Calling All 2011 Booth Applicants!!

Dudes and chicks (which are my new appellations now that my colleagues have noticed that I use these terms as basic gender nouns, rather than favorable nouns),

I just had a very pleasant Chicago interview. It lasted the exact same amount of time as my my other M7 interview (90 min) but was a MUCH more enjoyable experience. He was a recent graduate, extremely friendly, bright and analytical, and he had obviously read my resumé with some care, because he asked laser-focused questions on specific things I'd done. I greatly appreciated this because it gave me a chance to give a lot more detail about what I do (and I genuinely think my business experiences will be something valuable to the community).

He was professional in terms of not giving too much away, but the little that he did was encouraging, or was guiding me towards a better place in the conversation.

He did not follow a script: we had a very natural conversation with no sort of stilted, jarring "well, let's begin the interview, Chicago asks me to do this and that". We went straight to it - rather than do the whole "I must verify who you are and bla bla", he started by telling me when he'd moved to this city, discussing where in town we live, where we work, how long I've been here, etc. The whole thing flowed quite naturally although he'd stop to re-examine my CV and say, tell me about this. He knew well what he needed to do, and he's committed to Booth, and when that happens, folks don't need to follow scripts. His questions were good - he was so much more prepared than my other M7 interviewer, and asked much more intelligent questions. He wanted the real story behind what I did, so dudes and chicks, be clear on what you've done.

Rather than questions, we covered topics. There is a big component in understanding who you are, what you do, why you're doing it, and then how that ties in to the MBA, and how all of it ties into your short term and long term goals. I should note, as others have, that the importance of the goals thingamajig cannot be overstated: while it is unrealistically for folks in their mid-20s to have a clearcut view of what life will be like at 45, "a sense of direction" is important, as he put it. So it took a second take, but I was able to explain clearly what kind of career I'm pursuing. Surprisingly, he did not ask why Chicago, although my reasons for pursuing an MBA are so closely aligned to Chicago's strengths that maybe he felt he already knew the answer.

What made me feel best about the entire interview was that we reached a level of trust with one another. He noticed I have some languages on my CV, and he's perfectly fluent in my worst language, and out of the blue, he asked me to speak in that language. Fortunately I had just been speaking that language last night, so it was fresh in my mind, and I was able to pounce on it. I think he was happy with the result, and I told him that I try to be very honest about my abilities, and I don't want to play up my skills, which is why I identified that language as my worst one (listed as "beginner" on my resumé) - and he said "well, you can clearly handle a conversation in it." A charitable description but it's always awesome to meet someone who wants to see the good in others. Be prepared to be tested on your claims!

So dudes and chicks, I think that goes a long way, because when you're talking about your top accomplishments and he's asking you about behavioral questions, you'll feel much better if know you that you've established trustworthiness and conveyed truthfulness (and I told him the entire truth and nothing but the truth to the best of my abilities - hell, I even told him about a time I damaged company equipment!).

He himself does a very cool job and he is obviously extremely well prepared. I left feeling fantastic about meeting him and hoping to keep in touch. We had some laughs and we share some interests/activities, so it felt great. I left my other M7 interview thinking "sheesh, I really hope this guy isn't the norm over there" but today, I really thought: WOW, CHICAGO BOOTH.

Dudes and chicks, I'M SO PSYCHED ABOUT BOOTH!