Preparing for Wharton Interviews for the Class of 2018

In this post, I discuss how to prepare for Wharton Interviews for fall 2016 entry. My post on Wharton’s essays for the Class of 2018, can be found here.

 

There are two parts to the Wharton interview, the team-based interview and one-to-one interview.  Each part can be prepared for. I am assuming anyone who is reading this post has actually been invited for a Wharton interview and has reviewed the official information regarding it.

 

TEAM-BASED DISCUSSION

I will not disclose the contents of the specific team-based question that Wharton has asked  interviewees to prepare. I do know the question and it has changed from last year, but the question itself  is not really that different: Different topic, but requiring the group to reach consensus on a proposed topic.   I do provide analysis of the TBD discussion question to my own clients, but will not do that here.

Here are some basic group interview strategies to keep in mind:

1. Be someone who makes clear and effective points in the conversation, but does not dominate the conversation.

2. Don’t be rude to others. Rude jerks are the easiest people to get rid of when evaluating participants in a team based discussion. Stanford Professor Bob Sutton’s No Asshole Rule surely applies here:  CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT IF YOU ARE AN ASSHOLE.

3. Listen closely enough to others in order to say something that builds on or reacts against what other people are saying. Refer to what others are saying in order to build consensus. Those that did listen seemed to have a better outcome in previous years of the TBD.

4. Try to provide constructive communication that moves the discussion forward to a positive conclusion. Make an effort to include others in the conversation.

5. Don’t be afraid to make a less than perfect point. If  you were about being perfect, you will never get enough speaking time and perceived as shy and ineffective in team situations. That will get you dinged.

6. Synthesize and summarize the team’s conversation in order to move the conversation forward.

7.  Use hedging language and other forms of consensus building language. Try to avoid being dismissive of the views of others.

8. If you are having difficulty understanding someone because of their accent or because of your poor English listening skills, still engage in non-verbal demonstrations that you understand what they are saying.  Non-verbal communication will surely be observed, so if you look confused or frustrated that could be used against you.

9. Smile and show eye contact with other people.

10.  Make sure that you don’t slouch in your seat, but are sitting tall and look like a positive and engaged person.

11. Be willing to serve as the group in a functional role: timekeeper, notetaker, or facilitator.  Making a contribution is of bottom line importance.

How I prepare my clients for the team discussion: The main thing I can do is go over the question and make sure my client’s prepared opening 1 minute statement is effective.  The nice part of the Wharton team discussion is that you do have the question ahead of time.  I assess the statement on the following basis:

1. Does the suggested answer address the topic directly?

2. Is the suggested answer one that other group members and the interviewer can easily understand?

3.  Can the answer be communicated very briefly? Given time limits you will need to communicate it very briefly.

4.  Is the answer interesting/original/creative?

5. Are there any negative aspects to the proposed answer?

I can’t effectively prepare someone for the actual dynamics of a group conversation on a one-to-one basis, but by at least making sure my client’s opening is solid, I know they will at least be well positioned to start strong.

 

 

SHORT INDIVIDUAL DISCUSSION (ONE-TO-ONE POST TEAM-BASED DISCUSSION INTERVIEW)

Based on what my clients reported to me and the public reports on Clear Admit, the 10 minute one-to-one interview is likely to consist of 4-6 questions, which I have divided  into the following two categories.

 

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE  TEAM BASED INTERVIEW

It appears that all applicants were asked both of the questions below.  Be prepared to provide your feedback on the team-based interview.  Assume that this is a test of your self-awareness of group dynamics, an opportunity to explain the role you took in the group, and a chance, hopefully to correct any misperceptions of yourself on the part of the interviewer.

1) How do you think the team-based interview went?

2) Was your behaviour typical of how you work in a team? / Was your behaviour in the Team-Based Discussion representative of the way you typically act in group settings?

How I prepare my clients for this part of the interview: I can’t really do that because it is based on what actually happened in the interview.  The only thing I can do is make sure that my client realizes that they will be asked such questions and that they should be mindful of the role that they performed in the group. For example,  if the interviewer perceives you, as say, overly reserved or overly aggressive, you need to be ready to discuss that issue.

 

TYPICAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (Assume 2-4 such questions)

For a more extensive list of Wharton 1-to-1 interview questions, see this post.

This is the standard part of the interview. If you are doing more standard interviews, it will be easy to prepare for this part.  For advice on more standard interviews, please see my MBA Application Interview Strategy. I highly recommend reviewing your resume and Wharton essays as part of your preparation.  You should surely be able to explain why Wharton in particular is the ideal place for you to study.  You  should have 1-2 questions available. If you are interviewing off-campus, you should have questions ready for an admissions officer. If you are interviewing on-campus, you had better be prepared to have questions ready for both an admissions offer and a 2nd year student.

Do you want to highlight anything in your application?

Introduce yourself

Discuss your career progress

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?

What is your post-MBA goal?

Why MBA?

Why Wharton?

Do you have any questions for me?

Anything you want to add?

 

How I prepare my clients for the individual interview: I would typically ask my clients these questions in a mock interview.  It would not be completely realistic because I would go over all the above questions just to make sure that my client was covered for all the above topics. If we were preparing for more standard interviews (Booth, Columbia, Kellogg, Haas, etc.), it might not really be necessary to go over this part of the interview for Wharton. For more about my interview services, please see http://www.adammarkus.com/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.

If you get an HBS interview invite...

If you get an HBS interview invite…

The most important thing to do is quickly decide when and where you want to interview.

Spaces at all the hub interview sites tend to fill up early, so if you are not planing to come for a campus interview, reserve your space as soon as possible.

There is no inherent advantage to interviewing early. If you want more time to prep, select a later appointment.
Going to campus is great if you can do it and have not been before, but there is no inherent advantage from admissions results perspective in doing so.

For more about HBS interviews, see my recent blog post!

-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 2018, this post is for you!


Beyond my 18 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 almost fourteen 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.

Columbia Business School MBA Application Interviews

In this post I provide advice on how to prepare for a Columbia Business School MBA interview. You can find my post on Columbia Essays here. 

Beyond my 29 comprehensive service clients admitted to Columbia since 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 test prep company's admissions consulting service.  The advice below is thus based on working with clients on Columbia interviews for almost fourteen years. My client results and testimonials can be found here.

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
-and my more recent post, When to start MBA interview practice? How to prepare?


Columbia Business School offers only one flavor of admissions interview: “Columbia Business School Ambassador” alumni invitation-only interviews. You will get to select from multiple interviewers, so try to figure out who they are first before contacting them. I suggest using Google searches, LinkedIn, and perhaps your own network to do so. Select someone who you think you will be compatible with. While this interview is certainly important, it is not unheard of for admissions to admit someone the alumni did not recommend or ding someone the interviewer did recommend. The admissions office has the ultimate discretion over this issue and clearly sees the interview as only one factor for determining the ultimate result. That said, the interview is certainly quite important. In my experience, clients who report not having a great Columbia rarely are admitted, so you as an applicant should assume that like with any interview, it is very important t o do well.  In my post, General Characteristics of Admissions Officers, Students, and Alumni Interviewers, I discuss Columbia interviewers specifically: “Among top US MBA programs, the school with the most alumni interview horror stories is most certainly Columbia Business School.  Given their very open process where candidates choose from many possible alumni, there appears to be very little direct oversight over the interviewer selection process. It is no wonder that CBS admissions seems to frequently conduct short follow-up telephone interviews with applicants.”


Still, Columbia alumni seem to be particularly effective gatekeepers for the program. They are well known for relentlessly determining whether Columbia really is the applicant’s first choice. They are clearly told to do this as it is a consistent feature of interview reports. Not only should you be able to explain why Columbia is your first choice, but you had better explain why HBS, Stanford, and/or Wharton is not. Less then clear answers to the why is CBS your first choice question can prove fatal. Beyond that, I think alumni are really looking to make sure that you possess sufficient mental strength, personal drive (aggression), and career focus to become a part of their “club.”Some of the most common question topics you would encounter in a Columbia interview (Based on my colleague Steve Green’s review of reports at accepted.com and clearadmit.com, which is consistent with what clients have been reporting to me):

RESUME

• Walk me through your resume.  (PICK AND PROBE CONTENT)
• Tell me about a professional achievement
• Explain your professional progression up until now and why you need an MBA?
• What is unique about you?

GOALS

• What are your career goals?
• In addition to applying for an MBA, what other steps have you taken toward your goal?
• Why an MBA?
• Why now?
• Why Columbia?
• How will you contribute to Columbia?
• What are your criteria for an MBA program?
• Where else did you apply?
• What other schools have you applied to?
• What will you do if you don’t get in anywhere else?
• What makes you unique from other (financiers / salesmen / IT specialists, etc.) applying to Columbia?
• Are there any red flags you think the adcom will find in your candidacy?

LEADERSHIP

• What is your leadership / management style?
• Tell me about a time when you took the initiative.
• Have you ever been in a leadership role?

TEAMWORK

• Tell me about a time when you had a work in a difficult team at your first job.
• Tell me about a time when you had to work with a difficult person.
• What role do you play on teams?
• Example of leading a team.
• Example of contributing to a team.
• Example of a challenging team/group situation.

SELF-AWARENESS

• Tell me about a time when you faced adversity?
• Tell me about a time when you made a major mistake at work and how you dealt with it.

ETHICS (NOTE: IT APPEARS THAT THIS QUESTION HAS BEEN ELIMINATED FROM INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED FOR ENTRY FROM 2013 ON. YOU SHOULD STILL BE AWARE AND PREPARE FOR IT IN THE EVENT THAT AN INTERVIEWER ASKS IT OUT OF OLD HABIT)

• What was an ethical dilemma you’ve faced, and what did you do about it? (Follow up with q's like "What would you do differently?")
• Describe a time, either professionally or academically, when you witnessed others behaving unethically–what did you do about it?

PERSONAL

• Tell me something unique about you
• Is there anything particular you'd like me to add to my report for admissions?
• What do you do in your free time?
• What do you get excited about? What turns you on?
• Why? (sports, hobbies etc.)
• What are 5 adjectives that describe your interpersonal skills and communication style?

ANALYTICAL ABILITY / CURRENT EVENTS

• Tell me about a technology trend and how it will affect business.
• What is the impact of the financial crisis on (YOUR) industry?
• Topical questions about the current financial crisis, etc.
• Anything related to interviewee's field:  Future or real estate, health care, etc.

Either walk me through your resume or questions that amount to the same thing are always asked. Expect to be asked one way or another about how you standout professionally. Be honest, but very direct and sell your experience emphasizing your ability to make an impact. A common question is “What improvements have made in the position hold at work?”


Be ready to ask questions to the alumni. Prepare them ahead of time. Assume that unless the alum is a very recent graduate, they should not be asked about recent developments on the campus. This is a good opportunity to ask them about their Columbia experience and about the alumni network.


If there is anything you wanted to mention that was not covered in your application that you want to bring to the admission committee’s attention, you will possibly have the opportunity to do so because interviewers frequently ask about this.


You probably will not be asked any weird hypothetical questions, but rather expect to cover some variation of the above questions in a great deal of depth.


Reported interview length is typically 60-75 minutes, but some interviews are shorter and some go for 90 minutes.


Brief Telephone Follow-up Interviews with an Admissions Officer: A number of my clients, especially, but exclusively non-native English speakers, have had short 5-15 minute interviews with the admissions office after the alumni interview.  Many of my Japanese and Chinese clients have experienced this for purposes of an English language check, but I have also had clients from the US and Canada who received such calls. Sometimes the admissions office simply as a point of fact in the application that they want to clarify. From what I can gather, getting such a call is neither positive or negative in terms of the final result.

-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. Beyond my 25 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 test prep company’s admissions consulting service.  The advice below is thus based on working with clients on Booth interviews for almost fourteen 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 to Booth.

 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. As such the resume serves four main functions:

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 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.