Interview Tips
Advice for business school applicants who are preparing for their MBA admissions interviews.
Published: September 29, 2019
Admissions Tip: Understanding the MBA Admissions Interview, Part III
In this, our third installment of our interview series, we’ll take a closer look at one of the more recent interview permutations—the group interview or team-based discussion. You can view the first two parts of this interview series here: open interviews versus interview invites and blind interviews versus non-blind interviews. What Is the Team-Based Discussion at Wharton? Several years ago, the admissions office at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School partnered with the Wharton Innovation group to launch a new evaluation method, the team-based discussion (TBD). As its name suggests, as
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Published: September 22, 2019
Admissions Tip: Understanding the MBA Admissions Interview, Part I
In this first part of a multi-part series, we’ll unpack the different types of interviews—open, invited, blind, non-blind, resume-based, behavioral-based, team-based, etc. Along the way, we’ll offer some tips for how best to prepare for each and explore a few of the more interesting wrinkles in the world of MBA interviews.
When all is said and done, you’ll have a much firmer grasp on the MBA interview landscape as a whole, which we hope will better prepare you for interviews at all of your target schools.
Open Interviews Versus Invited Interviews
Also known as open interviews, applicant-initiated interviews are what they sound like. At Dartmouth Tuck and a handful of other schools—Kellogg’s Northwestern School of Management, Emory’s Goizueta School, Duke’s Fuqua School and UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, for example—applicants do indeed get to choose to interview. There’s no need to wait—or stress over—receiving an interview invitation. Just schedule a date, pack your bags and go.
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Interviewing at Columbia or INSEAD? Grab Our Interview Guides!
With Columbia Business School and INSEAD rolling out interview invitations, it is prime time to practice for this key part of the MBA admissions process with the Clear Admit Interview Guides. The Clear Admit Interview Guide to CBS will prepare you for the blind nature of their Q&A sessions. With the Clear Admit Interview Guide to INSEAD, you will learn how to ace both of your alumni interviews.
What's Inside?
These digital guides include first-hand interview accounts submitted by real applicants through our Interview Archive. In addition to lists of sample questions consistently asked of applicants, the Clear Admit team has combined its years of admissions counseling and expertise to analyze the most frequently asked ones, and offer insight into what specific schools are looking for in response.
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Published: March 10, 2019
Q&A with Student Interviewers at Cornell / Johnson
As Cornell / Johnson wraps up initial notifications for its January Round this week, we caught up with a few student interviewers to provide insights into their admissions interview. At Johnson, the MBA admissions interview may be conducted by an adcom member or a trained second-year student member of the Johnson Admissions Group (JAG). Two JAG members, Lauren Keithahn and Corey Minerva, shed light on why they became interviewers, what stands out to them in an admissions interview, what advice they have for new candidates and more.
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Published: January 20, 2019
Understanding the MBA Admissions Interview – Part I
Yale SOM has already released some Round 2 interview invites, according to MBA LiveWire. Michigan Ross released its first wave on Friday of last week. Harvard plans to release its invites in two waves, January 28 and January 31. the MBA admissions world is buzzing about one thing: INTERVIEWS. With so much interview anxiety in the air—and knowing that it only stands to build from here—we’ve decided to devote this week at Clear Admit to all things interview, introducing a series we ran during the last two admissions cycles. We’re getting the ball rolling with the first part
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Published: November 18, 2018
A Comprehensive Set of MBA Interview Resources
As interview season kicks into high gear, for this week’s admissions tip we wanted to offer a comprehensive resource with all of our key interview tips. We begin with our four-part series that discusses the different types of interviews that MBA programs undertake. We then included our six tips for interview etiquette, our post on the five most popular interview questions, and finally our review of the seven hardest interview questions. Part 1: Open versus Selected What you will learn from Part 1: We examine which schools offer open interviews, and which offer interviews by invitation. We examine why schools
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Published: November 8, 2018
How to Prepare for MBA Interviews – Clear Admit’s Webinar Recap
Do you need help preparing for your MBA interviews? Clear Admit’s experts are here to give you advice and tips to be successful at navigating the admissions process. On Wednesday, November 7, we aired our interactive webinar “How to Prepare for MBA Interviews,” hosted by Alex Brown, Clear Admit’s long-time admissions expert and author of Becoming a Clear Admit: The Definitive Guide. The webinar covers: Different types of interviews that business schools conduct and why understanding each interview type matters for candidates. Nuances that exist across alumni, admissions committee and student-led interviews. A break down of the five most common MBA admissions interview
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Published: November 7, 2018
Admissions Director Q&A: Shari Hubert of Duke’s Fuqua School of Business
Anyone anxiously awaiting an interview invitation from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business? Well, we can’t make them roll out any sooner—but we can offer you something you should read while you wait. Shari Hubert, who had been in charge of admissions at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business since 2013, choose to move south last fall to North Carolina to lead admissions at Fuqua. “Shari stood out in an incredibly talented and competitive pool of candidates,” Russ Morgan, Fuqua senior associate dean for full-time programs, said announcing her hiring. “Shari is a terrific fit within our culture. She
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Published: November 5, 2018
Skype or Video MBA Admissions Interview in Your Future? Catch Today’s Podcast RePLAY
MBA interview season continues to chug along here in Round 1—with applicants to MIT Sloan School of Management and Duke’s Fuqua School among those hoping to receive invitations to interview this week. Already this fall we have aired several new episodes of the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast that drill down specifically into MBA interview etiquette, content, format, and protocol. One recent episode examined the five most common interview questions MBA applicants report being asked—along with how to ace them. Another took seven of the hardest MBA interview
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Published: November 4, 2018
Eight Tips to Ace the Wharton TBD—From Applicants Who’ve Been There
Many of you are in the throes of preparing for Wharton’s team-based discussion (TBD), so we combed Clear Admit’s Interview Archive and compiled the following pieces of advice from applicants who have gone through it. Please, as you experience the Wharton TBD yourself, feel free to add you own insights by submitting an interview report. Best of luck! Eight Tips to Ace the Wharton TBD Don’t Spend Hours Researching Your Topic in Advance As tempting as it is to be as absolutely prepared as possible, there are diminishing returns when it comes to researching your topic
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Published: October 29, 2018
Episode 24: 7 Hardest MBA Admissions Interview Questions and How to Answer Them
Clear Admit’s Alex Brown offers a closer look at some of the toughest interview questions MBA applicants stand to face as part of the admissions process at leading schools. Brown, who worked for several years as part of the admissions team at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, is also the author of Becoming a Clear Admit: The Definitive Guide to MBA Admissions. In today’s podcast, Brown unpacks the hardest questions he’s known applicants to face as part of the interview—a topic he’s an expert on thanks to interviews he himself conducted when he worked at Wharton. As a
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Published: October 28, 2018
Clear Admit Webinar: How to Prepare for MBA Interviews
Need Help Preparing for MBA Interviews? Don’t Miss Our Free Clear Admit Webinar In this 90-minute webinar, Clear Admit’s Alex Brown will take a deep dive into what it takes to best prepare for your interviews at the elite MBA programs. Brown will begin by providing insights into the different kinds of interviews that business schools conduct, and explain why understanding each interview type matters for candidates. Brown will then explore the nuances that exist across alumni, admissions committee and student led interviews. Brown will also break down the five most common MBA admissions interview questions and the seven
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Published: October 22, 2018
Episode 23: 5 Most Common MBA Interview Questions You Need to Ace
Many Round 1 MBA applicants find themselves in the thick of interview invitations right now. In case there’s any doubt, that’s a terrific place to be! Some schools do feature applicant-initiated interviews, but at the vast majority of top schools, receiving an invitation to interview means you’ve made an important cut in the process, and the admissions team wants to get to know you better. Congratulations! Our guest this week is Clear Admit’s own Alex Brown, who worked for several years as part of the admissions team at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He’s also the author of
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Published: October 21, 2018
Waiting on an Interview Invitation? Tune into Clear Admit’s LiveWire and MBA Chats
Since we know some of you may be waiting anxiously in the next few weeks for interview invitations, we wanted to remind you about two key resources that can help you through this busy—and often stressful—time: MBA LiveWire: Live reports from real candidates throughout the admissions process. Find the profiles of other applicants who applied to your target schools. Get live updates of those who have received an interview invitation or an admissions decision. Sort by school, admissions round, and the status of each entry to find the information you’re looking for. MBA Chats: Chat rooms dedicated to the top schools below, in
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Published: October 16, 2018
Who Is Your MBA Interviewer? A Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast Replay
Round 1 applicants continue to receive invitations to interview. But depending on the school, the person who serves as your MBA interviewer could vary. Today alone, there have been MBA LiveWire reports of invitations to interview at Chicago Booth, INSEAD, UCLA Anderson, UT McCombs, and Cornell’s Johnson School, among others. If you suddenly find yourself in the throes of preparing for an interview, take a moment to revisit one of our earliest MBA Admissions Podcasts. Episode 2, which aired last spring, takes a closer look
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Published: October 14, 2018
Understanding the MBA Admissions Interview – Part I
With Harvard Business School (HBS) issuing its Round 1 interview invitations two weeks ago, the MBA admissions world is buzzing about one thing: INTERVIEWS. HBS, of course, is not alone. At Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, which features applicant-initiated interviews, hopeful candidates have been traipsing back and forth to Hanover already for several weeks. With so much interview anxiety in the air—and knowing that it only stands to build from here—we’ve decided to devote this week at Clear Admit to all things interview, introducing a series we ran during the last two admissions cycles. We’re getting the ball rolling with the first
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Published: October 8, 2018
MBA Interview Formats: A Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast Replay
It’s interview season for Round 1 applicants, and MBA LiveWire has already been lighting up with reports of interview invitations from Harvard Business School, Columbia Business School, CMU’s Tepper School of Business, Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, and Yale School of Management, with many more to come. We’ll have some brand-new, interview-focused podcast episodes as part of our Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast Series in upcoming weeks. But we also want to invite you to revisit our very first episode, which debuted
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Published: September 18, 2018
MBA LiveWire Data Predicts HBS, Wharton & Stanford Interview Invite Timing
October is an anxious month for MBA aspirants who have submitted applications to the leading MBA programs for Round 1. Many of these programs roll out their interview invite decisions during the month. If you are one of these candidates, MBA LiveWire is a good place for you to keep up to date with what’s going on; we hope you will also share your news. Harvard Leads the Way Harvard generally leads the way with Round 1 interview invite decisions. In 2017, HBS released its decisions on two dates, October 2nd and October 5th. The latter date included all those
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MIT Sloan Round 3 Roundup from Admissions Director Dawna Levenson
With the Round 3 deadline having passed yesterday for applicants to MIT Sloan School of Management, Director of Admissions Dawna Levenson was quick to add an update post to her “From the Desk of the Admissions Director” blog today letting these late-round applicants know what to expect next. Levenson started out by underscoring that several things make applying in Round 3 unique, chief among them the accelerated timeline. “The next month will certainly be a whirlwind,” she warned. Here are the dates you should circle now on your calendars: Friday, April 20, 2018: Interview
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Published: March 14, 2018
Our Latest Podcast: Acing the Skype or Video Interview
Wrapping up our comprehensive coverage of how to prepare for interviews of every sort, the latest episode in the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast series focuses on the Skype or video interview. An option widely available to MBA applicants who perhaps can’t travel to the business school they’re applying to, the Skype or video interview is also increasingly used by recruiters in the job search process. So brushing up on how best to prepare for this increasingly common interview format is valuable whether you’re in the thick of the MBA admissions process or just looking ahead toward your post-MBA career
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Published: March 11, 2018
Our Latest Podcast: Who Is Your MBA Interviewer?
At schools like Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan School of Management, MBA admissions interviews are conducted exclusively by members of the admissions staff. London Business School and Columbia Business School, meanwhile, are among those that rely on an army of alumni to meet with candidates around the world. Still other schools—including the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business—train current students in the art of interviewing and call on them to help assess potential future classmates. While
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Published: February 25, 2018
Top Michigan Ross MBA Interview Questions and Tips from Actual Interviewees
As Ross MBA candidates head to Ann Arbor or meet up with alumni interviewers elsewhere around the globe, we wanted to round up some of the most common questions and pass on some advice from actual interviewees.
The one-on-one admissions interviews are conducted by students on campus or by alumni off campus. They are “blind” in nature, meaning that the interviewer has not seen candidates’ applications—just their résumés. In addition to these solo interviews, Ross candidates are also encouraged to take part in a team-based activity in Ann Arbor. For the team activity, a group of five or six candidates is given two random words; the students then must work together to develop a business challenge and solution around these words.
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Published: February 22, 2018
Listening to LiveWire: Importance of the Interview
As MBA hopefuls endeavor to succeed in the admissions process, the pathway to an acceptance call or letter can be wrought with challenges. Clear Admit offers tools, such as MBA LiveWire, so community members can come together and ease each other’s way to business school. Today we’re taking a closer look at an entry in MBA LiveWire, dealing with angst over an interview at Chicago Booth.
The original poster sought feedback on their interview experience:
Some candidates in the same boat offered reassuring perspectives:
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Published: February 21, 2018
Why You Should Consider Yourself Lucky to Get to Write the MIT Sloan Pre-Interview Essay
Did you get invited to interview at MIT Sloan today? If so, a hearty congratulations. And if not—there’s still hope! Another batch of invites is slated to go out a week from today, on March 1st. In case you don’t know it already, for those of you who did or still might receive an invitation to interview—you’re also going to get to write an additional essay. That’s right. MIT Sloan is unique among top business schools in that it saves an application essay question for only those candidates it invites to interview. Before you groan and say, “Another essay?” you’d do
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Published: January 29, 2018
Not-to-Miss Ross Interview Tips Straight from the Admissions Director
If you’ve gone to schedule an on-campus Round 2 interview at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business only to learn that all the slots are full, you’re not alone. Soojin Kwon, Ross managing director of full-time MBA admissions and program, shared these and other updates—as well as valuable Ross interview tips—in a post today to her MBA Admissions Blog. “Shortly after posting the interview schedule, nearly all of our on-campus slots filled up,” she wrote. So her team reached out to student interviewers to volunteer more time and opened up more slots—only those filled, too!
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