11

Ace Your Interview

An interview forms an integral part of the process for business school admission for most universities, if not all. It is now a stated policy for the US business schools and a requirement for top European business schools. There are still a few universities which do not interview their top candidates (top 10 per cent of the admitted students). For most others, it forms a part of their admissions process, but given different weight as per the policy of the school and as defined by the strength of the application submitted by a candidate. It is a generally accepted fact that a good to neutral interview does not necessarily increase your chances of getting an admission but a bad interview can definitely influence the outcome negatively. In most cases, especially for international students, it is the most crucial part of the application process for various reasons. The interviews are usually in English and may be conducted by alumni, a current student or an admissions officer. An international applicant may have difficulty in conversing fluently in English or may not be able to understand the accent of the interviewer, thus increasing the chances of not being able to perform according to expectation or acceptable minimum standards. Most people also have huge performance anxieties and thus are afraid of appearing for an interview, where they can be judged at close quarters. People usually fear the worst when it comes to an interview, which is an over-exaggeration, especially in the case of business schools. In fact, it is more of a discussion that is meant to be informative as well as enjoyable. Let us help you in breaking this mental barrier and successfully getting past the interview stage of your admissions process.

Purposes of Holding the Interview

An interview is used as a sounding board by the business schools for some or all of the following:

1. To verify the authenticity of some of the personality-related traits, strengths and weaknesses as mentioned in the application.
2. To understand some of the information in the application or essays, where more detail is required to present a complete picture (such as a project-related example).
3. To probe through specific areas of the application by delving deep into the life of an applicant and demanding other examples that highlight the qualities of a candidate, beyond what has been presented in the written application.
4. To assess the soft skills, such as group discussions and interviews, of the applicant which are very important from the recruitment point of view.
5. To analyse the fit of the applicant with the school’s culture, including social skills.
6. To get a view of the overall personality of an applicant, including presentability, confidence, charm, persuasiveness and sense of humour.
7. To probe the quantitative and analytical skills of an applicant through a case study or a business discussion.
8. To get a feel of the intellectual and emotional quotient of an applicant through a discussion on current topics such as politics, health or industry.
9. To understand the reasons for an applicant’s interest in the business school which, if generic enough, can be used as a tool to market the programme to future aspirants from the same background.
10. To attract outstanding candidates to the programme and convince them to attend the same, while getting to understand the factors that will influence their final decision such as financial aid, rankings, faculty, and such others.
11. To determine if a candidate will join the programme, on being offered admission, so as to help manage the ‘yield’ and hence the brand repute of the business school.
12. To market the programme as well as the school to applicants by highlighting unique features of the programme that appeal to the candidate and aid in arriving at the final decision.

Most business schools follow two types of interviewing policies. One is the Harvard or Stanford type of interview, which is only by invitation and offered to a small set from the total pool of applicants. The other is the Kellogg or Duke type of interview, which is offered to everyone and is defined more by logistical constraints than anything else.

The first type of interview is characterized by a set of well-defined policies. In the case of Harvard, it is clearly stated that the interview is conducted exclusively by the admissions committee and is based on your complete application. The questions do not follow a set template and are clearly based on a deep understanding of your case and of the provided information (not to say that there are no usual interview questions, some of which are listed at the end of the chapter). The interview serves as verification as well as an opportunity to present your case again with fresh examples and reflect on your strengths and your fit with the school. It carries a significant weight and chances beyond an interview are with a 50 per cent probability. In the case of Stanford, they are conducted exclusively by alumni and are used as a verification of the personality profile as created by the admissions committee. The alumni uses your résumé as a reference and probes into your life, experiences and personality and then sends in its report to the admissions office which checks for gross negatives or any mismatch from their understanding of your application and then arrives at a decision. Both of the above create a subset of deserving candidates and then interview them all. The deserving candidates are then usually classified into subcategories. We define them as: top-gun (interview is only a formality), cowboy (surely in if the interview does not go badly) and fence-sitter (borderline case, interview is the deciding factor). For obvious reasons, cowboys and fence-sitters need to be really careful about their interview performance, but since we really can’t assess as to which category our application falls into, it pays to be careful and well prepared.

The second type of interview is characterized by literal chaos. At Kellogg, you need an interview and the admissions office helps set it up with either an admissions officer (travelling to your country) or with alumni (based currently in a nearby location). The interview follows a set pattern, is based on your résumé and the questions are well known, and well prepared by most applicants (we provide a sample set at the end of the chapter). The interview serves to check for gross negatives and except for rare cases (if you impress the interviewer beyond his/her dreams), does not add to your chances of an admission. It is only a point of the admission checklist. However, since the applicant volume is large, it is not always possible to call on the alumni again and again to interview a large set of candidates. In such cases, the school waives off the interview initially and then calls only those applicants for a telephonic interview, which it finds promising. In such cases the interview takes the form of the Harvard type interview. In the case of Duke, the process is almost the same as Kellogg but includes current students as interviewers and removes the interview waiver, making it compulsory to attend a personal interview.

Benefits of the Interview

Whether you are interviewed by invitation or on compulsion, it is useful to keep in mind its overall purpose. This helps in two ways. You are able to convince yourself of the utility of this tool as a powerful part of your application and are thus able to better focus on getting it right. It also helps to lower the performance anxiety by realizing that it’s more of a marketing game and a discussion than an evaluation of your person. You can draw the benefits of an interview by:

1. Showing the school that you are really interested in their programme by being well informed and well read about the same.
2. Showcasing your English language skills and conversational prowess.
3. Leaving a strong impression of your social skills and personality and impress the interviewer with your confidence.
4. Presenting a strong case by detailing your examples and supplying new information to the interviewer, not contained in your essays, or dwelling on the gaps in the provided information. Use the opportunity to highlight your strengths.
5. Highlighting any achievements since submission of the application, such as a performance bonus or a promotion or a new deal in business.
6. Discussing the programme and its suitability for yourself with your interviewer. This gives the interviewer a chance to sell the programme to you and puts you in a strong position. Evaluate your fit with the school.
7. Discussing the career path and achievements of the interviewer, if one of the alumni is holding the interview. This will give you insights about the possibilities after business school and about the effectiveness of the programme. You could also enquire about the role of business school’s career services in the enhancement of their careers.

It should be sufficiently clear to you that an interview is meant to be about you, your thoughts, beliefs, experiences and questions. Keep it as such. Do not let the focus shift to the school or to the interviewer. Keep the control in your hand and direct it such that you are able to present the strong aspects of your personality in the best possible manner.

Preparing for the Interview

It is very important for you to prepare for your B-school interview because there are many factors involved in it and uneasiness in any area may seriously dent your chances. We have tried to explain the importance and ways of preparation of the numerous aspects involved in this process.

Mental Preparation

The toughest part of the whole interview process is preparing for one. Don’t be surprised reading this because it’s true. It takes elaborate planning, to the last detail, to create the wow effect during the interview. The point to understand is that it is not as difficult as it seems. Your physical appearance is as important on the day of the interview as is your preparation for the questions based on your résumé and application. Then there are other considerations which add to the opinion of the interviewer. You only need to set your priorities and focus on achieving a win. A typical interview follows the format given below:

• Welcome
• Ice-breaker
• General questions
• Specific questions
• Questions asked by you
• Conclusion

The interview will vary in the level of difficulty and style depending upon your interviewer. The easiest are usually the interviews conducted by the alumni in a relaxed and friendly environment, and are more focussed on selling the school to strong candidates and less on grilling the applicants. Also more often than not, alumni interviews are based on your résumé and hence, are more general in nature. Depending upon the nature of the alumnus and his/her level of comfort, the interview could be for 30 minutes or more. Admissions officers play this very carefully since they need to address the gaps in your application and grill you about inconsistencies noticed as well as try and sell the institution to you. These are very impersonal and usually conducted in a fixed timeframe of about 30 minutes and are based on your complete application. The interviews conducted by students vary from being very friendly to being the toughest, just short of hostile. The reasons for this are that students usually evaluate the applicant as a fellow student and hence look out for specific qualities which impress them the most. They usually take the view of potential winners and focus more on the applicant and less on the school and look out for a fit, as defined by them. These are again mostly based on résumé and last for more than 30 minutes in most cases.

Based on the above three different styles of interviews, you need to condition your responses as per the situation. However, the base of the interview continues to be your résumé and your application. We have provided a comprehensive list of questions at the end of this chapter, which covers almost everything that can be asked. When you start preparing, you need to answer these questions by looking at your résumé and your essays. The key to good preparation is to know these two parts inside out. You should be ready to answer anything that is asked based on the information provided by you. This includes questions on employment, responsibilities, gaps in education or employment, career plan, values and beliefs, leadership abilities, strengths and weaknesses and such others. Next, you need to research the programme well and understand as well as memorize the key features that differentiate it from the rest. This can be done by reading through the brochures as well as the programme Web site set up by the school. Also focus on the specific areas of your interest such as the institute for investment management and the fund run by current students or the social enterprise club. This will help reflect your keenness in attending the programme. Other than this, you should keep abreast with current affairs and especially, be well informed with the political climate of your own and the target country and the implications on your future prospects. If you have hobbies like playing tennis or painting, it would be nice to discuss those in detail, say about the people known in the field, or the different styles in use.

Good preparation on all of the above will let you relax during the interview and will help you to discuss or argue a topic in detail as well as support your views in a convincing manner. You will also be able to ask several intelligent and probing questions about the programme, which will impress the interviewer and help you increase your knowledge of the programme.

There are ways in which you can predetermine the flow of an interview or the type of questions to be asked. This is important for the Harvard type of interview which tends to be based completely on the application and hence does not allow for preparation based on a standard template. You need to look out for examples which have been insufficiently explained such as those pertaining to leadership or personal development. Strengths and weaknesses can attract attention if they are unusual or point to an inconsistency in behaviour. Ethics related questions usually attract probing to understand your response in detail. Your work experience, its quality and nature, invite questions particularly to understand your career planning and why you did what you did. Academics is usually left out of discussion except for cases involving college seniors or where your academic background differs from your line of work, in which case, it needs to be clarified that your choice of course was indeed thought out and not an irrational and illogical move. If you have been active in community service and extracurricular work then a few questions could be thrown at you regarding a few of your responsibilities, if there were any that were substantial (such as a director). A résumé-based interview is usually more relaxed and you have the opportunity to direct it yourself by explaining some points in more detail and hence drawing the conversation towards a particular topic closer to your heart. In cases where your file is the base, you have less leeway and are more or less directed by the interviewer wishing to get to know the maximum possible information in the least possible time. However, depending on the interviewer, even a résumé-based interview may involve deep probing and analysis of your behaviour and personality, such as the one conducted by the Stanford alumni. Hence, our advice is to prepare as much as you can before the interview, but to relax and let it flow during the interview.

The easiest way to practise for an upcoming interview is to do mock interviews. Call up a fellow applicant, who is applying to the same school as you are, but whose application and story differs substantially from yours and get him/her to interview you. It will help in many ways. Since the person is applying to the same school, he/she will be acquainted with the school and its personality and culture. He/she would be able to judge your responses well and point out the inconsistencies in your responses. He/she will grill you mercilessly and hence, will possibly ask you all sorts of questions, which will help you overcome your anxiety and performance pressures. You would get to know the problem areas and will have time to work on them and improve before the actual interview. It would help immensely if you could record the sessions in either voice mode or video, for it will help you analyse your facial expressions, the tone of your voice and your body language and will allow you to address the problem areas in detail. Your friend will benefit in similar ways and hence, it will be a win-win situation for both of you. However, you must be careful with the selection of the person. This is to avoid a competitive spirit to come into the picture and destroy the objective. It needs to be fair and impartial to both so that each benefits from the sessions and comes out better prepared for the final interview. Finally, when the actual interviews start, we suggest that you interview first with lowest priority schools where interviews are compulsory and are more or less based on a standard script. You would be able to address your fears in a real setup, without losing out much if you are unable to put up a great performance. And it will give you a chance to improve upon in the next interview. A few schools like the University of Chicago and Emory University allow you to interview without submitting their application. This is a great opportunity for you to test out your interviewing skills with two of the top business schools in the US. Finally, always reflect after completing an interview on how you performed and on your responses so that you are able to analyse yourself and discover the mistakes, which need to be corrected the next time.

Physical Preparation

Relaxation

• Your body should be completely relaxed.
• You should have enough sleep the night before the interview.

Appearance

• You should never be under-dressed for an interview, just because you think it’s only a school and an academic programme.
• Even if it’s too hot, be dressed in a proper business attire and never ever show up in a T-shirt and jeans.
• Use casual wear only if explicitly stated by the interviewer, such as if you are meeting someone in a restaurant for a coffee on a weekend or for a playoff at a golf course.
• Avoid wearing very expensive looking clothes or watches as it might seem too loud to the interviewer.
• Men should wear a well fitting suit or a formal shirt with trousers. Be conservative with colour and styles. Navy blue or grey suits with white or light blue shirts, with suitably matched ties, are all time favourites.
• Women should dress in a suit as well, or a formal shirt with skirt. However, the dress code is more relaxed and allows for wearing an Indian suit or a sari as well for such a meeting. Wear conservative colours and style and little or no jewellery to avoid distraction.
• Do not wear a strong perfume or cologne. Use a mild deodorant.
• Women should be careful with lipstick as well as make-up and should make sure that it is not smudged during the wait.

Meeting

• Greet the interviewer with a firm handshake and a warm smile.
• Wait to be invited to sit down.
• Carry your business cards and hand one out to your interviewer after receiving his/hers. Take a good look at his/her business card and then put it in your pocket. Extend yours with your right hand.
• If you do not get a business card from the interviewer, then remember to note down his/her name and e-mail address after the interview.
• Do not put your hands on the desk or sit with arms crossed. Maintain a relaxed posture but sit straight so that you look attentive. Do not fidget around or break knuckles during the interview.
• Look the interviewer in the eye but do not stare. Show you are listening by nodding slightly. Speak only when he/she stops and do not cut him/her off abruptly at any time.
• Do not eat or drink anything during the interview, even if invited to do so, except water.
• Carry copies of your résumé and a copy of your application, if he/she wants one at the time of the interview.
• Carry the brochure as well as your notes, just in case you get a chance to discuss a particular aspect of the programme, say with alumni.
• Carry some support material which you can show to the interviewer so as to explain some of the topics in detail. However, avoid carrying anything which cannot be glanced through quickly.

The Interview

The interview begins with general questions about your job and the reason for wanting to do an MBA. Remember that the interviewer is making a mental picture with each response that you give and so be very guarded when answering any of these questions. Questions about your family and academic background are easily linked to your choice ofjobs and the reasons for pursuing an MBA. Be clear about your story and let it come out naturally through each of these questions. Keep in mind that the direction of the interview will be based upon your initial responses and so give crisp answers and remember to keep them short and sweet.

This level of questioning is usually followed by more specific questions about things stated in your résumé, such as a project which you completed or a successful public service campaign that you initiated. Sometimes, your background matches with that of the interviewer and the questions can be more personal in nature such as a discussion about college life or about changes in the company that you work in, where he or she might have spent some time earlier. The questions can also be based on common interests such as cricket or football or the recent trip that you made to Ladakh, which he/she has been planning for a longtime. Be sure that you do not twist facts and politely answer in the negative. If you do not know the answer, never try to make a guess.

At the end, the interviewer would usually invite you to ask any questions that you might have about the programme. This is the time for you to show that you are well prepared and have done your homework. Ask relevant and pointed questions about certain recent developments or related to a faculty member or with regard to a particular major such as finance. But keep in mind that if you are being interviewed by alumni, he might not know the specifics about the latest developments and it is better to avoid embarrassment for him, where he has to say that he does not know or that he would have to get back to you. Ask relevant questions, which impress him and make for a meaningful dialogue. And lastly, religiously avoid asking the interviewer about how you performed and what he thinks are your chances of getting an admission.

Once the interview is over, thank the interviewer for taking out the time to see you. Smile warmly and shake hands with confidence and walk out at a relaxed pace. If he comes to drop you at the door, thank him again and say a goodbye. If the secretary or a subordinate walks you out, be careful and do not make any loose comments about the interview or the interviewer. The person could easily go back and convey the impression to your interviewer. Simply talk with confidence and if asked, state confidently that the interview went well and that you would not know what else to say. Thank him at the door and shake hands while saying a goodbye.

A few pointers about your behaviour during the interview are listed below:

• Be confident and do not try to avoid questions or hide facts. Prepare well about your strengths and weaknesses and be ready to discuss them in detail if asked. However, do not launch such a discussion yourself.
• Follow your interviewer’s behaviour and be serious or keep up a touch of humour depending on how he reacts. Always look interested in what he is saying and react by nodding or saying ‘I see’, etc. Read the body language carefully to understand his level of interest in and comfort with you. A smiling and relaxed demeanour says that you are doing well while a frowning, bored and lost look indicates that the interviewer has lost interest in talking to you and is not much impressed with your answers. Try to get him or her interested by talking about a humorous incident or something which highlights your strengths in a positive and interesting manner.
• Treat your interviewer with respect but do not go overboard. Maintain a semblance of equality and do not be timid and submit to the interviewer. Ask relevant questions and keep yourself on a sure footing, taking a chance to disagree with what is said, if you know better and are sure about the facts.
• Relax and enjoy yourself during the interview. Engage actively in a conversation and make sure that it works like a dialogue. Ask questions about the school and discuss the fit of the programme with your long-term aims. When invited to ask questions, first take the opportunity to summarize the key points or mention any examples that you have missed out during the interview. Start by taking permission for the same and then say it in a clear and concise manner. Ask questions like direction and strengths of the school, culture of the school and academic atmosphere, faculty members (in particular, if you are interested in finding about someone, ask if the interviewer knows that person and ask him/her to describe that person) and their involvement in teaching and research which are usual topics discussed in most interviews, if you are unable to think about something more specific to ask about the programme.
• Do not sound prepared. Be spontaneous and avoid lengthy pauses between a question and its answer. It should not seem that you are speaking from memory and are giving a well rehearsed answer. See the interviewer’s reaction to your response before continuing with your answers. Do not keep talking and try to keep it simple.

Things to Look Out For

There are some unwritten rules to be followed in an interview, especially a business interview which looks at selection or recruitment by either a business school or a company. Always remember the following points:

• Be confident and present a true picture of yourself. Let the interviewer understand and evaluate your personality, so as to become more comfortable with you and in recommending you as a strong candidate for the programme. Do not act in front of the interviewer.
• Listen carefully to what your interviewer is saying or asking and be very attentive during the interview, especially focussing on his/her body language to read signs on the progress of the interview. It will also help you to structure your responses to the interviewer’s liking and you will be able to impress him/her by giving insightful responses. Always support general statements with facts and figures to make a strong impression.
• Be to the point and precise as much as possible in answering the questions and avoid detailed explanation, unless asked for by the interviewer. Be truthful about your achievements and the examples you provide to highlight aspects of your personality.
• Do use the opportunities presented to highlight your personality as well as to direct some questions towards your strengths. Use examples to illustrate the same. However, avoid being too forceful and allow the interviewer to remain in control of the discussion. Let him seek out information and do not supply extra information. Only answer when asked a question, but do answer such that you are able to leave a strong, positive impression.
• Be relaxed during the interview and allow your body language to exude confidence that comes from being well prepared. Avoid fidgeting around, speak in an even tone, never become too emotional and look the interviewer in the eye when replying to his questions. Stay calm and never let anger show through actions, voice or words.
• Avoid criticizing anyone in an interview. It reflects negatively on you as someone who is not able to get along with people. Criticizing your boss might, for example, highlight your inability to get along with superiors.
• Leave a positive impression on everyone you interact with, such as the office staff that you meet at the interview location. This is important because these impressions are sometimes taken into account when preparing a report on your interview and conduct. Be very courteous to the people around you.
• Remember that the interviewer does not remember your life story, especially in a résumé-based interview. Feel free to follow and develop on the story that you wrote in your application.
• Finally, never ever ask the interviewer to comment on your performance and the likelihood of your getting selected, as it puts him in a tight spot.

What Type is Yours?

In most cases, especially for business school interviews, it is a one-on-one affair between you and your interviewer. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule which have been discussed here.

Panel Interviews

These are more impersonal than others and are usually very formal, with two or more people in the panel. Expect the interview to focus more on your work experience, learnings and academic experience. Time is limited since each member has their own constraints and hence it is strongly advised that your answers be concise and to the point. Do ask, if any additional information is required by the members. Always address the person who asked the question but look at other people as well when answering the question and always end by again looking at the questioner. Finally, when taking leave, remember to address the panel as a collective for three or more people and wish goodbye to the group, but address individually in case of two people and then leave.

Group Discussions

Sometimes a case study or a topic is given to a group of people and they are asked to discuss the same and come up with solutions to a problem, with recommendations, results or strategy. This involves a group discussion and allows the interviewer to test a candidate’s ability to work in teams, leadership skills, communication skills, creativity, thinking ability, analytical skills, and ability to handle pressure among others. Since everyone is trying to get the maximum airtime, the situation can get ugly sometimes, but you need to keep your cool and try to project your strengths onto the group and try and get the maximum leverage with the interviewer. Do not worry about getting noticed. Think only about how you can use the exercise to your advantage.

Dealing with Interviewers

There are various types of interviews and then there are different types of interviewers. Check below to understand each type and your suggested response to each one of them.

Too Friendly

This person comes across as cool and relaxed and talks about everything else except the business school. Even when he discusses it, it is only in the manner of a passing thought and readily suggests that you would make a great fit for the school. Beware of your interviewer and be guarded because more often than not, this person is trying to catch you off-guard and ready to open up completely, so that he can analyse you thoroughly through your actions and words. Share the jokes and the laughter but never make loose statements, maintain a respectful distance throughout the interview and you will sail through.

Too Talkative

There are times when the person interviewing you is more interested in being heard and interviewed. This means that he/she will be able to gather less information about you, since you get little chance to express yourself. In such cases, be creative and very attentive. Use the opportunities presented to pick up his/her statements and express your views by adding onto them and explaining them with suitable examples from your application and otherwise. For example ‘I have had an experience similar to yours when I was working at...’ Also try and fit in information about your background into your responses so that he/she gets to hear it all without realizing the same.

Too Deviative

When your interviewer has a tendency to loose the thread of current discussion and launch into another one or rather get off-track, again and again, be very polite but tactful to draw the discussion back by using statements such as, ‘I would like to understand that point you mentioned earlier…’ Avoid confrontation and be friendly so that it does not appear as if you are trying to control the interview and he/she does not get offended.

Too Interruptive

In such cases, be extra attentive to keep a track of when the last interruption happened, so that you can pick up the discussion from the same place. Also remain cool and never lose your focus, which is to leave a good impression on the interviewer. Be patient and listen carefully so that you are able to use opportunities to highlight some of your strengths.

Too Occupied (Similar to a Person Going Off-track)

This person loses the discussion time and again and asks you as to what point you were explaining last. Be very polite and patient and explain the point again. Be very concise with such a person, as he/she is likely to have a short attention span or might be pre-occupied with another business on his/her mind. If you notice that you have lost him/her, ask politely to allow you to summarize your answer, which will get him/her back into the discussion. Be careful to avoid getting irritated since your aim is to answer his/her questions in the best possible manner and get a positive feedback.

Too Personal (Vindictive)

Such cases are rare but they do happen. Sometimes the interviewer starts probing your personal life such as relationships, family, girlfriend, etc. While it has not been explicitly stated that such questions cannot be asked, it might become uncomfortable for you to answer them. Again, their utility to evaluate your fit with a business school is questionable in itself. If you do face such a person, then politely refuse to answer these questions. If the person persists, then ask to leave the interview and immediately inform the admissions office of the school about the incident and let your displeasure be clearly known to them. Also ask them to schedule another interview for you. Be assured that the school would not hold it against you that you reported the incident to them and would be more than willing to help you in such a case.

To-Dos When the Interview Gets Over

Immediately after the interview, take a few minutes to reflect on your performance. Try to focus on any mistakes that you can point to or any visible negatives. Make a note of such issues so that you can work on them for your other interviews. Never ever feel disheartened about an interview that did not go as per your expectations. Sometimes, the points that we think work against us are not even considered by the interviewers in making the final assessment about the interview, for they had been asked to specifically comment on only a few of the qualities by the admission office.

Send a thank you note to your interviewer, and try to make it personal by including a statement that you liked or some such other thing from the interview. Remember to spell the name correctly and get the title right, as it can be a real put-off for most people. You may not be able to do it in the case of admissions officers but still do try to get information about their e-mail IDs and send an e-mail. In case of alumni and students, it should be done without fail, as you would also automatically include these people in your network for life, so it pays to generate as much goodwill as possible.

Fill up the following sheet as soon as possible to aid you in modifying your interviewing behaviour over time:

1. Was I nervous?
2. Was I appropriately dressed and feeling comfortable?
3. Did I greet in a proper manner?
4. How was my body language?
5. Did I appear confident?
6. Was I concise in my answers?
7. Which questions was I not able to answer properly?
8. Reasons for the same.
9. Did I ask suitable questions?
10. Was the interviewer with me during the interview?
11. Did I seem interested in the programme?
12. Does it seem that I ‘fit’ in with the programme?
13. Impression on the interviewer in my opinion.

Review your responses as you progress with your application process and face more interviews and consciously try and address your shortcomings.

General Interviews (Kellogg)

The following tips are designed to help you gain familiarity with the Kellogg (Northwestern) type of interview process. This information should be used in tandem with all of the other preparatory material. We are also noting down the information provided by the school on its interview process on the Web site for quick reference.

Other schools with similar patterns: Duke, University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)

Type of Interview: Blind, résumé based

Most likely to be conducted by: Second-year student or admissions officer (if on campus), alumni (if local).

Weightage: The interview counts as just another component of your file, and is not a determining factor in the process.

Information from Kellogg’s Web Site

The admissions committee requires every applicant, both domestic and international, to request an evaluative personal interview. Interviews with a member of the admissions staff, student admissions counselors or Kellogg’s Alumni Admissions Organization (AAO) are conducted throughout the year. Interviews also allow candidates to learn more about Kellogg. The interview is an important element in evaluating an applicant’s level of maturity, interpersonal skills, career focus and motivation. However, the interview is only one criterion used in the admission decision. The interview is an independent assessment, therefore, the application is not reviewed by the interviewer. Applicants must bring a current résumé to the interview. Applicants requesting an off-campus interview will be notified of their assignment by e-mail, after Part I of the Kellogg application has been received by admissions office. If no e-mail address is provided, candidates will be notified by post, which may take several weeks. During peak season (November-March), expect to receive the interview assignment two to six weeks after the admissions office receives Part I of the application.

Alumni Interviews Members of Kellogg’s AAO are located in most metropolitan areas around the world. Candidates interviewing off-campus will be contacted to schedule the interview. Applicants should not contact alumni directly to request an interview. The admissions office will make every effort to assign an alumni interview to each candidate. However, in a few cases of unusually heavy demand or remote location, we may be unable to meet all requests. In these instances, candidates will be notified of an interview waiver. Waivers have no negative impact on candidacy, and many applicants who receive waivers are admitted to Kellogg every year. The admissions committee reserves the right to contact candidates directly to seek additional information regarding their candidacy during the application process.

On-Campus Interviews On-Campus interviews are conducted Monday through Friday year-round, and also on Saturdays from late fall to early spring. On-Campus interviews are generally for 30 minutes.

Summary of Kellogg’s Interview’s FAQ

• The interview allows applicants to present their candidacy in a more personal manner and to learn more about the Kellogg School. To schedule an on-campus interview, call the admissions office on phone. During our peak season, appointments may fill four to six weeks in advance. You are not required to submit an application prior to scheduling an interview.
• On-campus interviews last approximately 30 minutes. Candidates should dress in professional attire and bring a current résumé.
• Local candidates should request an off-campus interview, unless applying to the JD-MBA programme.
• Because local candidates may likely have more flexibility and opportunities to visit campus, we reserve on-campus interviews to better serve candidates who must travel to visit the school.
• There are times when interviews are waived due to unusually heavy demand or remote location. Interview waivers have no bearing on admission decisions. They are based purely on geographic availability of alumni interviewers. If we feel an interview would be helpful in further assessing a candidate or would significantly aid in rendering a decision, we will contact the applicant to schedule a telephone interview.
• Applicants may not request a telephone interview; we will invite waived candidates for telephone interviewers throughout each application round. Many of our admitted students initially received an interview waiver and were subsequently contacted for a telephone interview.

Analysis of the Kellogg Type of Interview

Kellogg type interviews (despite their claim that they are of 30 minutes) can range anywhere from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours (especially when alumni are involved), so be flexible. Specific questions and questioning along the lines of your career goals, professional choices and interest in the MBA programme are relatively common. Don’t be intimidated by these questions, just try to stay enthusiastic and answer them. Keep in mind that in particular Kellogg (and others too, more or less) pushes three things in their marketing materials:

1. Teamwork (lots of groupwork in the classroom and beyond)
2. Academics (they have a great well-rounded curriculum)
3. Social life/balance of activities (people at Kellogg are dynamic and active)

The interview serves a two-fold purpose:

1. To assess your fit within the community. For example, are you outgoing and enthusiastic enough in your personal outlook to work well with fellow students? (Remember that Kellogg puts a tremendous emphasis on teamwork and the ‘Kellogg community’).
2. To allow you to ‘learn more’ about the school and to see how much you know about the programme and how interested you are in learning more. The interviewer will be trying to see if you are fully taking advantage of the fact that you have a chance to question someone with a lot of knowledge about the programme.

In addition to the regular barrage of questions, you may expect something along these lines in a Kellogg type of an interview:

• How do you perform in a team? Are you a team player?
• What other schools are you applying to and why?
• What can you bring to the school that is unique?
• What clubs are you interested in at school?
• How would a peer describe you?
• What don’t you like to do?

Things to Keep in Mind

When you walk into an alumni interview, keep in mind that this is not just your casual graduate who feels like helping out with an interview here and there. Unlike many schools, Kellogg actually puts its alumni interviewers through a fairly strict training process to give these interviews a consistency with what happens in a campus interview. There is also limited movement from one year to the next; so many alumni interviewers have done this for several seasons running.

Kellogg is a friendly place. The students, admissions staff and alumni emphasize collaboration and are not looking for pushy applicants who lack humility. They also do not look for candidates who lack an outgoing and enthusiastic nature. At the same time, your Kellogg interviewer will be trying to gauge your level of interest in the school and probing to find out whether or not you know why you need a Kellogg MBA (weeding out those candidates who are using the programme as a backup to Harvard, Stanford or Wharton). As such, despite the friendly, team-oriented nature of Kellogg, you may find that the interview is somewhat challenging. As long as you do your homework on the school and practice your answers to the typical interview questions you should be in good shape from a preparation standpoint. The rest will come down to your ability to show enthusiasm (for Kellogg and your goals), demonstrate intelligence (by having reasons for the decisions you have made) and indicate a collaborative nature (without forcing it).

General Interview Questions

While this is an extensive list of likely questions, remember that the actual questions asked may differ (substantially in some cases) from the questions listed below. The key point is to become comfortable with the different types of questions, so that you can answer any question asked of you. Remember, the interviewer has wide latitude in the interview. For example, the questions might be open or close ended, friendly or hostile in nature. The only real advice is to be completely in control of your application and resume and be prepared to face questions based on those, which will form a major chunk of your interview.

Run-through Interview (with Time Constraints)

1. Tell me about yourself.
2. What are your career goals?
3. Why do you want an MBA?
4. Why do you want to attend this school?
5. Why should we accept you?
6. What would you add to the programme?
7. What are your greatest accomplishments?
8. Walk me through your résumé, starting with your choice of college.
9. Tell me about yourself, again (to check consistency)
10. So, why are you here?
11. Talk about the decisions you made to get to the point you are at.
12. What questions do you have?

University Education

1. Which college/university did you attend? Why?
2. Do you think it was a good choice? What would you do if asked to choose now?
3. Tell me an important thing you learnt from your school/college experiences.
4. What was your major? Why?
5. Are you glad you chose that major? What would you change if you could?
6. How many hours each week did you study? Why not more/less?
7. Tell me about a standout academic experience.
8. In what courses did you perform well? Why?
9. In which courses did you fail? Why?
10. Do your grades reflect your abilities? Why did you not do better?
11. Did your education prepare you for your current career? How?
12. What did you most enjoy about college? Narrate an incident.
13. What did you least enjoy about college? Why?
14. Describe the extracurricular activities that you participated in during college?
15. Describe your leadership experience in college.
16. How did you pay for your education?

Work Experience

1. Walk me through your post-undergraduate work experience and describe transitions you’ve made.
2. Tell me about the person with whom you’ve least enjoyed working. How did this relationship function?
3. What are some of the frustrations/rewards you’ve experienced as a manager?
4. What are your plans if you are not accepted into an MBA programme of your choice?
5. Of what accomplishment at work are you most proud?
6. Describe your ideal work environment.
7. Why did you choose this profession? This firm?
8. What is your job title? To whom do you report?
9. What are your key responsibilities? What and whom do you manage directly?
10. Describe the financial aspects of your job. What are the key technical and managerial challenges of your job?
11. How do you vent work-related stress?
12. How does your current job relate to your career goals? Where does an MBA fit?
13. Where do you see yourself in 5–10 years?
14. How did you move to each of your jobs and why?
15. What are the future trends in your business?
16. Ever disagreed with your manager?
17. How do you define success for a company? For yourself?
18. Tell me about a time when you faced an ethical dilemma.
19. What other career path would you have chosen 5–10 years ago?
20. Leadership and teamwork examples.
21. What are your current career goals?
22. Tell me about a time when you faced a conflict and how did you resolve it?
23. What role do you usually take in a team setting?
24. What is your job description?
25. Tell me about a team experience that was a failure.
26. Tell me about a specific time in your career when you solved an important problem.
27. Tell me about a time when you faced a skeptical/angry manager and how you dealt with it.
28. Describe a situation where you lead a team in a difficult situation. What factors were involved? How did you resolve it?
29. How do you retain the employees in your company?
30. How has your work experience changed how you perceive things today?
31. Describe a negative situation in dealing with your subordinates and how did you handle it?
32. What do you enjoy most about your job?
33. What do you do best/worst in your job? Why? How could you improve your performance? What actions have you taken to make these improvements?
34. What have your major successes been? What financial or other impact have these had? Did you achieve these on your own? Who else was involved? How?
35. What have you done that best shows your willingness to work hard/take initiative/innovate/exceed expectations?
36. What do you like most/least about your position? Why?
37. What are the biggest challenges your unit faces? What are you doing to meet these challenges? Where is your industry headed in the next 5 years?
38. Describe your relationship with your boss. What is good and bad about it?
39. How well are you rated by your boss? What does he or she most/least like about your performance?
40. How does your performance compare with that of others at similar levels in the company?
41. Tell me more about your business plan and how you think it will be effective.
42. How do you deal with clients that are uncooperative?
43. Tell me about a conflict you had with a co-worker. How was it resolved?
44. Tell me about specific situations in which you’ve had a leadership role.
45. How would others describe your leadership role? Would you agree with this assessment?
46. Describe a situation where you had a positive impact on the team.
47. What is your management philosophy? What is your management style? What aspects of it do you wish to change?
48. What have you done to develop those under you?
49. How much do you control those under you? How much freedom do you give them? How do you motivate them?
50. Are you a better leader or follower?
51. What would your subordinates say about you as a manager? Why?

Career Goals

1. What do you want to accomplish in life?
2. How have your goals changed in recent years?
3. What do you want to be doing in 5–10 years’ time?
4. Tell me about the decision to apply for an MBA. Why now?
5. Why an MBA now? Why our school? What do you want to accomplish at our school? What would you do if not accepted?
6. Why general management? What is your vision for the XYZ industry?
7. Why do you feel you are the right fit for the school and vice versa?
8. What kind of value do you think you can add/what can you contribute to the school?
9. What would you do at the school outside of academics?
10. What would the school do for you that no other MBA programme can?
11. Which other schools are you applying to? Why? Why so many/few?
12. How did you choose these schools?
13. Which school is your first choice? Why?
14. What if you are not accepted at a top school?
15. If we give you an offer, will you accept it?
16. What about your background? Would it make you a contributing member to our community?
17. What makes you get out of bed/tick every morning?
18. How do you determine success?
19. What is your biggest success? Your biggest failure? What did you learn from that failure?
20. Where do you want to be in 5, 10, and 30 years?
21. Describe what you would do if you had to choose a new profession?
22. What’s the biggest risk you have taken recently?
23. What’s your most creative idea that failed?
24. What are your strengths/weaknesses?
25. Flesh out your career goals some more. (Long, medium, and short term)

Personal Qualities

1. Tell me your life story.
2. Describe a difficult team environment in which you have been involved and how you responded to it.
3. What happens when you feel strongly about an idea that the majority of the group is against?
4. If you suddenly had an afternoon off, what would you do with it?
5. Is your current balance among career, family, friends, and interests, the right one for you over the long term?
6. What activity do you enjoy the most? Why?
7. What non-job-related activities do you engage in? Describe your involvement.
8. Describe the real you outside of work.
9. How would your colleagues/teammates/subordinates/friends/family describe you?
10. If two managers were discussing you, what would they be saying?
11. How do your extracurricular activities contribute to your personal development?
12. What publications do you regularly read? Why?
13. What books have you read recently? What impressed you about that one?
14. What are the books that you are currently reading? Which is your favourite book?
15. What is your most significant development need?
16. After your two years at school, what would your classmates remember you by?
17. What would your colleagues miss least about you?
18. What makes you unique?
19. What areas do you need to develop?
20. If you were given one day off, where would you like to go?
21. What is your favourite play? What role would you enjoy playing the most?
22. What are your strengths and weaknesses according to your boss?
23. Which famous personality do you consider a great leader. Which of his/her qualities would you wish to have?
24. Who most influenced you when you were growing up? How?
25. Who are your heroes? Why?
26. What would you consider your dream opportunity (professional or personal)?
27. What was your best mistake?
28. I am a 5-year-old—explain to me what the Internet is.
29. What are the three most important technological innovations of the last 1000 years?
30. What are the training classes you have been in since college?
31. If you had unlimited power, what would you do?
32. What is the one and only thing you want me to know about you?
33. Assume you are a borderline candidate. Give me 2 reasons to let you in.
34. Who would you most like to have lunch with?
35. What is your leadership style? Give me an example of how you’ve used it.
36. What is your role in a team? What makes you succeed in team projects?
37. What qualities would you look for in your learning team/study group members?
38. What would like to change most in your life?
39. What have you done to keep yourself current, or to develop your skills, in your field?
40. How do you feel about: (Current world event topic)
41. How do you spend your time outside of work?
42. How do you deal with political instabilities?
43. What do you regret doing?
44. If you had a learning team member who came to school just to get a ‘stamp of approval’ degree and does not contribute to the team, how would you get him/her to cooperate?
45. What would be your biggest challenge once you enroll at school?
46. Which of the professors in the school would you like to study under?
47. Your learning team needs to submit an assignment at 9.00 a.m. tomorrow but your team members haven’t got anywhere yet. When you return from a 15-minute break, one member has left and another is asleep. What is your plan of action?
48. How would your father describe you to your classmates?

Leadership

1. Tell me about a recent leadership experience since submitting application (e.g. not in your essays).
2. Expand on a leadership story you have discussed in your essays.
3. Tell us about a leadership experience with college activity and community activity.
4. What is your leadership style? What qualities should a good leader possess?
5. What is your best leadership example?
6. What have you learned from good leaders? Who is your hero?
7. Talk about a bad manager. Why was he bad? What did you do about it?
8. Talk about a passion of yours, and how it contributes to your leadership skills?
9. What elements of your leadership style could be improved? What constructive criticism would you get from people you supervise?
10. What is your definition of a leader?

Situational Questions

1. Tell me about how you make decisions.
2. Describe a situation where people have relied on you? Why?
3. Describe something you have fixed or want to at work?
4. Describe an incident where you disagreed with a superior/subordinates. How was the disagreement settled? How have you handled a difficult situation?
5. Describe a situation where you successfully responded to change?
6. Describe something you would do differently if given the opportunity?
7. Describe an epiphany you have had. How did it change the way you have looked at something?
8. What is the single most important thing you have learned over the past few years?

Other Typical Questions

1. Is there anything else you would like the admissions committee to know about you?
2. What according to you is the biggest weakness in your application?
3. What is your story? What is unique? What will you contribute to class?
4. What do you know about our programme and how have you learned it?
5. What are some misconceptions about you?
6. What questions do you have for me?

Specific Focus Interviews (Harvard)

Other schools that follow this pattern: MIT-Sloan, Wharton

Type of interview: Résumé, application, essays and recommendation based.

Most likely to be conducted by: An admissions committee member or alumni (if local, in only a few cases).

Weightage: The interview can be a determining factor in the process and carries significant weight in the final outcome.

Since there is no script to this type of interview, our advice is to thoroughly prepare all the relevant questions from the previously noted general questions and then fine-tune the preparation keeping in mind the below mentioned points specific to a Harvard type of interview.

1. Who will interview you?
   1. Admissions representatives (campus interviews, hub interviews, telephonic interviews)
   2. Alumni (in-person interviews, telephonic interviews)
2. What will they know about you?
   1. They will have carefully read your file and made notes.
   2. They will interview you from your résumé and your file.
3. What will they know about the programme and the admissions process?
   1. Harvard admissions officers are graduates of the MBA programme. They will know a lot about admissions and about the programme itself.
   2. Just because they have MBAs does not mean that they will be business experts who live and breathe The Wall Street Journal or Financial Times. Do not assume that you are sitting down with a business expert.
4. What questions will they ask?

   There is no script. Beyond the usual barrage of questions on subjects like career goals, need for the MBA, interest in HBS, professional and extracurricular experience, the HBS interview typically hones in on a few key elements of your profile. These elements vary from person to person, since the interviewer designs your interview based on the questions/concerns they have after reading your file.

5. How can I prepare for a non-blind interview?

   In essence, the best way to prepare is to:

   1. know what you said in your application.
   2. work on answers to the typical sorts of questions (see our sample question sheets).
   3. develop a set of examples to call upon that were not touched on in your essays. Be ready for questions like: ‘Can you tell me about another leadership experience that was not discussed in your file’?
6. Do these schools hold ‘stress interviews’?

   The short answer is ‘not exactly’. The schools have never stated that they hold stress interviews, but they do have a reputation for asking tough questions and forcing candidates to go beyond the polished/prepared answers you may have offered in your essays. Here is a sample of the sort of dialogue that we’ve observed in quite a few cases (taken from MBA forums and bulletin boards):

   Admissions officer: I noticed that you received a substantial promotion about 8 months ago. Can you tell me about that?

   You: Yes, I had worked very hard, and was selected from a group of

   …

   Admissions officer: How is the new post going?

   You: Wonderfully. I have done x, y and z…

   Admissions officer: If things are going so well, why not stay on at the firm then? Is there a particular reason you are ready for your MBA at this juncture?

   You: Well, yes, I feel that I have excelled at my duties and that the learning curve has become less steep. I need to return to the classroom to get the tools associated with the next step on my career path, etc. Admissions officer: I see. So, if you were only promoted a few months ago and you have already mastered your new post, then it couldn’t have been that challenging, right?

   Keep in mind that all of this is said with a friendly smile and that applicants often just have this subtle feeling that they are being questioned and pushed to defend what they have accomplished. The key to surviving this sort of situation is to avoid sounding defensive. Just stay on your message and be confident of your accomplishments. In the instance above, the suggested response is to say: Actually, I have found the post to be quite challenging and it took me quite some time to achieve the results and comfort level I have currently attained. At the same time, I have a clear vision of where it will take me over the next few months and I am confident that I will be ready to move on by the time my MBA studies would begin.

7. In case you are asked to expand on a key project that you were involved with, use the following outline for summarizing key events:
   1. The objective of the said project.
   2. Who was in charge of the project?
   3. The resources available for achieving the objective.
   4. The timelines through which it was managed.
   5. The activities undertaken.
   6. Your role in the scheme of things.
   7. What skills you needed and how you fared?
   8. What you would do differently in retrospect?
   9. Other people’s roles and criticality to the project.
   10. The results, what went right and what did not, and why?
   11. Any conclusions this suggests about the department or company, whether of strategic, operational or organizational nature.
8. How will they evaluate you?

   Besides judging how likely you are to become a business leader (e.g. a CEO, or prominent official), the interviewer will be looking at the following:

   1. Personal qualities
      1. Leadership ability and general charisma
      2. Confidence (not aggression)
      3. Team orientation
      4. Sense of humor
      5. Maturity
      6. Communication skills
      7. Social concern
   2. Professional development and goal articulation
      1. Career path/progression
      2. Interest in general management
      3. Reasons for choices
      4. Why MBA
   3. English skills (matters most for international applicants)
9. What questions should you ask them?
   1. Questions that focus on your career goals and studies you might pursue at the MBA programme.
   2. Questions about extracurricular activities (conferences, speakers, business treks).
   3. Never ask a question that has an obvious answer (that you could have found by reading).
   4. Never ask a question that is antagonistic or skeptical of the MBA program.
   5. Don’t try to pick questions that they cannot answer (remember it’s not a game).
   6. Don’t ask your interviewer if the program graduates are still getting jobs in the recession.
10. Other tips:
    1. Dress well (remember the charisma element mentioned above)
    2. Be polite to anyone you encounter (like the staff)
    3. Do not rush your answers but show confidence and speak clearly.
    4. Do not ramble, respond clearly and move on.
    5. Make sure your points are made, but do not force things.
    6. Get a business card or other contact information from your interviewer and send a ‘thank you’ e-mail within one business day.