Clients frequently ask me questions about the interview scheduling process for MBA programs. Below I have provided advice on the topics I am most frequently asked about both for interviews that are scheduled using online scheduling systems (usually interviews with admissions officers and second year students) and those that are scheduled with an alumnus.
This post is being written in January 2021, so it assumes all interviews are being conducted via Zoom, Skype, or other online platform and not in-person on or off-campus.
Scheduling Interviews for MBA Programs That Use Online Scheduling Systems
1. If you are invited for an interview and the school uses an online scheduling system, I recommend that you schedule as soon as possible because slots will fill quickly. This is especially true for HBS and Wharton.
2. If you want more time to prepare for an interview, schedule the session at a later date. There is no inherent disadvantage in terms of admissions outcomes for taking a later date. There is no inherent advantage for taking an earlier date in terms of admissions outcomes. Some applicants who feel ready to interview or want to get an interview out of the way as soon as possible will take earlier dates by choice. Many applicants prefer having more time to prepare. Whatever the case, the important thing is to try and schedule when you think you will be ready.
3. You should schedule at a time that is best for you. With respect to time, to whatever extent it is possible to do so, try to interview at the time of the day or evening when you feel you will perform at your best. Some of us are night people, maybe some are afternoon people, and some are day people. It is not always easy to get a good time but to whatever extent you can try to do so.
4. With exception of MIT Sloan, you most likely will not know who your interviewer is in advance. MIT Sloan always lets you know who your interviewer will be but most programs don't provide that information in advance.
Scheduling Alumni Interviews
1. If you are invited to interview with an alumnus, the MBA program will assign one to you and you will need to make contact with alumnus to arrange a time for your interview.
2. For most schools you will usually have about a two-week window to complete the interview but this varies from school to school and can be extended due to extenuating circumstances (see below).
2. It is best to make contact with the alumnus within 24 hours as it looks odd if you wait much longer than that. If you don't get a reply from the interviewer in around 2 business days, feel free to send a follow-up email but I would suggest contacting the school if you have not heard anything within 4 business days.
4. Be aware that just because you are assigned an alumnus to interview with, there is no guarantee that this person will be available. It is often the case that alumni agree to be interviewers but are not available when asked to conduct an interview. Schools where this frequently happens include Columbia Business School, INSEAD, and Kellogg. It even occasionally happens with Stanford GSB where alumni interviewers are more intentionally selected than at other business schools. If this should happen contact the admissions office so that they assign another interviewer to you. They also usually extend the deadline for completing the interview based on assigning a new interviewer.
5. I highly recommend checking online to learn about your interviewer. LinkedIn is an obvious first way to learn about the interviewer as most will have a listing there. Knowing who your interviewer is important with respect to:
-Understanding to what extent they may have a similar or different background from you. This will help you be strategic in the way you communicate about yourself.
-Being aware of when they graduated from the MBA program so you can tailor questions to them accordingly (Example: Asking new grads about a program is very different from asking someone who graduated from it 5 or more years ago).
-Determining whether you know anyone who knows the alumnus so you can get information about them (Be careful with the way you handle this).
- This one is unlikely: determining whether there is some reason why interviewing with this alumnus would be problematic (Examples: a conflict of interest situation, someone from your past who you would not want to interview with, or someone who based on their background would likely have a bias against you. If this is really an issue contact the admissions office and explain the situation. I have been an admissions consultant since 2001 and have only encountered a few cases where this was an issue.
6. Finally, it is to a large extent the alumni interviewer's choice of when to conduct the interview, so I do recommend being flexible about this so as not to give the interviewer a bad impression even before you interview.
Best of luck with your interviews!
