As interview invitations begin to roll out, we’re dedicating this MBA Myth Busters to the myth that acing an admissions interview comes down to perfectly-memorized, extensively-rehearsed answers.
Candidates who memorize each of their answers may in fact find that their efforts backfire. One immediate, obvious reason for this comes down to predictability: each interview is slightly different, and candidates cannot possibly know exactly what an adcom will ask them. Add to this chance that an interviewer may phrase a question slightly differently than expected, or a candidate might forget part of their answer—and you have a high-stress, low-success scenario just waiting to happen.
In addition to this, we know that admissions committees use MBA interviews to understand who applicants are as people. Reeling off memorized answers can thwart this mission, stunting interviewers’ search for authenticity, and can lead to you sounding canned or robotic. If your answers are rattled off from memory, it’s harder for your interviewer to understand how you really feel—and harder for you to adapt according to their questions, create a connection, and cultivate an engaging, naturally flowing conversation. Once again—as in so many of our answers in this myth buster series—we return to the key features for which adcoms search: diversity, a sense of what you’ll bring as an individual, and personality.
What To Do Instead
This is not to say, of course, that you shouldn’t prepare the gist of your answers in advance; just that you should come equipped with key points to weave in rather than fully-rehearsed answers. You can think about common questions which might come up (you’ll never know for sure what you’ll be asked), prepare some general answers, and build on these according to your conversation with the interviewer.
When attempting to work out what some common questions are, our interview archives are a good place to start. Collating interview data from fellow applicants, they can help you get a sense of what to expect.
Some questions spotted frequently in our Interview Archives include:
- Walk me through your résumé. This is a classic that calls for a two- to three-minute run-through, giving the interviewer an overview and inviting them to ask more details if wanted.
- What are your career goals? This question should be related back to the MBA and how it will aid you.
- Why X school? This is a chance to show off your research of the program, explain what you’ll bring to the school, and show how you’ll fit into the culture.
- An example of your leadership skills. This is a question that might ask for specific moments or lean more towards general style; in either case, a chance to demonstrate your skills and your understanding of what leadership requires.
- Tell us about a time you failed. This question requires you to describe a mistake, what you learned from it and, if you can, a recent example of how you put those learnings into practice.
