40 views no answer !!!!!!
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SAID BUSINESS SCHOOL, OXFORD - MBA CLASS OF 2008

I had my firt interview last week. The interviewer asked for the whole package. I don't know what to say. I think he was really prepared to asked questions and by reading the essays before hand the interview went smothly.

Thanks guys.

I completed my interview in the evening. It was good one. The interviewer was an high achiever. MIT, then startup then Ph D from UC Berkeley and then INSEAD and now an entrepreneur. We met in a coffee shop.
Some obvious questions
Why MBA?
Current Responsibilities.
Why INSEAD?
What will you do if you don't get in anywhere?
If you don't get anywhere then will you remain with your company and why?

Some creative questions
How will you choose a team for your startup? (My goal is to be an entrepreneur)
How do you select teams?
How much time you take to judge the potential of your subordinates?

and some informal talk.

It was a smooth one. Lasted one hour and 15 minutes.
In the end he started telling me what courses to take based on my goals. At last he told me that he is going to recommend me.

Now it comes to second interview and then the killing wait until March 16th.
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SAID BUSINESS SCHOOL, OXFORD - MBA CLASS OF 2008

dahiya,

sounds good! I hope you make it and we get to meet. What have you indicated as your location preference?

I just completed my interview and I think it went pretty well.

It was a fairly standard interview, the regular walk me through your resume, Why MBA, Why INSEAD, current job responsibilities, challenges. No out of the ordinary interesting questions at all.

Oh, he did ask me if I applied anywhere else, and I said that I applied to one other school but didn't say which.

He was nice enough to tell me that he would be recommending me to the school which was a nice way to end the meeting.

I only received the details for one interviewer so far so I doubt I'll be getting any more. All I can do now is sit back and wait wait wait...

My interview was with a local alum at her Deloitte Office.

Our 40 min session turned into an almost 2 hr session as we talked about work-life balance, MBTI personality types, INSEAD alums we both knew and life in Montego Bay

She was way prettier and easygoing than she sounded on the phone and I liked her instantly.

Pretty much her ONLY real two questions were:

1. What made you differentiate yourself from others at your undergrad school (I was recipient of a scholarship from India to study in Singapore - that SM178611 and mst and perhaps some others on this forum are also part of... so yes, we had kick ass competition).

2. Walk me through your resume. So we started in reverse order and I had my 30 secs prepared per job, but then she quizzed me on specific projects, trying to assess whether I could think about them from a different, more business strategy perspective (like, what do you think the business case might be for that productivity/ Six Sigma project you were involved in). So very interesting overall. Challenging - she was looking for thought processes throughout but not in an unhelpful way.

Also talked about McK a bit, and my plans post INSEAD but only somewhat. She had worked with McK as a BA and her brother was an engagement mgr, so she had some inside words of advice.

One critical area she complained about: Indians!!! Too many Indians, with an IT background, in Engg, want to go to Bschool, Want to join consulting for a couple years, then go back and start their own business (in India!), she said she was quite sick of the story, it was so repetitive. So she told me that while she could differentiate my app and really liked me (global work ex, development masters etc), but I should be aware that EVERYone in my "pod" seemed to run with the same story these days I guess a warning in case I get a ding.

Wrote her a thank you note when I got back.

Dear all,

Your posts are very interesting. I have been pre-selected for INSEAD interviews of the fourth stage.

Have you got any advices to give to me ?
Thanks

Hi Rajesh...even i have been shortlisted for an interview for jan 08..
how are u going about with ur preparations?

Does any1 know any interview coaching in singapore?

Hi Ankur,

Have just sent you an email with some general interview questions I could think of.

Madhu

hey thanks madhu....i also got a list of good questions...will send it to soon...