McCombs MBA Admissions Interviews

My comments below are based on my experience and my review of McCombs School of Business in University of Texas at Austin MBA interview reports found at accepted.com.

Before reading this post, I suggest reviewing some or all of the following previous posts:
-MBA Application Interview Strategy

-Interview Practice is ABOUT SPEAKING!

-Further Comments on MBA Admissions Interviews 
-General Characteristics of Admissions Officers, Students, and Alumni Interviewers
-Recovering from a bad answer during an MBA admissions interview
-10 Ways to Blow an MBA Admissions Interview
-and my more recent post, When to start MBA interview practice? How to prepare?
The above posts are my general remarks on MBA admissions interview strategy and apply here.

The interviewer will only have access to your resume. Interviewers for McCombs (students, admissions officer, or alumni) try to create a friendly interview atmosphere. This is an interview about fit and your own potential, so make sure you can explain in depth why you want to attend McCombs, how you will contribute to it, and what you intend to do afterwords. You may want to look at an interview I conducted with a former client who was a McCombs Adcom member. Previous contact with alumni, visits to campus, and/or intensive school research are all great ways to prepare as showing fit for McCombs is critical.

Must interviews last about 45 minutes with some going for an hour and a few lasting only 30 minutes.

I see no reports of any trick questions really, but you must be prepared to address weakness, failure, and what you want to learn at McCombs. Be prepared to ask questions about the program. If you have an alum interview, be prepared to have a number of questions.

The Questions
Like he has done with many other schools, my colleague, Steve Green has compiled the following list of questions from from all the reports submitted to accepted.com   and clearadmit.com.  In addition to our client reports, we use lists of questions like these as part of our prep sessions with clients.

Resume
Tell me about your background. / Tell me about yourself.
What do you consider to be your biggest accomplishment?
Tell me about the highlight of your career so far.
What is the most difficult professional decision you ever made?

Goals
Why do you want an MBA now? / Tell me 3 reasons you want an MBA.
Why McCombs?  / Tell me three reasons you want to go to McCombs.
What attracts you the most in the McCombs MBA program?
What do you hope to see in your fellow students?
It's the first day of class and new students are being introduced. What do you look for in the introductions?
What will you bring to McCombs?  / How will you contribute/add value to McCombs?
How do you want to be associated with McCombs 10 years after you graduate?
What other MBA programs have you applied to?
What do you want to do after business school?

Leadership
Describe a leader you admire.
How are you applying the qualities that you admire in this leader in your own leadership?
Tell me about your experience leading teams.

Teamwork
Tell me about a time when you worked with someone who was not pulling their own weight.
What would you look for in a successful team?
What qualities do you like in your teammates?
What do you not like in a team member?
What are 3 ways you contribute uniquely to teams?

Strengths and Weaknesses
How would your boss describe you?
How would your co-workers describe you?
How would you introduce and describe yourself at a cocktail party?
What is the weakest part of your application?
What is the strongest part of your application?
When you have you put forward an idea and failed? What happened?
Describe a work scenario that was outside your comfort zone and how you handled it with a creative solution.
When you have you put forward an idea and failed? What happened?
If you had two round-trip tickets to anywhere, where would you go and whom would you take?
What did you learn about yourself after going through the application process?
Tell me about a time when you improved a process?

Conclusion
Do you have any questions for me?


Best of luck with your McCombs interview!

-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.

An Interview with IMD's Lisa Piguet on Changes to Curriculum & Application Essays

This post is an interview with IMD's Lisa Piguet, Associate Director MBA Admissions and Marketing. You can find my previous interview with Lisa here.  In addition, she was kind enough to give me a tour of the IMD campus in 2012.  Please see IMD MBA Admissions Essays for January 2015 Admission (R2-R5) for my full analysis of IMD MBA application.


In this post, Lisa and I first discuss the changes to the MBA curriculum introduced for the Class of 2014, which are specifically designed to enhance the job opportunities for students by "making IMD MBA's a product."  We then discuss the MBA admissions essays that will be used for Rounds 2-5 (April 1, June 1, August 1 and September 1) for the Class of 2015.

This interview was conducted by phone on 2/7 and subsequently revised by both Lisa and me prior to posting.

ADAM: Could you explain the changes that have been made to the curriculum for the Class of 2014?


LISA:  IMD has always been known for leadership, which runs throughout the program. While the program is still roughly the same, our new MBA Program Director, Professor Ralf Boscheck, has conceptualized the program as built on three pillars:


Technical competence: Students will take Business Fundamentals, which runs for the first six months and is a return to the way the program was structured prior to the Class of 2012.  Our MBA Program Director, Professor Ralf Boscheck, wants the students to be as prepared as possible for the projects that occur in the second half of the year.


Self-Awareness:  Throughout the program, from the first day to last day, building leadership through personal development is critical. To that end, 95% of students take an elective, which includes 20 sessions with a licensed psychoanalyst to maximize their self-awareness and leadership development throughout the program.


Moral Values: By setting up situations in the program, mostly electives at the end of the program, MBAs can focus on morals and different values orientations.


Building on these pillars, Professor Boscheck, a longstanding and popular member of the faculty, has altered the overall structure of the program to give our students enhanced opportunities to gain exposure to potential employers.


ADAM: Both in terms of students' experience during the program and in terms of post-MBA outcomes, what kind of impact does IMD expect from these changes?

LISA:  We anticipate the students will be better prepared for ICP and the other projects by taking all the courses up front and therefore better exposed to key international job markets.  The objective is that our MBAs have an even better network. We want to make the IMD MBA a product that will be even more attractive to future employers.


The following changes should especially give students an opportunity to demonstrate their competence and enhance their visibility to future employers:
- Our Discovery Trip this year will be to three key thriving markets for employment and consist of a mini-internship with different companies including consulting firms. Our 90 students will be divided into three groups, going to Singapore, Sao Paulo, or New York City.
- A completely new addition to the curriculum is the opportunity for our students to not just attend, but actively participate at our major executive training program, Orchestrating Winning Performance (OWP), which is held on-campus in June.  Our MBAs will present and teach executives enrolled in the program. The objective is to more actively expose students to executives in order to showcase them and give students additional networking and enhanced job opportunities.
-They will also participate in an executive conference to be held on the IMD Lausanne campus in November called "Navigating the Future". They will be asked to present and showcase themselves an additional time.


ADAM: Does IMD plan further changes to the curriculum for 2015?


LISA: No, not for now. Ralf will continue to build on the changes he has implemented in 2014.

ADAM: Regarding the changes to the application essay questions, what is the overall intention of changing them so extensively?


LISA: We wanted greater concision in our essay set. Due to our interview process we can ask much more intensively and extensively about the applicant's background.  What we want from the essays is to know who the person really is.  The essays should bring us closer to understanding the applicant.


ADAM: Should this be interpreted as a change in what IMD is looking for from applicants?


LISA: No, the same basic criteria apply.


ADAM: Do the changes in questions relate to other changes to the MBA program?


LISA: No, we just really wanted to revise our essay set.


ADAM: Regarding Essay Question 2, which I frankly love because it really requires a genuine response, it strikes me that beyond any considerations about an applicant's ability to respond to total failure (A possible way of responding to the question), IMD is really asking about the resilience of the applicant.  Would you care to comment on my opinion?


LISA: What we are testing is resilience, coping skills, attitude and self-awareness.


The extent of the failure need not be catastrophic.  Above all, it has to be honest.


We want to know how the applicant overcame the situation.  What did they do about it?   How did they think about it?  How did they respond to it?


ADAM: Regarding Question 3, I was struck by the fact that IMD was now asking applicants to consider themselves in the long-term.  The long-term has long been absent from IMD's written application process, though certainly common at most MBA programs.  Care to comment?

LISA: What we are looking for is how you project yourself into the future.  I would suggest considering the following when writing this:

-What mark do you want to leave on the planet?


-What would you tell your children/grand kids?


-What kind of person would you like to be?


-What kind of accomplishments would you like to make in the future?


- What do you want out of your life?


-Where are you going?


While surely focused on long-term vision, it is an achievement question in a way because it is testing drive, passion, and possibly altruism.

I want to thank Lisa for taking the time to answer my questions. 

-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.

Snowbound in the US or Japan? Or have some free time? No Valentine's Day plans?

Are you presently stuck at home because of the lousy weather in the United States or Japan?  Do you have any free time?  Maybe you  don’t have any Valentine’s Day plans.  I have some suggestions for you:


1.  Take a few minutes and get a chance to win to $500 just because you applied for or are applying for business school programs that start in 2014:
https://huron.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_5avUSpmdneTZakt&RID=MLRP_0vv6IEAeIVjmdLL.
You can find the details here.  Or just take the survey!


2. Are you preparing for MBA admissions interviews?  Well, I have some blog posts for you! See the Interview Analysis Section of my Key Posts page.

3. Still trying to figure out where to apply to? See the Advice section my Key Posts page.


4.  Want to waste time looking at another list of MBA program rankings?  See
Adam's Global Top MBA Rankings 2014.  My team and I spent minutes putting this together.

5.  Did I mention taking this great survey?

Wherever you are, Happy Valentine’s Day!
Love and Kisses,
Adam

-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.

Preparing for New York University Stern MBA Admissions Interviews

In this post I discuss preparing for New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business MBA admissions interviews.


Before reading this post, I suggest reviewing some or all of the following previous posts:
-MBA Application Interview Strategy

-Interview Practice is ABOUT SPEAKING!

-Further Comments on MBA Admissions Interviews 
-General Characteristics of Admissions Officers, Students, and Alumni Interviewers
-Recovering from a bad answer during an MBA admissions interview
-10 Ways to Blow an MBA Admissions Interview
-and my more recent post, When to start MBA interview practice? How to prepare?
The above posts are my general remarks on MBA admissions interview strategy and apply here.


NYU Stern’s Isser Gallogy, Assistant Dean, MBA Admissions,   provides short audio advice on admissions interviews (What follows is mostly a transcription):
1. Interviews are by invitation only. About 20-25% of MBA applicants are invited to interview.
2. Nearly all interviews are conducted by Stern’s Admissions Committee. 
3. Stern admissions interviews are not blind.  Your interviewer will have read your application. 
4. The majority of interviews are held on-campus at Stern.
5. It will be a highly personal and individualized exchange and goes beyond what you presented in your application. 
6. Be ready to discuss your post-MBA career path and why Stern can help you achieve your goals. 
7. Come prepared with questions for the interviewer.
8. To prepare, re-read your application and consider what further insight you can provide since submitting your application. 
9. Take some time to practice interviewing.
10. Relax. About 70% of those interviewed are admitted.
Based on interview reports, unlike the interviews at HBS, which tend to involve lots of individualized questions for applicants, NYU interviewers (like those at LBS) will have read your application for sure, but their questions are likely to be very standard as you will see below. Even though the Stern interview might not be as hard as HBS, I would recommend using the active strategy and method I discuss in my HBS interview post. If you utilize this method of preparation you will be well prepared for handling NYU’s  interview. Stern interviewers are consistently described as friendly and the interview should last 30 minutes.


The Questions
Like he has done with many other schools, my colleague, Steve Green has compiled the following list of questions from from all the reports submitted to accepted.com   and clearadmit.com.  In addition to our client reports, we use lists of questions like these as part of our prep sessions with clients.

Background

• Detailed questions about personal / creative essay.
• Tell me about yourself.
• What do you feel is the weakest part of your resume?
• How did you end up in your current job?
•  How did (a previous role) help you in your current role?
• What frustrates you most at your current role?
• Why did you leave company X to join company Y?
• Why did you choose company Z after graduation?
• Why did you choose your undergrad school? What is your best memory of your time there?
• Tell me what you like to do in your free time?

Why MBA?  Why Stern?

• Why Stern?
• What one thing draws you to Stern?
• What other schools are you applying to?
• How did you first hear about Stern, and in what ways did you learn about it?
•  Is Stern your first choice? If admitted to other schools, what will be your criteria for choosing?
• Why do you think you are ready for an MBA at this point in your career?
• Why now?
• Why do you want to do your MBA in NYC?
• What do you like about New York? Which neighborhoods would you consider living in?
• What are specific Stern programs that will help you?
• Where do you want to do your summer internship? How will you market yourself to that firm? What is your backup plan if you do not get your first choice?
• Which clubs do you want to participate in?
• What do you bring to the Stern community?
• What are you hoping to learn from your future classmates?
• How will you distinguish yourself during the first few weeks at Stern?
• What are you looking forward to at Stern?
• What most surprises you about Stern?
• What would you like me to think when I introduce you at graduation?
• What job do you imagine yourself doing during your first summer break?
• What makes Stern's culture different from others?
• Which county would you choose for "Doing Business In"? Why?

Goals

• What is the main difference between your current position and your goals?
• How will your post-MBA role be different from your current role?
• What companies would you like to work for after graduation, and why?
•  What five companies do you want to work for after graduation?
•   How would you market yourself in your target industry?
• What is your Plan B if you do not get your dream job?
•  As a foreign national, how will you find a job outside your country?
•  If you were asked to speak at Stern 25 years from now, how would you want to be introduced?

Strengths and Weaknesses

• What would your supervisor say is one of your strengths? One of your weaknesses?
• What is the best constructive criticism your boss has ever given you?
•   How would your friends describe you?
• What could prevent you from achieving your short-term goals?
•  What has been your greatest achievement in your current job?
• What is something (work or non-work) that you are proud of?
•  Tell me about a challenging time or a time you failed. What did you learn?
•  Tell me about a conflict you faced and how your overcame it.

Leadership and Teamwork

• What is your leadership style?
• Tell me about a time you led a team through a difficult situation?
•  What is your role on a team?

Conclusion

• Is there anything else you'd like me to know?
• Any questions for me?

Best of luck with your NYU Stern MBA interview!

-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.

How to Prepare for MIT Sloan MBA Admissions Interviews

In this post, which is significantly updated, I discuss how to prepare for an MIT Sloan MBA admissions interview. If you have been invited to interview for the Class of 2016, this post is for you!

Beyond my 16 comprehensive service clients admitted to MIT Sloan since Fall 2008 entry (I began my own consulting service in September 2007), I have worked with additional clients only on interviews. and more still from 2001-2007 when I was working for a top test prep company’s consulting service.  The advice below is thus based on working with clients on MIT interviews for over ten years.

I do believe in the value of intensive preparation and doing mock interviews that are harder than the actual ones. As my client admitted in R1 for the Class of 2016 wrote in his testimonial, “Once I got the interview invitation, Adam gave me two comprehensive mock interviews that made my real interview looks like children’s game in comparison.” Whether you prep with me or otherwise, I hope this post helps you view the real interview in the same way!

YOU NEED TO BE A STAR!
Before reading the rest of this post, I strongly suggest reviewing  MIT’s  Preparing for Your MIT Sloan School Interview, because reading it first will maximize the value of my comments below.

The STAR technique is really the core method you need to use for answering Behavioral Event Interviews (BEI) questions. It is simply this:

• Situation: define the situation or "set the stage."

• Task: identify the task/project performed.

• Action: describe the action you took.

• Result: summarize the outcome

The STAR technique was created by Bill Byham, who originated the behavioral interviewing method in 1970. When you are using STAR, just keep in mind that you need to be introspective as well, so in an interview say what you thought as well as what you did. Don’t just present “the facts” but actively interpret your actions. There is really nothing overly complicated about this as long as you understand that you need to tell a DETAILED story. Pure abstractions disconnected from a concrete set of action steps are highly likely to result in a weak answer. Similarly, grand actions not told in any depth are also likely to be weak. Identify specific actions that contributed to the result so as to establish a clear link between cause and effect.

As when answering any kind of question, another important consideration is to think very critically about what your story selection, understanding of the task, actions taken, and results say about you. Keep in mind that the whole point of asking behavioral questions is to determine how someone acts and thinks as a basis for selecting or rejecting that person. It is obviously critical to be aware of your own message. Specifically think of examples you can use to highlight your intelligence, creativity, leadership skills, interpersonal communication skills, and conflict resolution skills.

How To Prepare Outlines for Practicing BEI Questions

I would suggest making some simple STAR (Situation Task Action Result) outlines.  For example:

Team Story 1: Project X
S:  Harry was not cooperating with the rest of the team on Project X.
T: My job was get the team to work together because Project X really required everyone to participate. Harry was important because of his technical skills.
A: In order to get Harry to cooperate I..  (ACTION 1) first talked with him privately to better understand his perspective.  Next, (ACTION 2) I talked with the rest of team to try and make an adjustment so that Harry would feel more comfortable. Finally (ACTION 3) Established information sharing sessions so that everyone understood what needed to be done and how our work fit together.
R: Project X succeeded.

The above outline could be used to answer such questions as “Tell me about a time when you were part of a team that had poor dynamics/didn’t get along well,” “Tell me about a time when you had to deal with someone who wasn’t pulling his/her weight,” and "Describe a time when you have worked as part of a team working towards an important goal, when you have addressed conflict between two or more team members."

Now, when you actually practice the above for a behavioral interview, you would need to flesh out the story and provide more details.  If you have outlined a STAR story, you  have not practiced it yet.   The only reason to outline STAR stories is if you cannot systematically turn any spoken story into STAR automatically.  Actually once you start using STAR, chances are that you will not need any outlines.  STAR is actually a highly intuitive way to tell stories and useful for telling stories in any situation.

A “typical” MIT Interview, which can last anything from 20-60 minutes (assume approximately 30 minutes), might consist of the following questions:
1. Any updates since you last applied?
2. 1-2 questions based on specific details from your application and/or resume related to a hobby, award, or work activity.
3. 3-6 of the above behavioral questions.
4. Perhaps a question about your goals or motivation for Sloan.
5. Questions for the interviewer.
DISCLAIMER: The above is just a general guide as the actual interview will vary greatly. If I do multiple MIT interview prep sessions with a client, I alter my style to account for the different interviewing styles an interviewee might encounter.

The Questions

Like he has done with many other schools, my colleague, Steve Green has compiled the following list of questions from from all the reports submitted to accepted.com   and clearadmit.com.  In addition to our client reports, we use lists of questions like these as part of our prep sessions with clients.

Two things that Steve encourages all applicants to remember: 

1. Expect detailed follow up questions about the content of your answers.

2. Expect questions based on specific points in your essays. (Your essays may be quoted back at you.) 

The questions in Italics were reported to Clear Admit and Accepted.com over the past year.

Resume and Background (Not usually BEI questions)

• Do you have any recent accomplishments you want to share? / Are there any changes to your resume since you submitted it? /  Tell me about a recent accomplishment that is not in your application.
• Tell me more about 
• Walk me through your resume. (FOLLOW UP)
• Why did you change jobs? / Why have you changed jobs frequently?
• Tell me more about the leadership role you played in (NON-PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY ON RESUME.)
• What do you do outside work?
• How do you have time for all the things that you do (REFERENCING RESUME)
• Tell me about your job, have your responsibilities changed since your promotion.
• Tell me about yourself, what have you been doing in the last two years.
• What exactly do you do? What have you been doing in your position recently?
• Tell me about something at work you have been proud of in the last year.
• What’s a personal goal that you’ve set for yourself recently?
• Where do see your business heading?

Goals (Not BEI Questions: They did not ask about your goals in the essays, but they can certainly do so in the interview!)

• Why an MBA?
• Why now?
• What do you think about MIT?
• Why did you decide to apply to Sloan? Tell me your thought process.
• What are your professional goals?
• What are two professional goals you've set for yourself?
• What are two personal goals you've set for yourself?

THE BEI QUESTIONS

While public reports over the last year show a smaller range of questions, based on my own client reports, I do recommend preparing for questions beyond those that are italicized.

Teamwork and Relationships 

• Tell me about a time when a colleague had a different opinion or gave you feedback and how you incorporated that into your approach.
• Tell me about a time when someone challenged your opinion.
• Describe a time when your idea was rejected. How did you feel?
• Tell me about a time when you had to work with people not at your intellectual level.
• Describe a time when you had to manage a conflict. How did you resolve it?
• Tell me about when you had a difficult time with your job.
• How did you manage to resolve a conflict situation and move the team forward?
• Tell me about a difficult conversation you had to have with someone.
• Tell me about a time when you had to present something to someone who you did not like.
• Tell me about a time you had a challenging interaction with someone.
• Tell me a time when you influenced someone
• Tell me about a time when you butted heads with a co-worker/client/employee.
• Tell me about a time when you were part of a team that had poor dynamics/didn’t get along well.
• Tell me about a time when you had to deal with someone who wasn’t pulling his/her weight

Leadership

• Tell me about a time when you mentored someone.
• Tell me about a mentor or someone in your life who influenced you. Describe that influence.
• Tell me about a time when you had to persuade your colleagues.
• Tell me about a time when you set a goal and moved towards achieving it.
• Tell me a time when you thought outside of the box.
• Tell me when you did something innovative.
• Tell me about a time when you were managing someone who did not meet your expectations.
• Tell me about a time when you took the lead on something.
• Tell me about a time you led a team to a solution.
• Tell me about a time when you had to persuade/convince others.
• Tell me about a time you convinced others to follow your plan.
• Tell me about a time when you had to decide among multiple options.

Strengths and Weaknesses

• Tell me about feedback you've received, and how you responded to it.
• Describe a time when you took a big risk.
• Tell me about a recent setback at your current position. What happened, how did you feel and what did you do?
• Tell me about something you’ve done that you’re proud of.
• Tell me about a recent disappointment where you believe you failed or did not do justice to your responsibilities.
• What would recent team members say about what it was like to work with you?
• How would a friend describe you? A client?
•  Tell me about a time when you had to step out from your comfort zone.
•  Tell me about a time you had to ask for help.
•  Tell me about a time you failed.
• Tell me about a time your idea was rejected.
• Tell me about a time when your expectations were not met.
• Tell me about a time when someone needed your help.

Conclusion (Not BEI)

• Any questions for me?
• I’m meeting a lot of people today, what is going to make me remember you?
• What do you wish I had asked you?

 Further Advice on Practicing for MIT Interviews

The map is not the territory!
Clients often want me to read their interview preparation notes. I usually refuse because I think it is a total waste of their money to have me do that.  I believe such outlines are useful for the person doing the preparation, but all I can really evaluate is their performance.  If I have a client with a TOEFL under 100, I might review their scripts because given that they may lack basic English vocabulary for effectively telling their stories. This is not case with the vast majority of my clients, even those with TOEFL scores at the 100 level.

An outline is a map, but in the case of an interview it is really limited map because an interview is all about performance, the territory. You can have the best stories in the world, but if you can’t deliver them effectively, you are dead.

Actual Practice
Depending on your communication skills, available time, and comfort with interviews you may need days or weeks or months to be at your best. Whatever amount of practice you think you need, try to actually do more than that.  One of my clients who had already been admitted to two top schools, did 50 hours of practice on his own to get ready for HBS.  He was successful because he put in enough time actually speaking the answers  to many common questions that he could feel comfortable and confident.  He did just a couple of hours of interview practice with me and one of my colleagues. He was admitted to HBS. I wish all my clients followed this example of extensive self-practice.  While the exact ratio of counseling hours (strategy sessions focused on developing good answers and mock interviews) to self-study will vary, I think somewhere between a 1:5 and 1:20 ratio is ideal.  I am always depressed when a client only does interview practice during sessions with me and then does no practice by themselves because I know they are not maximizing their performance. Like a great musician or actor, you need to internalize your script/notes/outline to perform it effectively. I can best help a client by judging that performance.  Something could look great or horrible on paper, but very much the reverse when actually performed.

How to practice:
1. Speak.  Doing it in your head is not enough.  Actually perform to the hardest audience you will ever encounter: yourself.
2. Record yourself and listen and/or view the results. Note problems and practice more.
3. Speak in front of other people who can give you feedback.  Even if you are using a consultant try to practice in front of other people. This will help make you comfortable having an audience.
4. Have school specific mock sessions, either with a admissions consultant or someone who can at least ask you the questions.
5. Given that the MIT Interview will be either with an admissions officer (Always the case if the interview happens overseas. My International clients have had a much higher chance of interviewing with Rod Garcia than those who were based in the US!) or a contracted interviewer (Usually an MIT Sloan staffer, but not in adcom) who has read your file, you should closely review your own Sloan application.  It is best not to repeat the stories you told in your essays, but feel free to discuss variations based on the same situation. You don’t want to make your interviewer feel like they hearing the same story they already read.

For additional suggestions on interview strategy, please see:

-MBA Application Interview Strategy
-Interview Practice is ABOUT SPEAKING!
-Further Comments on MBA Admissions Interviews 
-General Characteristics of Admissions Officers, Students, and Alumni Interviewers
-Recovering from a bad answer during an MBA admissions interview
-10 Ways to Blow an MBA Admissions Interview
-When to start MBA interview practice? How to prepare?

I know that what I am suggesting might be burdensome and time consuming, but so what?  The whole application process is like that.  And at least with interview practice, you might actually become better at telling stories (Good for making friends!) and interviewing for jobs. Best of luck with your MIT Sloan MBA interview!

-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.

Fill out an MBA admissions survey for those applying/admitted for 2014 entry: Chance to Win $500

I have a request: could you spare a few minutes to complete an MBA admissions survey? You will get a chance to win $500.  If you have been admitted to or applying to MBA programs with a 2014 start date, this survey is for you. 

I’m a member of AIGAC, the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants. I am also a member of our survey committee. So getting as many of  many of my blog readers and clients to take this survey (See below for background information on the survey) as possible is something I would like to do. 

I would love to get your response by the end of February. Can you help? If you do, you’ll be eligible to enter a drawing for a $500 cash payment (to be sent via PayPal). Your email address would be used only for prize notifications.

The survey should take 10-15 minutes to complete and can be accessed by clicking this link: https://huron.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_5avUSpmdneTZakt&RID=MLRP_0vv6IEAeIVjmdLL.

Alternatively, you can paste this URL into your browser’s address bar: https://huron.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_5avUSpmdneTZakt&RID=MLRP_0vv6IEAeIVjmdLL

Background: In May, we will hold our annual conference in New York City. While there, we will present anonymous data about MBA applicants to the top MBA programs. That data will come from these surveys, and we need a lot of responses to make the data useful. The process works like this: AIGAC helps the MBA programs, which leads them to like admissions consultants more and give us better information and access, which leads us to serve our clients better. Past applicants taking the survey allowed me to help you better; your taking the survey is a nice way to pay that forward. If you are curious, you can read more about our survey here.

I truly appreciate you taking this time to help us improve the MBA admissions process.

Cheers,

Adam

-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 Chicago Booth MBA Admissions Interviews

In this post I discuss MBA admissions interviews for the University Chicago Booth. 


If you are looking for my analysis of Booth’s essays for Fall 2014 admission, you can find it here.



Beyond my 21 comprehensive service clients admitted to Booth since Fall 2008 entry (I began my own consulting service in September 2007), I have worked with additional clients only on interviews. and more still from 2001-2007 when I was working for a top test prep company’s consulting service.  The advice below is thus based on working with clients on Booth interviews for over ten years.

For my detailed suggestions on overall interview preparation, please see:
-MBA Application Interview Strategy
-Interview Practice is ABOUT SPEAKING!
-Further Comments on MBA Admissions Interviews 
-General Characteristics of Admissions Officers, Students, and Alumni Interviewers
-Recovering from a bad answer during an MBA admissions interview
-10 Ways to Blow an MBA Admissions Interview
-When to start MBA interview practice? How to prepare?

The above posts are my general perspective on MBA admissions interview strategy and apply here.

 Booth interviews are conducted blind, so your interview will not have read your application and Interviews are conducted by admissions staff, students, or alumni. They are held on campus or in a location convenient for the prospective student. All interviews, regardless of who conducts them, receive equal weight in the evaluation process. The only thing they will have is your resume.


Most recent Booth interview reports I have seen (both public reports and from my clients), portray the interviewer as friendly.  This is not typically a stress interview.  Booth typically is using younger alumni for interviews, which is a good idea because they are much closer to the current culture of the school, which changed  significantly in the last ten years. Almost all interviews involve student interviewers on campus or alumni off-campus. 

Most interview reports indicate extensive questions about the contents of the resume.  You need to know your resume completely as you will most 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.

A First Impression: Most interviewers will have your resume even before they meet you. For resume-only interviews, it really is their first impression of you.  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.  While schools will provide interviewers with varying levels of guidance about what questions to ask, the resume may very well form the basis for some of the questions that you receive.

Booby 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.

Prepare to answer routine MBA questions. Most reported interviews simply consist of them. Have a few questions ready to ask your interviewer about the things that are most important to you and your MBA experience. Getting answers to your questions is an equally important part of any B-school interview.”
Like he has done with many other schools, my colleague, Steve Green has compiled the following list of questions from from all the reports submitted to accepted.com   and clearadmit.com.  In addition to our client reports, we use lists of questions like these as part of our prep sessions with clients.

RESUME

• Walk me through your resume, but make sure you highlight just a couple of key achievements.
• Tell me about yourself.
• Why did you pick your major? Why did you earn a Master's degree?
• What are you hobbies / other interests and why?

GOALS & BOOTH

• What are your short-term goals?
• Why are you pursuing an MBA?
• What do you expect from your MBA in the long term?
• Why now?
• Why Booth?
• What other schools have you applied to?

• How do you compare them to Booth?
• How would you decide between two schools?
• Why would you choose Booth over those?
• What will you contribute to Booth?
• What do plan to do outside the classroom at Booth?
• What is your Plan B if you don't get accepted to any b-schools?
• You will not meet most of you classmates after the two years at school. How will you make sure you learn the most from this distinguished set of people? How will YOU make sure they learn from you?
• Clarifying questions about Booth's program.
• What professional groups will you join?
• Which social groups will you join?
• Booth has classes that present different settings: group-based, individual, project-based. Which ones do you have a preference for? Why?
• What will you contribute to Booth, or what will you bring to the Booth community?
• What if you hate your internship – what is Plan B
• Place yourself 30 years in the future… what would you define then as having been successful?

LEADERSHIP

• What is your leadership style, and how do you function when you are not a leader in a team?
• Tell me about your leadership style?
• What is one area of weakness you would like to work on regarding your leadership style why earning an MBA?
• Discuss a time when you had to manage a difficult team or teammate, and how did handle that experience?
• Tell me about one occasion in which you displayed leadership.
• Tell me a solution you have recently proposed to your employer (asked for an example in my last setting)
• Can you tell me about a time when you made an unpopular decision
• What is your most defining leadership experience
• Describe your leadership style with an example
• Tell me about your leadership experience. What/who has influenced your leadership style?
• Please give me an example of a leadership-based conflict you experienced.
• Tell me about a leadership failure you experienced. How will it help you at Booth?

TEAMWORK

• What role do you take on in a team? How have you handled a team-based conflict?
• Can you tell me about a time that you led your team / convinced your team to do something
• Can you tell me about a time that you led a team over a period of time
• Can you tell me about a time that you resolved conflict within your team
• Can you tell me about a time when you disagreed with someone at your level

STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES

• Tell me about a time you encountered a challenge?
• Tell me about a decision you made that you later regretted.
• You have had a lot of success in the past. How do you handle failure?
• Tell me something you feel passionate about.
• What do you think is a weakness that people can have inside or outside of work
• Tell me something about you that I could not know from reading your resume
• What are 3 things your friends would describe about you?

OTHER

• What are the differences you’ve found between different nationalities while working in a multinational?
• How is a regular day in your line of work?

CONCLUSION

• Is there anything that we have not covered that would like to point out, on or off your resume?
• Do you have any questions for me?

Reported interview length is typically about 45-50 minutes. Both shorter, 30 minutes, and longer, 60 minutes, interviews are possible. 

Best of luck with admission to Booth for Fall 2014!

-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.

Michigan Ross MBA Admissions Interviews

This post supplements my main post on preparing for Michigan Ross MBA Admissions Interviews.  It updates that list of questions found in that previous post.

Like he has done with many other schools, my colleague, Steve Green has compiled the following list of questions from from all the reports submitted to accepted.com   and clearadmit.com.  In addition to our client reports, we use lists of questions like these as part of our prep sessions with clients.


Resume:

• 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.)
• Tell me about your current position.
• How would you sell your undergraduate university to a potential applicant?
• What do you do outside of work?

Goals:

• What are your career goals?
• Why do you want an MBA?
• Why now?
• Why Ross?
• What criteria did you use when choosing MBA programs?
• Have you visited the campus? How do you feel about moving to the Midwest?
• How are you unique compared to other applicants? What can you bring to Ross that sets you apart from others?
• How will you be involved outside of class?
• What will you do if not accepted to Ross?

Teamwork:

• What is your approach to teams?
•  How would you deal with a teammate who doesn't act like a team player?
•  Tell about a time when you dealt with a struggling team member.
•  Tell me how you dealt with a team member who was under-performing / not on par.
•  Tell me about your role on a team.
•  Tell me about a time when you took initiative on a team.
•  Tell me about a time when your team faced a lot of obstacles? (WHAT LEARNED?)

Leadership:

• Tell me about a time you showed initiative.
• Tell me about a situation when you had to think outside the box.
• How do you manage conflict?
• Please give me 3 examples of your leadership experience?
• What does leadership mean to you?

Strengths and Weaknesses:

• Tell me about a time when you had to deal with an abstract situation.
• Tell me about a time when you failed, and what you learned.
• What are you key strengths and one weakness?
• What is your greatest accomplishment to date?
• What 3 adjectives would your friends use to describe you and why?
• What makes you unique?
• What was a challenging experience in your life?
• Tell me about a time when you had a professional failure and what did you learn from it.
•  Tell me about a time when you received negative feedback from a supervisor and how did you respond.

Other:

• What was the last book you read?
•  Do you have any questions for me?

Best of luck with your Ross interview.  For more on Ross interview prep, see my main post on this subject.

-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.

Duke Fuqua MBA Admissions Interviews for the Class of 2016

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.  As you will see from the questions, below, Fuqua interview questions are very typical MBA interview questions. If you are preparing for interviews for other schools, you will surely see overlap here.

In addition to my experience,  My colleague, Steve Green,  and 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.

Like he has done with many other schools, my colleague, Steve Green has compiled the following list of questions from from all the reports submitted to accepted.com and  clearadmit.com.  In addition to our client reports, we use lists of questions like these as part of our prep sessions with clients.

Resume

Tell me your story. / Walk me through your resume, please.
Tell me about your company. (+Follow-up questions.)
Tell me about your job. (+Follow-up questions.)
Tell me two things you like and dislike about your job.
Explain your job to me as if I were an 8 year old child

Goals/Why Duke?
What do you want to do and why do you need an MBA to do it?
Why do you want an MBA from Fuqua?
Who have you talked to from Fuqua?
Why do you think you understand the Fuqua culture?
Why not other schools?
Why now?
How will you contribute to Fuqua?
What teams will you contribute to?
How are you unique? Why should Fuqua accept you?
How will you network at Duke?

Leadership & Teamwork
Tell me how you work on a team.
Tell me about a time when you were in a group setting and you had a difficult team member and how you handled the situation.
If you were to build a team what would be important for you?
Tell me about a time when you were in a group setting and you gave an idea that was successful
What’s your leadership style / experience?
Tell me about your favorite boss. Why did you like him/her?
Please tell me about a time you went above and beyond.
Please tell me about your leadership experience outside work.
Tell me about a leadership experience where you failed

Strengths and Weaknesses
Please tell me about your greatest success.
Please tell me about your greatest failure.
Tell me about a time you overcame a challenging situation.
In what areas do you think you need to improve?
What do you do when you face a setback?
Tell me about a regret you have and the lesson you learned from it.
What motivates you?
Please tell me about a time that you failed.
How would your friends describe you?
What are three words your colleagues would use to describe you?
What accomplishment are you most proud of?

Conclusion
Any questions for me?

While there are occasional unexpected hypothetical and/or critical thinking questions, especially from alum and adcom, this is very 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.

Best of luck with your admission the Fuqua Class of 2016!

-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.

Wharton MBA 1-to-1 Interview Questions

This post supplements my main post on preparing for Wharton MBA Admissions Interviews.  It provides a list of the common non-Team-Based Discussion questions that are part of the one-to-one interview.

Like he has done with many other schools, my colleague, Steve Green has compiled the following list of questions from from all the reports submitted to accepted.com 
and clearadmit.com.  In addition to our client reports, we use lists of questions like these as part of our prep sessions with clients.

Questions about the Team-Based Discussion
1) How do you think the TBD went?
2) Was your behaviour typical of how you work in a team? / Was your behavior in the Team-Based Discussion representative of the way you typically act in group settings?

Resume/Introductions
1. Introduce yourself. / Tell me about yourself. / Walk me through your resume.
2. Discuss your career progress.
3. Are there any changes to your resume since you applied?
4. What do you do in your free time?
5. Tell me about your international experience.
6. Do you want to highlight anything in your application?

Teamwork and Leadership
7. Tell me about a time when you had to overcome an obstacle while working in a group and what you would do differently if you had to do it again.
8. Tell me about a time when you worked in a group in which everyone did not agree and how did your team resolve the situation?
9. Tell me about a how you have had to persuade others.
10. What are the top 3 qualities you think a leader should have?
11. Tell me about a time you failed, and what you learned from it.

Goals
12. What the 3 things you look for in a business school, especially in Wharton?
13. What do you see yourself doing at Wharton?
14. Why do you want an MBA? Why now?
15. Why Wharton? What will you do if you are not accepted?

Conclusion
16. Do you have any questions for me?

Best of luck with your Wharton interview.  For more on Wharton interview prep, see my main post on this subject.

-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.

The stupidest thing any applicant invited for an MBA admissions interview can do is...

The stupidest thing any applicant invited for an MBA admissions interview can do is not prepare sufficiently for the interview!

Every year, I work intensively with clients who prepare great MBA applications to top MBA programs, but regardless of what I suggest, regardless of the extensive resources of this blog or other blogs, regardless of what the interview reports indicate, regardless of what other people might tell them, they still don’t prepare sufficiently. Sometimes it all works, but too often it does not.

If you are avoiding preparation for your HBS, Stanford, London Business School, INSEAD, Duke, Columbia, etc. interview, you are taking unnecessary risk.  What is your excuse?

Some of my favorite excuses:

I’m too busy: Right, you were not too busy to study for GMAT or GRE (or possibly TOEFL or IELTS) or for campus visits or alumni networking or information sessions or making essays or filling out application, but now you are too busy.  Sleep less,  don’t watch TV,  forget Facebook, or whatever. Give yourself the time to develop winning content. Close the deal.  You spent so much time getting to the point where your chance of admission would increase dramatically, can’t you make time for the next 1-4 weeks before your interview to prepare for it.

I don’t want to over prepare:  Fine, don’t, just prepare. See here.


I feel stupid reciting answers to no one in particular, I hate hearing my own voice on a recorder, watching myself on video, or otherwise reflecting on my performance during practice:  Join the club. Now get over it.  Hearing your own voice and becoming comfortable with what it speaks pays off when you have to perform in front of others.  Listening to your performance helps you figure out how to say things effectively.  Watching your performance helps you understand how you appear to someone else. Self-awareness leads to performance correction.


The whole thing makes me so nervous, I rather not think about it. Actually practicing makes me nervous: I feel for you, but I would hate to be you when you have the real thing, which will be worse.  If you experience serious feelings of anxiety, lack confidence in interviews or public speaking situations, I highly recommend reading this.  Be open to changing your psychology. You are too young to remain in fear for the rest of your life.

Whatever your rationale for not practicing, get over it. You have come this far.  Finish at your best!

-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.

London Business School MBA Admissions Interviews

I have gone for years without writing a post on London Business School MBA Admissions Interviews. I don’t have a specific excuse for this since I have helped many applicants prepare for this interview and have no lack of information about it.

My post on LBS application essays for the Class of 2016 can be found here. 

Beyond my 16 comprehensive service clients admitted since Fall 2008 entry (I began my own consulting service in September 2007) , I have worked with additional clients only on interviews. and more still from 2001-2007 when I was working for a top test prep company's consulting service.  The advice below is thus based on working with clients on LBS interviews for over ten years.

It is important to remember that your interviewer, an alumnus, will have read your application file.  London Business School relies on its alumni to do a thorough job vetting applicants.  Based on numerous reports I have read from my own clients, this interview, while it can often be very friendly, is not to be taken lightly.  A bad interview (as reported by the applicant soon after the interview)  is, at least from what I can observe, a really good indicator of rejection.  While good interviews (again as reported by the applicant immediately after the interview) can surely result in waitlisting, at least amongst my own clients, such interviews typically result in admission.

It is especially important that applicants be prepared to explain why LBS is their top choice and to demonstrate some knowledge about the program.   As should have been clear from preparing your essays, LBS expects applicants to be very well informed about the program.  If you have not visited and/or talked with current students, and/or alumni I would highly recommend doing so. By the way, talking with MiF (Masters in Finance) and/or LBS Sloan Fellows is not an ideal substitute for talking with MBAs, though it is better than nothing.  Beyond classes and clubs, know what some of the key activities on campus are.  Reading my Q&A with a Member of the LBS MBA Class of 2012 can give you some could insights into the MBA program. 

For my  detailed suggestions on overall interview preparation, please see:
-MBA Application Interview Strategy
-Interview Practice is ABOUT SPEAKING!
-Further Comments on MBA Admissions Interviews 
-General Characteristics of Admissions Officers, Students, and Alumni Interviewers
-Recovering from a bad answer during an MBA admissions interview
-10 Ways to Blow an MBA Admissions Interview

The above posts are my general perspective on MBA admissions interview strategy and apply here.


Typical Questions
My colleague, H. Steven Green, has put the following together by reviewing interview reports of London Business School interviews found at accepted.com and clearadmit.com. These questions are completely consistent with the kind that my clients have been asked.

1. Can you walk me through your resume?
2. What do you currently do?
3. Why did you choose to work at your firm?
4. Is your job really necessary?  Does your firm actually achieve its mission?
5. Expect questions based on resume content and essay content.

GOALS, WHY LBS

1. Why do you wake up in the morning?
2. What are you short-term career goals?  Long term? Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
3. You already have great finance experience to achieve your goals. Why do you need an MBA?
4. Imagine world without an MBA. What would you do? (I understood as what I would do to achieve my professional goals?) If you can achieve your goals without an MBA why do you want to get an MBA?
5. What triggered you to start thinking about an MBA?
6. What are your criteria for selecting b-schools? Where did you apply? Why is LBS your choice among these programs?
7. Why LBS? How LBS differentiates from the other school you applied to?
8. Do you have any back up plan in case your goals are not achievable?
9. Could you describe your extracurriculars?
10. How will you contribute to the school?

BEHAVIOR & SELF-ASSESSMENT

1. Expect questions about your family.
2. What part of your childhood has influenced your life?
3. When was the last time you took a risk?
4. What type of personality do you have?
5. How would your colleagues describe you?
6. What will be your personal development after arriving at LBS?
7. What is the toughest decision you made in your life?
8. What are your strong points?
9. What is your most significant achievement?
10. What are your weaknesses from the point of your friend? Do you agree with him/her? What other weaknesses do you have?
11. What are the key things for success? Or what is success for you?
12. Expect questions based on things written in your recommendation letters.

SELF-ASSESSMENT: INTERNATIONALISM

1. Tell me about your culture, please.  What part of your culture will help you at LBS? What part of your culture could hinder you at LBS?
2. What did you learn from your international experience?
3. Please give me an example of a multi-cultural experience you had.

LEADERSHIP

1. Tell me your definition of leadership. What kind of leadership have you experienced?
2. Are you a leader? Why so?
3. What is the difference between a born leader and a manager? Who do you admire as a leader?
4. What characteristics should a successful business leader have?
5. Tell me about 2 examples of when you resolved conflicts as a leader.
6. How do you manage your team?

CONTRIBUTIONS

1. How will you contribute to LBS?
2. How would you contribute in a group that does not require your background and prior experience in the majority of its cases?

STUDY GROUP / TEAMS

1. How would you contribute to your study group at LBS from professional point of view?
2. Imagine that some people in your study group are not contributing enough and your talk to them didn’t help.  What would you do next?  How would you handle it?  How would you feel?

VALUES

1. What would you do if you had $10 million?
2. What would you do if you had unlimited money?
3. What is going wrong in the world today? Why? What should be done about it?
4. What did you learn in your international experience?
5. What are you most proud of? Why?

BRAIN POWER

1. How did the financial crisis happen?
2. What is the biggest threat to your firm? What's your strategy? How would you change the strategy?

One unique part of the LBS interview is the need to make short presentation on a random topic. The point is simply to be coherent. The content matters less than your ability to simply sound intelligent.  Whatever the question, take a clear position. You will not likely be quizzed about it. The point is simply to show your ability to think quickly and communicate effectively, just like you will need to do at LBS.

See here for information 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.