Tuesday, October 27, 2009

MBA interview samples

Years ago, a client asked me to create a video showing a successful model of effective MBA interview responses to typical questions. Here it is, Hiro. Sorry it took so long!

Kellogg Interview: Part I

I asked my former client some typical interview questions including: Why MBA? Why now? Why Kellogg? Here are the answers that got him admitted.

Kellogg Interview: Part II

In the second part of our mock interview training session, Kaz answers some "behavioral questions" that dig into what he thought, felt, said, and did during his past professional projects. We also practiced typical closing questions like "tell me something else I should know" and final Q&A with the interviewer.

source: http://www.youtube.com//vinceprep

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Services

CLASS (SMALL GROUP INTERACTIVE LECTURE AND PEER-TO-PEER PRACTICE)

My class is best suited for alumni interviews
It is less like a lecture, more similar to peer-to-peer practice with other applicants
Nearly all contents are already online @ http://mbainterviews.blogspot.com/
I spend the four hour class facilitating, listening, giving feedback, and providing model answers
It is especially useful when preparing for alumni interviews
More info here http://mbainterviews.blogspot.com/2009/08/fees-and-sign-up-procedures.html
and here http://mbainterviews.blogspot.com/search/label/2009-2010%20Classes

ONE-TO-ONE MOCK TRAINING SESSIONS

I can schedule one-on-one mock interviews at your convenience
Here is my calendar of available times http://bit.ly/VinceAvailability
Please let me know when you are ready to start
Sooner is better!
My comprehensive clients start preparing for interviews the day after they submit their application
Before we meet, please send me your complete application (if interviewing with HBS, MIT, Insead, LBS, Oxford, Cambridge, etc.)
For most other schools that use "blind interviews" (Wharton, Columbia, Chicago, Kellogg, Tuck), I only need your resume. You can email it to me or just bring to our session
I promise to keep everything confidential
More info here http://mbainterviews.blogspot.com/2009/08/fees-and-sign-up-procedures.html
and here http://mbainterviews.blogspot.com/search/label/1-to-1

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Vince's Interview Intensive Class

Course Objective

For my Comprehensive Counseling clients, I offer face-to-face interview training sessions with video recorded feedback. Clients have also requested me to offer interview lectures that include cold calls and live interactive practice, both with Vince and other applicants.

My clients' experiences indicate that understanding formal MBA interview processes and typical questions PLUS mock interview trainings yield even better results. Therefore, I am planning to offer my special four-hour Interview Intensive Course. This class will cover three main topics:

How to use your resume and essays to prepare for your interviews
How to prepare for unexpected questions that you have not answered in any of your MBA essays
How to ask good questions of your interviewer to leave a strong final impression

--END

Top of blog

Monday, September 28, 2009

Curriculum

Whether you are attending my Interview Intensive Course or merely coming to meet me for one-to-one mock interview training, I suggest you begin your preparation with these four topics:

Self-introduction
Goals
Strengths and weaknesses
Questions for your interviewer

These four topics (self-intro, goals, strengths and weaknesses, and questions for your interviewer) represent 30-50% of most interviews, but they count for more than 50% of your final interview "score". In other words, you can and should practice as much as possible to ensure that you

Make a positive first impression (interesting self-intro)
Appear credible (ambitious but realistic goals / why MBA story)
Show self-awareness (strengths and weaknesses as shown through well-organized BEI stories)
Demonstrate your critical insights into MBA life (by asking great questions)

My Interview Intensive Course includes a mix of lecture (theory) and practice (application). Over the years, clients have told me that they greatest value of my class is the chance to practice with peers. Many of your interviews will be with alumni. It is also helpful to hear the good (and bad) ways that others answer the same core questions.

During our four hour class, you will spend more than two hours talking and listening.

You will practice these four topics with each other. I will facilitate / cold call / give my feedback. You will also give each other advice / critical feedback / constructive criticism.

Here we go!

1. SELF-INTRODUCTION

First, let's focus on your self-introduction.

"Walk me through your resume." (WMTYR)
Some interviewers (most notably, Wharton) often start the conversation with: "Walk me through your resume." OR "Summarize your professional life since graduating from university."

The best strategy for this type of self-introduction question is to show each period of your career as a choice. "I joined my company because I wanted to work in an international setting and believed that the ABC industry would provide me with the best chances to use my XYZ skills. I joined the Finance Department in order to learn accounting and profit-based decision-making. Later, I moved to (another department) in order to learn (another set of skills)...."

Try creating an (invisible) "why" column on your resume. In other words, list keyword to show your motivation for each choice. What skill/knowledge did you hope to gain by choosing your university major? What interested you in your industry? Why did you chose your particular company? What skill did you hope to acquire in your first / second / current position?

You might also want to create a macro analysis / summary of your career to date. For example, " I have worked in two different functions. First, I learned sales skills since I knew they would be useful in any business situation. After earning the top sales award in 2007, I was promoted to my current position in corporate planning."

VINCE'S NOTE: Clients have asked me if you should give this answer in chronological order. Absolutely! In other words, if your resume lists professional experience above educational experience (as I suggest) you are actually walking your interviewer UP your resume from college graduation up to your current position.

more tips here http://delicious.com/admissions/WMTYR

"Tell me about yourself" (TMAY)
Another common way for an interviewer to start the conversation (after small-talk / ice-breakers) is to say, "Tell me about yourself".

She is asking for quick "snapshot" images of your professional and personal achievements and interests. Your life as a list.

Vince's TEMPLATE

Professionally, I…

One macro sentence (# of years / functions / skills)
One recent accomplishment or highlight such as being awarded company sponsorship or completing an important project

Personally, I…(list 2 to 3 interests)

1st hobby / interest (perhaps showing how you use your "mind" such as studying history, a science, or third language)
2nd hobby / interest (perhaps showing how you use your "body" such as sports)
3rd hobby / interest (perhaps showing how you use your "spirit" such as the arts, cultural activities)

VINCE'S NOTE: Some clients ask if you should only mention current / ongoing interest. Not necessarily. I personally would talk about music even though I am not currently in a band. I enjoy strumming my guitar to make my son laugh. And I certainly take every opportunity to listen to live and recorded music. Most of all, some of my best lifelong friends are those I have made through music. So I would mention it as my first personal interest.

2. GOALS

What is your ideal post-MBA position and why?
What are your short and/or long-term goals? (Strategy: also practice answering if asked in general about your goals w/o the interviewer specifying short or long-term)
Why do you need an MBA? (Strategy: give three reasons, balancing hard and soft skills)
Why now? (Strategy: balance external "pull" and internal "push" factors)

3. Behavioral Event-based Interviews (BEI)

Tell us about a time that you had to work on a team that did not get along. What happened? What role did you take? What was the result? Based on that example, what would you do if your MBA study team members were not getting along with each other?

FAQ

Q: Personal or professional example?
A: Professional is best. Remember the purpose of a BEI question - your interviewer is trying to get a sense of how you will act in study groups, project teams, etc. Work examples are more similar to MBA life than college or non-work experiences. If the question relates to team work, try to think of team projects that involved cross-functional members where no one was the absolute "boss" or leader (like MBA).

Please find other FAQs are here:
http://mbainterviews.blogspot.com/2009/08/faq.html

4. Questions for your interviewer

http://mbainterviews.blogspot.com/2009/09/3questions.html

VINCE'S NOTE: Some clients have asked me to show a "best case example" / role model answer in the class. Since I cannot always guarantee that one of the four class participants will already be an "interview master", I suggest you watch this video of one of my past clients who aced his Kellogg interview.

Top of blog

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Homework

1. Please read Vince's interview blog: http://mbainterviews.blogspot.com/

2. Then please fill out the chart (or your own version) found here
http://mbainterviews.blogspot.com/2009/09/strengths-and-weaknesses.html

3. Please prepare your answers to questions found here
http://mbainterviews.blogspot.com/2008/01/curriculum.html
and here
http://mbainterviews.blogspot.com/2009/09/core10.html

4. Please email Vince your answers to these questions at least 12 hours before the start of our class

    * What are your biggest concerns about your interviews?
    * What specific (types of) questions scare you the most?
    * How else can Vince help you prepare for and pass your interviews?

5. Finally, please remember to PRINT and BRING 2 COPIES OF YOUR RESUME to our class (or training session)

Thank you!

--END

Top of blog

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Interview criteria

What are they looking for?

KELLOGG'S INTERVIEW CRITERIA (as of 2009)

1. English Ability

Comprehension
Conversational Ability

2. Interpersonal Skills

Maturity
Team Skills
Communication Skills
Listening Skills

3. Impact on Student Life
4. Career Progression
5. Career Focus
6. Intellectual Ability
7. Leadership Potential
8. Overall impression of applicant

COLUMBIA INTERVIEW REPORT (as of 2002)

1. Personal Presentation and Communication Skills (Is the applicant poised, energetic, nervous, articulate, perceptive, enthusiastic etc.?)
2. Leadership/Teamwork Skills (Ask the candidate about leadership style, examples of taking taking initiative, effectiveness in a team, etc.)
3. Goals (What are the candidate’s post-MBA goals? Are they realistic?)
4. Knowledge of and interest in CBS (Is the applicant aware of CBS’s program? What is his or her level of commitment to CBS in comparison to other schools? Where else did he or she apply?)
5. Red Flags (Any concerns or possible problems? Please give examples.)
6. Points of Interest/Strengths (What, if any, unique qualities or experiences make this candidate stand out?)
7. Recommendation (Would you want the applicant as a classmate or colleague? Consider intellectual ability, contribution to the program, hirability, and commitment to CBS?)

LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL – FULL TIME MBA PROGRAMME INTERVIEW SCORE SHEET (from 2004)

Communication / English Language Skills

Team Skills (from your interpretations of essays / interview)

Proactive contributor to teams/groups?
Thinks about how teams work together and succeed?
Understands contribution he/she makes to teams?
Has insight into his/her weaknesses as team member?
Able to resolve personal conflicts between self and others?
Helps to resolve personal conflicts between others?

Leadership Skills

Level of insight into their own leadership style?
Grasp of own leadership strengths / weaknesses?
Has identified some leadership development goal(s)?
Able to see themselves as future business leader?

Motivation/Drive and Energy

Estimated level of motivation / drive?
Has long-term career and personal goals?
Manages self to sustain energy levels?

Intellectual Skills

Evidence of strategic perspective?
Able to analyse/evaluate business situations?
Has own ideas?
Able to link ideas and communicate concepts?
Original approach to problems?

International Perspective

Exposure to cultural diversity?
Interest in people with different backgrounds / perspectives?
Aware of positive/negative impact of cultural diversity?

Expectations and Interest in LBS MBA

Convinced you of strong interest in taking an MBA?
Convinced you of strong interest in LBS MBA specifically?

LBS Contribution and ‘Fit’ - In your view:

Did the candidate ask good/relevant questions?
Do you think this candidate will contribute to the LBS MBA?
Will the candidate work well with a group?
Will the candidate contribute to the Campus Community? (clubs etc)
Is LBS the right choice for this candidate?

Post MBA Career Objectives: What does the candidate wish to achieve by doing an MBA? (tick more than one if applicable)

Vertical move
Change career direction
Run own company
Move into consulting
Move into banking
Move into industry

More links here http://delicious.com/admissions/criteria (not interview specific, but still helpful)

Top of blog

Friday, September 11, 2009

Core 21 most common interview questions

I suggest you focus to these "Core 21" most common interview questions:

Walk me through your resume
Tell me about yourself
What are your short and/or long-term goals?
Why do you need an MBA?
Why is now the best timing for your MBA studies?
What are your three greatest strengths? First strength (keyword) + your example in PAR, Second strength (keyword) + your example in PAR, etc.
What are your three greatest weaknesses? First weakness (keyword) + your example in PAR, Second weakness (keyword) + your example in P:A:R:, etc.
TEAMWORK question e.g. Tell us about a time that you had to work on a team that did not get along. (hint - organize using PAR)
What are the most important traits of a leader? Trait 1 Your example in P:A:R:, Trait 2 + Example, etc.
Please tell me about your proudest work-related accomplishment.
Have you ever failed at doing something? (hint - organize using P.A.R.)
Have you every faced an ethical dilemma? How did you handle it? What did you learn? (hint - organize using PAR)
Tell me about a difficult team project you were involved in, what role you played in resolving the conflict, and what you learned from the experience.
WHY SCHOOL X?
Did you apply to any other school?
What classes are you most interested in?
POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Tell me about your undergrad experience (hint - divide your answer into Academic and Extracurricular)
What do you do in your private time?
Tell me something else about you that you want me to know.
Q and A (Prepare 3 questions for your interviewer)

If you are not familiar with "PAR" method, please see http://delicious.com/admissions/par

Vince's "Mirror Method" to practice your interview answers at home

Although I majored in History (US emphasis) at Stanford, I took more acting classes than history classes. My professor was Patricia Ryan (read her book!) She taught me how to use the mirror to prepare for challenging roles.

I have modified her method to help you pass your MBA interviews:

Supplies needed:

"post-it" notes
your interview outlines (see this post for my tips on how to create them - any questions asked by two or more of your target schools)
a mirror
a timer set to two minutes (or 90 seconds if you are feeling bold!)

How to Talk to Yourself
aka Free Interview Training

Write the "Core21" most common questions on post-it notes
Assemble the notes on the mirror in random order (different every time)
Go through the answers one by one
Keep eye contact (with yourself!) as you talk
Start the timer as you begin speaking
Try not to look at any notes
Give your answer
Ask yourself "why" and "how" whenever appropriate
Never talk for more than two minutes without a pause / breath to give "your interviewer" (you!) a moment to ask a natural follow-up question
Every time you practice, make sure to ask yourself your core questions in a different order. Reason: my cognitive science professor at NYU (link) taught us that human memory built through repetition in random order (probably similar to the way you frequently reshuffled your kanji flashcards as a primary school student).

The Core 10

Please prepare your answers to these 10 questions for your first mock interview training with Vince

SELF-INTRODUCTION: Walk me through your resume since university (Wharton style - emphasize the choices you have made that led you to your current position) OR Tell me about yourself (quick "snapshot" of your professional and personal life)
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES: What are your three greatest strengths and three greatest weaknesses? (Strategy: try to show a range of hard and soft skills)
TEAMWORK: Tell us about a time that you had to work on a team that did not get along. What happened? What role did you take? What was the result? Based on that example, what would you do if your MBA study team members were not getting along with each other?
GOALS: What are your short and/or long-term goals? (Strategy: also practice answering if asked in general about your goals w/o the interviewer specifying short or long-term)
WHY MBA: Why do you need an MBA? (Strategy: give three reasons, balancing hard and soft skills)
WHY NOW? (Strategy: balance external "pull" and internal "push" factors)
WHY SCHOOL X? (Strategy: rank your top three reasons PLUS be prepared to discuss "Why School X" in comparison to where else you applied)
POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTIONS: (Strategy: brainstorm how you can add unique value in classes, study groups, special programs, student clubs, and as an alumni member)
ONE LAST THING ABOUT YOU: Tell me something else about you that you want me to know / surprise me (Strategy: aim for a strong finish; this is your chance to highlight an unusual hobby or "fun fact" that your interviewer would not otherwise guess)
Q and A: Ask your interviewer three good questions (Strategy: blend fact-based "closed" questions and more subjective "open-ended" questions* to get your interviewer talking about her passion for the school)

*By definition, open-ended questions require full, multiple-word responses (as opposed to fact-based or "yes/no" answers). Open-ended questions generally encourage opinions, elaboration and discussion.

How to Practice The Core 10

I do not encourage you write a full script. (Any significant hours spent writing at this stage is a waste of time!)

Instead, write bullet points.

Use PAR for behavioral (event-based) questions.

PAR stands for Problem-Action-Results; in other words, first you state the problem that existed in your workplace, then you describe what you did about it, and finally you point out the beneficial results.
Here’s an example: “Transformed a disorganized, inefficient warehouse into a smooth-running operation by totally redesigning the layout; this saved the company thousands of dollars in recovered stock.”
Another example: “Improved an engineering company’s obsolete filing system by developing a simple but sophisticated functional-coding system. This saved time and money by recovering valuable, previously lost, project records.”

Source for above plus other "par" related info here:

http://delicious.com/admissions/par

Thursday, September 10, 2009

47 Common Interview Questions

General/Personal Background
1. Can you walk me through your resume?
2. How would your friends describe you?

Undergraduate Education
3. How was your undergrad experience? Is there anything you would do differently?

Professional Experience
4. Can you provide me with an example showing your leadership?
5. Define leadership success and failure.
6. Describe a scenario where you worked on a team and one of the team members was not pulling her weight. What did you do?
7. Describe a situation when you were leader and things went badly. Explain what you learned from this.
8. Give me 3 adjectives that describe you.
9. Give me an example of a time you were criticized.
10. How did you deal with a member of your team who was a troublemaker?
11. How do you handle stressful and tense situations?
12. How has your leadership style evolved?
13. How would your coworkers describe you?
14. Tell me about a difficult interaction you had with someone. What happened?
15. Tell me about a time when you helped out a colleague.
16. Tell me about a time when your ethics were challenged and how you responded.
17. Tell me about a time when your team failed. What did you learn from the failure?
18. Tell me how you would manage a team conflict within a professional setting.
19. What are the qualities of a good leader?
20. What are your greatest strengths?
21. What did you like about your job?
22. What do you dislike about your job?
23. What drives you? What makes you get up in the morning each day?
24. What has been your biggest disappointment?
25. What has been your greatest achievement to date?
26. What is a challenge you had at work and how did you overcome the challenge?
27. What is your greatest fault?
28. What role do you play on a team?
29. What was a situation where you had to motivate a group?
30. What was the biggest challenge you handled as manager?
31. Why did you leave X company to take a job at Y company?

Business School
32. Can you accomplish your long-term goals without an MBA?
33. Discuss your community work involvement.
34. How will you contribute to our program?
35. Name a weakness in your application.
36. What are your short-term and long-term goals?
37. What do you expect from classes at our school?
38. What else would you like the Admissions Committee to know about you?
39. What is something unique about you that you can contribute to our school?
40. What is your ideal breakdown of lectures and case based studies?
41. What is your Plan B if you do not get accepted into business school?
42. What other schools have you applied to?
43. What would you find most difficult coming here?
44. Which is your top priority school?
45. Why do you want to get an MBA? Why now?
46. Why should you be admitted?
47. Will you attend our school if you are accepted?

source: http://zoominterviews.com/mba/faqs/browse

Zoom Interviews?

I recently came across this website that seems to provide sample interview prompts asked and answered by current students at top schools (interesting business idea... maybe we can make our own free version for Japan!)

Here is a sample: http://zoominterviews.com/mba/faqs/question?questionId=61
General FAQ: http://zoominterviews.com/mba/faqs/browse
All Videos: http://zoominterviews.com/mba/interviews/browse
Value proposition: http://zoominterviews.com/mba/features/

I cannot endorse the site as an investment, but from my initial research, it seems to be at least worth a free look around.

Use it well!

Vince

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Strengths and weaknesses

Common Questions Interviews Ask to Elicit Your Strengths and Weaknesses

What are your three greatest strengths and three greatest weaknesses?
What are your greatest management strengths?
What are your greatest management weaknesses?
In what ways could your performance improve?
If managers were describing you, what would they say?
How would your colleagues describe you? What would you add to their description? In other words, what is something that others are surprised to learn about you?
What are your personal strengths?
What are your personal weaknesses?
What is the weakness of your application?
What will the admissions committee perceive to be your greatest weakness as an applicant?
What areas do you need to develop?
What are your development needs?
What personality trait would you most like to improve?
What is one thing you would like to change about yourself?
Tell me about a team experience that was a failure for you.
Tell me about a time when you failed to persuade someone of your view.
Tell me about a time when you failed to resolve a conflict.
Tell me about a time when you quit something.
Describe a signficant failure in your life and what you learned from it.

ADAM's ADVICE and METHOD (use it!)

HAVE AS MANY WEAKNESSES AS POSSIBLE, NOT JUST ONE OR TWO. TRY FOR THREE TO FIVE.

Here you be preparing answers to the very common questions that are asked about weakness, but in addition you will need to think about how the MBA program and/or some other aspect of yourself will make it possible for you to overcome this weakness. Weaknesses should be real and not abstract. You should have clear stories that demonstrate your weaknesses, something many applicants initially have a problem with. Additionally knowing how a program will help you overcome your weakness will explain why you want to attend that school. Finally, SOME, BUT NOT All weaknesses make for great failure stories, another very common topic for interviews.

Strengths/Contributions/Future Potential/Personality

1. One of my key strengths is X. A story that demonstrates this strength is... Another story that does is... This strength will be a contribution at your school because... This strength will contribute to my future goals because...
2. Another of my key strengths is Y. A story that demonstrates this strength is... Another story that does is... This strength will be a contribution at your school because... This strength will contribute to my future goals because...
3. Another of my key strengths is Z. A story that demonstrates this strength is... Another story that does is.. This strength will be a contribution at your school because... This strength will contribute to my future goals because...

For each X, Y, Z insert a keyword describing your strength. Connect keywords to specific stories. If possible, find more than one story that demonstrates the keyword. Next think how this strength could be a contribution when you are student. Next think how this strength will contribute to your goals. By using this method, you will have prepared answers to such common questions as "What are your strengths" and "How will you contribute to our school." Additionally you will be ready to show how your past experience will help you achieve your goals. Additionally when asked questions which are less direct about your strengths, you will already have keywords and stories ready for those questions you can't predict. Keep in mind that your strengths might include particular skills as well as personality characteristics. You should think about strengths in the widest sense. Try to develop about 6-12(or more) keywords and 12-20 (or more) stories that relate to your strengths, contributions, personality, and future potential.

Weaknesses/Failures
1. One of my weaknesses is X. A story that demonstrates this is... Another story that does is... I want to overcome this weakness by... This weakness resulted in failure when...
2. Another of my weaknesses is Y. A story that demonstrates this is... Another story that does is... I want to overcome this weakness by... This weakness resulted in failure when...
3. Another of my weaknesses is Z. A story that demonstrates this is... Another story that does is... I want to overcome this weakness by... This weakness resulted in failure when...

source: http://adam-markus.blogspot.com/2007/11/mba-application-interview-strategy.html

When brainstorming weakness, consider your:

weaknesses as a leader
weaknesses as a team member
weaknesses working cross-functionally
weaknesses working cross-culturally
weaknesses managing time
weaknesses managing details
weaknesses thinking about big picture / abstract issues
weaknesses conveying bad news
weaknesses confronting others
weaknesses beginning new tasks
weaknesses maintaining energy mid-project
weaknesses being patient
weaknesses persuading subordinates
weaknesses influencing seniors
weaknesses closing projects

Examples from Stanford LoR Rubric:

Displays limited range of influence techniques
Builds bonds with team members in immediate area of organization
Completes assigned tasks; frequently misses opportunities if not identified by others
Sometimes lets distractions or setbacks reduce effectiveness
Sometimes underestimates or overestimates own capabilities
May become defensive when criticized or challenged
Procrastinates and occasionally misses deadlines
Generally paces work though occasionally must rush to meet deadlines

More Great Advice from Adam's blog:

IS IT A GOOD STRENGTH OR WEAKNESS?

Some questions to ask yourself:

1. Does the strength demonstrate one's potential for future academic and/or professional success? If so, it is a probably a good topic. If not, why does your interviewer need to know about it?

2. Is a weakness fixable? If you are writing about a weakness that cannot be improved upon through your program at school X, why does your interviewer need to know about it?

Best Tips / Hints / Tools for brainstorming your strengths and weaknesses
http://delicious.com/admissions/bundle:Brainstorming

--END

Top of blog

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Strengths and Weaknesses Matrix

BEFORE TAKING VINCE'S CLASS, pleases fill out this chart of your Strengths (+) and Weaknesses (-)

	Keyword	Professional Example 1	Professional Example 2	Personal Example 1	Apply to MBA Life	Apply to Future Career
Strength 1 analytical (mind)					how strength helps you contribute to classmates
Strength 2 technical (hands)
Strength 3 interpersonal (heart)
Strength 4
Strength 5
Weakness 1		⇒ failure?			how improve through MBA experience?	n/a
Weakness 2						n/a
Weakness 3 as a leader	e.g. delegation	⇒ setback?				n/a
Weakness 4 as a team member	e.g. time management	⇒ interpersonal conflict?				n/a
Weakness 5 as a professional	e.g. overspecialized					n/a

Best Tips / Hints / Tools for brainstorming your strengths and weaknesses
http://delicious.com/admissions/bundle:Brainstorming

--END

Top of blog

Friday, September 4, 2009

Situational Leadership

VINCE's NOTE: A friend of mine attended Kellogg's MBA program a few years ago. I was directing an educational  non-profit at the time. We were chatting on the phone one day, and I asked him the best thing he had learned at school so far. He hit me with the "Situational Leadership" model. I found it immediately useful to help manage my staff, who ranged in age and experience from 15 to 50 years old. I could not possibly be the same leader for everyone on my team. I offer this model to you the MBA applicant not as a "perfect answer", but simply as one more tool to help you dig deeper into your own strengths and weaknesses. 

To learn more, please check out these definitions and charts that I have compiled from various internet-based sources (links below)

----------------

Situational Leadership is a term that can be applied generically to a style of leadership, but that also refers to a recognised, and useful, leadership model. In simple terms, a situational leader is one who can adopt different leadership styles depending on the situation. Most of us do this anyway in our dealings with other people: we try not to get angry with a nervous colleague on their first day, we chase up tasks with some people more than others because we know they'll forget otherwise.

But Ken Blanchard, the management guru best known for the "One Minute Manager" series, and Paul Hersey created a model for Situational Leadership in the late 1960's that allows you to analyse the needs of the situation you're dealing with, and then adopt the most appropriate leadership style. It's proved popular with managers over the years because it passes the two basic tests of such models: it's simple to understand, and it works in most environments for most people. The model doesn't just apply to people in leadership or management positions: we all lead others at work and at home.

LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR

Blanchard and Hersey characterised leadership style in terms of the amount of direction and of support that the leader gives to his or her followers, and so created a simple grid:

Directing Leaders define the roles and tasks of the 'follower', and supervise them closely. Decisions are made by the leader and announced, so communication is largely one-way.
Coaching Leaders still define roles and tasks, but seeks ideas and suggestions from the follower. Decisions remain the leader's prerogative, but communication is much more two-way.
Supporting Leaders pass day-to-day decisions, such as task allocation and processes, to the follower. The leader facilitates and takes part in decisions, but control is with the follower.
Delegating Leaders are still involved in decisions and problem-solving, but control is with the follower. The follower decides when and how the leader will be involved.

Effective leaders are versatile in being able to move around the grid according to the situation, so there is no one right style. However, we tend to have a preferred style, and in applying Situational Leadership you need to know which one that is for you.

DEVELOPMENT LEVEL

Clearly the right leadership style will depend very much on the person being led - the follower - and Blanchard and Hersey extended their model to include the Development Level of the follower. They said that the leader's style should be driven by the Competence and Commitment of the follower, and came up with four levels:

D4	High Competence High Commitment	Experienced at the job, and comfortable with their own ability to do it well. May even be more skilled than the leader.
D3	High Competence Variable Commitment	Experienced and capable, but may lack the confidence to go it alone, or the motivation to do it well / quickly
D2	Some Competence Low Commitment	May have some relevant skills, but won't be able to do the job without help. The task or the situation may be new to them.
D1	Low Competence Low Commitment	Generally lacking the specific skills required for the job in hand, and lacks any confidence and / or motivation to tackle it.

Development Levels are also situational. I might be generally skilled, confident and motivated in my job, but would still drop into Level D1 when faced, say, with a task requiring skills I don't possess. For example, lots of managers are D4 when dealing with the day-to-day running of their department, but move to D1 or D2 when dealing with a sensitive employee issue.

SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP

You can see where this is going. Blanchard and Hersey said that the Leadership Style (S1 - S4) of the leader must correspond to the Development level (D1 - D4) of the follower - and it's the leader who adapts.

For example, a new person joins your team and you're asked to help them through the first few days. You sit them in front of a PC, show them a pile of invoices that need to be processed today, and push off to a meeting. They're at level D1, and you've adopted S4. Everyone loses because the new person feels helpless and demotivated, and you don't get the invoices processed.

On the other hand, you're handing over to an experienced colleague before you leave for a holiday. You've listed all the tasks that need to be done, and a set of instructions on how to carry out each one. They're at level D4, and you've adopted S1. The work will probably get done, but not the way you expected, and your colleague despises you for treating him like an idiot.

But swap the situations and things get better. Leave detailed instructions and a checklist for the new person, and they'll thank you for it. Give your colleague a quick chat and a few notes before you go on holiday, and everything will be fine.

By adopting the right style to suit the follower's development level, work gets done, relationships are built up, and most importantly, the follower's development level will rise to D4, to everyone's benefit.

http://www.chimaeraconsulting.com/sitleader.htm 

Another view:

click to enlarge

Read more: http://www.12manage.com/methods_blanchard_situational_leadership.html

--END

Top of blog

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Behavioral Event-Based Interviews (BEI)

Behavioral Event-Based Interviews (BEI)

What is BEI?

In the 1980’s, industrial psychologist Dr. Tom Janz introduced a method of interviewing called the “Behavioral Interview.” Research shows that this interviewing style is extremely effective, and MBA adcoms have started using it in interviews as well as essay questions, first at MIT and now, to a lesser extent, Wharton, Stanford, and other programs (depending on the interviewer).

Why do adcoms (and some alumni) use BEI?

The premise is that the best predictor of future behavior is your past behavior. In a behavioral interview you will have to demonstrate your knowledge, skills, and abilities, collectively known as competencies, by giving specific examples from your past experiences. Instead of asking how you would behave in a particular situation, the interviewer will ask you to describe how you did behave. Expect the interviewer to question and probe you for more details about what you thought, felt, said and did. Also, your interviewer will not allow you to theorize or generalize about several events.

How can you prepare for a Behavioral Event-Based Interview?

During a behavioral interview, always listen carefully to the question, ask for clarification if necessary, and make sure you answer the question completely. Your answer should contain these four steps (Situation, Task, Action, Result or "STAR") for optimum success. http://web.mit.edu/career/www/guide/star.html

Situation: give an example of a situation you were involved in that resulted in a positive outcome
Task: describe the tasks involved in that situation
Action: talk about the various actions involved in the situation’s task
Results: what results directly followed because of your actions

Whenever you can, quantify your results. Numbers illustrate your level of authority and responsibility. For example: "I was a shift supervisor." could be "As Shift Supervisor, I trained and evaluated 4 employees."

Example of a STAR Answer

Situation: During my internship last summer, I was responsible for managing various events.
Task: I noticed that attendance at these events had dropped by 30% over the past 3 years and wanted to do something to improve these numbers.
Action: I designed a new promotional packet to go out to the local community businesses. I also included a rating sheet to collect feedback on our events and organized internal round table discussions to raise awareness of the issue with our employees.
Result: We utilized some of the wonderful ideas we received from the community, made our internal systems more efficient and visible and raised attendance by 18% the first year.

Behavioral Interview Example

Question: “Describe a situation where you have had to deal with a difficult person.”

Answer: “I was transferred to a new project at my previous company to replace a beloved member of the team. My new team leader exhibited hostility towards me and I found myself left out of vital communications and meetings. After a few weeks, I was able to talk her into a one on one meeting. When laid out all of the key objectives for the team, the previous employees role in meeting those objectives, and then discussed goals that I could set to make sure I was able to serve as a quality replacement. In our discussion, we also identified a few underlying issues with management that she had been carrying around with her. In uncovering all of these sentiments, she was able to clearly define her situation and achieve an understanding with her supervisors. In the end, the entire team morale improved, I was able to exceed my goals and the company itself became more profitable from our teams increased performance.”

Follow-up questions will test for consistency and determine if you exhibited the desired behavior in that situation:

"Can you give me an example?"
"What did you do?"
"What did you say?"
"What were you thinking?"
"How did you feel?
"What was your role?"
"What was the result?"

MOST COMMON BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEW QUESTION TYPES
by CATEGORY

Teamwork

Tell us about a time that you had to work on a team that did not get along. What happened? What role did you take? What was the result? Based on that example, what would you do if your MBA study team members were not getting along with each other?
How do you resolve conflict on a team.
Tell me about a time when you experienced cultural conflict and how you handled it.
What role do you typically play in teams?
Tell me about a time when you contributed to a team.
What has been your most difficult teamwork experience?
Describe a situation in which you had to arrive at a compromise or help others to compromise. What was your role? What steps did you take? What was the end result?
Describe a team experience you found disappointing. What would you have done to prevent this?
Tell me about a time when you resolved a conflict in a group.
Tell us about the most difficult challenge you faced in trying to work cooperatively with someone who did not share the same ideas? What was your role in achieving the work objective?
What is the difficult part of being a member, not leader, of a team? How did you handle this?
When is the last time you had a disagreement with a peer? How did you resolve the situation?
Tell us about the most difficult or frustrating individual that you’ve ever had to work with, and how you managed to work with them.
Have you ever been a member of a group where two of the members did not work well together? What did you do to get them to do so?
What is the toughest group that you have had to get cooperation from? Describe how you handled it. What was the outcome?

Leadership

What is your leadership style? Give me an example of a time when you displayed that leadership style.
Tell me your definition of leadership and give an example.
Tell me about a time when you exercised leadership.
Tell me about a time when you took initiative.
Tell me about a time when you introduced an innovation.
Tell me about a time when you solved an important problem.
Tell me about a time when you took a position different from the consensus view of your team / organization.
How do you show leadership outside of your job?
What leadership areas do you wish do develop through your MBA experience? What specifically do you plan to do at School X to develop in these ways?
Describe your leadership style and give an example of a situation when you successfully led a group.
Have you ever been in a position where you had to lead a group of peers? How did you handle it?
Give an example of a time in which you felt you were able to build motivation in your co-workers or subordinates at work.

Accomplishments

What is your greatest accomplishment?
What impact have your accomplishments had on your organization?

Failure

Have you ever failed?
How did you recover from this experience & what did you learn about yourself?
When have you faced a setback and how did you deal with it?
What has been your major work related disappointment? What happened and what did you do?

Ethics / Integrity

Discuss an ethical dilemma you faced at work.
Describe a situation where your values, ethics, or morals were challenged. How did you handle the situation? What did you learn about yourself?

Information pulled from various public sources including:
http://web.mit.edu/career/www/guide/star.html

More links here: http://delicious.com/admissions/interview_behavioral

Watch a behavioral interview here

--END

Top of blog

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Surprise me

FINAL Topic:

Sometimes the interviewer will say, "Anything else?” This is your chance to tell share one of your selling points that you have not already covered. Depending on what you have (and have NOT) been talking about already, you may want to tell them something about your academic, personal or professional background. Or, if you feel they are not fully convinced that their school is indeed your top choice and you have one more great reason you failed to mention previously, this could be the time to tell them.

What else should the admissions committee know about you?
Have I asked you everything? What question did I miss that you wish I had asked?
What do you want to discuss that we haven't covered already?
What else would you like to say in support of your candidacy?

TIP: Think of this as the encore at a musical concert. Pick a story that will leave your interviewer with a strong impression about you. You need to give them that last piece (or "greatest hit") that they came expecting to hear but have not heard yet. You have to think on your feet! We will cover some strategies to help you prepare to handle this situation with poise and professionalism.

NOTE: Be sure you give your answer proper context. Why you are telling them what you are telling them?

Also, be sure to chose a topic that is different from other areas you already covered.

Remember MECE: http://delicious.com/admissions/mece

--END

Top of blog

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Q and A

How to ask good questions of your interviewer to leave a strong final impression

The last 5-10% of every interview is perhaps the most important. You need to leave a strong final impression by asking good questions.

Your interviewer may ask

Do you have any questions for me?
What else can I tell you about School X?

TIP: be ready to ask at least 3 questions to confirm your belief that "school x" is your best match.

Make sure your questions are:

not easily answered by checking a website
directly related to you and your goals
relating to topics your interviewer is likely to know.
appropriate to your interviewer (alum vs. current student vs. adcom member).

Nearly every interviewer gives you the chance to ask questions. If you fail to ask good questions, they will assume you are not very interested in attending their school. Think about it. MBA is going to be one of the biggest investments you will ever make. If you were buying a car or a house, wouldn't you have LOTS of questions to ask before making such an important purchase?

Questions for Adcom (professional staff)	Questions for Current Student (adcom volunteer)	Questions for Alumni Interviewer
1.	1.	1.
2.	2.	2.
3.	3.	3.
4.	4.	4.
5.	5.	5.

Getting In October 23, 2008, 4:53PM

The Admissions Interview: Your Questions

A good admissions interview involves asking questions as well as answering them. Here's how to be prepared

By Dan Macsai

During every business-school admissions interview, there's a moment where the tables turn. Usually, it's near the end, after you've been probed ("What sets you apart?") and prodded ("How was the workforce?"), and you're ready to head home. "So," the questioner chirps, "do you have anything to ask me?"

This is, of course, an optional request. But it's also an opportunity to make an impression, or blow your chances, says Randall Sawyer, director of admissions at Cornell University's Johnson School of Business. "You have to be prepared," says Sawyer. While asking smart, informed questions can set you apart, soliciting information that's readily available on a school's Web site ("What's your class size?") might irritate your interviewer.

What constitutes a "good" question? BusinessWeek recently spoke with several private consultants and deans of admission, all of whom recommended a variety of questions. Following are a selection, and some tips on how to ask them. And remember, these are general guidelines; the most impressive inquiries are case-specific.

What to ask deans, board members, and other officials:

In your opinion, what really sets this school apart?

Officials know this is an important inquiry, especially if you're choosing between multiple schools. To win points, Sawyer suggests prefacing your question with some original thought (e.g., "I've read that Professor X just received the Nobel prize" or "As an entrepreneur, I was impressed with your 'Fund My StartUp Program"). Otherwise, you may get the retort: "Well, what do you think sets this school apart?"

Can you talk a little about the student job search?

When you're about to drop $100,000-plus on an MBA, you're entitled to ask about career prospects, especially during the current financial crisis. But tread carefully, says Chioma Isiadinso, the CEO of Expartus, an admissions consulting company. Putting an official on the spot ("Can your school find me a job?") is awkward and offputting. Before you broach the subject, show enthusiasm ("I've heard great things about your alumni network") and emphasize that you're willing to be proactive.

For students, current and former:

How have you most benefitted from attending this school?

This question is crucial, especially if the interviewer pursued your concentration. According to Sawyer, it shows that you're "in the game, and interested in success." Be careful with phrasing, though: "How have you most benefitted?" is much more engaging (and much less skeptical) than "Have you benefitted?"

What was your favorite class? Who were your favorite professors?

O.K., these two are pretty obvious. But they're still good bets, says Dawna Clark, director of admissions at Tuck School of Business. Students (and former students) love to impart wisdom, especially with like-minded interviewees. Give them time to shine, and everyone wins: They'll get to relive a positive academic experience, and you'll pick up some inside information.

What's a typical day like?

Beyond engaging your interviewer, this question shows you care about more than academic factoids, says Linda Abraham, president of Accepted.com, an online hub for college counseling. After all, you're applying for an experience. It's only human to care about the little things, like when and where you'll eat, sleep, learn, and let loose.

For anyone:

Is there anything else I can further address?

This should be your final question, says Beth Flye, the assistant dean and director of admissions at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. It's proactive, it's accommodating, and it's a great way to hint that you're eager to attend (as opposed to, say, asking when you'll get your acceptance letter). Also, on the off-chance that you made a mistake on your application, this request could spawn a shot at redemption.

Macsai is a writer for BusinessWeek.

More advice from a counselor I respect (Señor Bryan Shih)

Most interviewers will give you time at the end of an interview to ask questions. You should. After all, you are the consumer, an MBA is an expensive and life-changing experience, and you have many choices. Not asking questions might make a negative impression. As a guideline, I think 3-5 questions is sufficient.

I also like to think of questions as falling into 3 categories:

1) Questions about program content to see how well the MBA fits your needs

Example: “Regarding your international study trips, could you explain specifically how they help prepare students for doing business abroad?”

These kinds of questions are basic and necessary.

2) Questions designed to reveal your potential contributions

Example: “I understand you have a soccer club. I love soccer. Is it possible for me to arrange a tournament with another MBA program?”

I personally don’t like these kinds of questions. The answer will obviously be “yes” (MBA programs love this initiative), and the question itself is a transparent effort to reveal a potential contribution. If you feel you can make a contribution, just say so.

3) Questions designed to start a conversation

Example: “Why did you choose School X?” or “What was your best/worst experience at school X?” (if the interviewer is an alumnus)

Example: “Would you describe your program’s culture as more collaborative or more competitive?” or “Are you making any changes to the curriculum, especially in finance, in response to the current global recession? If so, what are they?” (if the interviewer is an adcom rep)

These are my favorite types of questions because they can break through the “question-answer-question-answer” mold that so many interviews take. They can also contribute to not just a good interview, but to a relationship between you and the interviewer that may be helpful later on; for example, if you are placed on a waiting list and need advice from an alum. One of my clients was able to get very helpful feedback from his interviewer after being denied admission because they established good rapport during the interview.

Additional interview tips:

1) Don’t ask questions you should know the answer to or that you can research by yourself. These are also known as “stupid questions.”

Example: “Do you offer consulting projects?”

2) Don’t over-explain your questions. Just ask them. The best questions are short and to-the-point.

3) Ask open-ended questions to get the most thoughtful responses. (An open-ended question cannot be answered with a “yes” or “no.”)

Example (closed-ended): “Are students allowed to assist in the admissions process?”

Example (open-ended): “In what ways can students assist in the admissions process?”

A few thoughts about “Killer” questions:

In a recent interview training, a client told me she had been advised to ask “killer" questions during her upcoming interview. She didn’t know what constituted a killer question and, to be honest, neither did I, though I've heard this mantra many times before. If I had to guess, I would say that a killer question is one designed to show how clever or provocative an applicant is, or even to put the interviewer on the defensive. The hope is to stand out in a crowded information session or interview.

With that definition, then, a “killer" question to an adcom rep might look like the following:

“Your ranking fell last year. What did you do wrong?”

or

“With your renowned financial curriculum and many alumni in the financial industry, do you feel responsible for the current global financial meltdown?”

These are certainly tough questions, and there are good points somewhere behind them. I would imagine that anyone asking them would stand out, but not necessarily in a positive way since the questions are calculated to provoke, not elicit helpful information. Ultimately, asking such a question might backfire.

Does this mean you have to lob baby questions in order to ingratiate yourself? Definitely not. An MBA is a life-changing experience that requires a huge investment of time and money, so you should be asking hard questions. My advice, however, is to begin by asking sincere questions about things you are truly interested in. Those are the real killer questions.

source: http://eliteessays.blogspot.com/2009/02/killer-interviews-5-asking-good.html 

--END

Top of blog

Friday, August 7, 2009

Interview Intensive Course Dates

The following class sessions still have space (as of 2009/11/16)

12/12 Interview Intensive: intermediate (TOEFL between 100-109)

DATE: Sat., Dec. 12, 2009
TIME: 14:30 – 18:30
LOCATION: Map: http://bit.ly/VinceMap + How to find me: http://bit.ly/VinceAccess
2 seats available as of 2009/11/16
Please contact Vince if you want to reserve your spot in this class VincePrep@gmail.com

1/16 Interview Intensive: advanced (TOEFL @ or above 110)

DATE: Sat., Jan 16, 2010
TIME: 14:30 – 18:30
LOCATION: Map: http://bit.ly/VinceMap + How to find me: http://bit.ly/VinceAccess
3 seats available as of 2009/11/16
Please contact Vince if you want to reserve your spot in this class VincePrep@gmail.com

1/23 Interview Intensive: intermediate (TOEFL between 100-109)

DATE: Sat., Jan 23, 2010
TIME: 14:30 – 18:30
LOCATION: Map: http://bit.ly/VinceMap + How to find me: http://bit.ly/VinceAccess
3 seats available as of 2009/11/16
Please contact Vince if you want to reserve your spot in this class VincePrep@gmail.com

2/6 Interview Intensive: advanced (TOEFL @ or above 110)

DATE: Sat., Feb 6, 2010
TIME: 14:30 – 18:30
LOCATION: Map: http://bit.ly/VinceMap + How to find me: http://bit.ly/VinceAccess
4 seats available as of 2009/11/16
Please contact Vince if you want to reserve your spot in this class VincePrep@gmail.com

2/13 Interview Intensive: advanced (TOEFL @ or above 110)

DATE: Sat., Feb 13, 2010
TIME: 14:30 – 18:30
LOCATION: Map: http://bit.ly/VinceMap + How to find me: http://bit.ly/VinceAccess
4 seats available as of 2009/11/16
Please contact Vince if you want to reserve your spot in this class VincePrep@gmail.com

Please note

Last year, all classes completely sold out.
Space is limited to only 4 students per class meeting, so please sign up early!
Since the class needs an even number of participants in order to be fully interactive, Vince reserves the right to cancel a class session if only one person can attend.
If your plans change, please cancel at least 48 hours before the class so Vince can find a replacement. Fees may apply to last minute cancelers.
Since Vince can only reserve his conference room during class hours, please arrive no more than 5 minutes before the posted start-time. Thank you!

--END

Top of blog

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Fees and Sign-up Procedures

INTERVIEW SERVICES

4-hour course: Y30,000
Single-session one-to-one mock interview training with video: Y22,000 per 50 minute session

VALUE PACKS

Interview class plus one mock training (purchased together; training scheduled on a subsequent day at least one week after the class to give you time to practice at home): Y50,000
5 mock interview training sessions: Y100,000
Value pack: 4-hour course plus 5 mock interview training sessions: Y120,000

HOW TO SCHEDULE

Click here to see Vince's online availability calendar

HOW TO SIGN UP

I will take reservations via email (VincePrep@gmail.com)

HOW TO PAY

You can arrange payment ahead of time via bank transfer or just pay cash at the end of class

HOW TO SCHEDULE

Click here to see Vince's online availability calendar

HOW TO FIND VINCE

Please read and print all info here http://vinceprep.com/Contact.html

Thanks, and see you soon!

--END

Top of blog

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Location

Course location

We meet at the 4th-floor conference room in my Akihabara/Iwamoto-cho office:

〒101-0032 東京都千代田区岩本町3丁目11-8 イワモトチョビル #403

After arriving at ｲﾜﾓﾄﾁｮ-ﾋﾞﾙ (please be careful, there is also an いわもとちょびる nearby), please take the elevator to the 4th floor, then ring the hallway phone by pressing #403 (as shown in this short YouTube video):

View VincePrep 東京都千代田区岩本町３丁目１１−８イワモトチョ-ビル#403 in a larger map

...

--END

Top of blog

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Evaluations for Vince's Interview Intensive Course

“One of the biggest offerings from Vince’s class is to see other applicants' style for interview. Specifically, brainstorming of the Q&A questions is really helpful for me to prepare the actual interview situations. Also, it was a good experience to listen to other applicants’ experience.” - Chicago Booth, Class of 2010

“Overall flow is very good for me to make 'the points of interview questions' clear. Listeners could know the important points of each question step by step, by first, touching on major questions, then learning behavioral questions and finally knowing advanced questions.” - Wharton, Class of 2010

“I could know the basic approach to each of major question. For example, it is good to know the difference of major questions and behavioral questions, and the basic approach such as 'preparing three points, but just explaining the biggest strength with example if it is asked'.” - Kellogg, Class of 2010

“Having several practices with other participants is good preparation for interviews. By feedback, I could know my responses are clear enough or not, or which part should be brushed up more.” - Duke / Fuqua Class of 2010

“Vince gave us many chances to answer typical question and then simplified and fortified our responses. The best point was well-balanced blend of lecture and practice. I think it was good that we could actively participate in the class.” - Emory / Goizueta, Class of 2010

“Vince’s lecture and explanation were so clear that I could more deeply understand my own interview strategy. I especially liked the detailed examples of behavioral questions and coaching on how to manage my time in answering ‘walk me through your resume’. I also liked the tips for asking good questions of my interviewer.” - Georgetown / McDonough, Class of 2010

--END

Top of blog

Saturday, June 27, 2009

The Harvard Interview

I prepared 4 clients for R1 interviews. Each one had a completely different experience. The fact is, you CAN and SHOULD prepare for your HBS interview, but not in the same way you would prepare for Wharton, Stanford, Kellogg, Columbia, Chicago, or any other blind interview (where interviewer only sees your resume). 

Prepare by looking IN to your application. What will others view as your weak points? 

You are welcome to read the reports below, but PLEASE remember that HBS adcoms will prepare questions JUST FOR YOU based on what you sent them (and what you DID NOT send). 

Best of luck!

-Vince

November 25, 2009

Interview FAQ - MBA - Harvard Business School

Please visit this site for frequently asked questions regarding interviews:
http://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/interviews/faq.html

Adam's Excellent post
http://adam-markus.blogspot.com/2009/10/hbs-mba-interviews.html

Harvard / HBS Interview Reports

R2 applicant w/ adcoms in Tokyo 2/27 2009

I just finished HBS R2 interview. The interviewer was adcom. She was very friendly and conversational. However, I sensed some formalness behind the nice smile. I noticed she didn't go into details on why why why, but rather a whole range of different questions. The best thing I can say is to be prepared for the basic interview questions.

HBS R2 Interview (Tokyo Hub)
February 27th, 2009 @ HBS Research Center in Tokyo

1. Tell me about your past, present, and future.
2. Do you like your job?
3. How do you manage a conflict?
4. Explain your typical day.
5. Give me 3 traits that your boss would say to describe you.
6. What would your boss say is your weakness?
7. Give me 3 traits that your friends would say to describe you.
8. What motivates you?
9. What is the biggest risk you have taken?
10. What do you do in your free time?
11. Is there a misconception of you from other people?
12. Surprise me.
13. Any questions you wish I had asked?
14. Any questions for me?

R2 applicant w/ adcoms in Tokyo 2/25 2009

1.      Past Experience (Including why I made those choice).
2.      The things you like about your work.
3.      Why you think your company is focus to people rather than organization.
4.      Tell me more about your first task (sales activity).
5.      Tell me about the risk that you currently took.
6.      Describe your typical day.
7.      5 ways your supervisor describes you.
8.      What will you do if you have to choose other profession?
8.      The time people misperceived you
9.     The interesting conversation you had within a week.
10. Please surprise me.
11.     Anything you would like to talk about? (I told her about my goals and also why MBA + HBS).
12.     Questions? (I could only ask one question).

R3 applicant w/ adcoms on campus 4/30 2008

1. Introduce yourself

2. TOEFL

Why did you take TOEFL so many times
In which position is TOEFL test in Japan?

3. Music accomplishment essay & follow up questions

Why did the conductor choose you as leader?
What is the biggest problem to handle the challenge?
How did you deal with the relationship with your senior?
How did you lead the team to a success?

4. Future career goal

Future career goal
What do you mean “restructuring”?
How do you bring change to Japanese Hospitality industry?

5. Anything else to add?

As shown, it was like Chicago interview I took in that she challenged me to ask many follow-up questions toward a single question. It was far from typical application interviews. She seemed to want to challenge me throwing some conversations, without asking some typical why MBA or leadership experience.

R2 applicant w/ adcoms in Tokyo 2/27 2007

I had the interview with HBS admissions on Monday.
Thanks to you, I think it went well.
The female interviewer was kind and the interview went in a relaxed way.

Why are you interested in chemistry and why did you change your career to McKinsey?
What are good/bad things with your work in XXXX? - How do you see your colleagues?
How do you interact with people you do not like? - Are there any areas that you would like to be asked by admissions? - Who do you respect and why? - Are you prepared for the interview? How did you prepare? - Why do you need MBA? - What do you think are the challenges for you in HBS?
Many people says that they worry about case studies. How about you?
Any questions?

R2 applicant w/ adcoms in Tokyo 2/27 2007

1.      Career path
2.      What do you like most in your work?
3.      Respect leader and why?
4.      What aspects did the leader need to improve?
5.      Your leadership style
6.      The difference of your reputation between before and after somebody knew you
7.      Bottleneck at HBS
8.      Are there any matters we should discuss?
9.      Any questions?

R3 applicant w/ adcoms on campus 3/2 2007

I had a interview with an AdCom member of HBS on Monday. The lady was very friendly and very nice, so I could relax and be myself.

Please introduce yourself.
Who do you admire the most as a leader and why?
What makes a good leader?
Tell me about your leadership experience?
What is your career vision?
Why MBA?
Why now?
Do you have any worry to participate in case study discussions?
What do you want me to know about your?
What didn't we talk about you during the interview?

R2 applicant w/ adcoms in Tokyo 2/27 2007

With HBS adcom woman
From 9:00 @ HBS Tokyo Reserch Center in Marunouchi Building
Actually, she came late and the interview started from 9:10.

The questions were...
-Walk through professional career
-What is your tipical day?
-Future goals
-Why you need MBA?
-What would be the most challenging thing to achieve your goals?
-Tell me about your leadership
-Show me example when you grew a subordinate effectively.
-Tell me a time when you handle difficult subordinate.
-How did he respond when you change your management style from delegating to coaching?
-Why HBS?
-What is your uniqueness?
-What will be your most challenging thing in HBS?
-What would be your most difficult thing in the case studies?
-What is the gap which your friends feel between your first impression and after they know you well?
-What is the motivation for your dream?
-How did you prepare for the interview?
-Is there anything you want me to ask you?
-Any Question?

I do not remember the exact order but she asked various questions and the 30 minutes passed so quickly.

R2 applicant w/ adcoms in Tokyo 2/26 2007

*Harvard** Business School** (HBS) interview*
Interviewer: Admissions Officer
Date: 07/02/26, 10:00~10:30 AM (30 min, all conducted in English)
Place: Harvard Business School Research Center (Marunouchi building, 9F)

1. Short conversation (including explanation about interview process)
2. Q and A session
・brief introduction (tell me about yourself, what kind of person you are~)
→Why did you choose your present job?
→What is the toughest part of your job?
・Why would you like to go to business school?
→ How would you like to change hospitals?
・Why HBS?
・What do you think about leadership?
→ Tell me about your leadership experience
・Is there anything you wish I would ask you in this interview?
・How did you prepare for this interview?
3. If you have any questions, please ask ~

Almost half of the interview time was spent in “Why B-school ~ Why HBS” part.

Based on a sampling of interviews conducted with Japan-based applicants since 2000

	A	B	C
1	Genre	Question	#
2	Introduction	Tell me briefly about your career to date.	8
3	Goals	Tell ma about your future career goal.	4
4	Goals	What motivates you?	2
5	Why MBA	Why do you need MBA?	4
6	Why MBA	Why HBS?	2
7	Job	Why did you choose your present job?	2
8		Tell me more about your first task.	3
9		What are your job responsibilities?	2
10		Explain your typical day.	3
11		What are good things with your work in XXXX?	6
12		Do you have any problems with your present job?	7
13		What changes would you make to your organization and why?	2
14		How do you manage a conflict?	2
15		Tell me about your recent project.	2
16		What is the difficult point in that project?	2
17		Why do you think you were chosen as a corporate-sponsored MBA candidate?	2
18	Leadership	How did you lead a team to a success?	6
19		Tell me about your leadership style.	2
20		How would people describe your leadership style?	2
21		Tell me about a leader you respect and why?	3
22		Take me through your leadership resume.	2
23	Relationship	Give me 3 traits that your boss would say to describe you as.	2
24		Show me example when you grew a subordinate effectively.	2
25		How do you interact with people you do not like?	3
26		How did you cope with that situation?	2
27		Is there a misperception of you from other people?	2
28		The difference of your reputation between before and after somebody knew you.	2
29	Experience	Tell me about a failure and what you learned from it.	4
30		What is the biggest risk you have taken?	4
31		How did you become interested in… (from resume)?	2
32		What did you do most earnestly at college?	2
33	Life in HBS	Many people says that they worry about case studies. How about you?	3
34		What do you think are the challenges for you in HBS?	5
35		What contributions will you make to HBS, your classmates?	3
36		Who would you like to sit next to during class?	3
37	Application	How did you feel about your application process?	2
38		What was the most difficult aspect about the application process?	2
39		How did you prepare for the interview?	6
40		Why did you pick your recommenders?	2
41		Did you apply to any other school?	2
42	Future	If you were to write a book 20 years from now, what will you write about?	4
43	Future	How would you like to be remembered?	2
44	Finishing Q's	Any questions you wish I had asked? (what do you want to tell the interviewer that you have not already mentioned?)	7
45		Surprise me (a different variation on "any questions you wish I had asked you" in other words, your chance to tell something new about yourself that you hope will leave a strong final impression)	3
46		Any questions for me? (your chance to ask the interviewer some questions)	12

More reports here: http://www.clearadmit.com/wiki/index.php?title=HarvardInterview

Accepted's Searchable database:
http://www.accepted.com/mba/interviews/search.asp?bhcp=1

Top of blog

Great Advice

One of my clients is prepping for an HBS R1 interview. Actually, 3 are preparing - my clients batted 1000 in R1, meaning that all 3 of my clients who applied to HBS in R1 got invited to interview. The same thing happened for my R2 clients last season, but I have never had this happen R1. Nice work, team!

Meanwhile, a friend now attending HBS told my client the following, which I completely support:

As you listen to the question, start asking yourself, "how can I bring this back to my core message / key selling points?"
In other words, structure any answer to eventually lead to stories that you know you want to tell from the outset.

To "add value" to those insights, I found some related tips from an interesting PR-related blog (not MBA specific, but good advice):

List the key points you wish to make (key words of your main strengths / selling points, with examples/stories you want to be sure to tell them before the interview is finished)
Take a few slow deep breaths before you allow the first question to be asked.
Take a second or two to compose yourself and be sure to think before you speak.
Take control of the situation.
Remember, about 93 percent of your communication in non-verbal so pay close attention to the signals you may be sending through your body language and vocal cues.
When responding to the "loaded question," it is best not to rephrase and repeat what you heard. Loaded questions are often confrontational and filled with negative language.
The worst thing you can do is get defensive or hostile in your voice or body. In your own words, relate to the issue and be concise. You may want to begin with something like, "I wouldn't describe the situation like that." A statement like this to begin with will also allow you to buy a little time think through your response.
The bottom-line: Prepare yourself!
In any situation always remember to respond rather than react.
Don't let your defenses get the best of you. Remain calm and take some slow deep breaths so you can think before you speak. How you say what you say really does matter.

source: http://publicrelationsblogger.com/2009/07/make-sure-your-public-relations-is.html

Friday, June 26, 2009

The Wharton Interview

MBA ADMISSIONS BLOG!

Tips on the Wharton MBA Admissions Interview

Invited to an interview? Here are some tips directly from the Admissions Committee to to help prepare you…

PURPOSE

Interviews provide additional information about your candidacy that is included in the final reviews of your application. As such interviews, are not the decisive factor in your admissions decision. In most cases, interviews are fairly consistent with the application.

STRUCTURE

Interviews are blind, which reduces bias as your interviewer will have no preconceived ideas of your ability or personality based on your written application.

Interviews may include behavioral questions. Questions may center on specific examples or detailed descriptions of events, projects or experience that demonstrate how situations you’ve faced in the past have been handled and what you learned from them. Behavioral interviewing assumes that past performance predicts future behavior.

No advance preparation is required. Questions are straightforward and cover topics such as why you seek an MBA, why you feel you are a good fit for Wharton (vice versa), what your career goals are, how you spend your spare time, what you value, about what you are passionate, etc. You will not be asked analyze a case study or demonstrate your mastery of particular subjects.

All interviews carry equal weight. There is no advantage to interviewing on-campus or with an admissions staff member. Arrange the type of interview that is most convenient for you.

GENERAL TIPS

Interviews are dialogues or exchange between two people. Steer away from pre-rehearsed speech and over reliance on your résumé. We are interested in getting to know you as an individual, so follow the cues of the interviewer.

The exact length of the interview does not indicate how well the interview went. While we schedule 30 minute interviews, they may vary a bit. Deviations from the schedule are random and unrelated to the candidate.

Do not expect the interviewer to give you feedback – literally or figuratively. Be careful to avoid any interpretation of verbal or non-verbal communication, as both may mislead you.

Interviews are not a popularity contest. The interviewer is assessing your fit for the Wharton MBA program, not whether or not the two of you would make good or best friends.

The key is to relax, be genuine, and enjoy the opportunity for us to get to know one another.

05 Nov 2008 02:07 PM in Application Strategy | Permalink
http://adcomblog.wharton.upenn.edu/admissions/2008/11/tips-on-the-wharton-mba-admissions-interview.html

Wharton Interview Reports

Please read http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/mbaresource/

Past clients who interviewed with alumni in Tokyo were typically asked asked the following range of questions

2009 R2 Tokyo w/ alumni

He said that there are questions he must ask because the school told him to but he did not tell which one. I hope this information will help you next year.

Tell me about yourself (including your past & future)
Tell me about your leadership story
Do you have any subordinates and what is your relationship?
What do you hate to do?
Was it difficult to go to Nagoya?
What is the most difficult part of your job?
When are you most happy? Examples?
What would you change about your company
Anything you want to add

Past clients who interviewed with adcoms in Tokyo were typically asked asked the following range of questions

2009 R2 Tokyo hub #1

Wharton, 2nd Round Admissions Interview log
2009/02/27 1700-1730, Abeam Consulting Office, Tokyo
Interviewer: J.J. Cutler (Director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid)
Interview Style: friendly

I was originally informed only the time that the interview starts, so arrived at the office 20 minutes ahead. After waiting 5 minutes, the last interviewee came out, and Ms. S, administrator of Japanese admissions, stayed with me around 10 minutes, talking about stock prices and past alumni from my company.

Mr. Cutler arrived just on time, and took me to his interviewing room. We sat facing each other on a rectangle of tables. I was informed that the interview is 30 minutes and a blind one. Also he revealed he had interviewed a lot of Keio Univ. graduates today.

Questions Asked
Please let me know who you are, using your resume.
How long were you at London, at what age did you come back?
In what role do you work?
Why do you want an MBA?
Why Wharton? Have you visited our campus? (I answered I visited twice as professional, once as an applicant)
What are your future goals?
What do you do in your private time?
It’s your time to ask me questions. I asked

His experience as alumni:
His greatest experience at Wharton:
Cultural changes in the Wharton community given the financial crisis

2008 R1 Tokyo hub #1

I was top at bat for the Wharton Tokyo Hub Interview and would like to share with you the details for your reference as follows:

Date: Monday, Nov. 17, 2008

Time: 09:15 - 10:00

Interviewer: J Z, Senior Associate Director of Admissions and Financial Aid

Questions:

GENERAL

+ Tell me about what you have been doing.

+ Why do you need an MBA?

+ Why Wharton out of so many schools?

+ What do you do in your free time?

+ Do you have any quality or contribution to Wharton based on something outside of work? Or in another words, anything you do for fun that will be of value to Wharton?

+ What do you wish to improve during your time at Wharton?

+ Anything you want to add on or clarify in your overall application?

+ Any other questions? (I was asked this TWICE)

2008 R1 Tokyo hub #2

I sat for my Wharton interview with Ms. Jackie Zavitz Tuesday in the afternoon.

The interview lasted for exactly 30 minutes (She was checking time on her lap-top). She was jotting down notes as we talked. The interview was conducted in a friendly atmosphere (although not nearly as friendly as Kellogg adcom).

Questions asked (in the order)

- Tell me about yourself based on the resume. (She asked for details on some of the entries. I covered my leadership experience here.)

- What are the major differences between the drug markets in the U.S. and Japan?

- Are drugs aimed at specific therapeutic areas treated differently by the government?

- What do you see as the biggest problem with the U.S. healthcare system?

- Why MBA? (I covered why now and my short-term goal here.)

- What is your long-term goal?

- Why Wharton?

- Other than your professional expertise and interests, what can you bring to the Wharton community?

- Q and A (She did not let me go easily, and I needed to ask her 4 questions.)

- Any changes in your application since submission?

2008 R1 Tokyo hub #3

I also got the Wharton Admission Interview with Ms. Jackie Zavitz yesterday. The interview was no more than 25 minutes. Jackie was friendly but the interview was much more business-like compared with the Tuck interview that I took previously.

Questions asked:

- Tell me about yourself

- Tell me about the detail of the company(American company) that you invested.

- What was your roll in creating the partnership?

- Can I guess the company (Japanese leading manufacturer) that you are currently working with?

- Why MBA?

- Why you think the trading business of your company is loosing its value?

- Why Wharton?

- What do you do for fun?
- What activity do you what to participate outside classroom?
- Q and A (as I only have three questions to ask, I started my questions by stating "I have three questions" so that I would not have hard time as Tsukada-san had.....)

- Any changes in your application since submission?

Past clients who interviewed with student adcom members on campus were typically asked asked the following range of questions

2007-2008

On-campus with 2nd year student. As I had seen/heard before, there was no eccentric/grilling question. Interview was conducted in a very friendly atmosphere.

Walk me through your resume - she asked me why/how I decided to change my job in both shanai-idou and tenshoku.
What is your typical weekday? - I said, "I am talking with spreadsheets almost all the day". Although she laughed, I regretted this answer... I should have prepared nicer answer.
What are your ST/LT goals? - after talking about these, I continued "Why MBA?" and "Why Wharton?"
Teamwork experience - I told her a couple of episodes briefly, starting from my biggest teamwork failure experience
Leadership experience - I mentioned here my small, personal leadership experience, rather than like leading a big team/project
What is the most important component of leadership? - Since this question was vague to me, I replied to her it depends on the situation and asked to clarify it; start something new? help somebody? lead a team/project? I think this worked well.
How do your friends describe you? - I mentioned both good and bad.
How can you contribute in classes? - I re-summarized my career path briefly and used its uniqueness as an answer.
Any specific class you are interested in? - Since I had read Wharton Resource Guide thoroughly when preparing essays, this was a pretty easy to answer. I honestly, passionately discussed what I want to learn. VINCE'S NOTE: HERE IS THE LINK TO THE GUIDE MENTIONED ABOVE: http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/mbaresource/ READ IT!!!
What do you do on weekends? - I answered most regretful, very "futsu" answer; readings, movie, playing basketball etc. since I could not immediately come up with recent interesting weekend episodes. I also mentioned "writing essays", and she laughed.
Q and A - I asked her about GIP and GCP program. Also, since she was an international student, ask for any advice for prospective international student.

More reports here: http://www.clearadmit.com/wiki/index.php?title=WhartonInterview

Accepted's Searchable database: http://www.accepted.com/mba/interviews/search.asp?bhcp=1

Top of blog

Thursday, June 25, 2009

The Stanford Interview

Stanford says:

Interviews

Your admission interview is both evaluative and informative: it is not only an opportunity for us to learn more about you, but also for you to learn more about Stanford.

Our goal is for the interview to be a positive exchange of ideas and information.
We use the information derived from the interview in context, just as we use all other information in the application process.

The interview focuses on past actions rather than on hypothetical situations. The primary questions revolve around attitudes, behaviors, and skills that we believe are key to good citizenship in the Stanford community and vital to high-impact leadership post-MBA.

We ask you to reflect on your personal and professional experiences, what you've learned about yourself, and how best to lead people and manage situations.
You'll probably surprise even yourself with the many ways you've demonstrated leadership in your life; take advantage of this opportunity to think about the people, situations, and events that have shaped you.
If you are invited to interview, the MBA Admissions Office will contact you via email.

Approximate Interview Schedule
Round 1	Early September to late November	If you are offered a place in the waitpool without an interview, you may be interviewed after you accept your spot in the waitpool.
Round 2	Mid-December to mid- March
Round 3	Early April to mid-May

Interview Process

All interviews are by invitation only and almost all are conducted by alumni near where you live or work. Candidates invited to interview have been reviewed by the Committee on Admissions and are considered competitive for admission.
We do not have resources to interview every applicant to the Stanford MBA Program, but we will interview every candidate who is offered admission to the class. We expect to interview between 800 and 1,000 applicants this year.

We will contact you via email or phone.
Do not call or contact our office to request an interview.
After you receive an invitation, you and your interviewer will set up a mutually convenient date and time to meet.
If you are offered a place in the waitpool without an interview, you may be interviewed after you accept your spot in the waitpool.
We do not provide interview feedback.

http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/admission/interviews.html
Stanford GSB Interview Reports

Stanford adcoms give alumni interviewers a set range of topics from which they chose specific questions. Here are some recent reports from interviewed clients I helped.

2009 R2

Stanford Interview Log
Mr. X X (Real Estate Investment Management, Country Manager)
Mar 18th 15:10-16:00

[Process and Questions]
A very short small-talk was followed by instructions that he will be very straightforward in evaluating the interview, and that interview is part of the overall evaluation process.

He brought with him a booklet named Stanford GSB Standard Interview Questions (or something like that), and a 2 page evaluation sheet with lots (more than 20) of 5 level forms. He was generous not to box-tick in front of the interviewee during the session.

He strengthened that interview is an opportunity to know the applicant better, and also for the applicant to know the school better. He mentioned it will be a 45 min session, and started.

His Questions

Why MBA
What episode made you think so?
Why Stanford?
Example of leading a team.
Example of when a member of a team lags behind by either ability or participation, and what would you do? What do you think is important in that situation?
When were you most challenged, how did you get through with it?
What is your definition of a good leader?
How does your boss evaluate you?
Describe when your belief was most challenged?

[Overall]

He asked quite a number of behavioral questions.

I was not sure to take a completely STAR approach or to color more with personal background stories (especially on beliefs question), but looking at the time, I felt I would do better with the latter for some.

2008 R1

(English @ beginning)

Why MBA, Why Stanford..
(Part of why MBA) You said Difficulty and Limitation to interact with top management (People different from me)..Can you share your experience? How did you deal with difficulty?
You said that you have to motivate people as a turnaround manager? How do you motivate people? What is your style?
Why do you think you have this style of motivating people? Why do you have such a style?
When my ethics, values were challenged How did you respond?
Books you read (Non-business) Why did you read? (I said my friend recommended me)..Why do you think he recommended you this book?
Leadership experiences outside your career
You started up some discussion group? What is that? Why did you start?
Any questions?

(Japanese @ end)

Long term career goal (Kind of dream..)
Clarification about Why Stanford (I said one reason is people) What do you mean by people more in detail?
Alumni you met..
Current students you met..
Admission staff you met..
How did you feel by interacting with them?
Which schools did you apply in addition to Stanford?
What is your impression about Stanford community?
Any questions?

I thought he asked "why" and "how" many times.

Interview went quite well but, he told me honestly at the end of interview he was told by admission to make comfortable environment, so I think most applicants have comfortable interviews

2007

Alumni Interview
19:00-20:00 (1h)
1. Why MBA?
2. Leadership style
3. Accomplishment and why do you recognize the experience as accomplishment?
4. Failure experience
5. Sever feedback and your reaction
6. strengths and weaknesses
7. Teamwork experience
8. Activities and What motivates you about the activities

2007

I took the Stanford's interview on Tuesday, Feb 20.

My interviewer, an alumnus, class of 2001, was very smart, gentle, and calm, but he knew Japanese financial and banking industry very much because he had worked in MINISTRY and INVESTMENT BANK both in Tokyo and New York office. He especially knew the level of Japanese banks performance in the U.S. For him, therefore, my story itself might not be very persuasive and impressive. However, he talked about his experiences and influence his two years in Stanford had very candidly. Finally, we had about 90 minutes interview, approximately 30 minutes in English, and 60 minutes in Japanese.

	Frequency of Questions Asked	#
1	Based on a somewhat random sampling of reports from the past 7 years	#
2	Please introduce yourself.	2
3	Please tell me about your job.	2
4	Why did you choose this career?	2
5	What is your career goal?	3
6
7	Why MBA?	6
8	Tell me about an experience where you felt that an MBA experience would benefit you.	2
9	Why Stanford?	8
10
11	What do you think are the most important traits of a leader.?	7
12	Please give me example of leading a team.	7
13	Please describe a situation where you showed teamwork.	3
14
15	Please tell me about your accomplishment and the reason you recognize the experience as accomplishment.	3
16	Have you ever failed at doing something? What did you learn from that failure and how did you incorporate it into your actions thereafter?	5
17
18	When were you most challenged, how did you get through with it?	2
19	When my ethics, values were challenged, how did you respond?	2
20
21	Tell me about your personality/personal qualities.	2
22	Tell me about your strength and weakness.	2
23
24	Tell me about constructive feedback you received and your reaction on that.	2
25
26	Tell me about books you read (Non-business). Why did you read the book?	3
27
28	Any questions?	5

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Stanford GSB Interview Questions

When applying to the Stanford GSB, a bunch of my friends came up with common interview questions for the admissions process. At Stanford, you have to be interviewed to get accepted. They interview only about 25% of applicants so getting an interview is a good sign! Hopefully this non-official list of Stanford GSB interview questions helps:
--------------------

Stanford Specific Questions

Tell me about your background. Why do you want to change from your current career? What do you want to do? Why? And how will the Stanford MBA help.
Why do you want to go back to school?
Why Stanford?
Clubs you’d be interested in joining at Stanford?
What other schools did you apply to and why Stanford?
If you don’t get an MBA offer, what will you do?
What value you can bring to Stanford?
What are your Long-term/Short-term goals?

Leadership / Team Work

Tell me about how you dealt with someone who was terrible to work with and how you handled it
Tell me about a leadership experience you’ve had.
Tell me about a time you’ve failed – what did you do?
Tell me about a time you were in a team and achieved a great outcome
Tell me about a time when you displayed leadership.
What is you leadership style?

Other

A book you’ve read recently and what you learned from it.
What books have you read that were unrelated to work?
Tell me about something you are interested in outside of work – why does this excite you?
What questions do you have for me? (this was w/ about 15 minutes left, so is important to have good questions)

Posted by SiliconMBA at 10:53 AM
http://blog.siliconmba.com/2009/03/stanford-gsb-interview-questions.html

More reports here: http://clearadmit.com/wiki/index.php?title=StanfordInterview

Accepted's Searchable database: http://www.accepted.com/mba/interviews/search.asp?bhcp=1

Top of blog

Monday, June 22, 2009

The Columbia Interview

Columbia Interview Reports

2009 R2 admit in Tokyo w/ JP alumni - client applied at Jan. deadline, invited March 3, interviewed March 10, admitted March 12!

My Columbia interview was okay, I think. What was different was that he spoke to me really really fast and he often asked questions in the middle of my answer. He talked about his experience as well. I would say he spoke during 20% of the interview time.

Also he wanted to know a lot about where else I was applying to. I knew he would ask me because it's Columbia, but I did not expect he would ask me so much. But I believe I could get my message across about Why Columbia.

I know he already submitted my interview report, so I will let you know when I hear about my final result. note - client admitted two days after interview! -Vince 3/14/09 12:04 AM

2008 ED admit in Tokyo w/ JP alumni

1) The questions were pretty standard. The 2 I remember were the
ethics questions (standard for CBS)
"What was the most surprising/out of character thing you have ever done in your life, that others would be surprised to hear about"

2008 RD (R2) in Tokyo w/ JP alumni

Columbia Business School, Regular Decision Ambassador Interview log
2009/01/29 1630-1750, Imperial Hotel, Tokyo
Alumni: H A
Interview Style: friendly, 30% English 70% Japanese

Firstly we talked in Japanese on a common economist we had known. He mentioned it has been quite a while ago when he last volunteered for an interviewer, and it took him about 3 minutes after we sat for his preparation before he made the first question. He seemed to have had the entire set of application materials.

Questions Asked
(In English)
⋅   Please talk about the time you observed someone conducting an unethical action, how did you react, and what was the result. What would you do if given another chance (he mentioned "this is a question I was asked to by Admission's office")
⋅   Although you are a researcher, why MBA?
⋅   What do you think about American Capitalism, after this financial crisis? Columbia is one of the schools which had produced greedy bankers, but why are you still interested?
⋅   Do you think financial regulation should be stricter in the future?
(In Japanese)
⋅   Why Columbia? What makes Columbia different for you?
⋅   Please tell me how sponsored applicants make school choices in your company (which he said was totally from his curiosity).
⋅   What kind of specific lectures/fields are you interested in?

There were no specific opportunities for me to make questions, but he explained me in short of his time at CBS. Also, I made sporadic questions during our conversations.

2008 ED in Tokyo w/ JP alumni

-Columbia (blind/business-like)

Interviewer: Japanese Alumnus
30% English 70% Japanese

Time: 45 minutes

Questions asked

Tell me your career background and what made you think MBA
What is the difference between your current career and future goal? (in terms of knowledge/skills/experiences, etc)
How Columbia will contribute to your future plan?
Why Columbia?
What are your contributions to Columbia?
Which class or professor at Columbia are you interested in?
What extracurricular activities at Columbia are you interested in and how will you contribute to those activities?
Have you ever participated in any volunteer activities?
Tell me your story of ethical dilemma and what kind of lessons you learned?
Other things you want to say to Adcoms
Q and A

Based on a sampling of interviews conducted with Japan-based applicants since 2000

	A	B
1	Question	#
2	Walk me through your resume.	6
3	What are your goals?	5
4	Why MBA?	10
5	Why now?	2
6	Why Columbia? What makes Columbia different for you?	14
7	What other schools are you applying to?	7
8	What kind of specific lectures/fields are you interested in?	2
9	What are your contributions to Columbia?	3
10	Tell me about one signficant leadership experience.	2
11	Describe "leadership" for you with 3 key words.	2
12	Tell me your 3 strengths and weaknesses	2
13	Tell me your story of ethical dilemma and what kind of lessons you learned.	3
14	Is there any other thing you want to add?	2
15	Any questions?	6
16

More reports here: http://www.clearadmit.com/wiki/index.php?title=ColumbiaInterview

Accepted's Searchable database:
http://www.accepted.com/mba/interviews/search.asp?bhcp=1

Top of blog

Saturday, June 20, 2009

The Tuck Interview

Interviewing, interviewing, interviewing

"Tuck School of Business Admissions Blog"

So I have interviewing on the brain right now. One of my roles is to supervise our 37 student interviewers, and I have been busy getting ready for their training which I will conduct tomorrow. In preparation, I have been thinking a lot about interviewing dos and don’ts for applicants and thought I would share some of them here.

Similar to your essays, interviews are a great vehicle to share your story. Through the interview, we hope to hear more examples of the types of experiences you have had in both your personal and professional life, and to get a sense of your demonstrated record of achievement, your interpersonal and communication skills, and your focus.

It is important to prepare for the interview in advance. Think about the types of questions you are likely going to get, e.g. what your goals are, why you want to get an MBA, why you want to come to Tuck, leadership roles, your strengths and weaknesses, etc. Also, think about a few key points about yourself that you want to get across. Then think about specific anecdotes from your past experiences to support each response/point. In describing the anecdote explain the situation, what actions you took and the result. The caveat here is don’t over-prepare. You don’t want to sound like you are reading from a script.

Listen carefully and answer the question being asked. This may sound obvious, but many applicants are so excited to make particular points that they don’t offer them at the appropriate times. I once had an applicant launch into a long discussion of what his goals were and why he needed an MBA when my question to him was “so, are you originally from Chicago?”

Your answers should be specific and include details, but also be concise in your answers. The interview is short, make the most of it. Once you have made your point, stop. The most frustrating interviews I conduct are the ones where the applicant is long-winded and/or strays off topic.

Remember your audience – don’t get overly technical in the details and don’t use too much jargon.

For most questions, there is really no right or wrong answer. We are most interested in what you really think. Be yourself. Don’t try to guess what the interviewer wants to hear. If what you say isn’t true for you, it will come off sounding phony or lacking substance.

Research the school in advance – asking questions that could be easily answered by looking at the school’s marketing materials/website does not create a good impression.

Our student interviewers are really nice people, and we try to make our admissions interviews as stress-free as possible; however, as a result, some applicants get too casual. They assume since they are being interviewed by someone more their peer it is okay to slouch, slip into slang or reveal information they probably shouldn’t (see Karen’s 9/2 post on too much honesty). While we certainly want you to feel comfortable and act like yourself, remember, no matter who conducts your interview (student, staff or alum), you should approach it in a completely professional manner.

A couple of obvious points that bear repeating: don’t be late, and never ever answer your cell phone or check your Blackberry during an interview. You may laugh, but trust me, people have done it!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: Hello, I just wanted to confirm that the page to schedule an on campus interview is still not active. I tried searching for an open spot and the query kept returning zero results (regardless of date range). Thanks, Applying in NYC
Nancy G.- Admissions said...: try this: - go to www.tuck.edu - click on 'visit us / interview' - click on 'request an interview' under the 'related links' heading in the right column of the page - For location of event select Hanover NH - For dates select today's date for the 'from' field; select 12/31/2009 for the 'To' field - for Type of event select 'on campus interview' - Select 'all events in the future with space available' NOTE: if you want to see events that have space available on a wait list, select 'all events in the future' Hope this helps! http://tuckschool.blogspot.com/2009/09/interviewing-interviewing-interviewing.html

Many of my past admitted clients were asked these questions (on campus and with adcoms in Tokyo)

Walk me through your resume from your undergraduate degree to current job
Why MBA? What can you do with MBA? (Goals)
Why Tuck?
Why should Tuck admit you over many others who are equally qualified?
Are you better at leading teams or being a member of teams?
How did you solve conflict among your teammates?
Do you know any current students at Tuck?
What do you do outside work?
Tell me about your leadership outside work?
What extracurricular activities at Tuck are you interested in?
Convince me you want to live in the countryside.
Anything you would like me to know about you?
Q and A

More reports here: http://www.clearadmit.com/wiki/index.php?title=TuckInterview

Accepted's Searchable database: http://www.accepted.com/mba/interviews/search.asp?bhcp=1

Top of blog

Monday, June 15, 2009

The Kellogg Interview

General notes on Kellogg interviews

R2 w/ Tokyo-based alumni usually held at Eisai on last weekend of January
Interviewer will ask you to evaluate yourself
Kellogg asks each alumni interviewer to fill out quantitative (rankings comparing your others interviewed by that same alumni member) and qualitative (short answers following criteria found here)
If interviewing on campus - schedule on a weekday to increase the likelihood that you will be interviewed by (full-time) adcom staff (as opposed to a student adcom member); students are friendly and mean well, but adcom usually have more experience (so they are less likely to ask strange questions / more likely to be able to focus their full attention on you rather than taking too many notes while you speak)

Northwestern / Kellogg Interview Reports

Past clients who interviewed on campus were typically asked asked the following range of questions

ADCOMS #1
Evanston April 17, 2009
3rd Round On-Campus Interview 17Apr.2009 (Fri)
Interviewer: Ms. E M (Assistant Director of Admissions)
Non-Alum, 2nd month with Kellogg, no experience working at other Business Schools, Very Friendly
Questions:

Tell me about your undergrad experiences (both Academic and Non-academic)
How/Why did you choose your 1st job?
How did you end up in your current job? (Transition from 1st job to 2nd job)
Post MBA goal and Why
Long Term Goal
Why MBA?
Why Kellogg?
How do you function in a team?
Do you usually (routinely) work in a team setting?
Tell me about your leadership style with an example.
What kind of impact can you make on Kellogg?
Any clubs you’re interested in?
Activities you’re involved in outside of work.
How do you see yourself relative to your peers?
Have you experienced any setbacks being the youngest person in your organization?
Anything else you would like to highlight?
Any questions? (twice)

ADCOMS #2
R2 applicant on campus Feb. 2009
I was interviewed by an admissions officer and most interviews on week-days seemed to be done by admission staff.
Date; February 6th
Interviewer; Ms. V L

Here are the questions.

- When did you arrive at Evanston? Have you met anyone from Kellogg before your interview?
- Tell me about your academic background and the reasons for your choices.
- Walk me through your resume and your career progress to date.
- What do you think is the biggest impact you have made in your organization?
- What do you think is your type of leadership and tell me about your leadership experience?
- Tell me about your accomplishment through teamwork.
- How do you resolve a conflict in a team?
- What do you think your colleagues appreciate about you?
- If your colleagues can change one thing about you, what do you think it would be?
- What is your short term/ long term goals?
- How can Kellogg help you achieve your goals?
- If admitted, what do want to do outside the classrooms in Kellogg?
- What do you currently enjoy besides work?
- Any questions?

ADCOMS #3
R2 applicant on campus Feb. 9, 2009
Date: February 9, 2009
Place: Kellogg On-campus
Interviewer: Mrs. J O (Admissions Officer)
30 minutes
I was instructed to fill in the form with following information
Name, STG and LTG

Questions:

When did you arrive?
Did you come to US only for interview purpose?
Career Progress
What is the greatest undergrad experience?
What do your colleagues describe about you?
Why MBA?
STG, LTG
Why Kellogg?
Teamwork Question
How did your colleague change you?
One thing you want to change about yourself
Leadership Question
What is your leadership style?
Where else did you apply?
Adjective describe you
Where in US did you live?
What do you do for fun?
Do you do any charity work?
What club do you intend to join?
Any thing you want to say? (One time)
Any question? (Two times)

ADCOMS #4
R2 applicant on campus Jan. 30, 2009 #1
Date: January 30, 2009
Place: Kellogg On-campus
Interviewer: Ms. A S (Admissions Officer and a Kellogg alumna)
Questions:

+ When did you arrive in Kellogg? When do you go back? Jet lag?
+ Tell me about your undergrad major experience. Why did you choose that major?
+ Tell me about your work history. Why did you choose that company?
+ Describe your team. How do you perform in that team?
+ Why MBA?
+ Why Kellogg?
+ Post MBA goal
+ What is your leadership style like?
+ How would you manage a conflict between people?
+ How do you convince people?
+ How do you manage yourself in an international environment?
+ What can you contribute to Kellogg? (Besides work experience)
+ What clubs do you intend to join? Any others?
+ Anything you have not talked about that I should know of?
+ Any questions? Any others?

ADCOMS #5
R2 applicant on campus Jan. 30, 2009 #2
Date: January 30, 2009
Place: Kellogg On-campus
Interviewer: Ms. A S (Admissions Officer and a Kellogg alumna)
NOTE: It seems that admission officers are in charge of weekday interviews while students take care of weekend interviews.
Questions;

- University experiences (academic, extracurricular)
- Career progress
- why MBA, why Kellogg
- Leadership experience, leadership style
- How are you going to develop leadership at Kellogg?
- Conflict-solving experience, how?
- Strategic experience in a project, how did you plan a strategy to achieve a difficult thing?
- Short-term goal (STG) after Kellogg / My thought of key success factors in attain my STG
- Impact I have made on my clients or my company
- Contributions at Kellogg
- Anything else? (twice)
- Any questions? (three times)
- What are you going to do after this interview?

ADCOMS #6
R2 applicant on campus Jan. 19, 2009
1. Who: Admission officer: Ms. A S (alumni)
2. Place: Admission office (her room/ no table/ just two chair)
3. Condition: Friendly/ Blind/ 50 minutes/ the admission checked my resume before we started (I gave her my resume before we started, and she asked me to wait for 5-10 minutes)
4. Questions:

*When did I arrive
*What have you done since your arrival?
*Tell me about your university experience
*Tell me about your extracurricular activity during university
*Don't you want to be a politician (after I talked about my experience in campaign office)?
*Tell me your career progress
*Why do you think that you could be awarded for top sales person (what makes you win this award)?
*How to solve the problems caused by the cultural difference.
*Why MBA?
*Why Kellogg?
*What do you do outside of your work?
*What extracurricular activity do you want to do at Kellogg?
*What is your goal (short/ long)?
*What kind of your quality that you have developed do you think will help you to work as a consultant in future?
*How is your analytical skill?
*What extra information you want to tell me?
*What extra information you want to tell me? (again)
*Do you have any questions?

ADCOMS #7
2009 R1 admit on campus
(Kellogg: 55 minutes w/ adcom, blind, friendly)

- When did you arrive? What have you done since you arrived?
- Walk me through your resume.
- Why MBA and why now?
- What do you intend to gain at Kellogg.
- (Building on previous question) You are corporate-sponsored. How would you give back to your organization after Kellogg.
- Describe your leadership style.
- What role would you play in team activities at Kellogg.
- What clubs or activities at Kellogg are you most interested in?
- How would you enrich classroom experiences of other Kellogg students?
- Describe ONE thing about Kellogg that you think sets it apart from other programs. (Why Kellogg)
- Anything you would like to add that you think relates to your candidacy?
- Q and A

STUDENT ADCOMS #1
2008 R2 on campus
As for Kellogg, things were a little bit unexpected because my interviewer was a 1st year student. She was nice and friendly, but it was difficult for me to control the overall interview. She was writing down EVERYTHING while I was talking, and she told me to stop and wait before I finish. So after the first two questions, I waited for her so she could finish writing, but then when I did that, she just jumped to the next question. Also, although she told me it was going to be conversational, she did not ask me any further questions to my answers. She did not let me add anything at the end either. Also it was challenging because she had me talk about three accomplishments in the beginning.

In case there are applicant who are applying for R3 and planning to do on-campus interview, I recommend making reservation on weekdays so that you will have higher probability to be interviewed by admission directors.(it seems Admission directors are off on weekends) But for me, having interview with a student was another chance to know more about Kellogg community and was a truly great experience which lasted about 45 minutes. (including warm up and cool down chat)

We started off with warm up (ice breaking) chat, such as weather and flight, and she told me her background. She was a 1st year student with finance background. She told me it was a blind interview (she had not seen my application) and that interview goes in chronological order

She asked:

Why did you become interested in your undergraduate study? Please explain in detail about your major.
Please talk about your extra curricular activity (in my case it was my golf club activity
Why do you think you were chosen as the captain of golf club at your High School and University?
Do you play golf a lot recently?
Have you ever done hole-in-one?
What do you recommend me to fix my slice?
Please tell me about your recruiting process?
I talked why IT industry why current company why my function
Please talk about your division and how you have progress your career.
What was the reason you got your promotion?
How did your responsibility change?
Please clarify, in specific, your responsibility.
Are you responsible to negotiate with client?
How do you compare your client (big Japanese company) and US companies?
Please tell me the situation where you took leadership and why it was effective?
What were difficult factors and how you have dealt with it?
What were factors became conflict and why?
Please be more specific about how you resolve the conflict?
Why MBA? STG? LTG?
Do you have specific firm you want to work for?
LTG: At this point do you have specific company you want to help? ( my LTG is to be CEO and help company revitalize)
Why Kellogg?
What are specific classes and organization you are planning to join and why?
What do you do outside work? (aside from golf) Why do you like it?
Anything else you want to add? (She told her experience in GIM India and I told my business trip experience to India) What was your impression of the Indian city you have visited?
Is there any thing I can answer for you?
What was your impression of your visit to classes?
Cool down chat: What are you planning to do this afternoon?

Past clients who interviewed with Tokyo-based alumni were asked the following range of questions

Tokyo-based alumni #1
April 3, 2009
interviewer's brief introduction in Japanese
1 Walk me through your resume.
2 Why did you move to private sector? Why did you choose PwC?
3 What is the biggest learning while you were engaged in public sector?
4 Goals
5 Under the current economic situation, you will run a risk of getting no job. How do you treat with that?
6 As to your long goal, which area/category has the most promise from the perspective of your professional experience?
7 Why MBA? Why Kellogg?
8 What is the greatest accomplishment?
9 How do you contribute to Kellogg?
10 Other sales-point.
There are many laughs
1 How did your Kellog experience affect you?
2 Could you give me an advice for my partner to prepare for Evanston life? (He told me that he accompanied his wife and a baby)
3 What is the impressive class, faculty, student?

As to 1,2,4,5,7, he told the content is clear.
For 5, good idea! Your lesson is useful.

Tokyo-based alumni #2
R2 applicant in Tokyo Jan. 31, 2009
At Eizai
Condition
Friendly / Blind / 30 minutes / He had skimmed my resume before comming to the interview room
Basically we talked interactively. He seemed to have some agenda or direction as to what to ask in the interview.
Conducted in English.
I had a good rapport with interviewer. We enjoyed discussion and laughed a lot.
In the middle and the end of the meeting, he said he would grade me as very good.
Questions
Warm up chats: He introduced his career briefly.
Walk me through your resume.
Why did you join current employer? Why did you major in law at university?
- I explained it, describing from my family background. He looked satisfied with my explanation.
Short term goal, long term goal?
- He asked more specific question about my answer, citing current news of my industry.
I explained my goal, referring to my value, passion, and own analysis on my industy.
What is your major accomplishment?
- I cited my experience in turnaround of my team. He asked how I encouraged who are not motivated.
Why Kellogg?
How can you contribute to Kellogg?

Tokyo-based alumni #3
R2 applicant in Tokyo Jan. 26, 2008
Questions were mostly about my business:

1. Explain the business model of your current job.
2. Briefly explain your recent accomplishment.
3. How did you learn about Kellogg? Web site or people?
4. Why do you pursue MBA?
5. What do you think your expertise.
6. In what occasion do you feel most exciting?
7. What was the greatest obstacle in your project?
8. What was the key to solve the project.
9. Any questions?"

Tokyo-based alumni #4
R2 applicant in Tokyo Jan. 26, 2008
I took kellogg interview on the last weekend, 26th in Japan. Whole interivew is conducted in English.The questions are vrey basic and easy to answer because of the many practices with you.
The questions are :
1) Just tell me about your self in 3 min
he added my hobby and outside activity
2) Walk through your resume
he said my resume looks great and I did so many things !
3) Tell me about your big achievement in your job
I added my strong leadership about my achievement
4) Tell me abuot your leadership outside work
5) Why MBA
6) Why Kellogg 7) Any questions?
Tokyo-based alumni #5
R2 applicant in Tokyo Jan. 26, 2008
Kellogg- Alumni interview
1. Please introduce yourself to me.2. Could you walk me through your resume?
3. Please tell me your experience in which you took initiatives?
4. Please tell me your teamwork experience?

5. Could you tell me your significant business decisions in career?
6. Anything else?
7. Q and A

Tokyo-based alumni #6
R2 applicant in Tokyo Jan. 26, 2008
Interview Questions
1. Run through your resume.
2. Why MBA?
3. (Following my answer: finance) Why do you want to study finance at Kellogg?
4. What are your career goals?
5. What is your significant achievement at work?
6. If other four people disagree with you but your opinion is right at group study of Kellogg, What would you do?
7. How you learned English?
8. Any questions?"

Tokyo-based alumni #7
R2 applicant in Tokyo
Time: 18:00-19:20
Venue: Palace Hotel (Lounge), Otemachi, Tokyo

Ice breaking was in Japanese. The alumnus (turned out to be 42 years old, class of 2001) created a very comfortable atmosphere for me. He made very basic confirmations in Japanese, and then, we slid into English interview. As a whole, his questions were based on my resume. His typical "Japanese-English" made me so relieved.

1) Briefly summarize your career
2) Tell me about your career in the Indonesia Project (my first 3 year career)
3) ST and LT goal?
4) Why MBA?
5) Why Kellogg?
6) Tell me about your teamwork experience.
7) Tell me about your leadership experience.
8) What was the biggest difficulty in your career?
9) What was the most challenging part in your HR career?
10) What experience in your first project helps you with your current project? Any similarity?
11) How do you intend to change your company? What do you think the next generation energy is? (As I am in the energy sector.)
12) Tell me about your baseball story.
13) Anything to add?
14) Any questions? ( again in Japanese, about 20 min.)

I really enjoyed my interview (a kind of chat!) with him in a very relaxing atmosphere. It was simply interesting to talk with him.

More reports here: http://www.clearadmit.com/wiki/index.php?title=KelloggInterview

Accepted's Searchable database: http://www.accepted.com/mba/interviews/search.asp?bhcp=1

Sample Kellogg interviews here (video recreations w/ an admitted client; I asked the same questions he was asked by student adcoms on campus; he repeated most of the same content that got him admitted)

Top of blog

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

The Berkeley Interview

How to Ace the Admissions Interview

By Jett Pihakis and Peter Johnson, Co-Directors of Admissions, Full-time MBA Program

Over the coming months, many of you will undoubtedly be interviewing for admission to MBA programs. Here are some helpful tips to keep in mind so that you will make a favorable impression on your interviewers. While some of our suggestions are easier to implement than others, all of these skills can be learned with practice.

Think through the kinds of questions you are likely to be asked, and think about your responses. Practice interviews can be very helpful, but be sure not to over-rehearse your answers. Your responses should always sound natural and conversational, not canned or scripted.
Dress to impress. Wear business attire to your B-school interview. First impressions do matter.
Relax and be yourself. While some nervous energy is to be expected, understand that the interviewer is on your side and wants you to do a good job. Too much nervous energy can be detrimental to your interview performance. If necessary, do some breathing exercises to calm yourself prior to your interview.
Answer the question being asked. Do not attempt to control the interview by forcing your agenda and making points you feel must be made. Follow the interviewer’s lead.
Think about your response before you begin speaking aloud. It is perfectly acceptable for you to sit in silence for a few moments while you gather your thoughts. In fact, your responses will be much crisper and clearer if you take the time to do so.
Provide answers that are concise, but not too concise. Avoid rambling, but be sure that your answer offers the interviewer enough information to be helpful. Watch your interviewer’s facial expressions and body language to determine if you are on track.
Maintain appropriate eye contact with the interviewer. While it is certainly acceptable to look away occasionally while thinking, you should attempt to keep consistent eye contact while either of you is speaking.
Be conscious of your posture. You want to appear comfortable in your chair, but not too comfortable. Avoid being too casual (e.g., slouching, sitting with your legs far apart, etc).
Be conscious of your tendency to fidget. Don't click your pen, twirl your hair, rub your leg, or shift in your seat.
Minimize your use of filler words such as "you know," "like," "um," and "uh."
Do plenty of school research before your interview and come prepared to ask intelligent questions. It is completely appropriate for you to consult your notes at the end of the interview when you are asking questions of your interviewer. However, you should not refer to notes while the interviewer is questioning you.
Never ask your interviewer for feedback at the end of your interview. "How did I do?" is not an appropriate question.

Armed with these tips (which are also discussed in our podcast at http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/haas/podcast/audio/haas_mba_interview_tips1.mp3), you should now be better prepared to face even the most challenging of interviews. We wish you the very best of luck with your applications!

http://haas.berkeley.edu/mba/enews/jan07/story1.html

--END

Top of blog

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

The Oxford Interview

Oxford / Said Interview Reports

7th March 2009

Oxford Said Business School
Date received invitation: 6 Feb
Date your application submitted 13 Jan
Length of Interview - 40 minutes
Interviewer - Admissions Officer
One-on-one interview
Location of Interview - Oxford Said Business School (one of the meeting rooms)

My interviewer asked me about

She wrote a list of the questions on the paper and put the list on the table. The questions overall are very standard, and the atmosphere during the interview was very relaxing.
To my surprise, all the other admissions members cheered me up before the interview started, and that made me really relaxed and feel confident. It seems that interview with faculty is more difficult (many unexpected questions) than the interview with admissions office.
60-70% of applicants are invited to the interview in general, and 50% of invited applicants get admitted (2008).
When did you arrive and will you leave (It seems that the interviewer check applicants' interests by seeing whether the applicants spend some time to see the city and to talk with current students. From my point of view, visiting the school before the interview gave some positive impact on the admissions office)?
What made you start working for industry after receiving the BA degree in Political Science?
Tell me your current business responsibility
Tell me anything that you regret not doing. Why?
Now you are in a good position (salary, responsibility, secured position). Why you risk your self and try to have MBA degree?
Why Oxford Said, comparing the other schools you applied?
Why your GMAT (verbal) so low? Seeing your English ability, it's natural to exceed more than 700.
Tell me your definition of leadership?
What can you contribute to Oxford Said?
Some chatting about my family
Interviewer's attitude - Friendly

Any final comments
I did not feel any difficulty to deal with her. Probably because she was very good at driving the interview (the other admissions officers told me that she is very good at encouraging the applicants to smoothly talk).

Advice
*Applicants should visit, have an initerview in the same day as the "open day", and select the interview during afternoon. The applicants certainly could be relaxed after interacting with many admissions officers in open day as well as have many opportunities to appeal yourself to the admissions (including to the interviewer).

2007

20-30 minutes on-campus, one-to-one interview with a faculty in Social Entrepreneurship.
A is quite friendly person. The interview is strictly within 30 minutes.
First, I explained him Why MBA and Why Oxford. I think so so.
Second, he asked me "What is the problem which your company faces. How do you think to overcome the situation?"
I have a quite unexpected questions . Most tough one is "What do you think is the major issue of the global economy? and how you think you can solve the issue".
He try to find how I react to difficult questions with thoughtful idea.

More reports here

Top of blog

Monday, June 1, 2009

The London Interview

London / LBS Interview Reports

The interview is essentially divided into three parts.
PART A
This is the Q&A session. The interview is not a blind interview meaning that the interviewer has a copy of the entire application package and would have read the same prior to the interview. Questions typically would include - Why MBA and why now? Why LBS? Followed by leadership and teamwork based questions. The interview is very conversational and hence the questions typically follow one another. Be prepared for few questions relating to your essays and experiences you have mentioned.
PART B
The LBS interview includes a 5 minute impromptu presentation on a topic given to you by your interviewer. You have about 5 minutes to prepare. The topics are quite general and this is something you shouldn't really worry about. The school is really trying to see your thought process.
PART C
This is the time when it’s the applicant's turn to ask questions. Ask whatever questions you might have about the program, their reasons for choosing LBS, their experience etc.
The interviews tend to be long and last good 1.5-2 hours. This might sound very cliché, but be yourself. Congrats and all the best for your interview.
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/international-indian-mba-schools-accepting/35028-london-business-school-admit-4.html
Q: Patxi A-K (Dec 5, 2005 10:20:23 AM)
To all: At least two of us, Anna and I, have the LBS interview soon. I love the idea of the impromptu presentation. Can you share any advice with us?
A: NatasjaGiezenLBS (Dec 5, 2005 10:22:05 AM)
Patxi: The impromptu is a minor part of the interview, don't fret too much about it. I think it's designed to see how quick you can think on your feet and if you can structure your thoughts in a logical way.
http://www.accepted.com/chat/transcripts/2005/mba12052005_lbs.aspx

Q: tetyana (Apr 20, 2005 1:24:27 AM)
Is adding the impromptu presentation in the alumni interview scope a new addition this year? As I guess, the topics can vary within quite a broad range. What is the main objective behind arranging the presentation as part of the interview scope, apart from viewing one's presentation skills and the ability to address a topic within a short span of time? Thanks in advance.
A: DavidSimpsonLBS (Apr 20, 2005 1:35:13 AM)
Tetyana, the impromptu presentation was introduced last year. You described our objective well! Observing you present with little preparation is just one small part of the overall process. As you know, we ask a lot from candidates in our admissions process - as we want to build the strongest possible class of 300, where every individual contributes on many levels - in a study group, in the classroom, on campus in clubs and setting up events, and as alumni.
http://www.accepted.com/chat/transcripts/2005/mba04202005_lbs.aspx

AUGUST 28, 2003

MBA INSIDER: ADMISSION INTERVIEW TIPS

London Business School: The Interview

A Talk with London's Admissions Director
An excerpt from the Q&A:

Q: Interviews are by invitation only at London. What does the school want to find out about the applicant during the interview?
A: Like applying for a job, the first stage for the [job] applicant is getting an interview. The second stage is getting an offer. The process works like this. We'll do a review of the paper application first. We are looking to see whether the application meets our base criteria, for instance educational attainment, work experience, and the [applicant's] references. After the paper review, we'll decide whether or not to ask a candidate for interview. And at that point the interview will be following a checklist of characteristics that we've drawn up.

Q: Is a long interview better than a short interview?
A: A good interview is the best, and they can be either [long or short]. That said, it's tough to establish knowing somebody in as thorough a way as we would like in much less than 30 or 40 minutes. And some of our interviews will go on longer than that.

Q: And the ones that only last 20 minutes...
A: Could be fantastic. But how many job interviews have you had that had just lasted 20 minutes and have you got the job? I would very much doubt that that would be a typical London Business School experience. If we are going to the trouble of interviewing somebody, which is a time-consuming and expensive process, we want to give the candidate a good opportunity to have a good showing. It's also a way for the applicant to find out more about the school.

Comments from Student 1:
Scheduling the Interview: The interview was scheduled through the MBA Admissions office via email at the same time that I was notified I had passed the next stage. They subsequently put me in touch with a local (Los Angeles) alumni and he and I corresponded to set a time.

Location of Interview: The interview took place at my alumni interviewer's office. It was very relaxed, although I was quite nervous since I wanted to make a good impression and be accepted into the program.

Preparedness of Interviewer: My interviewer was definitely prepared and had experience in interviewing quite a few prospective students. He did a good job of selling the school to me in addition to assessing my skills.

Interviewer University affiliation: His name is Josh Parks, and he is an alumni.

Atmosphere: It was relaxed since I was with someone more my peer than an admissions officer, but on the other hand, it's always difficult to be in the hot seat and have someone critiquing you. I was glad when it was through!

Questions asked: Josh asked typical questions about why I was interested in business school, what made me choose LBS, what I would be doing after graduation. He also probed into questions about my current job and international experience. Additionally, there was a new process where I had to give an impromptu "presentation." I was given three cases to choose from, and 5 minutes to review these and present an oral response. I think the point was to see how well I could work on my feet and analyze my thought process. It was a bit nerve-wracking, but I must have done an OK job!

Length of Interview: This interview lasted about 2 hours.

Comments from Student 2:
Scheduling the Interview: I was given the name and email address of a local alumnus (even though I lived in the city of London at the time). She and I arranged the interview at her convenience.

Location of interview: Off campus, though in London. She suggested meeting at Starbucks, which we did, but it was not a great environment for an interview in my opinion.

Preparedness of Interviewer: The interviewer had spent a few days reviewing my application in detail. In fact, she said she didn't want to discuss issues I'd already mentioned in my application, as she had just read that.

Interviewer University Affiliation: Alumnus

Atmosphere: Relaxing atmosphere, conversational. However, Starbucks was distracting with other loud conversations and the blender going!

Questions asked:

The alumnus told me that LBS gave her a standard set of interview questions, so she did not have much choice in what was asked. The following were some of the questions:
What is a typical day like at work for you?
What are your biggest challenges at work?
What is your leadership style?
What are your leadership development goals?
Why get an MBA now?
What other long-term goals do you have?
What do you think are the skills of a good manager?
What should you take into consideration when working with people of different cultures?
What will you bring to your study team?
What was your biggest intellectual challenge?
Tell me about a recent project you've worked on.
Tell me something about yourself that is not on your application.

Length of interview: two hours

Additional comments:
-Be prepared for questions that focus on specific projects, tasks, and challenges.
-Be prepared to be asked more theoretical questions, such as 'your leadership development goals'! I was not prepared for this sort of question based on the other interviews I had done.
-Highlight any international experience you've had, and your experience with different cultures. This is very important to LBS.
-Highlight personal activities and motivations in addition to professional accomplishments. LBS students are very involved and motivated.
-Show what you will bring to the program, not just what you hope to get out of it.
-Convince the interviewer that NOW is the best time for you to get your MBA.
(I was accepted, notified by email by the deadline set for notification by LBS.)

Comments from Student 3:
For all those who are used to "blind" or "resume-based" interviews, be prepared. It is an intense experience. ([It] does give you the distinct feeling that whatever you say is going to count towards your admissions decision). Location: Coffee Shop in South Mumbai, India Interviewer: Alumni, MBA 2002 promotion. (Just a couple of years older than I am). How the system works/ how it went: The alum is given a copy of your file including essays and other details about your application. The adcom probably makes a lot of notes about the questions it wishes to raise during the interviewer. The alum then reads the file himself and makes his own list of questions. At the end of it all, your application has so many scribbles and side-notes in it that you want to hide your face in the sand..! ;-). Professionally thorough. My designated interviewer had some very relevant and incisive questions to ask about certain aspects of my essays. The guy even quoted me from my essays without looking at them! Luckily I had given my essays a thorough read in the morning of the interview and could answer most questions confidently. There were no major hiccups per se. I didn't stumble anywhere, but the interviewer did not give me any clue as to how it went at the end of it all. It was, overall, a very detailed experience (almost two hours). The professionalism and the attention to detail was impressive, and if you are prepared for it, it really shouldn't be a problem. No twisters.

The questions:

Why MBA?
Why LBS?
Why your present profession?
Leadership example
Leadership style admired
Failure example
International Experiences
Developmental Needs (Personal)
What matters most to you?

Comments from Student 4:
My interview surprised me. I had prepared as most prospective candidates do by talking with other students, alumni, admissions counselors, etc. before the interview. Starting my consulting practice, I was used to giving "my pitch" and talking about my business, clients, and the consulting model. I also took some advice from one of my mentors and spent extra time before filling out my MBA applications to discern why I am a good fit for B-School in the first place. All of these things helped me in my Interview.

What was surprising for me, although maybe it shouldn't have been, was the caliber of interviewer. We met at the Four Seasons Hotel in the lobby and planned to spend about 1 and ½ hours together that evening. I had been informed that it was a two-way interview: one in which I would have time to learn more about LBS and they would have time to get to know more about me. They also told me that alumni do the interviewing. When the time came and the interviewer revealed more about himself, it really made me think about the journey I was about to take. He had graduated 10+ years ago and since then had worked for various tech companies, one of which happened to be Dell. He started, built, and managed the South African office and operations for them. Starting from scratch, he looked for everything from manufacturing facilities to operating partners and then grew it into a major business unit, of which he was president. This was really impressive.

This was the type of person who was willing to take time from his busy life, to ensure the future of his alma mater by sifting through prospective candidates. That says something about the school and program. For me, this was a positive and unexpected experience - one that made my decision much easier.
http://www.businessweek.com/print/bschools/mbapremium/aug2003/bs20030828_6717_bs043.htm?chan=gl

1. Name of school and department/degree

London Business School

2. Your interview was scheduled
Date received invitation: 12 Feb
3. Date your application was submitted
3 Jan

4. Date of Interview

4 Mar

5. Length of Interview
100 minutes (The interviewer told me that it would take 90 minutes when I made the appointment of the interview

6. Interviewer(s)
Alumnus: NV

7. Format of Interview
One-on-one

8. Location of Interview
Amsterdam (one of the room close to the airport. The interviewer booked the room for the interview)

9. Language(s) used
English 100%

10. Questions asked - My interviewer asked me about
Summary

He said at the beginning "I know all about you." Then he actually did not much touch upon the contents related to my essays (leadership experience, team work experience or others). First he told me who he is in 5 minutes, and stated asking questions. Most of the questions are very unexpected. It was tough interview, probably, as compare to others; however I somehow could enjoy a lot. Overall, he created positive atmosphere, and I could fully be relaxed.

NOTE: Blue colored ones are unexpected questions

*What trigger you to start thinking to study at MBA

*What are your criteria to select the MBA schools? Where did you apply, and why LBS is your choice among these schools?

*If you are the interviewer, what kind of perspective students do you recommend to the Admissions Office?

*(I answer to the questions above that "I think the student who has passion to LBS and who have experience." Half of the learning is coming from student, so that it is important that students is good enough to contribute to others with their passion and professional experience). Based on this answer.....How can you assess the passion and experience during the interview, if you are the interviewer?

*Why do you wake up morning? (= It sounds like the question of "why you live?" or "what is your life mission?")

*Tell me about your culture. What part of your culture (Japanese culture) help you at LBS? What part of your culture hinder you from thriving at LBS?

*Tell me about your difficult moment that you would never want to experience again.

*What part of your childhood experience does influence your life?

*Tell me your definition of leadership. What kind of leadership have you had experienced?

*Some chatting about my family

*Who do you think are the most powerful five people in the worked? Why?

*Some experts says that conflicts better results. What is your view on the opinion? How do you manage the conflicts? (This is the question that my friend in Tokyo faced in 1st round)

11. Interviewer's attitude

Friendly

12. Any final comments

The difficult part was how to drive the conversation to "MY" direction where I could appeal myself to the interviewer. Many questions asked are really "unexpected" and "tough" questions. I could simply answer to his questions, but it is very difficult to integrate those answers and my appealing points to convey some message to the interviewers.

13. Advice

*Creating the good mood with all your very best effort, especially considering such a long interview. In order to do so, I recommend that we should do research the interviewer as much as possible through Google, Linked-in, etc. Get to know the brief profile in advance helped me prepare myself to break ice at the beginning of the interview.

*Take a break before the presentation. The dialogue and presentation are totally different. Having the break and make yourself relaxed, and switch your mood from dialogue to presentation.

It was 100 minutes session, and I could not memorize everything; however when I remember some other questions, I am willing to report to you.

*Who do you think are the most powerful five people in the world? Why?

School London Business School, Interviewing for 2^nd round applicants

Date March 1^st, 2008 11:30 – 13 :45

The alumnus who was working as receptionist advised to the applicants that “today there are total 11 applicants. “ Actually, there were 6 participants in the morning part (9:00 –11:00) and 5 in the lunch time part (11:30 –13:30). I did not reconfirm this information with the alumnus, but if this is correct, the number of this year’s applicants short-listed for the 2^nd round interviewing is about less than half of those of previous few years. According to the past reports, average 20 – 30 were invited.

I was invited in the lunch-time part. 5 participants were divided to 2 groups, as 2 and 3. I was in the 2^nd group (a group of 3 applicants) The 1^st group started from ‘Group discussion’ (Doing group discussion only with 2 participants ! ) and my group from interviewing.

Interviewing part (about an hour )

The style is 2 interviewers: 1 applicant. Compared with the interviewing of USA schools, it was relatively business-like, but not so much ‘pressurized’ one. What made interview tougher than other schools is that interviewers had red my essays and applications in detail. All questions are trying to make it clear the details of my essay/application.

Why London Business School ?
Why London is so special for the shipping industry ? (Question for my 2^nd reason of ‘why LBS?’)
What is your opinion about the impact of recent increase of crude oil price to your industry?
The biggest achievement in your professional career other than the achievements in the present division.
The leadership experience other than written in your essay
What is the most important point when you choose which schools to apply? (after touching on my response of ‘Which school to apply?’ question in the application.)
Please explain your experience between 1997 and 2002 ( after pointing out that I have not so much touched on my experience then in my application )
The strength/weakness
Any questions ?

(10) 5 minutes Presentation

After the interviewing section, I was requested to conduct 5-minute presentation. First, the interviewers gave me detail instruction, then they show me the topic of presentation. There are total 5 topics in the list, and I was given the question about CSR (Company Social Responsibility).

I could have 5 minutes for preparation, and during that time, interviewers left the room. Presentation should be minimum 2 minutes to maximum 5 minutes. During the presentation, interviewers did not interrupt me or ask any questions. No feedback after the presentation.

Group discussion/ English conversation test (total about an hour)

Between the interviewing and the group discussion, 15 minutes of break-time was set. During that time, applicants could chat with alumni.

For group discussion, there were total 7 questions, and first, participants chose which topic to discuss. At the beginning, all three applicants discussed the topic, but in the middle of the work, applicants were taken out to the other space one by one to have 10 minutes English conversation test. By the suggestion of Canning teacher, we changed the topic when one of our members had conversation test. Both group discussion and English test were conducted under friendly atmosphere, and not so tougher than written in some past reports.

End of report

Group discussion - just 3 applicants (used to be as many as 6). Chose from among 7 topics. Usually cover 3-4 during one hour. Caning teachers sometimes intervene to ask follow-ups or directly challenge speaker.

5 minute presentation - given a case (e.g. activist shareholder sues a company saying that CSR is wasting his money, give him returns and let him invest in the causes of most concern to him). 5 minutes to prepare then 5 minutes talking w/o interruption to two alumni, who sit poker-faced. Tough!

Interview itself - particular alumni, including current head of LBS alumni Japan did not ask many essay-related questions but had a stern attitude, kind of intimidating.

1. Group Discussion
Member: 3 applicants and 2 Canning teachers
Time: 1 hour
Topic: Decrease of birth rate and aging population
Interviewers attitude: Canning teachers sometimes interrupted us and asked us about the detail of our answers.
2. English communication test
Time: 15 minutes
Topic:
(1)Self introduction
(2)Role Play (business situation)
(3)Informal Discussion (Whether smoking should be prohibited in a public
space or not.)
Interviewers attitude:The interviewer was friendly.
3 Alumni Interview
Time: 1hour(including presentation)
Topic:
(1)Self Introduction
(2)Why MBA now?
(3)Why LBS?
(4)Team work experience
(5)Biggest Accomplishment
(6)International Experience
(7)Short Presentation
Theme: Which do you think is the most famous brand in these 20 years
or so and why?
(8)Any Qs?
Interviewers attitude: one is not friendly and the other was "poker face"

Source ：ClearAdmit

• What project would you choose with your study group at LBS if you were at the point of choosing? What role in the group would you play?

What would you do with and without an MBA in 5 years? (2 different scenarios)

• How would you choose between different schools if you were in such situation? (what would be the base for your decision?)

• What it the difference between firms at which you are targeting?

• Tell me about your current industry, its main players. How do you see the perspectives of this industry?

• What would you do if not admitted?

• Your three good traits from your colleagues’ point of view? Three bad traits? (that was a tough one)

• When you were leading a team, did you ever face resistance from them? How did you solve it?

• What is the biggest opportunity and challenge facing your industry? (I mentioned globalization as both an opportunity and challenge)

• What would you change in the way your organization works?

• Tell about how people in ‘Company’ view you as a leader.

• When someone was not putting effort enough in the team, how you reacted?

• How people in ‘Company’ view you in 2 words?

1.Group Discussion(with 4-6 applicants and 2 English teachers of Canning School) I arrived 30 minutes earlier at the school and found that it was a mistake because automatically I was urged to jump in the group discussion of the former group (9:00-11:00) as I entered the building, not knowing what was happening around.

We worked on relatively vague themes such as "How companies keep talented people?" "What is needed to be a good international manager/leader?"

I was surprised that almost all applicants seemed to have some experience living outside Japan...I guess my spoken English was at the lowest level among applicants, although I made some remarks to express my opinion and to guide the discussion...hope they will judge by contents rather than by proficiency....don't ask if I was superior among applicants in contents,though:-)

2.English Proficiency Assessment (with Canning School Director)
During the Group Discussion, each applicant was called in turns to a small room to take an in-person interview . I'd heard it would be a Power Interview, but personally I didn't feel that way. The interviewer conducted it very speedy, and I had to answer each question instantly and concisely. The questions were not related with each other, and he didn't ask any further question once I replied.

3.Admission Interview (with two Alumni)
The interview with alumni was the most hardest part (and most important, I suppose). The questions was basically about the details of essays and the interview style was kind of aggressive, sometimes interviewers opposed to my opinion and asked to explain further...but not so aggressive as I had expected. Also, there was a 5-minute impromptu presentation, about "whether historic objects in museums should be returned to the countries of their origin." I did it as the AWA style in the GMAT, but I didn't come up with enough support examples in 5 minutes preparation time...

Overall, there were no explanation from LBS about what we were going to do and how they would be evaluated, so if I had no information about the process, I would be quite bewildered...

A Round 2 candidate faced the following questions from an alumnus:

Give me an example of a leadership experience.

Give me an example of when you took risk.

Are you applying elsewhere?

What do you think about LBS’ interview setup of using alumni?

What did you think the cultural differences are between the places you’ve lived in (the Northeastern US, South and Southeast)?

[The] interviewer then indicated that the presentation was a ‘formal’ part of the interview and asked … to prepare for 5 minutes for a 5-minute presentation. Topic: Who do you think are the 5 most powerful people in the world and why?

Another alumnus posed several questions to a Round 2 candidate, as the applicant recounted:

“LBS interviews are non-blind interviews; therefore, the alumnus has carefully read my application. Hence, when we started, he told me not to repeat what I had already written in my essays. It is important to be prepared with alternative and interesting stories! He focused on my background and work experience (heavily quant) and why I wanted to pursue an MBA vs. a PhD or an MSc in Finance. Then, he asked if I could fit well at LBS and how I could contribute to the study group. After more than one hour talking it was the part of the impromptu presentation (now compulsory in every interview), it was something related to the current crisis, and therefore not too difficult to handle.”

http://blog.clearadmit.com/2009/04/wiki-wednesdays-london-business-school-interview-reports/

LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL – FULL TIME MBA PROGRAMME

INTERVIEW SCORE SHEET

Name of Candidate:
Name of Interviewer:
(Please circle relevant score: 1 = excellent, 3 = average, 5 = very weak
Band 1 excellent to good, 2-3 above average to below average, 4-5 weak to very weak
Communication / English Language Skills
Overall, how articulate is this candidate? 1 2 3 4 5
Able to make their point clear? 1 2 3 4 5
Is their English proficiency adequate for the LBS MBA? 1 2 3 4 5
Training Required, (please comment below) YES / NO
Please note your comments on Communication Skills:
.................................................................................................................................

Team Skills (from your interpretations of essays / interview)

Proactive contributor to teams/groups? 1 2 3 4 5
Thinks about how teams work together and succeed? 1 2 3 4 5
Understands contribution he/she makes to teams? 1 2 3 4 5
Has insight into his/her weaknesses as team member? 1 2 3 4 5
Able to resolve personal conflicts between self and others? 1 2 3 4 5
Helps to resolve personal conflicts between others? 1 2 3 4 5
Please note your comments on Team Skills:
.................................................................................................................................

Leadership Skills
Level of insight into their own leadership style? 1 2 3 4 5
Grasp of own leadership strengths / weaknesses? 1 2 3 4 5
Has identified some leadership development goal(s)? 1 2 3 4 5
Able to see themselves as future business leader? 1 2 3 4 5
Please note your comments on Leadership Skills:
.................................................................................................................................

Note: 1 = excellent 5 = very weak
Motivation/Drive & Energy
Estimated level of motivation / drive? 1 2 3 4 5
Has long-term career and personal goals? 1 2 3 4 5
Manages self to sustain energy levels? 1 2 3 4 5
Please note your comments on Motivation/Drive & Energy:
.................................................................................................................................

Intellectual Skills
Evidence of strategic perspective? 1 2 3 4 5
Able to analyse/evaluate business situations? 1 2 3 4 5
Has own ideas? 1 2 3 4 5
Able to link ideas and communicate concepts? 1 2 3 4 5
Original approach to problems? 1 2 3 4 5
Please note your comments on Intellectual Skills:
.................................................................................................................................

International Perspective
Exposure to cultural diversity? 1 2 3 4 5
Interest in people with different backgrounds / perspectives? 1 2 3 4 5
Aware of positive/negative impact of cultural diversity? 1 2 3 4 5
Active interest in LBS’s internationalism? 1 2 3 4 5
Please note your comments on International Perspective:
.................................................................................................................................
Expectations; Interest in LBS MBA
Convinced you of strong interest in taking an MBA? 1 2 3 4 5
Convinced you of strong interest in LBS MBA specifically? 1 2 3 4 5
Please note your comments on Expectations and Interest in LBS MBA:
.................................................................................................................................

Name of Candidate: Name of Interviewer:
Note: 1 = excellent 5 = very weak
LBS Contribution and ‘Fit’ - In your view:
Did the candidate ask good/relevant questions? 1 2 3 4 5
Do you think this candidate will contribute to the LBS MBA? 1 2 3 4 5
Will the candidate work well with a group? 1 2 3 4 5
Will the candidate contribute to the Campus Community? (clubs etc) 1 2 3 4 5
Is LBS the right choice for this candidate? 1 2 3 4 5
Post MBA Career Objectives
What does the candidate wish to achieve by doing an MBA? (tick more than one if applicable)

Vertical move
Change career direction
Run own company
Move into consulting
Move into banking
Move into industry

In your view, are these aspirations realistic ? YES / NO
(given past work experience and LBS MBA exposure)
Please note your comments on realism of aspirations:
.................................................................................................................................

OVERALL DECISION RATING (please tick your recommendation)

1. Excellent candidate, who LBS should pursue actively.
2. Good candidate, who would contribute to the MBA.
3. Weak candidate (see points below).
4. Unsuitable candidate, recommend LBS reject.

Reasons for decision rating:
.................................................................................................................................

If you choose 3 above, please list possible options to mention to the candidate, (if applicable):
1. Encourage them to re-apply in a year.
2. Consider other LBS programme – Sloan, MiF, EMBA

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

links

USEFUL LINKS

Adam's blog
http://adam-markus.blogspot.com/2009/10/mba-application-interview-strategy.html

Accepted.com MBA Admissions Interview: Tips, Sample Questions, Feedback
http://www.accepted.com/mba/interviews/advancedsearch.aspx

Clear Admit MBA Admissions Wiki
http://www.clearadmit.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Vince's interview tips and sample questions (please let me know if you find any dead links!):
http://delicious.com/admissions/bundle:Interviews

--END

Top of blog

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Visit MBAnoWA!

Vince's MBA Interview Service

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Monday, September 28, 2009

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Friday, September 11, 2009

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Friday, September 4, 2009

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

The Admissions Interview: Your Questions

A good admissions interview involves asking questions as well as answering them. Here's how to be prepared

Friday, August 7, 2009

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Harvard / HBS Interview Reports

Friday, June 26, 2009

Please read http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/mbaresource/

Past clients who interviewed with alumni in Tokyo were typically asked asked the following range of questions

Past clients who interviewed with adcoms in Tokyo were typically asked asked the following range of questions

Past clients who interviewed with student adcom members on campus were typically asked asked the following range of questions

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Interviews

Interview Process

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Monday, June 22, 2009

Saturday, June 20, 2009

"Tuck School of Business Admissions Blog"

2 comments:

Monday, June 15, 2009

Northwestern / Kellogg Interview Reports

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

How to Ace the Admissions Interview

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Monday, June 1, 2009

London Business School: The Interview

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

This site

Lectures plus Mock Training Sessions

SOLD OUT

Labels

Table of Contents

About Me

Followers