Duke Fuqua MBA Admissions Interviews

In my experience, Duke interviews are all about fit. Frankly, I would not characterize the interviews for Team Fuqua as hard when compared to those of other top schools.

In addition to my experience, I have reviewed reports of Duke University 's Fuqua School of Business interviews found at accepted.com and clearadmit.com

You need to know your resume completely as you will likely be asked about content in it. Review it carefully and consider what your interviewer might ask you to explain more thoroughly. If it is on your resume, it is fair game. That said, don't be surprised if the interviewer is using a standardized list of questions. I think it is worth remembering the kind of roles a resume is likely to play in your interview:

A First Impression:   Make sure your resume is really designed for ease of use by the interviewer.  One of my objectives when helping a client with a resume is always to focus on how effective the resume is for this purpose.

Agenda Setting Device: To a greater or lesser extent, a resume has an agenda setting function in many interviews.

Bobby Trap:  The resume can blow-up in your face if you are not careful.  Failure to review your own resume closely prior to interviewing can put you in an awkward position if you are not fully prepared to discuss everything on it.

Your Main Depository of Past Experience Answers: Since you have presumably highlighted many of the key things you would actually want to discuss on your resume, it is in essence, a primary source for your answers to past experience questions. Especially when I working with a client with limited English ability, I will tell them to practice explaining “Who What Why How When” questions related to their resume.

In addition, since you might get asked to “Tell me something about yourself that is not covered on your resume,” you can use the resume to figure out what that would be.

You need to be prepared to answer routine MBA questions. Most reported interviews simply consist of them. Please refer to my prior overall MBA admissions strategy interview posts (here, here, here, and here) for general advice on prepare for the Fuqua interview. Typical Duke questions include:

-Walk me through your resume.

-Why MBA?

-Why Duke?

-How will contribute to Fuqua?

-What are your short term and long term goals?

-Tell me about a time when you received a negative feedback and you did not agree with it?

-Tell me about a time when one of your team members did not participate well?What did you do?

-Discuss your strengths and weaknesses

- Tell me about a situation where you worked with a team and there was a difference in opinion and how you helped reconcile the situation to come to a solution.

-Do you have any questions for me?

While there are occasional unexpected hypothetical and/or critical thinking questions, especially from alum and adcom, this seems to be rare.

Interviewers (students, adcom, or alum) are friendly, passionate about Duke, and consistently try to create a very relaxed interview atmosphere. This is an interview about fit (just like Duke's essays), so make sure you can explain in depth why you want to become a part of Team Fuqua and how you will contribute to it. Previous contact with alum, visits to campus, and/or intensive school research are all great ways to prepare.

Reported interview length could be from 30 to 60 minutes, with most reported interviews taking 45 minutes.

Click here to find out about my interview preparation services.

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

University of Michigan Ross MBA Admissions Interviews

Interviews for the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business are not particularly hard. Based on my experience as well as the reports found at accepted.com and clearadmit.com, I can say that they are generally seem to be friendly, focused on fit, and require the applicant to discuss the basics. Please refer to my prior overall MBA admissions strategy interview posts( here, here, here, and here) for general advice on prepare for the Ross interview.

Ross interviews are conducted blind, but since what you say in the interview will be checked against what you wrote, make certain that your oral and written presentations are consistent, especially in terms of your goals.

My colleagues Steve Green and Jessica King have compiled the following common Ross interview questions based on publicly available reports:

INTRODUCTION AND “BASICS” (GOALS, REASONS FOR MBA)

• Tell me about yourself.  Walk me through your resume. What should I know about you? *Probe resume: Cross-reference, push for details about why and how.
• Why did you choose your undergraduate school/major, current employer etc.
• Tell me about your current position and responsibilities.
• What do you do outside of work?
• What are your career goals?
• Why do you want an MBA?
• Why Ross?
• Why now?
• How will you be involved inside/outside of the classroom?
• What will your biggest contribution be?
• What will you do if not accepted to Ross?

TEAMS

• How would you deal with a teammate who doesn’t act like a team player?
• Tell me how you dealt with a team member who was under-performing.
• Tell me about your role on a team.
• Tell me about a time when your team faced a lot of obstacles? What did you learn?
• Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a disagreement on a team.
• What would you do in a team consisting of members with strong personalities?
• Tell me about a time when you worked effectively in a team. What do you think made the team so effective?

LEADERSHIP

• Tell me about a time you showed initiative.
• How do you manage conflict?
• Please give me 3 examples of your leadership experience?
• What does leadership mean to you?
• Tell me about a time you had to deal with a struggling team member.

OTHER BEHAVIORAL QUESTIONS

• Tell me about a time when you had a professional failure and what you learned from it.
• Tell me about a time when you received negative feedback from a supervisor and how did you respond.
• Tell me about a disappointment you’ve experienced.
• Tell me about a time you had to think outside the box.

SELF-AWARENESS/PERSONAL

• Key learnings from the last 4 years of your work experience.
• Most significant accomplishment.
• What is your definition of success?
• What was the most useful constructive criticism you’ve received?
• What 3 adjectives would your friends use to describe you and why?
• What makes you unique?
• What was a challenging experience in your life?
• What do you do for fun?
• Tell me about any volunteer/charity work you’ve done.
• What is the last book you read?
• What is something about you that isn’t on your resume?
• What question do you wish I would have asked?

Ross interviewers are admissions officers, students, and alumni and interviews can be in person or by telephone.  For a discussion of the characteristics of admissions officer interviewers, student interviewers, and alumni interviewers, see here. Reported length for interviews is usually 30 minutes with some going 45 minutes and few lasting an hour (these seem to be an exception). Campus interviews will most likely be 30 minutes. Given that this is a short interview, I think it is particularly important that you have a very clear idea about what you want to cover. The most frustrating thing about such an interview could easily be lack of time to cover your own perceived key points, so make sure that when you think about the likely questions above, you have fully considered how you will use your answers as a vehicle to help your interviewer understand why you should be offered a place at Michigan. For more about strategy, see here.

If you are interviewed by a student, take it seriously! Apparently a sufficient number of applicants were not in R1 for 2010 admission because Soojin Kwon Koh, the Director of Admissions, posted the following:

I wanted to pass on a bit of advice to Round 2 (and 3) applicants based on some experiences during Round 1. It seems that some applicants view interviews with an MBA2 who is part of the Admissions Student Committee as less "serious" than an interview with an alumnus or staff member. Some applicants were a bit unprofessional, shall we say, probably thinking that an MBA2 is on the level of a peer/buddy rather than a bona fide admissions interviewer. Don't let that be you. 

Treat whoever you interview with equal seriousness. 

Click here to find out about my interview preparation services.

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

General Characteristics of Admissions Officers, Students, and Alumni Interviewers

Clients frequently ask me, if they are given choice, about whether to choose an interview with an alumni, a student, and/or admissions officer.  While my answer to such questions might be very school specific, at times I think it is really just a question of my client's preference.  Still, for most applicants, I would suggest choosing an admissions officer if you can. Otherwise,  between campus (unknown student interviewer/admissions officer) and alumni, it is less clear.  Therefore, I think it is useful to consider the general characteristics of the three different types of interviewers.  This is just my perspective based on helping clients prepare for MBA interviewers since 2001.  Keep in mind that what follows is neither school or individual specific, but really just general characteristics, which may or may not apply to the specific school you interview with or your particular interviewer.  

Explanation of the above table

Maturity & professionalism

One of the best reasons I can think of for choosing to interview or hoping to interview with an admissions officer is that you can assume the person you deal with will be a mature professional.  Based both on what clients have told me and by reading a large number of interview reports, I know that student interviewers are not always reliable in this respect.  Consider that at least some student interviewers are doing this work because it gives them interviewer experience.  

With alumni, I wish I could say the situation was totally positive, but actually the worst interviews I have heard about were with highly unprofessional alumni, hence my "variable" for a category that is, generally speaking, professional and mature.  Most alumni interviewers are mature and professional, but a few are really bad eggs.

Among top US MBA programs, the school with the most alumni interview horror stories is most certainly Columbia Business School.  Given their very open process where candidates choose from many possible alumni, there appears to be very little direct oversight over the interviewer selection process. It is no wonder that CBS admissions seems to frequently conduct short follow-up telephone interviews with applicants.  

For 2012 admission, Wharton eliminated alumni interviewers completely and I think this was good thing for applicants overall, though it was not well implemented in R1 (not enough interview spaces in overseas locations and lack of initial clarity about telephone/skype interview options), but they now seem to have their act together.  Anyone familiar with the Wharton interview process (Especially before Fall 2011) could see that the quality of the interviews being conducted was simply highly variable.  By using only admissions officers and well trained students, Wharton is not only giving applicants a more fair interview experience, but likely getting better interview reports.

WHAT DO IF YOU FEEL THAT A STUDENT OR ALUMNI INTERVIEWER DID NOT TREAT YOU IN A PROFESSIONAL MANNER AND YOU EXPECT A NEGATIVE EVALUATION:  Document what you experienced in as much detail as possible.  Was the interview expressing some sort of inherent bias against you?  Was the interview using rude language?  Was the interviewer unreasonably aggressive?  Was the interviewer asking you for some sensitive information or a business related connection? Next, discuss what you experienced with a trusted adviser (admissions consultant, mentor) who you can expect honest feedback from.  If after that discussion, you feel that you really were not treated appropriately, contact admissions and provide them with the full details.  Admissions Directors are aware that problems arise and assuming your case is valid, you will likely be offered a new interviewer. At minimum, you will be helping to prevent some asshole from wrecking other applicants' chances.

Knowledge of current program 

The issue comes up most frequently in the "any questions" section of the interview. While you should assume that an admissions officer knows their program well, even if they don't because they are new to the program, you should feel free to ask them questions about the particular parts of the program you are interested in.  For students, they will know about the current program, but as this would be limited to their experience,  don't be surprised if they can't comment on every course or club.  Just ask open-ended questions so that you don't put someone in the position of indicating repeatedly that they have not taken it or experienced it. Asking open-ended questions always applies to alumni as well, because depending on when they graduated, their knowledge of the current program is highly variable.  Asking a member of the Class of 2010 about courses she recommends makes sense, but asking that question to a member of the Class of 2000?  Just ask questions that you think your interviewer will have some reasonable basis for answering.

Arbitrary Questions

You've reviewed all of the interview reports on Clear Admit and Accepted and/or the question lists I have on my blog (At the moment consisting of CBS, Chicago Booth, Cornell, Haas, HBS, INSEAD, Kellogg, Michigan, MIT, Stanford, Tuck, and Wharton) or found such questions elsewhere, but how much can you depend on those being the types of questions you will be asked?   For admissions interviewers, you can likely assume they will stick to the script and are less likely to ask seemingly arbitrary questions, but such questions are still possible.  With students, they also tend to stick to the script, but it is a bit more variable. With alumni interviewers, this is more likely.  The best indicator of the likelihood that you will be asked unexpected, seemingly arbitrary questions is the extent to which they come up in actual interviews.

Experienced at Interviewing

With admissions officers, it is safe to assume that they will be experienced at interviewing unless they are newbies (It does happen).  With students, it is less likely they will be experienced and this is why there exist many interview reports that mention the relative inexperience/awkwardness of the interviewer. Alumni interviews are likely to be very experienced, but new graduates might not be.

Experienced the MBA program 

While some admissions officers will have attended the MBA program they work for, most have not and only some of them will have an MBA. Students will have obviously experienced the program, but as they are in the midst of it, they might not be as able to discuss it overall as an alumni interviewer who has experienced it completely. 

Realistic about the program

You can expect students and alumni to be realistic about the program and even though they are representing their school, you can expect them to tell what they like/liked and dislike/disliked about the program when you ask a question like "What do you like best/least about the program?"  With admissions, you would not necessarily ask them the sort question anyway.  Their real connection to the MBA program is highly variable and since half their job is to market the program as well as administer who enters the program, you can't expect total honesty. 

Sells the Program 

When it comes to actually selling their program,  I don't assume much difference between an MBA admissions officer and a car salesman except that the car salesman can give you a real test drive. Of course, in an MBA interview, only lower ranking programs need to do much sales.  I have never heard of an admissions officer at HBS selling their MBA because they don't need to.  The easier it is to get in, the more likely adcom will be doing the selling. With student interviewers, this is highly variable.  It is likely that an alumni interviewer will sell the benefits of the program, especially when they clearly like who they are interviewing.

Ability to ask more focused & personalized questions

Admissions interviewers are most likely to be able to really ask focused and personalized questions, whereas student interviewers being less experienced, probably are not.  Alumni interviewers are likely to do as well.  In general, more experienced interviewers know how to ask better questions that relate to the applicant.

Uses shared primary (not English) language with applicant    

It would be unlikely that an admissions officer or student interviewer would use any language other than English for an interview.  With alumni outside of the US and other native English speaking countries, this is quite variable.  I think one good reason for getting rid of alumni interviewers  is that using a language other than English for at least part of the interview happens too often regardless of the fact that admissions officers don't want it to happen at all (and make that clear in the directions they give alumni).  While it might seem it is to the advantage of the applicant, I have had a number of clients who felt that it is was not to their advantage to switch between languages and communication styles, to interview with an alumni who was not that comfortable speaking in English, and/or to not fully have the opportunity to highlight their high level English skills. This issue is particularly common in East Asia.  I have heard of this arising elsewhere, but not with as much apparent frequency. For international students with limited English ability, interacting with an alumni interviewer who shares your linguistic background is generally a better choice.

Same nationality as applicant

Like it or not, most people find it easier to talk with someone who shares their cultural assumptions, so having the same nationality as your interviewer can be an advantage. For applicants located in the their home country and applying internationally, the best argument for selecting an alumni interviewer over a student or admissions officer is that it will likely be easier to communicate with someone who even if they don't share your nationality, at least understand your culture.  Alumni interviewers, whether resident foreigners or those who share your nationality will likely need significantly less explanation to understand you. For applicants interviewing in their home country with a student interviewer, be aware that your interviewer maybe an international student.  Bottom line: Especially if you don't know who your student or, in some more limited cases, alumni interviewer is ahead of time, don't make any assumptions about their background.

Greatest impact on admissions decisions

I don't care what admissions offices say about all interviews being the same.  While that is certainly theoretically true, I think it is safe to assume that interviews with admissions officers are more likely to have a greater impact on admissions decisions than those conducted by students or alumni. If an admission officer is truly impressed by a candidate, their ability to communicate that in their evaluation will simply carry greater weight.  To think otherwise is naive.  Call my cynical about this. I can take it.

Click here to find out about my interview preparation services.

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

Recovering from a bad answer during an MBA admissions interview

In the midst of an MBA admissions interview, you think to yourself, "Did I just say that?"  Knowing you just made mistake, you ...

(A) ...become flustered and the interview just goes downhill.

(B) ...ignore your bad answer entirely and hope your interviewer does too.

(C)...just decide to directly ask the interviewer if you can expand on your prior answer...

(D)  The above all seem like bad options. There must be a better way.

The answer is (D).  (B) might be viable, but if you can mitigate a bad answer, that would be better than ignoring it completely.   (C) might be viable, but the chances of effectively executing vary too greatly.  (A) is obviously not the way to go.

In this post I wanted to present some ways to recovering from a bad answer during an MBA admissions interview. 

My prior overall MBA admissions strategy interview posts are  here, here, here, and here. My school specific interview posts (At the moment consisting of CBS, Chicago Booth, Cornell, Haas, HBS, INSEAD, Kellogg, Michigan, MIT, Stanford, Tuck, and Wharton) can be found in the "Key Posts" section in the left-hand column.

1. Don't breakdown.  The worst thing you can possibly do is become so obviously flustered by a poor answer that you undermine the OVERALL IMPRESSION you make.  An interview is about both specific answers and an overall impression. Not every answer has to be perfect to succeed in this process.  Some people become stuck when they encounter a question that they have not previously considered.  My suggestion is that it is better to give a bad answer with confidence than to give a bad answer without confidence.  Don't question yourself too much in the moment.  You can beat yourself up after the interview.

2. Don't lose confidence. Related to the previous comment, confidence is always a selling point. If you don't believe in what you are saying, no one else will. Even if what you are saying is highly flawed, if it is conveyed with confidence it can have a positive impact on the interviewer.  Sometimes really smart people are much worse at interviewing than others because of their tendency towards introspection.  While it is possible that you might encounter an interviewer who really wants to engage with you at a complex analytical level, based on most interview reports from most schools, this is not the case.  There are always exceptions, but in general assume an interview is not analytical debate, but a directed conversation with varying degrees of followup from your interviewer.

3. If possible mitigate.  If you know you gave a weak answer, try to mitigate the impact by addressing the issue in another context in the conversation. For example, if you gave an answer about a question related to teamwork where you did not actually emphasize your teamwork, try to make that point later in the conversation. Most interviews end with something like "Do you have anything you would like to tell me?" or "Do you have any questions?"  You can always use such opportunities to mention your skills at teamwork or a contribution you would like to make as a student based on your teamwork ability.  Mitigating works best for those who know their key selling points and stories very well, so that they can easily bring in something that they missed in the initial answer.

4. Go on the next question. Recovering immediately is about simply moving on and not becoming fixated on what happened in the past.  Treat each question as a new opportunity to convince your interviewer that you belong at their MBA program.

5. Smile, make eye contact, maintain positive body language. The natural inclination of many people, when giving a weak answer is often reflected in a changed facial expression, altered body language, and/or loss of eye contact.  At least this what I have noticed through over ten years of conducting face-to-face mock interviews with clients preparing for MBA interviews. Again, when it comes to making a positive overall impression, those who don't lose their confidence are at a real advantage. 

Click here to find out about my interview preparation services.

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.