Admissions Interviews

You’ve worked tirelessly to research which schools and programs are a good fit, taken the GMAT, completed applications and written countless essays.   You finally get the news you’ve been waiting for…you got an interview!  Now what?

It’s important to remember that the interview is your time to shine and impress the admissions committee once again.  Follow my tips below in order to ace your admissions interviews!

·         Be confident – the admissions team already thinks you’re great and now is your chance to prove it to them in person

·         Talk to current students – reach out to current students or alumni to ask questions about their experience on campus and during their interview

·         Know your story – be able to answer the following questions:

o   Why an MBA?

o   Why is now the right time in your career to pursue an MBA?

o   Why our school?

·         Research the school and program and come up with a few questions to ask the admissions committee at the end of your interview

The most important tip is to be you!  Each MBA class is comprised of students with exceptional talents and unique backgrounds which enable learning and growth inside and outside of the classroom.  No one else in your class will have the same experiences that you’ve had so stay confident and ace those interviews!

Liz Schaab, Forté Fellow

MBA 2014, SMU Cox School of Business

Nailing the Interview: The 2 Most important questions

Ding. An email pops into your inbox and your heart flutters in anticipation when you see it’s from first choice business school. Congratulations! We want you. Yes, you! All you have to do is prove to us that you are who you say you are- a confident leader, ready to advance your business career.  The key to winning in the interview is preparation and confidence. Ultimately, no one knows you and your experience better than you do. But what questions should you expect?

Two important questions EVERY business school will ask you are: “Tell me about yourself” and “Do you have any questions for me?” Make sure you nail them.

The TMAY question is essentially a 2-4 minute chronological career synopsis that you design to surface information that is most relevant to your listener.  Think of the TMAY as a table of contents that will announce the key themes of your candidacy and will open the way for deeper discussion. Read over your personal statement and essays to pull out significant learning or measurable accomplishments from your experience to serve as these value themes.

The TMAY is a crucial question to nail.  Here is an easy way to frame your answer:

1.       Start with your introduction- where you graduated college, other relevant degrees (Master’s etc.) and then tell them where you want to take them, specifically through past work experience, community involvement etc.

2.      Summarize your career progression chronologically, highlighting 3-5 relevant themes where you have quantifiable impact (ie. leadership, analytical problem solving, passion for social impact, working across cultural borders etc).

3.      Closing Statement- reiterate your interest in the particular school and stress the logical and convincing reasons this schools is a good fit for you and you for them.

Let your preparation take you the rest of the way and always have questions for the interviewer ready to go. Remember it’s a two-way conversation and the right questions from you signal your thoughtful preparation and interest. Good luck!

Teresa Delgado, Forté Fellow
MBA 2014, Georgetown University McDonough School of Business

 

Sign up to receive updates to Forté’s blog by email or RSS feed!

Stories Can Help You In Your Interview

I had one horrible interview.  I was thrown off by an early question about my favorite class in college.  It was too far back for me to remember clearly and I spent the rest of the interview playing catch up.  My mind completely emptied and I couldn’t think of any examples for any of the questions.  I ended up sounding hollow and unmotivated.

So, what did I learn?  How did I use this experience to shore up my interviewing skills and feel confident going into an interview?  I prepared stories.  Because I was so worried about blanking again, I prepared examples in advance without associating them with questions.  This method allowed me to be more nimble and spend precious thinking time on how to express myself rather than on what to say.

Before each interview, I came up with 5-10 stories from the past week or month, or even last several years that I thought portrayed me in a positive light.  They were not all successes or strengths, and they had real complexity.  I picked complicated situations because they felt more genuine, but also so that they would be versatile and I could use them to answer any question.  The same story could be a response to “have you ever disagreed with your boss,” “tell me about a time you failed,” or “what motivates you.”  In addition, you can use them as examples when talking about your goals or accomplishments. 

In advance, I considered my role in the stories and also how other participants would judge them.  By thinking about the stories from several angles, I was able to be more thoughtful during the interview and more reflective about lessons learned and implications.  When the interviewer asked a question, I quickly did a mental scan through my stories and picked the one that was most fitting, and then elaborated and applied it to the question.

To prepare these stories, ask yourself about recent times that you demonstrated leadership, did something difficult, or did something without a clear answer.  Develop the stories in your head and if possible, practice telling them to a friend or mentor.  Make sure that they ring true to you and that you can tell them without having to hide parts of who you are.  These stories will end up being invaluable in your interviews.  Good luck!

Judy Herbstman, Forte Fellow

MBA 2014, Stern School of Business at NYU

Preparing for Admissions Interviews

One of the crucial steps towards an MBA is the admissions interview process. Here, I’d like to share some pointers on how to prepare for the interviews and handle yourself when challenged by interviewers.

In simple terms, the objective of the interviews (for the school) is to meet the person whose application they liked. They want to understand qualitatively as to whether this person is genuine, professional, has the right soft skills and if the school is a good fit for his/her aspirations. There is definitely no faking your personality when someone challenges your personal story (and this could happen during an admissions interview). To prepare, there are few simple steps you can take:

1.       Know your story well: It could be a few months since you wrote your resume and essays. So, go over them and reflect upon your accomplishments, goals, beliefs etc. and prepare your reasons for why you want do an MBA, why now and why you chose the school.

2.      Share your story well: In most cases, the interviewer will be a complete stranger to you, so provide him/her with a good overall picture and fill in the specifics whenever asked. If it fits the conversation, add details about the school (courses you plan to take, clubs you plan to join, activities you might take up etc.) The details show commitment. Try to tie this information to how it will help your future career.

3.      Get feedback: Towards the end, ask the interviewer if he/she can provide you some feedback on the path you are envisioning for yourself and your experiences to date. Listen to what he/she has to say. If nothing else, you may get an honest professional perspective on how a stranger perceives you and your story in light of your goals. In fact, I remember feeling refreshed with the honest opinion of how I came off on paper vs. my interview (e.g. one of my interviewers felt I lacked P&L management experience and I know that this is something I will try to add to at some point in my career).

4.      Be yourself but maintain a calm, professional demeanor: As easy as it may sound to talk about yourself, the interview could get progressively challenging. Don’t get discouraged if your interviewer turns out to be particularly tough and challenges you on your story or your intentions. He/she is just testing the depth of your story. So don’t take on new personalities or try to think about what they would like to hear. Continue to be yourself and share your true beliefs and why you believe them. Stick to what you said in your application and draw parallels.

5.      Make sure you eat before the interview: This seems like a no brainer but talking to someone for two hours at dinner time with two nachos in your tummy is not fun. No matter what time you’re interviewing, make sure you refuel beforehand.

Speaking personally, one of my two interviewers, in spite of being very friendly and jovial, challenged me thoroughly on many aspects of my application. For instance, the interviewer challenged me on whether INSEAD was truly the right school for me or whether I was doing it out of geographical convenience (I was living and working in Singapore at the time and had expressed that I would like to start on the Singapore campus). In response, I basically laid out clearly, a list of all the other schools I had researched, what I had found and reasons why I had chosen to go with INSEAD. I also mentioned that while I’d be starting at the Singapore campus, I will be doing the US exchange and Fontainebleau campus exchange as well, so I was in no way tied to Singapore. Throughout the interview, I did feel like I had been put on the defensive multiple times on several questions, but tried to maintain my cool and enjoy the conversation as much as possible. I remember coming out of the grueling two-hour conversation feeling like I may have lost my chance with INSEAD as there were perhaps many unanswered questions that the admissions team had about my candidacy. However, I was confident that I had done my best as I had reflected my true self at the interview and defended my reasons calmly and professionally. In the end, I was undoubtedly over joyed to receive an admit!

Sweeny Chhabra, Forté Fellow
MBA 2013, INSEAD

Insider's Perspective of an MBA Friend

As it's back to school time for most MBA programs, talented prospective applicants have been seeking advice from my business school classmates and I on applying.

Without knowing a friend or two enrolled at a top MBA program, it's challenging to identify all the resources that some better-informed are aware of. While occasionally downplayed in its use for self-perception, these resources are what I would share with you if you turned to me as a friend.

Apart from your GMAT/GPA stats, your MBA application can be distilled into three distinct areas you control:

I. Experiences:
I've gifted this recently published book, The MBA Reality Check: Make the School You Want, Want You, to friends seeking to best position their profiles and experiences into their applicancy, short and long-term goals included. As of this blog post, all 13 Amazon.com reviews are rated 5 of 5.

II. Written Application:
a. Essay/Recommendations/Application:
Find a trusted friend - possibly one in business school - to help proofread your essay and offer a counter-opinion. Yet, as friends and family are often all too eager to offer an opinion, don't share your essay with too many readers for risk of losing your distinct voice and internal compass on where to head. I found my own sister the most brutally honest with me, and she became the only person to proofread my essays.

b. School visit:
Make an effort to visit business schools before you write your essays. In writing about why you want to attend program X, there's no greater substitute for genuine interest in attending a program than if you invested time into witnessing a class, speaking with a student group, etc. This would also crystallize why you may want to attend one program over the other, helping prioritize your application submissions.

III. Verbal Interview:
Talented candidates on paper may be invited to top-tier schools for interviews, yet a bottleneck for admissions can be the interview itself. You are competing against applicants who may have prepared by seeking the counsel of family and friends, bulleted out their responses, and crystallized their answers. MBA mock interview services such ZoomInterviews.com videos of benchmark interviews, and InterviewBay and Accepted.com's mock interview services may be worth exploring.

This is the first in a series of blog posts to level access to information and opportunities for prospective MBA students. What topics would you like explored further? Please comment, and I'll respond in-line or via a future post. All the best!

Tiffany Kosolcharoen, Forté Fellow
Class of 2013, MIT Sloan School of Management