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.
Had an interview recently? Please submit your MBA admissions interview report!
Published: February 13, 2006
Cornell / Johnson MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / On Campus
Interviewed on Campus. The woman I interviewed with was incredibly personable and friendly. She had my resume on the table when I came in and explained that the interview would be more like a conversation. I spent a lot of time taking her through my resume. While I was doing so, she guided me to tell her the following information: Why go to business school now? Why Cornell? How do you generally solve problems? How do you think you’ll be able to handle leaving the hustle and bustle of NYC to come to small-town Ithaca? Seeing as though you have
Read more
Published: February 9, 2006
Stanford GSB MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Alum
This was by far the most conversational interview I have had. It was conducted on February 8 in his office. He said it would last approximately 45 minutes to an hour, and it lasted exactly one hour. He started by introducing himself and explaining how the interview fit into the application process, then he complimented me on my resume and my accomplishments. I don’t remember him asking very many explicit questions other than: What prompted you to apply to Stanford? Describe a time when you have proposed an idea that was not initially well-received. How did you handle it? What
Read more
Had an interview recently?
Want to share your interview experience with other applicants? Fill out this brief form and we’ll post your report to our Interview Archive.
Submit an Interview Report
Published: February 5, 2006
Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Alum
I had my kellogg interview today with an alum. it went well overall i think.lasted 1 hour. very standard questions why mba why kellogg why now? how will you contribute to kellogg? what defines a leader? give me an example when you were creative? tell me about yourself? tell me about a failure/achievement – why(for achievement) and what did you learn (from failure)? The interviewer was taking detailed notes throughout
Read more
Published: February 2, 2006
Stanford GSB MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alum
After having several interviews with alum, students and adcom, I found this one unique. Although I had previously had an alum interview, I did not find it to be as comfortable/casual as this one. Having said that, the interviewer still managed to maintain a respectable level of formality, seriousness, etc. I.e. the tone was relaxed but the context what quite serious and he nonverbally made it clear that “we are here to do business.” I was thus very impressed with the ability of the interviewer to make me feel so comforable while at the same time sticking to the agenda.
Read more
Published: February 1, 2006
NYU / Stern MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Adcom / Round 2
I had my Stern on-campus interview on February 8, 2006. As soon as I checked in, the Admissions Office gave me a Stern T-Shirt and a folder containing information about specializations and clubs that I had mentioned in my application. The interview lasted 30 minutes and my interviewer asked a lot of questions; as a result, it was less conversational than other interviews I’ve had. She was not able to answer all my questions but I had lunch with a student afterwards and his input was really helpful–I highly recommend doing this if you visit Stern. There was also a
Read more
Published: February 1, 2006
NYU / Stern MBA Admissions Interview Questions
The interviewer did not have me go through my resume. The questions were as follows: What did you gain from your undergraduate experience? Why should we accept you/ what would you bring to the program? If you had to pick two extracurriculars at Stern what would they be? Describe a time at work that you were in the riders seat and you wish you were in the driver’s seat, or vice versa. When you were looking at MBA programs, what were the qualities you were looking for? How would your colleagues describe you? Do you have any questions for me?
Read more
Published: January 31, 2006
Tuck MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Student
My early morning interview was fairly short – 20 minutes – the interviewer had to be somewhere else. She was a 2nd year and seemed to have a list of generic questions that she went through. The interview was totally blind as I hadn’t even submitted my application at the time. The first was “This is your first visit to Tuck and you haven’t had a chance to sit in on a class or take a school tour. How do you know that Tuck is the right place for you?” The remaining were: Walk me through your resume Why an
Read more
Published: January 31, 2006
Columbia MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Alumnus
I was given three names to contact. Besides their names and year of graduation, I didn’t have any other info on them. The interviewer only had access to my resume. Interview lasted 40 minutes. I don’t think he had a script of questions but he was given an outline of areas to cover in the interview. It was very conversational. He would tell me about his experiences throughout the interview. 1. Why MBA? Why now? Why Columbia? 2. What other schools did you apply to? Where are you in the process? Why Columbia over those schools in particular? 3. What
Read more
Published: January 31, 2006
Columbia MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Alumni / San Francisco / Regular Decision
1) Walk me through your resume. 2) Where do you want to be/what do you want to do? (why mba?) 3) Why Columbia? 4) Columbia is known as a finance business school, why does someone with your background want to attend Columbia? (interviewer had finance background) 5) What kind of leader are you? 6) What makes you different? 7) Any questions for the interviewer? The interviewer was very friendly as it was very conversational and it seemed like he was genuinely interested in my story. Make sure you are prepared and have a good answer to sell yourself why you
Read more
Published: January 30, 2006
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Alum
I had my interview with a Wharton alumni (class of 2004), and wanted to share my perspective. I had a somewhat unique situation, as it turns out one of my good friends from college is also friends with the guy who would up as my interviewer…so there was a little prep/massaging done prior to my entering the room. Regardless, I think my experience makes it clear that the interview follows a distinctive format. First thing the guy said was “I don’t want this to be incredibly formal if you don’t.” So I just nodded my head and said, “Sounds good
Read more
Published: January 29, 2006
Chicago Booth MBA Admissions Interview Questions: On campus / 2nd Year Student / Round 1
To begin the interview, the student mentioned that he was originally from New Jersey, close to where I currently live. After some small talk about finals (I was there during finals week) and my method of transportation to the GSB (the El, which I don’t recommend for a first time trip), we started the formal part of the interview. Most of the questions were quite straightforward: Tell me about yourself? Why do you want an MBA and what are your future goals? Why the GSB and why now? Is there anything about your application that you would like the adcom
Read more
Published: January 27, 2006
Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Off campus
Posted by Pupstar78 My Kellogg interview was held at McKinsey’s offices in the SF’s Bank of America building. I had a 10:00 a.m. slot — Kellogg alumni ran the 1:1 interviews — 12 applicants per hour starting with the 9 a.m. slot and ending with the 1 p.m. slot. I was matched up with a recent Kellogg alumn (’01) who had pursued brand management (my intended post-MBA field) following Kellogg. There was an added bonus — following her consumer products stint, she went to work for a bay area consumer tech company, and had a good sense
Read more
Published: January 27, 2006
UCLA / Anderson MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Alum / Super Saturday
I interviewed at UCLA as part of Super Saturday before end of Round 2 interview deadline. The day started off with a Information session from 9am – 10am. The adcom mentioned that there were a lot of people interviewing on the day and all the interviews will be conducted by either alumni or students. After the information session, we were asked to hang around the admissions office where first year students were available to mingle with us and answer any questions. I think this was a nice touch by the school to help the applicants to learn more about the
Read more
Published: January 27, 2006
UCLA / Anderson MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Alum / Super Saturday Interview
I interviewed on Jan 28th, 2006, a Super Saturday. I interviewed with a recent alum. As others have mentioned, it was a blind interview; I gave my interviewer my resume when I got there. Some questions: Walk me through your resume (starting with college). This included sub questions like why did you choose your major, why did you make that job transition, what made you interested in that, etc What are your post-MBA career goals? What are your two weaknesses? Can you give me examples? What do you do outside of work? My interviewer also focused a lot on the
Read more
Published: January 24, 2006
Columbia MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Almunus / Off Campus
January 06, Chicago. The interview was with an alumni (MBA ’01) in Chicago. We met in Starbucks in Sears Tower (downstairs from my office) and spent about 1 hour and 15 mins for the interview. The interview was very informal, as expected. To summarize, the interview was just a discussion with me in focus. Questions: What do you like to do, at work and for leisure? What did you work on today? What is your progress at work? What were challenges as work? To what other schools did you apply? Why Columbia? The interviewer asked me about the admissions process
Read more
Published: January 23, 2006
Ross MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Off-campus / alumni
It started very formal, with the interviewer reading a description from an official packet, then launched into a series of standard questions. After about 5-10 minutes, it became much more conversational and fun, less formal. Interview portion lasted about ~25 minutes with 10 minutes of me asking questions. Her questions: Tell me about yourself, walk me through your resume Specific questions about my resume (she had asked for it before and was prepared with detailed questions) Why MBA? What hope to achieve during MBA, what specifically at Ross? What do I bring to the table, what one thing will I
Read more
Published: January 23, 2006
Tuck MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2
My interviewer was a male second year student (formerly in the military) who was very friendly and did try to sell the school. We talked a lot about my work experience – and I did highlight the fact that I had worked with colleagues abroad, etc. We also talked a little about my China experience – he found the fact that I was in Beijing during the SARS epidemic quite interesting. (He lived in different countries in Asia so is more or less familiar with the place). We also talked a little bit about my hobbies. He asked me the
Read more
Published: January 23, 2006
MIT / Sloan MBA Admissions Interview Questions: adcom / R1
As others have noted, you will probably only get asked 1-2 main questions, and then spend the whole interview getting probed on those. So it’s important to prepare high-yield examples in advance, preferably from work – especially since you can’t use any of the topics in your essay. My interviewer primed me on the interview style beforehand, and told me because of the nature of the interview, it was perfectly fine to pause and think about it before providing my example. I did this prior to both questions to collect my thoughts, and he didn’t seem to mind. Specific questions
Read more
Published: January 22, 2006
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Alum
My interview was very pleasant, although a bit harder than my HBS interview surprisingly. The interview lasted for an hour and 15 minutes, which I think is probably much longer than usual. The interview was very friendly, and I felt very comfortable. It seemed like the interviewer had a set of questions in mind to ask me before I arrived. The interviewer was also very honest and gave me a positive evaluation of what he thought my fit for the school would be. He also walked me through the steps of the admissions process. Questions (in no particular order): Walk
Read more
Published: January 21, 2006
Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Alumni
I received the contact info from Kellogg for a local alumna. She was pretty quick to respond to my e-mail. We agreed to meet at a coffee shop. She had just graduated in the past year and I was her first applicant interview. The interview lasted about two hours. Questions: Tell me about your career progression. What is your typical role in a team? Tell me about a time where your role in the team changed. Tell me about a time when you led your team to overcome an obstacle. What do you enjoy about helping people? Why are you
Read more
Published: January 20, 2006
MIT / Sloan MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Ad Com
My MIT interviewer was a member of AdCom. She was familiar with my entire application. Most of her questions asked me to go deeper into experiences from my essays and resume. Interview lasted 30 minutes. Questions: Why MBA? Why now? What made you decide to apply to MIT? What surprises you most about MIT? Tell me more about your current responsibilities. What are your career goals? Tell me about a significant leadership experience. What is your relationship with your manager? What is his role vs your role?
Read more
Published: January 19, 2006
Tuck MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Student / on-campus
My Tuck interview was the first one I did – probably not the best idea since it’s pretty high on my list of choices. I had been to the Dartmouth campus a few times during undergrad, so I was familiar with the environment. There were about 15 others visiting the same day as I, and I realized quickly how tight the timeliness were for completing an interview. As everyone else does, I interviewed with a 2nd year student. I was a bit nervous, but I think that’s par for the course. Some of the good things: Similar work background to
Read more
Published: January 19, 2006
Chicago Booth MBA Admissions Interview: On campus / 2nd Year Student
The interviewer asked all the standard questions (goals, why MBA, why now, why the GSB etc). Therefore, I’ll just elucidate on slight variants and questions I wasn’t quite prepared for. A common question is how your co-workers would describe you. My interviewer asked me how my supervisor would describe me, which threw me a little. I was asked about a difficult problem I faced that I had to solve. This type of question is so broad that it provides an opportunity to share something you’d like the interviewer to know. At the end, I was asked if there was anything
Read more
Published: January 19, 2006
UCLA / Anderson MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Adcom / R2
The following is a brief summary of my interview and visit experience: The UCLA campus is beautiful and Anderson in particular has a very new, and beautiful facility. The class I sat in on focused on was excellent and the students seemed more knowledgeable and accomplished than those at schools with higher rankings that i visited. I was very impressed. The interview is a 1/2 hour interview with one of four associate admissions directors. The main focus of the interview covered the following two questions: Please explain your resume and work history to me. Why is Anderson so appealing to
Read more
Published: January 18, 2006
Wharton MBA Admissions Interview Questions
I interviewed during round 1 on campus with a second year student. The interviewer asked all the standard questions, plus the Wharton-specific question about potential red flags in my application. Therefore, I’ll just elucidate on slight variants and questions I wasn’t quite prepared for. Rather than asking “why Wharton,” the question I was very much prepared for, the interviewer asked what qualities I looked for when I was deciding which MBA programs to apply to. It’s not difficult to re-frame your answer by listing attributes that naturally lead you to Wharton, but I certainly would have done a better job
Read more
