be sure to review Clear Admit’s interview preparation videos where we review different interview formats as common interview questions in the Clear Admit+ Admissions Academy Series.
Watch the rest of our Admissions Academy Interview Strategy Videos at the links below:
LiveWire Interview Invite Updates
Consortium Applicant; 100% scholarship. Vimeo was viewed 5-6 weeks after consortium application submission and interviewed 3 days after.
Full tuition
Was tensed when I did not get a call from adcom but got in with $30k scholarship
Received an invite to interview today. Completely surprised given we are this close to the decision release date for R2, but excited nonetheless!
Clear Admit Interview Strategy Podcast Episodes
The following podcasts provide in-depth guidance on key strategies you can use to prepare for your interviews. Be sure to give them a listen.
7 Hardest MBA Interview Questions and How to Answer Them
5 Most Common MBA Interview Questions You Need to Ace
How to Interview at Harvard Business School
Tips for the Wharton Team-Based Discussion (TBD)
Interview Report Archives
Our free archive of over 2,000 MBA admissions interview reports includes self-reported accounts from applicants with thousands and thousands of questions asked! It is the largest repository of MBA interview reports on the web. What better way to prepare than to see what interview questions schools are asking recent applicants? You can sort the archive by the specific school and also find reports that match your interview type (alumni, current student, admissions officer). You can thank us for this amazing resource by uploading your own reports when you’ve finished interviewing 😊
Clear Admit Interview Guides
- Available for 21 leading MBA programs! Our interview guides provide you with school-specific insight and strategic advice to help you ace your admissions interviews. Each Clear Admit Interview Guide includes:
- School-specific strategy
- Evaluation of how the admissions committee weighs the interview
- First-hand interview accounts
- A comprehensive list of sample questions consistently asked
- In-depth analysis on how to answer the most popular questions by that particular program
- Detailed information on planning a campus visit
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Interview Guides
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Anderson School of Management -
Interview Guides
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Chicago Booth School of Business -
Interview Guides
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Columbia Business School -
Interview Guides
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Darden School of Business -
Interview Guides
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Fuqua School of Business -
Interview Guides
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Haas School of Business -
Interview Guides
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Harvard Business School -
Interview Guides
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INSEAD -
Interview Guides
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Kellogg School of Management -
Interview Guides
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Kenan-Flagler Business School -
Interview Guides
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London Business School -
Interview Guides
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MIT Sloan School of Management -
Interview Guides
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McCombs School of Business -
Interview Guides
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McDonough School of Business -
Interview Guides
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NYU Stern School of Business -
Interview Guides
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Ross School of Business -
Interview Guides
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S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management -
Interview Guides
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Stanford Graduate School of Business -
Interview Guides
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The Wharton School -
Interview Guides
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Tuck School of Business -
Interview Guides
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Yale School of Management
MBA Applywire
I am a non-traditional applicant with 8 years of experience as a practicing attorney. I spent the first 3 years of my career in commercial litigation and ~5 years as a federal prosecutor (AUSA), first in narcotics and later in violent crimes. As an AUSA, I was primarily responsible for organizing and coordinating large-scale, complex narcotics/conspiracy investigations involving multi-state and international criminal organizations. I also have substantial trial experience - I secured numerous criminal convictions in federal jury trials in my cases (where I served as lead counsel), and many others in cases I served as second-chair.
After taking some time to reflect on my career and interests, I decided law was not the career I wanted to continue to pursue, and began to look at getting an MBA. My father (HBS MBA, former Bain Consultant, now in PE) was instrumental in helping me reach this decision.
I want to pursue a career that rewards an encourages creativity, problem solving, logical reasoning and analysis, and allows me to use my skills to create value and be a positive force in the world. I am interested in pursuing consulting primarily, as I think that my legal skills and experience would be valuable in this setting, and these positions would allow me to work with others (teammates and clients) to solve complex problems, develop creative solutions, and would generally be engaging and fulfilling work. Long term, I view this as a way to position myself for GC or strategic roles where a JD/MBA combination would be valuable, and I could draw on both my MBA and my legal experience (particularly my investigations experience) to advise on a wide variety of business concerns.
I went straight to law school following my undergraduate career, and went to a law school that would position me to get a job in my local market (Colorado). I performed well in law school and finished with a GPA of 3.68, placing me just outside of the top 10% in my class (Ranked 18 overall in my class). I was involved in extracurricular activities in undergrad (leadership position in my fraternity) as well as in law school (leadership in student club, represented my school in state and national mock trial competitions, externed with a prestigious federal court judge), but I have not had much in the way of these additional activities on account of the time/focus demands of my legal career. I am not sure if this will negatively impact my applications, or if admissions officers will understand given my professional experience.
I have not yet taken the GMAT but I started my self-study course a few weeks ago. I plan to take a more structured online course over the coming month. I am targeting a June/July test date, with a 710+ on the exam - although I do not know what is realistic. I do not have a traditional quant background (Political Science BA), and did not take any math classes beyond required coursework to graduate. I have prepared for standardized tests previously, such as the LSAT, bar exam, and MPRE (90th percentile on LSAT), but I do not know how much, if any, these exams will carry over or help with the GMAT beyond the verbal section of that exam.
The largest / most pertinent question right now is how admissions at top schools will view my application - on one hand, I have significant professional experience and have already attended and achieved in graduate school - but on the other, I do not have a traditional finance / pre-MBA background, and do not know if this will be too much to overcome.
I appreciate any thoughts or advice you might be able to provide! Thank you very much for your time!
First job: Economic Consulting at a top Econ Consulting Firm
Second job: Product Analytics at an Insurance Tech Startup
Third/Current job: Analytics at a major Tech company
Extracurriculars include: Undergrad Alum Interviewer; Alumni Chapter Co-lead; Chair at a S16 MBA Partners Club
Position held in military, operations officer/executive officer. Managed 250+ marines at a time in a technical field. Promoted once. First generation American and first generation to attend college at a T30 undergrad.
Very visible leadership roles in college, sit on the board of a renewable energy nonprofit, and raised a lot of money and led volunteer events through a previous employer’s corp philanthropy initiatives.
2 years as a financial analyst from a supermajor oil company (Exxon/Chevron/BP) 2 years corp dev & finace at a PE-backed midstream company, 1 year corp dev at a PE-backed carbon capture company (megafund sponsor)
My background is in Paralegal and Fund operations work in capital markets. I started out at a non-profit where I created a community fund and engaged the community to invest in affordable housing projects on the south side of Chicago. Next, I matriculated into an international law firm where I worked on the legal side of Real estate PE and restructuring work. At this point, I realized that business was my interest and not law. So I obtained a job at a RE PE firm where I led a team of executives through the acquisition phase. I also presented in front of investors which led to the team raising significant capital for further deals. I need the MBA because I'm trying to pivot to RE Investment Banking. My long-term goal is to go back to Real Estate Private Equity in a senior position.
Current Transferable Skills:
Attention to Detail, Project Management, Real Estate quantitative and qualitative analysis, Time Management, Presentation and Fundraising.
Extra-curriculars:
Community Board Member at a local community hospital where I led a campaign for people to get healthy checkups in low income communities.
Policy Coordinator of a Job taskforce where I worked with business leaders and faithbased organizations to provide hundreds of jobs to teens from low income communities in the Chicagoland area.
Chair of the Housing Taskforce where I worked with landlords and banks to qualify low-income resident to be homeowners and those who were not qualified, we partnered them with landlords who could help them by reporting rent payments to their credit which will get them qualified at a later date.
Coordinator of Several Nonprofits where I led the charge of bringing together community stakeholders to provide the greater good for the Chicagoland community.
MBA LiveWire
Consortium Applicant; 100% scholarship. Vimeo was viewed 5-6 weeks after consortium application submission and interviewed 3 days after.
Full tuition
Was tensed when I did not get a call from adcom but got in with $30k scholarship
Received an invite to interview today. Completely surprised given we are this close to the decision release date for R2, but excited nonetheless!