Here is the interview process for London Business School:
ANGEL ANGIE’S INTERVIEW EXPERIENCE
I applied to R1 and got the interview decision at the end of November 2005. I was contacted a week later with the details of my interviewer (an MBA2005 alumni). I am writing this on January 14th 2006.
Timing and location:
We agreed to meet on the weekend since we were busy and out of town on weekdays. We met in the cafe of a 5* hotel in the city center and shared a jasmine tea during the interview. Interview Duration:
Mine lasted two and a half hours. The reason was that I was talkative and also that in the end I had some more questions and we talked longer about shadowing, summer internships, his current job and so on.
Interview Style: I was dressed formally but the interviewer came in jeans and woolen pullover. It was fine though. It was quite relaxed. The interviewer said that this was his first interview. He was an extremely nice and friendly guy and very laid back considering his background (8 years in Accenture with high responsibility pre-MBA). The interview was conducted in English which was a bit awkward given we both spoke the same mother tongue (and it is not English!) Interview: The interview was split into two parts a) Interview questions: The interview questions were mainly about my motivation, leadership and teamwork. Examples are:
- You have only 2 years of work experience… can you tell me about your leadership experience?
- When you were leading a team, did you ever face resistance from them? How did you solve it?
- What do you want to learn during the MBA? What are the skills you need and what do you need them for?
- What do you want to do after the MBA?
- How are you going to choose your school if you get multiple offers?
Then he also asked some very specific questions about my CV, such as “tell me about your internship in X or your year abroad in Y” etc. b) Presentation: The presentation is nothing to worry about. You are given a topic (just like in debating) and have 5min to take a position and prepare a presentation. Since we were in a public cafe surrounded by people I remained seated, so it was more like giving a short compelling speech. I think they look at structured thinking, communication skills and at how convincing (logically) and compelling (emotionally) your presentation is. Just be creative and say something, it doesn’t matter if the fact base is shaky. The topics are all completely random so you can pick any side. Overall, it’s nothing to worry about. I think once you’re invited for an interview chances are very good, and you’ll hear about the decisions about a week or two after the interview (and these days of waiting are very painful!). You can find more information about the application on my blog at angelangie2008.blogspot.com.
Good luck!
