You just walked out of your MBA interview. Now all that's left for you to do is wait, right? Well, sort of.
In the first post in this short MBA interview series, I offered you 4 tips for preparing for your MBA interview. Then I suggested 4 insights into the interview itself. Now I'd like to introduce you to 4 things you can do post-interview to further help rally your cause.
- Show your appreciation. Send your interviewer a quick email thanking him or her for taking the time to meet with you. Illustrate how you benefited from the experience by pointing out one thing you learned and explaining how the interview helped make your interest in the program even stronger. You can say that you look forward to hearing from them, and then that's it. It should be short, sweet, and to the point.
- Squeeze in a last minute point. If there's something you wish you had said during your interview but didn't, then you can make this point in a succinct paragraph at the end of your thank you note. This should be reserved for significant information.
- Keep working hard, studying hard, and volunteering hard. Just because you're done with the b-school application process, doesn't mean that you no longer need to pay attention to maintaining an impressive profile. If you're waitlisted, for example, then you won't want the adcom to see that your impressive profile was simply an application ploy and that you completely slacked off once you thought it didn't matter anymore. Of course the same can be said if you are dinged and decide to reapply to b-school next year.
- Share your MBA interview experience with others. Help other applicants get an idea of what to expect during their interviews by filling out a questionnaire on our MBA Interview Feedback Database. Writing about the details of your interview will help you reflect on your experience while offering future interviewees insights into the interview questions at their target schools.
Okay, now you can wait. But while you're waiting, please don't dwell on the mistakes you may have made during your interview (or in other parts of your MBA application for that matter). You're only human – yes, even you – and you may not have answered every interview question perfectly. You'll probably think of better ways you could have answered the questions, a more sophisticated outfit you should have worn, or a more confident "Goodbye" you could have expressed as you turned to walk out of the interview. Well now you need to say goodbye, with as much confidence as possible, to your "could haves" and "should haves." What's done is done. It's time to look ahead to the future and hope for the best.
Will you be participating in a phone interview? Stay tuned for next week's post on tips for your MBA phone interview!
Once you've completed your interview, be sure to come back to Accepted and share your interview experiences to help others prepare for their big day. And now through April 1, 2012, for every interview questionnaire you fill out, you'll receive an entry in our MBA Interview Give & Get drawing -- you could win one of twelve $30 gift cards to Amazon.com, Apple.com, and Starbucks. Submit your interview stories now!
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This article originally appeared on the Accepted Admissions Consulting Blog, the official blog of Accepted.com.
