{"id":50634,"date":"2020-12-14T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-14T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=50634"},"modified":"2023-10-24T20:28:11","modified_gmt":"2023-10-25T03:28:11","slug":"how-to-answer-mba-application-and-interview-questions-about-covid-19-and-other-major-events-of-2020-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/how-to-answer-mba-application-and-interview-questions-about-covid-19-and-other-major-events-of-2020-video\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Answer MBA Application and Interview Questions about COVID-19 and Other Major Events of 2020 [Video]"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>2020 has been a dark, dismal year, but as it draws to a close there\u2019s light at the end of the tunnel. A vaccine is on the horizon. The election is behind us. Maybe, just maybe, we\u2019ll soon be able to gather, hug, meet, and travel. Maybe we\u2019ll be able to largely return to the lives we were leading before \u201cpandemic\u201d became a household word and hand sanitizer became a valuable commodity.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Even when that vision becomes reality, and I certainly hope it does soon, as a business school applicant you are likely to face questions about how the pandemic and the events of 2020 affected you. I created this video to help you answer those questions with confidence.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/agPQEU543wU?feature=oembed\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-transcript\">Transcript<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>How should MBA applicants respond to interview questions about the impact of 2020 events, specifically COVID-19 around the world and in the United States, the events surrounding and following George Floyd\u2019s murder, as well as the 2020 election?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Okay. It\u2019s been a rough year. That\u2019s just the reality of it. It\u2019s been a tough year for everybody in a lot of different ways. Worldwide, again, there\u2019s been the pandemic. You are very likely to be asked in your interview questions about how you were affected by the coronavirus. Now, there are a variety of ways you could have been affected. You could have gotten sick. You could have loved ones who got sick. I hope it\u2019s not true, but you could even have lost a loved one to the virus. Perhaps you or a close family member lost their job, or their income if they had their own business that was negatively affected. Maybe you feel like you\u2019re stagnating at work, or at risk of losing your job. Maybe you\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.accepted.com\/test-optional-mba-programs-everything-you-need-to-know-in-2020-2021\/\">couldn\u2019t take the GRE or the GMAT<\/a>\u00a0when you wanted to take it- or at all, depending upon where you live, or in the format in which you wanted to take it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>That\u2019s how you were affected by events really beyond your control. But then there are the events you can control, and that\u2019s how you respond to the situation. You can respond almost entrepreneurially, in a leadership kind of way. Did you assist the vulnerable, perhaps? Did you start a program organizing people, resources, technology to assist the shut-ins, to assist the vulnerable, to assist communities and populations that are really struggling as a result of the corona pandemic? Or on an individual level, did you commit to visit an elderly person, or somebody who has underlying health conditions that isn\u2019t so elderly but cannot go out, cannot shop, and is lonely? That\u2019s also a response and initiative on your part.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>In the United States, we had a summer of social unrest and renewed focus on the country\u2019s history of racism in the past and charges of racism today. All this was in the wake of the George Floyd murder. Again, the question would be: How have you been personally affected by these events? Maybe you have felt the sting of racism and prejudice in your lifetime. I don\u2019t mean historically now. I mean today. Maybe you have been victimized by the police, or in hiring. That\u2019s a way that you were affected. But there\u2019s the other part of this. What have your experiences motivated you to do?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>If you\u2019re in a position, a hiring position, have you decided to make equity and inclusion more of a focus in your hiring decisions? Maybe you decided to examine the role of racism in U.S. society today. Maybe your own experiences with prejudice, as a recipient of prejudice in this case, made you want to become politically active. Or maybe you haven\u2019t felt that sting, but you\u2019ve decided that as a result of what you see going on in society today you want to hire members of underrepresented minorities, and contract with companies headed by people who are underrepresented minorities. All those are steps that you can take where you are an actor in response to events that are really beyond your control, and hopefully create change so that those events don\u2019t happen again.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>And then there is the election. As I record this video, it\u2019s October 2nd. President and Mrs. Trump have just been diagnosed with corona. The first debate took place earlier this week. I\u2019m not going to discuss my views on these events at all. Obviously I have them, but it\u2019s not the point of this video, and I\u2019m not going to get into the candidates or whom you should vote for at all. But the election provides opportunity for you to, again, demonstrate what\u2019s important to you, and that you\u2019re a person who\u2019s going to take initiative based on what\u2019s important to you.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>So, you can get involved and help get out the vote. You can raise money for a particular candidate or cause. You can take an active role in either a particular campaign, or again, a cause that you find that you\u2019re passionate about.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>In all the examples that I\u2019ve given you in terms of responding to this tumultuous year, you have two elements. One is\u00a0<em>how you were affected<\/em>. What happened to you- usually events outside your control. And then the second component, which is really, really important for MBA admissions, is\u00a0<em>how did you respond<\/em>? Did you bury yourself in Netflix as a result of corona, or did you say, \u201cYou know what? That neighbor across the street needs help.\u201d Or, \u201cThere are a lot of people in my community that need help. Maybe I can use my managerial, and programming, and leadership experience to help.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>That\u2019s when you\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/reports.accepted.com\/guide\/leadership-in-admissions-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">become a leader<\/a>. That\u2019s when you have impact. And that\u2019s what business schools are looking for. How have you shown yourself to be an innovator, and to a certain extent an entrepreneur, whether the revenue is part of it or not, in your response to the events of 2020? I\u2019d love to hear your responses, if you will. If I can\u2019t physically\u00a0<em>hear\u00a0<\/em>them, then I\u2019d love to\u00a0<em>see\u00a0<\/em>your responses in the comment box below. Please share your feedback. Maybe we can have a little bit of a dialogue as opposed to just a one-way communication in this video. I\u2019d love to do that with you. Please respond in the comments below. In the meantime, take care, stay healthy, and good luck with your MBA applications. Thank you very much for listening.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><strong>Are you applying to business school? No matter where you find yourself in your admissions journey, Accepted\u2019s expert consultants will help you perfect your admissions strategy.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.accepted.com\/mba\/services\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">Check out our one-on-one admissions services<\/a>\u00a0to ace your application and GET ACCEPTED!<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\r\n<figure class=\"alignleft is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-64552\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.accepted.com\/linda-abraham-accepted-founder\/\" alt=\"by Linda Abraham, Accepted Founder\" width=\"50\" height=\"50\" \/><\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>By Linda Abraham, president and founder of Accepted. Linda earned her bachelors and MBA at UCLA, and has been advising applicants since 1994 when she founded Accepted. Linda is the co-founder and first president of AIGAC. She has written or co-authored 13 e-books on the admissions process, and has been quoted by\u00a0<em>The\u00a0Wall Street Journal<\/em>,\u00a0<em>U.S. News<\/em>,\u00a0<em>Poets &amp; Quants<\/em>,\u00a0<em>Bloomberg Businessweek<\/em>,\u00a0<em>CBS News<\/em>, and others. Linda is the host of\u00a0<em>Admissions Straight Talk<\/em>, a podcast for graduate school applicants.\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.accepted.com\/services\">Want an admissions expert help you get accepted? Click here to get in touch!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><strong>Related Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.accepted.com\/test-optional-mba-programs-everything-you-need-to-know-in-2020-2021\/\">Test-Optional MBA Programs: Everything You Need to Know in 2020 \u2013 2021<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.accepted.com\/how-to-address-covid-19-and-the-events-of-2020-in-your-application-episode-387\/\">How to Address COVID-19 and the Events of 2020 in Your Application<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.accepted.com\/preparing-for-your-mba-interview-questions\/\">Preparing for Your MBA Interview Questions<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.accepted.com\/how-to-answer-mba-application-and-interview-questions-about-covid-19-and-other-major-events-of-2020-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">This article<\/a>\u00a0originally appeared on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.accepted.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">blog.accepted.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><em>Applying to a top b-school? The talented folks at Accepted have helped hundreds of applicants get accepted to their dream programs. Whether you are figuring out where to apply, writing your application essays, or prepping for your interviews, we are just a call (or click) away.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><em>Contact us, and get matched up with the consultant who will\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.accepted.com\/mba\/services\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">help you get accepted<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2020 has been a dark, dismal year, but as it draws to a close there\u2019s light at the end of the tunnel. A vaccine is on the horizon. The election&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1,939,775,113,243],"tags":[184,90,227,2222,1039,468],"class_list":["post-50634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-uncategorized","category-accepted","category-admission-consultants","category-applications","category-blog","tag-admissions-consulting","tag-application-essay","tag-application-tips","tag-covid-19","tag-interview-tips","tag-video","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50634"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59360,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50634\/revisions\/59360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}