Bennybob wrote:
Can anybody that's already interviewed provide some insight on the line of questioning to expect? is it still the general "tell me your story" approach this year?
I interviewed on Monday at the Grounds. My interview was with an admissions committee member, though it looked like a lot of other people had student interviewers. I am wondering if there is any methodology behind who they place you with for your interview, but I assume not since they are conducted blind (though if anyone has any other idea about this, I'd be interested to know!)
I had already had two interviews (Fuqua and Tuck) at this point, but I was so nervous for my Darden interview because of the one-question format! I saw the potential for an awkward, run-on monologue, especially since I tend to be pretty chatty.
It was indeed the "tell me about yourself" question*, but it went a lot better, and felt far more conversational, than I had initially expected. As always you need to know the basics: why an MBA, why now, why Darden, career goals, etc. The key differentiator is that Darden wants to know more about your background. I read "The Darden MBA Admissions Interview Guide" by Adam Markus and found it to be really helpful for prepping (BTG wouldn't let me insert the link but it's a blogspot post). I basically used the format he laid out: introduced a few main themes from my application, connected them to a couple of annecdotes about my background, and then went into the standard MBA interview spiel about how those themes related to my career goals and school selection.
The biggest mistake I could forsee someone making in this interview (and as someone who tends towards TMI, it was something I had to remind myself while prepping) is that they'd basically tell their interviewer their life story and then not have enough time to get to the meat of the question. This is a lot easier to avoid when you're thrown specific, pointed questions. Because of that, I spent more time prepping for my Darden interview than the others. In the end, though, I thought I did a pretty good job staying on track and found the interview to be a pretty comfortable experience.
Happy to answer more questions if folks have 'em.
*but there were follow up questions later on--she asked about my interests out of work, what I would contribute to my learning team, and a few others I don't remember--anyone else get these?