{"id":53263,"date":"2021-10-18T04:08:32","date_gmt":"2021-10-18T11:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/2021\/10\/mba-interview-prep-how-to-plan-for-the-unexpected\/"},"modified":"2021-10-18T04:08:32","modified_gmt":"2021-10-18T11:08:32","slug":"mba-interview-prep-how-to-plan-for-the-unexpected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/mba-interview-prep-how-to-plan-for-the-unexpected\/","title":{"rendered":"MBA Interview Prep \u2013 How to Plan for the Unexpected"},"content":{"rendered":"

Preparing for your MBA interviews can seem fairly straightforward at first. All you need to do is bullet out and practice your answers to the standard questions and you should be good to go, right? Hopefully so, but not always.<\/p>\n

While interviews with members of the adcom may<\/em> entail a certain level of consistency between candidates, this is by no means the rule (especially for places like HBS where interviews are highly personalized). It is less likely to be true if you are interviewing with an alumni or current student, as they are generally given latitude to ask what they like so long as they can assess you according to the school\u2019s designated criteria afterwards. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, how do you prepare for the dreaded oddball question that you never thought you\u2019d be asked? At the end of the day, you can\u2019t prepare for everything and that\u2019s exactly why the interview is informative to assess your candidacy. Great leaders shine in the real world because they can think on their feet and respond well to an unexpected challenge. Reacting well to an unanticipated interview question is one small way you can demonstrate your potential to be a great leader.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say that your MBA interviewer is trying to stump you, as nine times out of ten they aren\u2019t. It might just be that they phrase a question in an unexpected way or ask for an example of a time that you have a perfect story for\u2026if you hadn\u2019t used it for your last answer (argh!).<\/p>\n

As I said earlier, you can\u2019t prepare for everything but that doesn\u2019t mean you shouldn\u2019t do what you can. Absolutely spend the bulk of your time on \u2018the biggies\u2019 like your resume walk through, post-MBA goals, etc., but it\u2019s also helpful to scan a list of the less common questions you might be asked and think about how you would answer them. In my experience, even 30 seconds of thought can result in a stronger answer than having to come up with something on the spot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With that in mind, here is a list of somewhat surprising questions compiled from past clients and publicly available sources like ClearAdmit:<\/p>\n