Our archive of over 2,000 MBA admissions interview questions includes self-reported accounts from applicants. Please use the dropdown menu to view filter reports by school.
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Published: November 14, 2006
Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1
Here are my interview questions — Run me through your resume. Why MBA? How will it help you? Why now? Why Kellogg in particular? What is your biggest achievement and why do you view it as such. What is your biggest failure and what did you learn from it? Long term and short term goals Describe an experience where you motivated your followers…. Why do you think you were able to do it? Outside work what do you do? General comments: I had a pretty good feel overall and seemed like I connected with the interviewer who was second year
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Published: November 14, 2006
Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Alumni / Round 1
My interview was relatively laid back. It was less than a mile from my house, at the alumni’s office. He rescheduled on me a few times, but it worked out in the end. He was very friendly. I was a little intimidated at first because he’s relatively accomplished (numerous articles appear upon googling him). It was my first interview so I was definitely nervous… he didn’t ask me anything difficult. In fact, he began with an introduction on his own background which made the interview much more conversational… -Tell me about yourself. Where are you from? (I started with undergrad,
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Published: November 10, 2006
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alumni
Completed Date: Nov 11 2006 Duration: 40 minutes Questions: Walk me thru your Resume? Short term and long term goals Why MBA? How Wharton can help Example of Managing Conflicts Your favorite team Example of a difficult team situation Hobbies What if not admitted to any mba programs If you had 2 minutes to plead to the adcom There were some 7-10 follow up and other questions related to my role and job. It was a great experience.
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Published: November 9, 2006
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / On Campus
I did my interview this past Friday (mid november) at Wharton. I wanted to attend a class, but I was in such in a rush to sign up for the interview that I forgot that there are no classes on Friday. My interview wasn’t until 2:15pm, so I took the liberty of walking around the Penn campus. One of the Veterans Club representatives was generous to meet with me in short notice and helped ease my nerves a bit. He was impressive and extremely enthusiastic about the school. I would encourage anyone to talk to a few students before going
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Published: November 8, 2006
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / On Campus
Applicant for Fall 2007 Interviewer: Second year MBA student whose MBA focus was finance. I had to relate my goals and background in an easy to understand manner. She put me at ease by making some small talk initially. Questions were fairly standard: Career path Why MBA Why now and Why Wharton What would you bring to Wharton What are your extra-curricular interests In-depth question on two of my extra-curricular activities Leadership style and one weakness Then I asked the interviewer some questions. The overall experience was fairly positive.
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Published: October 23, 2006
Tuck MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Second Year Student
My interview was at 3.00 p.m, the last one for the day. I reached Dartmouth in the morning and met with other candidates (around 10 of them). We were met by the first year students who took us to their “Leading Organizations” class which was lot of fun. Lunch with first years, where we asked them lots of questions, on admissions, life at Tuck, Tuck’s rigorous Fall quarter. One thing that I noticed, from every one I met there, was that they love the life at Tuck, whether they came from a city or a town or a village. Lunch
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Published: September 18, 2006
Yale SOM MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1, Second Year Student
My interview was with a second year student. The conversation was fairly straight forward. No tough questions at all. Go over your resume. Before I finished with the first question, she asked me about why I needed to pursue an MBA, I also gave the answer of why now Then the typical: Why Yale All the above went in about fifteen minute (I felt, did not have time to watch time), then it was time for me to ask questions. I asked about the most enjoyable class, the school and outdoor activities, but seemed she was not active in the
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Published: September 16, 2006
UVA / Darden MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Applicant-initiated interview at Darden / Adcom
My interviewer was an Admissions Committee member. I hadn’t submitted my application and the surprising thing was that I didn’t even have to submit my resume before the interview. When I handed it to my interviewer, she turned it face down and said she would read it only while filling out the interview report. The school really seems to want to get to know you as a person. I was asked just one question “Tell me your life story – everything that you consider to be important. Along the way, cover your career so far, why you want to do
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Published: September 14, 2006
Chicago Booth Evening MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Alumni
6/7/2006- Did my interview last week with an alumnus and received the offer of admission this week for the Evening MBA program. I have a fairly unique background which seems to be a plus based on the majority of forums and blogs, but the alum was still relatively closely matched up. A little extra on me- I did strictly self-study for the GMAT and scored a 710 (I mention the self-study for anyone wondering about taking a class), my undergrade GPA was 3.41, I’m 31, and have right at 5 years of relevant work experience. I just want to add
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Published: April 29, 2006
INSEAD MBA Admissions Interview Questions: R2 Interviews in Brazil
Fortunately, I was able to schedule both interviews on the same day and so saved myself a ton of hassle, but it also meant that i couldn’t use one interview to prepare for the other, since they were back-to-back. The questions were pretty standard and as long as you know your essays and know for sure why you’re applying to the programs, there’s not much difficulty to be encountered there. My first interview was with a female alum, the second with a male. Both had a consulting history, although the woman had recently switched industry and is now strategic director
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Published: April 27, 2006
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 3 / On Campus
questions were: overview of yourself we want students who take leadership roles… give me an example of when you ve been a leader why mba now and why wharton? what goals for the future? what strengths would your work colleagues acknowledge about you? and one weakness what do you do outside work? what would you do if one person of your working team doesnt perform at wharton? any special circumstances about your application the AdCom should know of? then questions to him.
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Published: April 24, 2006
NYU / Stern MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Adcom
Stern requires that you visit the school for the interview. All interviews are done by adcom employees, and if not direct employees then alumni or students who work for the admissions office. They give you the option of scheduling lunch with a student and a class visit with your interview – if you haven’t ever visited, I would take the option to do both. I also asked the student to give me a quick tour of the building – that actually was very interesting. They also have guided tours, but it was nice to have a student’s perspective. Interview: I
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Published: April 16, 2006
UVA / Darden MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Adcom
I interviewed at Darden with a member of the admissions staff. She interviewed me without referring to a resume or any other information, so the interview was completely blind–she just knew my name. The question that she asked was: “Tell me your story and specify why you made your choices and what you learned.” During the story she asked me follow up questions about specifics: based on what criteria did you select Darden, what specific skills are you looking to gain by attending Darden (the “advance business skills” answer was too general, so I had to add a few). Some
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Published: April 16, 2006
IESE MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 5 / Adcom / Off-campus
Originally shared in Jacek’s blog Interviewed by Genevieve Slonim – NYC – May 10th via VC First of all, if you have the means to interview in person, do not rely on VC, it is impersonal, and distant. My experience included the VC place giving me the wrong ISDN No., the call dropping every few minutes, the sound / video quality was awful, the room was dry, and as someone who does magically interviews the whole VC thing was an utter disaster. Moving on, I was initially asked about my background. I plan to move to Europe upon matriculation of
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Published: April 13, 2006
Chicago Booth MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Adcom, Off Campus
I did my Chicago interview in Bombay with a member of admissions committee. Surprisingly enough, at the beginning of the interview my interviewer admitted that she was nervous about conducting it. I am not sure whether she was really nervous, but that definitely made me more comfortable. She had my resume marked with notes and questions, and she started with a typical walk me through your resume question. As I started explaining, she asked me specifics about my experiences. There was no clear structure to the interview and it became very informal within first 10 minutes or so. She asked
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Published: April 12, 2006
INSEAD MBA Admissions Interview Questions: R2 Interview with Alum
I had my first interview with INSEAD 20th February. The alum who conducted it was a graduate in 2003 and is a Malaysian. Overall, I think the interview went well. It was very casual, and I felt a bit overdressed with a tie on. He was dressed in business attire sans tie and coat. The questions mainly centered on “Why MBA?”, “Why Now?” & “Why INSEAD”. I felt that I ended telling much of my life story while answering the first two questions. The third one was quite tough as I had to justify why INSEAD would be the logical
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Published: March 29, 2006
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: R2 / On Campus
The interviewer introduced himself and gave me a brief background about himself. The interview proceeded as follows: Tell me about why you chose your major and why you chose to join company X Interviewer noted a leadership position on my resume and asked for an example of something I did which helped me reach this leadership position. How do you define success? if a team member is not completing their tasks, how would you deal with them? What would your coworkers note as your strenghts? What are your career goals, why mba? Anything in your profile which the adcom would
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Published: March 27, 2006
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: On Campus Interview / Round 2
Very nice interviewer – told me as soon as we sat down that there would be no hard or trick questions. Walk me thru your resume Why wharton? If you were in a learning group and the person assigned to be the leader was slacking, what would you do? What are your weaknesses? What would you contribute to the class? what is the biggest weakness in your application? How would your friends describe you? If you had a month off tomorrow, what would you do?
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Published: March 27, 2006
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / On Campus
The interviewer was a second year student and her business card states that she was a member of the admissions committee. First of all, she explained the purpose of the interview was to help the school to know more about me, as well as an opportunity for me to get to know more about the program. She also briefly introduced her background, an investment banker at Goldman. As usual, she asked me to go through my resume, and then why mba. I guess I gave very specific answers to that question, eg improve my teamwork skills in a team environment,
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Published: March 26, 2006
UVA / Darden MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Applicant initiated / Student interview / Round 2
It was a blind interview conducted by a second year student. I was basically asked to give my life story and discuss how and why I made certain decisions along my career path. I believe I was well-prepared to discuss and explain the rationale for my decisions to attend the undergraduate school, selection of major and career path. However, I was also sure to discuss what I believed to be the strengths of my candidacy, to include leadership experience. Program Fit. I believe that you have to truly understand why you want to learn with the case study method. Additionally,
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Published: March 25, 2006
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Hub interview – Paris
So…it happened finally…the much awaited Wharton Interview. It was a hub interview in Paris with Marilyn Yakowitz (yes she is the same lady from OECD when you google her name, which is so cool). I arrived at the office of Bain and Company at 50 Avenue Montaigne (must say its a nice office, could see basilique mont martre and the louvre from the office over the Champs Elysse…ahh the sight) at 8:30 AM (1/2 and hour before my interview). The wait was interesting, as I was reading about the takeover bid by EON and the oil security crisis in Nigeria
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Published: March 25, 2006
Harvard MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Rd 2 / on campus / adcom / Admitted
Adcom was very game-faced – polite, but businesslike. Interview was 30 min exactly. She didn’t want my updated resume and told me at the outset that we had exactly 30 minutes, and not to feel bad if I was frequently interrupted. She did interrupt maybe 3 or 4 times. Preparation was useful, but there would have been no way to prepare for the hard “off the cuff” questions that she asked. Here are my questions/answers (no particular order) Name a CEO you admire: Asked me to explain a bit more about what my role at work. Asked if the power-sharing
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Published: March 23, 2006
Harvard MBA Admissions Interview Questions: On Campus / Admissions assistant director
I checked in 15 minutes early at the admission office. However, my interviewer greeted me sharp on time. and took me to her office. The interviewer is an assistant director, a very nice and pleasant lady. She didn’t chit chat much and started to explain about the interview process. She mentioned that it would be 30 minutes and I would not have time to ask any question while she would keep track of her time every now and then. She also advised I might email to the admission office later if I want more information about the program. Here are
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