Interview Questions & Reports

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: December 30, 2005

Ross MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Alumni

The interview was with Alumni Gautam Rao in Hyderabad at his office. He was pretty cool person. The Interview was basically a walk through of resume. Tell me about urself Why ROSS?? Why MBA?? Issue of Ganguly in Indian cricket as I am interested in Cricket About my venture and what went wrong with it? How could I do differently given a chance now? About the award I received from President of India About the Debate community that I started in my organisation It was pretty much it. It went fine and the interview was very professional All the best Read more

Published: December 27, 2005

Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Accepted / International alumni

Interview was very professional. Met in his office. He had only positive things to say about his Wharton experience. This was a very conversational interview. It was clearly a blind interview working loosely off of my resume. It did not seem that he was working off of any scripted questions. In fact I was suprised that there were no tricky questions (especially since he was a McKinsey? guy). Interesting note … he seemed frustrated a little with Wharton in that he commented that through the years he has seen virtually no correllation between his notes to Wharton regarding the candidate Read more

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Published: December 27, 2005

Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions

I interviewed on campus with a second year student. He was very pleasant and seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. It lasted for 30 minutes. At the end he gave me the option of either asking him questions about the program or talking about anything I felt was relevant for my admission. The questions were straightforward Tell me about yourself What is your current role at work Why did you take this role, how were you qualified What has been the biggest challenges you have had to face. what have you learnt from your mistakes in the Read more

Published: December 27, 2005

Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1

I interviewed with a second year student for an on-campus interview. He started by providing an overview of how the interview was related to the overall application process, and of the structure of the interview itself, just like in the previous posts. The questions were the standard MBA interview questions. Please run me through your resume. What are your career goals and how will an MBA help you achieve them? Why now? Why Wharton? How will students remember you at Wharton? Could you talk about a time in work where you had to overcome an obstacle? What do you want Read more

Published: December 26, 2005

Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: R1 (Waitlisted) / Alum

It was at a Starbucks. The tone was informal. The alum was in the same industry as me and faced many of the same problems. Gave us a lot in common to discuss. Questions as I remember Describe your resume. Why leave a big company for a small one. What was your thinking Did you acheive what you wanted from your new roles. What are your goals What appeals you towards Kellogg Where else have you applied Weaknesses in you and yoru application Challenges with managing people remotely. Again, it was extremely informal. He offered any further help he could Read more

Published: December 26, 2005

Columbia MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Early Decision / Alumnus / Off Campus

My interview was in London with an alum in his office. Through the CBS admissions page I received details of 3 alumni interviewers and he was the first one I called. We had to re-schedule the interview once as he had last minute meeting come up. It didn’t really seem like an interview but was more of a conversation. We started by talking about my career and the industry I work in. I have worked in US and Europe and spoke about cultural differences with some funny anecdotes. He asked me about my future goals and why I chose Columbia. Read more

Published: December 26, 2005

Harvard MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Adcom

The Harvard interview happened to be with the person who led an local reception in September. I had talked with her a little at the event. When she came to get me for my interview today, she said she recognized me. Also, once I knew it was her that was going to be interviewing me, I became much less nervous because I knew she was not likely to be too tough based on my past interaction with her and her personality. HBS is known for occasionally conducting stress interviews. She went out of her way to make sure I was Read more

Published: December 26, 2005

MIT / Sloan MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Hub / Adcom

Had my interview with adcom last week (hub interview). The questions, as noted above, were specific to my app. I was asked not to use experiences I had mentioned in my essays. Tell me a time when you felt your values were challenged. How did you feel? What did you do? How did others react? Tell me about a recent project experience. What was your role? How did you acheive these results? What did you learn? How did you learn of Sloan? What are your career plans? He also asked a series of questions based on what I had talked Read more

Published: December 25, 2005

Harvard MBA Admissions Interview Questions

Had my interview with adcom 2 weeks ago (hub interview). For the most part, it was a relaxed and informal conversation. There were very few questions specific to my app. Tell me about a recent teamwork experience at work and another one outside of work. Tell me about a decision that you regret. Why should HBS accept you versus someone with a similar profile? Tell me a time when you failed. What motivates you? Anything else you wish to tell me? My advise is to focus on experiences/attributes that are consistent with, but add new colors, to what you had Read more

Published: December 25, 2005

Harvard MBA Admissions Interview Questions: On-Campus / Member of Adcom

Started out past, present, and future. Why your college, Why your majors, Why you first employer, Why your second employer. What does a typical day look like at your present job in terms of your time spent on activities? What do you want to be doing shortly after graduation? 10 years out? What will you do if you can not do that? Why do people want to get into Private Equity (my career goal)? What about it is attractive? How will you learn at HBS? Who do you want to learn from at HBS? Tell me about a time things Read more

Published: December 24, 2005

Columbia MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Alumni

My interview was scheduled for 8:30am. I got a call from the interviewer about 10 minutes beforehand informing me very apologetically that he is catching the later ferry into the city and will be there at 9 o’clock. I figured this is good for me, since he is probably going to feel bad for making me wait and proceed to his office to wait for his arrival. He got there at 9, just as he said. We chatted for about 25 minutes. The guy was SUPER nice and easy to talk to, a principal at a pretty solid ibank. He Read more

Published: December 21, 2005

Harvard MBA Admissions Interview Questions

I had my interview with adcom on campus mid December. The adcom was nice and friendly. However, she tried to find questions that I was not comfortable with and could have not prepared for. She asked several questions specifics to my essays and also asked me to explain the content of a class I had visited a couple of weeks ago. Other questions included: What is unique about you? How would you contribute to the HBS classroom? Tell me about a CEO that you admire but a CEO you have not worked with. What are your strengths and weaknesses? Tell Read more

Published: December 20, 2005

MIT / Sloan MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Alumni / Chicago

I just got back from my interview with Rod Garcia here in Chicago. It was certainly one of my most interesting interviews. I didn’t expect as many “What did you think?” questions as he gave…hopefully I answered the questions fairly well. We met in a conference room of a consulting office downtown. Rod was very nice and friendly off of the bat and genuinely seemed like he wanted to get to know you. There was on one else in the room waiting to be interviewed, but Rod mentioned he had two days of interviews in Chicago before flying out. He Read more

Published: December 19, 2005

Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / hub / ad-com member

I had arrived about 30 mins early and we started 15 mins before my scheduled time. I guess it took a total of about 40 mins. It was a very conversational, casual sort of interview and my interviewer ensured that I was at ease at all times. It was quite a change to experience this after reading a lot about the cold, professional W interviews on various boards!! With his background of work with US military, my interviewer was quite familiar with my area of work and most of the questions were tailored to my profile. The questions included – Read more

Published: December 19, 2005

Tuck MBA Admissions Interview Questions: on campus / second year student

The interviewer picked me up from the waiting area and we headed off into one of the admissions offices so the whole situation was very informal. Questions: Walkthrough of resume. (He interrupted me to ask me about some specific details of certain international experiences and what I’d learnt from them). Why MBA? Why now? This was the standard long term/short term goals question. Why Tuck? I spoke about some experiences I’d had speaking to Tuck students and alumni. He happened to know my student contact so we spent sometime chatting about that. What was your greatest accomplishment? Example of a Read more

Published: December 19, 2005

Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Hub

The interview’s done. It went well – nothing unusual. The flow was walk me through your resume, significant accomplishment at work and community, career goals, why mba, why wharton, how would your classmates view you, anything else you want to add etc. there were a couple more, which were the usual kind. then the questions for me bit. I think in all it might have taken somewhere above 30 minutes, 40 max. flew by pretty quick. They are using the 45 minutes slot as just a buffer, you’re told its 30 minutes as soon as you step in. I think Read more

Published: December 19, 2005

Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions

I interviewed on-campus with a second year student. She was really pleasant and the interview was extremely conversational. The whole thing lasted about 25 minutes. Here are the questions as I remember them: Walk me through your resume? What are you working on right now? What will you do next week? How would your peers describe you? Discuss three strengths and three weaknesses? (perhaps the toughest question. What was she thinking? 3 weaknesses? Do many people with your non-traditional background go for MBA? Why do you want an MBA? What activities do you plan to pursue while at Wharton? Where Read more

Published: December 19, 2005

Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: R1 (Accepted) / Alum

My interview was conducted in a Starbucks near my home. The good thing was the interview tone was very casual but the bad part was that I probably ended being the best dressed guy (read misfit) at Starbucks that evening. I was a reapplicant (waitlisted through summer last year) so this interview was optional for me but I still choose to take it to better tell my story. The interview went very well. The main highlights/questions were: Why Kellogg (I shared a lot of my enthusiasm about the school..the interviewer commented that I knew more about the school than she Read more

Published: December 19, 2005

Stanford GSB MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1

The interview started on-time and lasted for about an hour. The estimated interview time is 45 min. My interviewer worked in my target industry, so we had quite a bit in common. It started out as a general conversation re: each of our backgrounds, and I had 2 minutes to talk about myself. The interviewer was fair and didn’t ask any underhanded questions. It was very straight forward. I discussed where I came from, where I’m at, and where I see myself going (and why). Besides the typical career questions, I was asked what I enjoy doing outside of work, Read more

Published: December 16, 2005

Round 1 Interview Update: 12/17/2005

Here is a copy of the email that recently went out to Berkeley R1 applicants: Thank you again for submitting your application for admission to the Berkeley MBA program. We are busy reviewing applications and preparing for the University’s winter break, and we want to share some important information with you. Next week, we will begin extending interview invitations to a small number of Round 1 applicants, and many more invitations will be sent in early January. Moreover, we will continue to send out invitations on a rolling basis through the end of January. Interviews are conducted by invitation only. Read more

Published: December 16, 2005

Berkeley / Haas Round 1 Interview Update

Published: December 14, 2005

Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: R1 / On Campus / Admitted

I thought my interview with Wharton went just so-so. I waited in the admissions office with a few other interviewees and chatted with a friendly 1st year for 10 minutes before my name was called. My interviewer was a 2nd-year student and we went into a bright and spacisous office where he began by asking me to talk about my background and walk him through my resume. Then he asked the usual, “Why MBA?”, “Why Wharton”, “How do you see yourself getting involved at Wharton?”. He did try to probe my career choices, ie. why I chose to do this, Read more

Published: December 14, 2005

Harvard MBA Admissions Interview Questions

I interviewed on campus in early December. Questions I was asked were as follows: What did you think of application process? What would you change? Why did you take job at your PE firm? What weaknesses would team members cite about you? How do you function on a team? What is misperception about you? What job would you not want? What are difficulties you may face in achieving goals? Anything else you want to discuss that we haven’t covered? Any questions for me. Read more

Published: December 13, 2005

Harvard MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Admitted!

I’m in HBS. Got my acceptance letter at noon today. It has been a great journey. Contrary to my expectations my HBS interview was a very pleasant experience. I interviewed on-campus with an admissions officer. She started with usual pleasantries: “so, how are you today?” To ease my nerves I gave a rather long but humorous response to this question. I talked about my long walk from Cambridge to HBS on that bitterly cold and windy morning and how I get sinus headaches. She then asked whether I had attended a class. Again, my response was colored with details of Read more

Published: December 13, 2005

Chicago Booth MBA Admissions Interview Questions: On-campus, Round 1, Student

I had an on-campus interview the first week of December. Interviewer was a laid-back second year student. Mostly standard questions: Tell me about yourself. Why do you want an MBA What are your goals Why GSB/why now? What would you like to tell the committee that you haven’t been asked in your apps or your interview #What specifically do you bring to the GSB community? What three adjectives will co-workers use to describe you? And what three adjectives will colleagues from <my extra-curricular activity> use to describe you? Why are they different? In five years, what three adjectives do you Read more

MBA LiveWire

January 2, 2026 10:16pm ET

Applied to UPenn / Wharton

Round: Round 2

Received via portal

Standardized Test: GRE

GPA: 3.54

GRE: 332

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Finance

Application Location: United States, San Francisco

January 2, 2026 10:00pm ET

Applied to Harvard Business School

Round: Round 2

Received via portal

Standardized Test: GRE

GPA: 3.54

GRE: 332

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Finance

Application Location: United States, San Francisco

January 2, 2026 9:59pm ET

Applied to Columbia

Round: Round 2

Received via portal

Standardized Test: GRE

GPA: 3.54

GRE: 332

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

January 2, 2026 4:53pm ET

Rejected at UVA / Darden

Round: Round 1

Received via portal on December 09, 2025

Standardized Test: GRE

GPA: 4.17

GRE: 334

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Post MBA Career: Consulting

Target Career: Finance

Application Location: Nigeria, Lagos

Note:

I was surprised at this decision, at the same time not very surprised as the interview didn’t go that well for me and I feel that was what possibly drove the decision, the interviewer (2Y MBA Student) was quite out of touch with my pre MBA career field and struggled to understand my response to the interview questions, she had to draw me back a couple of times to understand what I was speaking about, so I can imagine how she was able to make a case for me when she was struggling to understand me.

January 2, 2026 4:01pm ET

Waitlisted at Duke / Fuqua

Round: Round 1

Received via portal on December 10, 2025

Standardized Test: GRE

GPA: 4.17

GRE: 334

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Finance

Application Location: Nigeria, Lagos

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