10 Ways to Blow an MBA Admissions Interview

In the post, I wanted to provide some overall advice about MBA admissions interviews, by focusing on what not to do. My advice is based on over ten years of experience helping clients prepare for admissions interviews to the world's most selective MBA programs.

My prior overall MBA admissions strategy interview posts are  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.

TEN WAYS TO BLOW AN MBA ADMISSIONS INTERVIEW

1.  Not reviewing your resume and essays before the interview.  This is rather basic because even admissions offices regularly give this advice to applicants.  If you are preparing for a blind interview, one where the interviewer has only your resume, the content that comes out of your essays (and not just  the essays for the school you are interviewing with!) can easily serve as a core basis on which to build your overall content strategy.  For interviews, such as HBS, MIT, IMD, LBS, and NYU, where the interviewer will have read your essays, you want to make sure that your interview answers are  both consistent with and build beyond your essays so that you are not merely telling the interviewer the same stories that they have already read.  Regardless of the type of interview you have, mastering your resume is critical because you should assume the interviewer will ask you questions that come directly from it.  Mastering your resume means being able to effectively interpret your resume (Answering why, how, when, what, who in relation to EVERYTHING in your resume), being able to anticipate any negative issues (The 1 year gap in employment, the frequent job change, the lack of extracurricular activities, the lack of international experience, etc. ), and being able to sell your experience by effectively presenting a core set of messages about your strengths when discussing your past experience.

2. Not being audience friendly.   Consider who you are talking to and how best to present information to them.  Your job is to present yourself effectively under time limited circumstances to someone you probably have not met before, whose job is to make a recommendation as to whether you should be admitted or rejected from the program. They are not your friend. They are not your enemy. They are humans with a limited capacity to absorb oral information, so don't recite your essays from memory in such a manner that that it would be overwhelming. Provide well organized responses that demonstrate your potential for operating effectively the typical interactive environments in and out of class that one would find in an MBA program.  You must make the transition from reciting a text to speaking. One reason I view intensive scripting of full answers as a problem for most applicants is that having a script makes the transition to speaking harder for many people.  Scripted answers are useful as an initial starting point for applicants with limited English ability, but even such applicants need to get beyond the script so that they are providing engaging, direct, and seemingly spontaneous answers to questions.

3. Not learning enough about the school. This is simply inexcusable. Beyond being able to discuss yourself, the other main topic you need to be able to handle is the school itself. If you cannot effectively address what you will contribute to the school, why it best meets your professional objectives, and why you are passionate about attending the school, you will likely have a problem in the interview.

4. Not having good questions for the interviewer.  For most interviews, assume that you will have time to ask at least 1-3 questions for the interviewer.  As such you need to think about what you will ask. For alumni and student interviewers, this is easy because you can simply ask them about their experience and ask for advice about the program.  For admissions officers, I think this can be trickier because often it is not really clear what to ask.  I suggest you focus your questions for admissions interviewers on your academic needs ("Will Professor Smith be teaching his famous course on... next year? I really want to take it"),  your personal needs related to the program ("My partner will be coming with me, what sort of support does your program offer?"),  and perhaps location ("Aside from campus housing, where would you recommend living?").  If you put a little thought into it, it should not be hard to come up with some questions to ask.  The point of asking such questions is to further demonstrate your passionate interest in attending the program.

5. Not getting feedback before you interview. Whether you use an an admissions consultant or not, get some feedback before you interview from someone who can at least judge your performance if not your content.  While I think getting holistic feedback on both your content and performance is best, given that an interview is largely about making an effective overall impression, at least getting feedback on that is better than nothing. The better the quality and extent of the feedback, the more you can anticipate potential problems in your answers, can gain confidence in your delivery, and can become comfortable performing in front of an audience. The amount of feedback someone needs varies from minimal to extensive.  I have clients who are natural interviewees and only need to do a limited amount of preparation. I have other clients who must prepare extensively to even begin to feel comfortable with their answers.

6. Not explaining why the school is your first choice.  For some schools, like Columbia Business School, assume you will be asked not only why you applied to the school, but where else you applied, and even which school is your first choice.  There is only one right answer, which is that the school the interviewer represents is your first choice.  You need to explain why.  Assume if you say the school is one of your first choices or is your second choice, you will get rejected.  Many interviewers don't ask this sort of question, which is an extremely unfair line of questioning, so just be prepared for it.  Have a solid, well reasoned answer why even your backup school is your first choice.  Pure honesty, when asked an unfair question, is not necessarily in your interest.

7. Not dressing appropriately.  This is the basic department, but admissions officers mention this all the time.  Assume formal dress unless the school states or the interviewer lets you know that business casual is fine. Dress like a clown and you should expect to be treated like one. 

8. Not reviewing the common questions the interviewer is likely to ask.  The lovely thing about MBA interviews is that there exist large pools of online data that can provide you with the questions you are likely to encounter. If you have not visited accepted.com and clearadmit.com's great collections of applicant's interview reports, you must do so!  In my own school specific posts, I include lists of common questions specific to the school.  The fact is that for some schools, the interviewers really do stick to a fairly narrow set of questions. At many schools, you can anticipate 80% to 100% of the questions you will be asked.  What makes an HBS interview hard is in part that the percentage of common questions that are asked varies widely from from 10% (Extreme, but I have seen it) to 90%. For interviews like HBS, other tactics are required (See #9).

9. Not anticipating questions. Assume the worst case scenario: Whatever questions you don't want to be asked are the ones that you will be asked.  Whether these are the standard sort of questions that most applicants hate ("What are you weaknesses?" "Tell me about a time you failed." "Tell me about an ethical dilemma you experienced.")  or questions specific to you ("Why did you quit X company after only six months?"  "You don't seem to have any extracurricular activities on your resume, why?"  "How long have you been playing piano?"), your job is prepare for such questions.  For interviews where the interviewer will have read your full application, see my post on HBS interviews for detailed advice on anticipating questions specific to your application

10. Not recovering from a bad answer.  While it is possible to give a fatally bad answer ("I am applying to your school because it is my backup."), most bad answers are not inherently fatal if you can recover.  An interview is about an overall impression and if you can recover, you can still make that positive impression. Some applicants have the ability to recover and simply move on. Other people lose it. My advice is to feel free to kick yourself in the head after the interview, but to mitigate a bad answer by moving onto the next question and not losing confidence during the interview. Next, if possible, if you can mitigate whatever was bad about your answer, try to do so.  Question-time in the interview is always a possible place to do this, by simply asking to clarify an answer you provided.  As I will discuss in another post, confidence is at least as important as content.

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.

Chicago Booth: The Waitlist Movie

In addition to general advice found here on waitlisting, I wanted to comment on Booth's new Waitlist Video. For those waitlisted at Booth, I suggest reading the December 20, 2011 Booth Admissions Insider Post.

While their rival to the North, Kellogg, also is very waitlist applicant friendly, Booth now leads the pack when it comes to allowing those who are waitlisted to enhance their applicant profiles.  In addition to total flexibility about what you can submit ("The content and format of an update is entirely up to you, but ideally the materials you provide should add insight into your qualifications and strength of fit with Chicago Booth beyond what was presented in your original application"), Booth is now giving waitlisted the applicants to make up to a 90 second video:

"A new, optional feature this year is the ability to upload a 90-second video for the Admissions Committee. In the age of digital media, we recognize that video is a common tool of communication, and want to provide any interested candidate with the opportunity to use it. Often candidates would like to introduce themselves via a face-to-face conversation, and a video provides the opportunity to create a personal connection in lieu of visiting campus. In terms of the content  - it is entirely up to you." 

Given that many waitlisted  applicants will have interviewed with alumni and second year students, this will be a great way for admissions to get a new overall impression of you not mitigated by the perspective of someone outside of adcom.  Even for those who were interviewed by adcom, this is a nice way to create a new impression.

This is a totally new applicant component. While UCLA previously had a video essay option, Chicago is the first school to really use this in such an open way. I would not be surprised if they were experimenting with it for waitlisted applicants with the idea of using it as part of the regular application process in the future.  

Given that you can also provide additional written content, I suggest that you provide an integrated self-marketing packet consisting of a waitlist essay (see here for advice on that) and your video.  Thus any points you make in your video can be elaborated on in the essay.

You need to provide a perspective on yourself consistent with what you previously communicated to Booth.  They already like you, so the issue now is closing the deal.   In 90 seconds, you probably only effectively touch on 1-4 topics, so my suggestion would be to think of this in a few different ways, all which could work well. 

Creative:  Can you provide a unique and engaging way to introduce yourself? Make that perfect YouTube Video of yourself! 

Key Selling Points:  Provide 2-4 Key points about yourself that are distinct and will make you standout from other applicants.  These points should be consistent with what you have provided previously, but should be repackaged here for a video-based approach.

Making Up for Weaknesses: If you think something was wrong with your application or with your interview, come up with content that will mitigate that.

Make it as good as you can!  I highly recommend that you put together a full script unless you are the sort of person who can just spontaneously say something polished and engaging with less preparation.  While you need not make something that is a professional movie, it should be a video that actually makes a strong impression.  Coming across as professional, personally engaging, and pleasant is important. You need not come across as an actor or provide a professional quality film, but only submit this video once you are confident that you will be making a good impression.  By all means, show it to your admissions consultant, alumni or current student contacts, or other people whose opinions you value. 

-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.

Waitlisted? Now what?

This is an updated and expanded version of a previous post. For Chicago Booth's Waitlist Video see here, but read the post below first.

Waitlisted MBA applicants most common question: "Why me?"

Schools waitlist because....
...they actually are uncertain whether their estimated yield- the percentage of admitted applicants who accept an offer of admision will be sufficient to fill their class. It is the admissions office's job to make sure they don't have any empty seats.
...they have too many qualified applicants for too few slots, but want to reserve the possibility of eventually letting someone in. This is especially true of those whose apply and are waitlisted in R1 (or, in a few cases, whose applications are deferred from R1 to R2).
...the applicant comes from a demographic group that is over-represented (Think "White American Male Finance Industry" and "Indian Male IT" as being the most over-represented profiles for US programs) and the school wants to admit the applicant if space permits.
...they like but don't love an applicant.  I think actually this is more rare than is the case with the previous reasons.  In my experience, when schools are willing to give feedback to waitlisted applicants (Kellogg does an exceptional job of this), there are rarely significant problems and it is not usually because of something specifically wrong with the applicant.

Schools don't waitlist because...
...to make applicants feel better by giving some sort of second prize.
...their are sadistic fiends, but from a waitlisted applicant's perspective, it might feel that way.

In the rest of this post, I will provide advice on what do if you are waitlisted by an MBA program.


IF YOU ARE WAITLISTED....

1. Don't panic or become depressed. The reason you were waitlisted is because there were too many qualified applicants and adcom likes you, but they don't know that they want you yet. Now is the time to think clearly and act effectively.

2. For those waitlisted in the first round, you should, of course, know that adcom likes you, but they really wanted to see the main pool of applicants, before making any decisions. You might be waiting for a quite a while longer, but be patient.

3. For those waitlisted in the second or third round, adcom also likes you, but they are not yet convinced that it would be right to give you a spot because there were simply too many qualified applicants. Your wait could go on for months. Consider other alternatives, but don't give up because it is possible to get off the waitlist.

4. Be proactive, but not aggressively annoying, with admissions. Adcom will let you know what additional materials they will accept and you should most certainly provide them. That said, the worst thing you can do is send a continuous stream of correspondence or otherwise annoy the admissions office. If you turn yourself into an annoying freak, you can assume you will not get admitted. 

Also, keep in mind that some schools, simply do not accept any additional materials.  Wharton, for example, has the following policy:
"Candidates can expect to remain on the waitlist until the following round of decisions are released. There is no rank order to the waitlist. We are unable to offer feedback to candidates while they remain on the list. We are also unable to accept additional materials for inclusion in a waitlisted applicant's file. This policy is designed to create an admissions process that is fair and equitable for all candidates."
On their Admissions Blog, Wharton reiterates this policy.  See here for example.  If you are waitlisted at Wharton, the only thing to really do is just wait. 

5. GMAT and TOEFL: If you can take it again, do it if your scores are less than stellar, if your score goes up report it. Higher scores are always helpful for any school that will take additional information.

6. Additional recommendation: If they will take one, provide it. It is fine to send more than one recommendation if the school allows it. Think very strategically about your selection(s). You don't want a recommendation that will not add something substantially different from what your previous recommendations stated. Try to use a recommender (or recommenders) who will do one or more of the following:
(a) A recommender who will provide support to help you overcome any areas of professional and/or academic weakness in your background.
(b) A recommender who will provide a perspective on different part of your background.
(c) A recommender who will provide support for earlier or more recent period of your life.
(d) If academic recommendations are acceptable and your GPA is not great, consider getting an academic recommendation if you can get a strong one.
(e) If your English ability maybe the issue, consider getting a recommendation from someone who can speak positively about your English communication skills. This is especially important if your iBT TOEFL or IELTS score is not that high or if you think your interview was not so strong because of your speaking skills.

Additionally, many schools will also take informal recommendations from alumni or current students, so if you can get one from someone who knows you, it can't hurt.

7. Waitlist essay. Write one! The typical components:
-Additional reasons why you want to attend to show your real commitment and passion for the school. Think classes, school's culture, or any other reason that would make the school ideal for you.
-Discussion of changes that have taken place in your professional career after your applied. If anything new and great has happened, you should most certainly write about it.
- New content that was not emphasized in your application. Use some combination of the following possible topics:
(a) If you did not sufficiently discuss your leadership or teamwork abilities, you should most certainly do so.
(b) Write about contributions you can make to the school based on your experience, background, personality, and network.
(c) If your academic potential was not obvious, you should try to demonstrate that.
(d) If you have SUBSTANTIAL personal or professional accomplishments that you did not discuss in your initial application, you should do so.
(e) If you did not focus very much on non-professional content in your application, focus on it here, at least to some extent.
(f) If you were waitlisted without an interview, remember to ask for the opportunity to interview.

If the length is not stated, I would try to keep it to between 500 and 1000 words. More is not inherently better, quality is, so don't write about everything you can think of. This essay is quite important, so make sure that the content is at least as good as that of your original application.

8. If you have not visited the school and can visit the school, do so. Make a point of letting admissions know this, either in your waitlist essay or through contact with them.  VISITING (or even visiting again) CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.  For schools where you can actually meet with admissions, making a personal appeal is worth the effort.  Showing your commitment to a school that is open to such an appeal can result in a positive outcome.  Note:  The personal appeal approach does not work at all schools.  It is especially does not work if admissions has told you that they cannot meet with you.  It also does not work if you are simply not good at selling yourself.  My clients who have succeeded at using a personal approach with admissions, have, in general, been highly charismatic individuals.

9. Get a fresh perspective on your application by rereading it now. By doing so, you will probably have a good idea about what kind of recommendation to get and waitlist essay to write.

10. If you had an interview, how did it go? While it might not be easy for you to fully remember or assess it, think critically about your interview experience.  If you have done well on other interviews, did this one go as well?  While it is obviously too late to do anything about any interview that was not ideal, thinking about your interview experience might very well help you figure out where the problem was and consider how to approach future interviews.  Unless you are certain that your interview went well, assume the interview was at least part if not the entire problem.  Schools seemingly place a different level of value on interviews.  At HBS and MIT, for example, interviews are conducted by admissions staff who have taken the time to review your application completely, so assume a waitlist there, at least partially reflects the fact that compared to other candidates you were good, but others received an overall higher evaluation.  For schools like Wharton or Columbia, where interviews are conducted blind,  assume the interview is just one factor.  For schools that put a huge emphasis and have intensive interviews, such as  IMD, HEC, and LBS, assume the interview was certainly a critical factor for why you are now waitlisted.

11. Consider seeking the advice of an admissions consultant. If you have already worked with one, you can go back to that person if you are otherwise pleased with their work. They know you and they could help you put something together that caught admissions' eye. On the other hand, you might want to pay for a fresh perspective. I offer waitlist, reapplication, interview, and comprehensive consulting services.

12. Do you need a PLAN B? If you are waitlisted and/or dinged everywhere you applied, it is now time to start thinking about whether you are going to apply for more schools for 2012, reapply for 2013, or expand your career in some other way. Whatever the case, you need a Plan B in place. If you are thinking about applying to more schools for 2012 or just reconsidering school selection in general, please see here.

Best of luck and may your wait be short and culminate in admission!

-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス

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, which is publicly available on google docs here, and then send your completed form to adammarkus@gmail.com.  You can also send me your resume if it is convenient for you.  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. See here for why. 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.

ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング 大学院 合格対策 MBA留学

Dartmouth Tuck MBA Interviews

My analysis of Tuck MBA admissions interviews has been significantly updated. My analysis of Tuck's essays for the Class of 2014 can be found here. For overall suggestions on interview strategy, see here, here, and here. 

The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth MBA interview is about fit, so make sure you can explain in great depth why you want to become a part of Tuck's small intensive community in Hanover. If you interview on-campus expect to be asked about how you liked it. If you have never been to Hanover, contact with alumni and intensive school research are all great ways to prepare. Keep in mind that the objective of this research is to determine what you really like about the school, about how Tuck is right for you, and how you imagine yourself contributing to it. Try to focus on what you need from the school, not merely stating obvious information about it.

Tuck admissions, alumni, and student interviewers tend to be very friendly, but are clearly focused on finding people who really want to join their community.  The interview, whether by invitation or open on-campus, tends play a very significant role in the outcome of an admissions decision at Tuck. According to the Tuck FAQ: "Interviews on campus are scheduled primarily with admissions associates (second-year students) and occasionally with members of the admissions committee. Off-campus interviews with an alumni interviewer, admissions committee member, or admissions associate are scheduled by invitation only. All interviews are evaluated equally, regardless of location or interviewer."


All interviews are blind. The interviewer only has access to your resume.

Open or Invitation Interview?

" Tuck offers all applicants the opportunity to interview on campus in Hanover. Interviews are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis, so request an interview as soon as you decide to apply. If you have not been able to interview by the deadline, the admissions committee may invite you to interview if they feel it is necessary. Because we cannot invite all applicants to interview, if you would like to guarantee an interview, you should schedule an on-campus interview. Tuck does not conduct student-initiated interviews off campus."

A good interview can really help overcome problems with the application, so I do encourage those are able to visit Tuck and take an open interview to do so. It really is the best way to maximize your chances of getting in.  An interview after application, if you are invited, can serve a similar role, but then you have to get invited!

The Questions

Demonstrated enthusiasm to attend Tuck is very helpful. Based on my experience, that enthusiasm in combination with the ability to provide solid answers to routine MBA questions is most critical to succeeding at this interview. Most reported interviews found at accepted.com and clearadmit.com simply consist of standard questions. See my previous post on interview strategy. Expect questions about teams, friendship, and extracurricular activities.  My colleague, Steve Green, has provided me with a great organized list of common questions:

INTRO: RESUME

1. Walk me through your resume.
2. Tell me more about yourself that I can’t see from your resume: PROBE
3. Talk about your current job.
4. How do you spend your free time? / What do you do apart from work?
5. Do you have any/ What is your international experience?

GOALS, REASONS FOR MBA, REASONS FOR TUCK

6. What makes you happy?
7. How can I introduce you to the admissions committee in 20 seconds?
8. Why do you want an MBA at Tuck?
9. How will you contribute to Tuck?
10. How will your teammates at Tuck perceive you in terms of your strengths and weaknesses?
11. What do you see yourself doing immediately after graduation and what are your long-term plans?
12. What motivates you to get an MBA at this point in your career? / Why do you feel you need an MBA?
13. What did you do to know more about Tuck?  
14. What classes and initiatives at Tuck specifically interest you?
15. What’s unique about you that you can add to the Tuck culture and environment?
16. What will you be involved with at Tuck? / How will you be involved at Tuck?
17. When you'll join Tuck, you'll be put into groups.  What will be your approach if your team is not able to accomplish a task on time?
18. How will you handle differences in your study group, for ex: Language
19. What if MBA doesn't work out?

TEAMWORK

20. Tell me about a time when you had to deal with an unproductive colleague.
21. What do you bring to a team?
22. Tell me about your teamwork and how it has influenced you.
23. How should members of a team deal with teammates who are not contributing?
24. Tell me about a time you had to work in a team.
25. What are the qualities that make you successful on a team
26. Tell me about a time you experienced conflict on a team, and how you handled it?
27. Tell me when you have worked on a diverse team/environment

LEADERSHIP

28. What is your leadership style? Please give some examples of it.
29. What type of leader are you?
30. Tell me about a time you had to deal with an unproductive employee / subordinate?

SELF-AWARENESS

31. Tell me about a time you disagreed with your boss and how it was resolved.
32. Tell me about a situation where you had a difficult boss.
33. What is your biggest accomplishment in your personal and/or professional life
34. Tell me about a failure.
35. Tell me about your analytical skills.
36. What are your 3 strengths?
37. What are your 3 weaknesses?
38. Imagine you are selling yourself to the adcom. What 3 things do you want them to know about you?
39. What do your colleagues most admire about you?
40. How would your colleagues describe you?
41. What are three things you’d like the adcom to know about you?

CLOSING COMMENTS/QUESTIONS

42. Is there anything else you’d like Tuck to know about you?
43. Is there anything you hoped I’d ask, but didn’t?
44. Questions for me?

Based on the many interview reports I have read, the above really does capture the questions you can expect to be asked. There tends to be a significant emphasis on teamwork related questions, so be especially prepared for the variety of those that you may encounter.

Your Resume
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. Even an admissions officer interviewer will only have your resume, but you should assume they will know the contents of it fairly well. 

Reported interview length: 30 to 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.

MIT Sloan MBA Interviews

In this post, which is significantly updated from my prior posts, I discuss how to prepare for an MIT Sloan MBA admissions interview. I have been preparing applicants on MIT Sloan interviews for over ten years and the post below provides my overall perspective on how to best prepare this challenging interview.  If you are interested in my interview preparation services, please see here. 
  
YOU NEED TO BE  A STAR!
Before reading the rest of this post, I strongly suggest downloading a copy of MIT's  guide to behavioral interviews, The MIT Sloan Interview Guide, because reading it first will maximize the value of my comments below. In addition to the MIT SLOAN Guide, I suggest also taking a look at the slightly different guide to the Star Technique that MIT Career Services provides.

The STAR technique is really the core method you need to use for answering behavioral 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 behavioral interview method is not old (if you are me and born in 1968):

“Bill Byham, CEO and founder of Development Dimensions International, originated the behavioral interviewing method in 1970.” The STAR technique was developed by Byham as THE WAY to answer behavioral questions:

Byham calls an example of past behavior a STAR, because a complete example consists of a situation or task, the specific action you took and the result of your action. The result you describe doesn't have to be positive; it could be that you learned a valuable lesson from doing something the wrong way.
In his book "Landing the Job You Want: How to Have the Best Job Interview of Your Life" (Three Rivers Press, 1997), Byham tells candidates how to identify the skills for a job; explore their own "behavioral dimensions" (the behaviors they use every day to get things done); and recognize and present a STAR with positive impact in an interview.

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.

The Questions
My colleague, Steve Green, has put together the following list of typical MIT Sloan MBA admission interview questions based on the public interview reports found on the Accepted and Clear Admit sites.  This includes both behavioral questions and the standard questions that MIT interviewers ask.

RESUME AND RECENT EXPERIENCE

• Do you have any recent accomplishments you want to share?
• Are there any changes to your resume since you submitted it?
• Walk me through your resume. (FOLLOW UP)
• 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

• Why MBA?
• Why did you decide to apply to Sloan? Tell me your thought process.

TEAMWORK AND RELATIONSHIPS

• 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 (Then a follow up question to my answer was: Can you tell me what your plan was?)
• Tell me about a time when you butted heads with a co-worker/client/employee.
• Tell me about something that you've encountered, at work or outside of work, that made you feel uncomfortable.
• 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 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 mentored someone.
• Tell me about a time when someone needed your help.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• 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 of a time when you took the risk and the outcome. What did you learn from it?
• Tell me about something you've done that you're proud of.

SELF-AWARENESS

• 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 you had to decide among multiple options.

CLOSING QUESTIONS

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

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.

How To Prepare Outlines for Practicing Behavioral 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. 

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, see here, here, and here. Some of the content in those posts repeats what is here.)

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.