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MBA Admission interviews : Few useful tips and resources
Blogs Madbubbles - 11-03-09
As I am preparing for my Tepper interview, I thought I will share my thoughts about MBA interviews and preparation. In this post you will find some useful tips about preparing for MBA interviews and links to some useful resources.
1. Know your school well
Its very important not to be complacent about preparing for interviews. Brush up your knowledge about the school. Do some focused research on the school again, visit website, talk to students and alumni and get some commendable information about the school.
2. Practice for the most expected Interview questions
Though one cannot really predict what a interview is going to be like, one can definitely prepare diligently for the interview. In my post great-set-of-mba-interview-questions, I have listed down most of the standard questions that would be asked in an MBA. Be sure to check them out and prepare for them.
3. Be thorough with your resume and maintain the application theme
Its very important to build on your theme that you presented in your application. Application and interview should present a coherent theme about you, your career goals and fit for the school. For example it doesn’t make much sense if you say your long term career goal is entrepreneurship in you essays and project investment banking as your intended career path during interview. So it might be useful to go through your essays once before the interview.
4. Practice well and do some mock interviews
Interviews can make or break your chances of getting accepted to your dream school. Its very important to present yourself well in the interview. Don’t learn the answers by heart and reproduce them in the interviews. Instead, rehearse the answers vocally in a clear and loud pitch. Ask your friends/mentors to take mock interviews and get the feedback from them.
5. Interview Etiquette and Follow-up
Dress well, carry all required documents in a portfolio and be confident but not overly aggressive. Make the 1st impression with a firm handshake and smile. Be clear when you speak and be sure to ask questions back to interviewer. This shows your enthusiasm about the school. After the interview, be sure to send out a thank you note for the interviewer.
All the best for all those applicants who have received interview invites. Be sure to comment about your interview experience.
Madbubbles is a young career woman from India. She is a software engineer by profession and social entrepreneur by passion. She is applying to US B schools this fall and aims to get her MBA in technology management and strategy. You can check her
Firstly,thanks for such important tips.It is really a worth to go through them.Definately ,if you do care of all these things, you have 99% chance to clear the interview.
Remarkable tips for MBA Admission interviews.it willd efinetely help students.
Maria, Very true. Its very important to be the real us than trying to be the one which we think the adcom will like. Thanks for this tip
First of all - good post! And I wish you very very good luck with your interview!
But… As the one who already successfully passed that all, may I add one important point to what you have written… That is obvious, but as I can see it is still one of the reasons why many fail at interviews. Be yourself. I repeat that - BE YOURSELF! Not what you think that adcom would like to see, not what you believe will “shine” better. Just be yourself.
And good luck once again!
Thanks Linda for liking my post. I will definitely check out the accepted.com resources.
Excellent tips and a link to a great set of questions. You may also want to check out Accepted’s (Disclosure:that’s my company) MBA Interview Feedback Database. Applicants have provided feedback on their interviews at specific schools, including questions they were asked. The database is organized by school. It is at http://www.accepted.com/mba/interviewfeedback.aspx . Please also add your feedback after you interview.
Best,
Linda