Embarking on the MBA admissions journey is a transformative experience, and one of the crucial stages is the interview process. Beyond your GMAT scores and academic achievements, admissions interviews provide a unique opportunity to showcase your personality, accomplishments, and future aspirations. The key to making a lasting impression lies in your ability to share impactful stories for MBA interviews that resonate with the admissions committee.
“What you really want to be is the applicant they’re thinking about as they drive home that night, as they’re chatting with their spouse over spaghetti that evening,” explains SBC consultant and B-Schooled co-host Chandler Arnold.
Read on for five tips on choosing the right stories that will set you apart and enhance your chances of securing a spot in your dream MBA program.
Are you curious about your chances of getting into a top B-school? Contact us to talk strategy with a free 15-minute advising session with an SBC Principal Consultant.
Tip #1 Align Stories with Your Career Goals
Why are MBA career goals important? Admissions committee members want to understand the threads between your past, present, and future career. Sharing your professional goals gives business schools a sense of the impact you’d like to make–and your plan for achieving that vision. One of the primary objectives of an MBA admissions interview is to understand your motivations and aspirations.
Consider sharing a story that illustrates your passion for your chosen field. For instance, recount a time when you led a successful project that significantly improved efficiency in your department. Discuss how this experience fueled your desire to pursue an MBA and delve deeper into the specific skills you gained that align with your future career goals.
Tip #2 Showcase Leadership and Teamwork
MBA programs seek individuals who can thrive in a collaborative and leadership-oriented environment. Share a story that exemplifies your leadership skills. This could be a situation where you spearheaded a cross-functional team to overcome a significant challenge.
For example, talk about a time when you encountered a conflict, such as over ideas on the best way to tackle a project or personal conflicts with people on your team. Perhaps you worked with someone who was bossy and overbearing or with people who didn’t do their share of the work—show how you brought dissenters together to achieve that shared goal.
Elaborate on your strategies, the teamwork dynamics, and the positive outcome. Highlighting your ability to lead and collaborate effectively will resonate positively with the admissions committee. You will likely encounter scenarios like these during business school. If your interviewer feels you are already well-prepared for the inevitable challenges, your application is much more likely to receive a green light.
Tip #3 Emphasize Personal Growth and Learning
Admissions committees value candidates who embrace challenges as opportunities for growth. Is there a specific problem you see in the world? What are your ideas on how to solve it? What skills, experiences, etc., do you need to build up to reach this goal? You want to share stories for MBA interviews that highlight your genuine excitement about striving for meaningful, attainable goals.
Share a personal or professional adversity story and how it shaped your character. For example, discuss a project where you faced unexpected setbacks, but through perseverance and learning, you overcame obstacles and emerged with newfound skills and resilience. This narrative demonstrates your capacity for continuous improvement and your ability to turn challenges into opportunities.
Tip #4 Prioritize Relevance and Impact
While sharing personal and professional stories is essential, ensure they contribute to the overall narrative you want to present. Choose an anecdote that showcases your impact within a team or organization. For instance, discuss a project where your innovative approach resulted in a measurable improvement, such as increased revenue or enhanced customer satisfaction. By focusing on the relevance and impact of your experiences, you’ll underscore your potential contribution to the MBA program.
Tip #5 Be Authentic
Admissions committees love a compelling story; authenticity is key to making a lasting impression during an MBA admissions interview. In our experience, non-traditional applicants, in particular, often have fascinating narratives to share. Whether you’ve pursued a passion project, volunteered in remote areas, or started a small business, your journey off the beaten path can impress the admissions team.
B-Schooled Podcast #103: The Power of Authenticity in MBA Applications
Choose stories that genuinely reflect your character, values, and motivations. For example, you might share a situation where your ethical values were put to the test, and you made a principled decision, even if it posed challenges. Such experiences can lead to memorable interviews that set you apart from other candidates.
The Power of Well-Chosen Stories for MBA Interviews
The MBA admissions interview provides an opportunity to present a three-dimensional version of yourself beyond the confines of your application. You can craft a compelling narrative that sets you apart by aligning your stories with your career goals, showcasing leadership and teamwork, emphasizing personal growth, prioritizing relevance and impact, and being authentic.
Remember, your stories are not just anecdotes. They are windows into your character and potential, guiding the admissions committee in their decision-making process. Finally, we leave you today with these extra interview tips from Stacy Blackman herself!
@stacyblackmanconsulting Try the STAR technique to ace your interview. #sbcyourfuture #interviews #mba #bschoolprep #admissions #admissionscounselor #mbaapplication ? original sound – Stacy Blackman Consulting
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Stacy Blackman Consulting offers multiple services to meet your MBA application needs, from our All-In Partnership and Interview Prep to hourly help with essay editing, resume review, and much more! Contact us today for a free 15-minute advising session to talk strategy with a Principal SBC consultant.
Here’s a snapshot of the caliber of expertise on our SBC team.
Ashley
Ashley is a former MBA Admissions Board Member for Harvard Business School (HBS), where she interviewed and evaluated thousands of business school applicants for over a six year tenure. Ashley holds an MBA from HBS.
During her HBS years, Ashley was the Sports Editor for the Harbus and a member of the B-School Blades Ice Hockey Team. After HBS, she worked in Marketing at the Gillette Company on Male and Female shaving ...
Kerry
Kerry is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS).
During her 5+ year tenure at HBS, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a wide range of backgrounds across the globe. She also led marketing and outreach efforts focused on increasing diversity and inclusion, ran the Summer Venture in Management Program (SVMP), and launched the 2+2 Program during her time in Admissions.
Kerry holds a B.A. from Bates College and ...
Pauline
A former associate director of admissions at Harvard Business School, Pauline served on the HBS MBA Admissions Board full-time for four years. She evaluated and interviewed HBS applicants, both on-campus and globally.
Pauline's career has included sales and marketing management roles with Coca-Cola, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, and IBM. For over 10 years, Pauline has expertly guided MBA applicants, and her clients h ...
Geri
Geri is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS).
In her 7 year tenure in HBS Admissions, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a diverse set of academic, geographic, and employment backgrounds. Geri also traveled globally representing the school at outreach events in order to raise awareness for women and international students. In additio ...
Laura
Laura comes from the MBA Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS) and is an HBS MBA alumnus. In her HBS Admissions role, she evaluated and interviewed hundreds of business school candidates, including internationals, women, military and other applicant pools, for five years.
Prior to her time as a student at HBS, Laura began her career in advertising and marketing in Chicago at Leo Burnett where she worked on th ...
Andrea
Andrea served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Harvard Business School (HBS) for over five years. In this role, she provided strategic direction for student yield-management activities and also served as a full member of the admissions committee.
In 2007, Andrea launched the new 2+2 Program at Harvard Business School – a program targeted at college junior applicants to Harvard Business School. Andrea has also served as a Career Coach for Harvard Business School for both cu ...
Jennifer
Jennifer served as Admissions Officer at the Stanford (GSB) for five years. She holds an MBA from Stanford (GSB) and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Jennifer has over 15 years experience in guiding applicants through the increasingly competitive admissions process into top MBA programs. Having read thousands and thousands of essays and applications while at Stanford (GSB) Admiss ...
Erin K.
Erin served in key roles in MBA Admissions--as Director at Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and Assistant Director at Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB).
Erin served on the admissions committee at each school and has read thousands of applications in her career. At Haas, she served for seven years in roles that encompassed evaluation, outreach, and diversity and inclusion. During her tenure in Admissions at GSB, she was responsible for candidate evaluation, applicant outreach, ...
Susie
Susie comes from the Admissions Office of the Stanford Graduate School of Business where she reviewed and evaluated hundreds of prospective students’ applications. She holds an MBA from Stanford’s GSB and a BA from Stanford in Economics.
Prior to advising MBA applicants, Susie held a variety of roles over a 15-year period in capital markets, finance, and real estate, including as partner in one of the nation’s most innovative finance and real estate investment organizations. In that r ...
Dione
Dione holds an MBA degree from Stanford Business School (GSB) and a BA degree from Stanford University, where she double majored in Economics and Communication with concentrations in journalism and sociology. Dione has served as an Admissions reader and member of the Minority Admissions Advisory Committee at Stanford.
Dione is an accomplished and respected advocate and thought leader on education and diversity. She is ...
Anthony
Anthony served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he dedicated over 10 years of expertise.
During his time as a Wharton Admissions Officer, he read and reviewed thousands of applications and helped bring in a class of 800+ students a year. Anthony has traveled both domestically and internationally to recruit a ...
Meghan
Meghan served as the Associate Director of Admissions and Marketing at the Wharton MBA’s Lauder Institute, a joint degree program combining the Wharton MBA with an MA in International Studies.
In her role on the Wharton MBA admissions committee, Meghan advised domestic and international applicants; conducted interviews and information sessions domestically and overseas in Asia, Central and South America, and Europe; and evaluated applicants for admission to the program. Meghan also managed ...
Amy
Amy comes from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where she was Associate Director. Amy devoted 12 years at the Wharton School, working closely with MBA students and supporting the admissions team.
During her tenure at Wharton, Amy served as a trusted adviser to prospective applicants as well as admitted and matriculated students. She conducted admissions chats with applicants early in the admissions ...
Ally
Ally brings six years of admissions experience to the SBC team, most recently as an Assistant Director of Admission for the full-time MBA program at Columbia Business School (CBS).
During her time at Columbia, Ally was responsible for reviewing applications, planning recruitment events, and interviewing candidates for both the full-time MBA program and the Executive MBA program. She traveled both internationally and dome ...
Erin B.
Erin has over seven years of experience working across major institutions, including University of Pennsylvania, Columbia Business School, and NYU's Stern School of Business.
At Columbia Business School, Erin was an Assistant Director of Admissions where she evaluated applications for both the full time and executive MBA programs, sat on the admissions and merit scholarship committees and advised applicants on which program might be the best fit for them based on their work experience and pro ...
Emma
Emma comes from the MBA Admissions Office at Columbia Business School (CBS), where she was Associate Director.
Emma conducted dozens of interviews each cycle for the MBA and EMBA programs, as well as coordinating the alumni ambassador interview program. She read and evaluated hundreds of applications each cycle, delivered information sessions to audiences across the globe, and advised countless waitlisted applicants.</sp ...
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