MBA Admissions Tip: Interview Etiquette 101
Whether your admissions interview will be online or in-person, resume- or application-based, or one-on-one or with a group, we want to share tips that comprise MBA Interview Etiquette 101.
Though the content of your application materials and comments during the interview are of paramount importance, it’s also crucial to put your best foot forward and make a positive initial impression.
Here are a few guidelines for interviewing applicants to keep in mind:
Be early.
Plan to arrive at least 15 minutes ahead of your interview. This will help remove the stress you will experience if you think you might arrive a little late. It will also help the interviewer, who may have back-to-back interviews, and cannot afford any delays in their schedule.
Dress the part.
Unless meeting with an alum who explicitly specifies a more casual dress code, assume that business attire is appropriate. We recommend that applicants dress conservatively, opting for a dark suit (pants or skirts are both fine for women) and a blue or white shirt. Steer clear of flashy brand gear and loud ties, and go easy on makeup and fragrances; you want to be remembered for what you say and who you are, not what you wore.
For those who do not work in an environment where professional dress is worn on a regular basis, you might want to get comfortable wearing your interview attire prior to your interviews.
Be pleasant.
This likely goes without saying, but we wanted to state for the record that in addition to fostering a friendly discussion with your interviewer, it’s also important to be polite to administrative staff and anyone else you might encounter while on campus or in your alum interviewer’s office. Flippant comments to the administrative assistant at the front desk often find their way up the chain of command.
Be aware of body language.
In addition to your comments about your experiences, interests and reasons for seeking an MBA, your interviewer will also be taking note of the way you present yourself. You’ll also want to avoid taking notes or reading from your résumé; it can be fine to have the latter in front of you as a reference, but remember that you should be familiar enough with its content to focus on maintaining eye contact and establishing a rapport.
Bring your résumé.
It is always best to have an extra copy of your résumé with you, in case your interviewer needs it. The only exception to this case is when you interview with the University of Virginia’s Darden School, which explicitly states not to bring your resume. But even in that case, you may prefer to have a copy for yourself as you interview – though we caution against using the résumé as a crutch or a prop to the point of distraction, as successful candidates typically can speak to their résumé without needing to refer to it much.
Follow up.
Make sure that you get your interviewer’s card and take his or her contact information in order to send a “thank you” email within 24 hours of the interview. This is not only common courtesy but could also serve as the first step in forging a lasting correspondence.
We hope these suggestions from MBA Interview Etiquette 101 help you prepare for your interviews. Meanwhile, applicants who are curious about what to expect might want to check out the Clear Admit MBA Interview Archive, which features firsthand accounts of interviews at all of the top programs, and the Clear Admit Interview Guides, which offer in-depth, school-specific interview guidance for nearly every leading MBA program.
Good luck to everyone hoping for an MBA interview invite!
MBA Admissions Academy
Episode 20: Interviews I: The Basics
MBA Applywire
I grew up inside a pharmaceutical manufacturing business. My family produces amino acids supplied to formulation companies that manufacture injectable IV solutions. From a young age, I understood that healthcare does not begin in a hospital. It begins in a reactor, in batch yield reports, in solvent recovery metrics, and in regulatory audits. I was proud of the role we played in India’s pharmaceutical ecosystem.
That pride turned reflective when my mother was hospitalized and administered IV drips produced by one of our customers. The compounds sustaining her recovery passed through supply chains like ours, and I knew exactly how they were made. I understood the solvent-heavy synthesis, the waste streams, the emissions. In that moment, I felt both gratitude and responsibility. We were contributing to lifesaving medicine — but through processes that are environmentally intensive and structurally dependent on imported intermediates. The system works, but it is fragile.
India stands at a strategic inflection point. It is the fastest-growing major economy in the world, home to the third-largest startup ecosystem, and supplies nearly 20% of global generic medicines. Yet structurally, we remain dependent. Roughly 70–75% of bulk drug and API inputs are imported, largely from China. We dominate formulation by volume but capture limited value upstream in high-margin API innovation. At the same time, traditional pharmaceutical synthesis can generate up to 100 kilograms of waste per kilogram of API produced, making it one of the most resource-intensive manufacturing sectors. Despite the national ambition of “Make in India,” our Gross Expenditure on Research and Development remains below 0.7% of GDP — far behind global innovation leaders.
India cannot aspire to healthcare sovereignty while relying on imported chemistry and outdated processes.
My long-term goal is to transform our family’s amino acid manufacturing base into a vertically integrated, green pharmaceutical platform that serves as proof-of-concept for sustainable API production at industrial scale in India. The transition would involve replacing conventional solvent-heavy synthesis with biocatalysis, flow chemistry, and fermentation-based processes; expanding the portfolio from amino acids into high-margin APIs; and building the operational, regulatory, and export credibility needed to compete globally. Over time, I aim to scale this model into a national green API manufacturing platform that reduces import dependence and repositions India within the pharmaceutical value chain.
If executed successfully, this platform could reduce API production costs by 30–40%, lower generic drug prices by 10–20% in cost-sensitive categories, and materially cut the environmental footprint of an industry that today generates significant chemical waste. More importantly, it would move India from being the world’s low-cost pharmacy to becoming a high-value, innovation-led, and environmentally responsible pharmaceutical hub — securing healthcare sovereignty for 1.4 billion citizens while strengthening India’s standing in global medicine.
To build toward this ambition, I will first deepen my expertise in global pharmaceutical supply chains and capital allocation by working in strategy and operations roles within a global pharma or healthcare-focused investment platform. This experience will allow me to understand industrial transformation at scale, navigate regulatory environments, and structure capital-intensive manufacturing transitions. Equipped with this exposure, I will return to scale and green-transition our manufacturing base, laying the foundation for India’s next-generation pharmaceutical infrastructure.
I have a diverse profile with 6 years of experience in Marketing Consulting for global CPG clients. I have a master’s degree in Economics, a side-by-side bachelor’s degree in Classical Music, and a long experience in debate competitions. While my musical sense helps me find rhythm in marketing and storytelling, my debating abilities shine through my clear and assertive communication. I work for a global beverage company for the Latin American markets (Brazil, Argentina and Chile) and very recently optimised their $150M budget to increase their return on investment by $0.15 on the dollar. Working across predominantly portugese/spanish speakers has taught me to adapt and acknowledge cultural differences and practice effective communication.
I work in enterprise middleware / infrastructure engineering at DXC, supporting IBM MQ/MFT environments for large enterprise clients. My work extends beyond production support into automation, observability, systems optimization, and leading cross-functional technical initiatives.
Key impact areas include:
• Reduced service downtime by 10+ hours and eliminated 80+ hours of manual effort through centralized monitoring solutions using Dynatrace and Datadog.
• Led end-to-end resolution of a major mainframe transfer overload issue by analyzing system behavior, designing a multi-agent routing solution, coordinating testing, approvals, and phased production deployment mitigating ~$4M in potential revenue lost .
• Mentored 10+ junior team members and peers on MQ fundamentals, troubleshooting, and best practices, reducing dependency on senior engineers.
Post-MBA, I aim to transition into Technical Product Management, leveraging my experience solving complex systems problems, building scalable processes, and leading technical execution.
I would especially value feedback on:
1. Competitiveness for T10/T15 schools as an Indian male engineer applicant.
2. How admissions committees may view an enterprise infrastructure / middleware background relative to software engineering or product backgrounds.
3. Whether TPM / PM goals appear credible and well aligned with my experience.
I graduated in 2022 from MIT World Peace University (MIT‑WPU), Pune, with a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering, achieving a CGPA of 8.6.
From an early age, I was exposed to entrepreneurship through my grandfather’s agricultural business, where I regularly assisted him. This experience sparked my long‑term interest in business, ownership, and value creation.
During my undergraduate years,I co‑founded two start‑ups with college peers—one venture did not succeed, while the other continues to operate successfully, although I am no longer actively involved.
Alongside academics, I served as the Publicity Lead for my college technical fest, where I:
Secured over ₹2 lakhs in sponsorships
Led promotions and crowd management
Coordinated operations for an event hosting approximately 10,000 attendees across 3 days
I am also a national‑level roller skater.
Between 2020–2021, during the COVID‑19 pandemic, I actively engaged in social impact initiatives:
Volunteered for over a year with an NGO, teaching underprivileged children during lockdown
Assisted at COVID‑19 vaccination camps, supporting on‑ground public health efforts
After graduation, I joined NielsenIQ, where I have been working since 2022 as an Incident Manager. In this role, I:
Manage complex, high‑pressure incident calls
Coordinate cross‑functional stakeholders and global teams
Exercise people management and decision‑making responsibilities, but no direct managerial exposure.
I have scored 635 in GMAT FE and 8 band in IELTS
MBA LiveWire
WL in round 1, got accepted in May
No $, accepted R2 back in March