IE MBA Program Guide 2026

I interviewed with one of the General Managers of Admissions at IE University. My interview experien... Read More

I interviewed with one of the General Managers of Admissions at IE University. My interview experience was pleasant - it was not a stress test but a conversation. Some key questions were: 1. Tell me about yourself 2. Why IE? 3. Any particular clubs you'd want to join? Some personalised questions: 1. Given your experience, how do you think the start-up landscape has changed in a post covid era? 2. What do you think is AI's most significant innovation? 3. Do you think business longevity was significantly higher 50 years ago, or is that so now? Why? 4. What do you think businesses like Amazon did correctly during covid? It's essential to link your past experience and post-MBA goals to what the university will offer you - curriculum, faculty, initiatives, and clubs. Read Less

So I had my interview yesterday with the associate director of admissions. It was a good discussion ... Read More

So I had my interview yesterday with the associate director of admissions. It was a good discussion and very well conducted. There was no "tell me about yourself" which I appreciated immensely as it did seem like he had went through my profile. Started off with what values of IE I identified with. Why IE? Discussion about IMBA and TechMBA. Some questions around my interest in tech. AI/ML related questions - how to explain to a grandparent, how will you get them to invest, what will be the benefits. Few questions on digital transformation - what are some successful examples and what will be some obstacles if I were to be charge of such an activity. That's all I remember sadly, I have poor memory but the interviewer was great. I was open and honest and he seemed to appreciate that. Finally I was given time to ask questions. All in all it took an hour although at the beginning the expectation was to wrap up in 40 mins. The interview debrief here really helped me. I didn't do any other preparation - my job workload did not allow me to as well. But they are not looking for right answers but trying to judge the thought process and critical thinking ability. The interview was a fun experience, I was nervous going into it and credit to the interviewer to put me at ease from the beginning by not being intimidating and properly introducing himself and setting the tone of the discussion at the beginning. Edit: oh there were also questions on what I thought were gaps in my application/skillset and what would make me a good batchmate and what an ideal batchmate would be from my perspective. Edit 2: and on startup and entrepreneurship.. I am editing this as I recall more stuff :-) Read Less

My interview was scheduled with one of the AdCom members at IE over a zoom call. My interview lasted... Read More

My interview was scheduled with one of the AdCom members at IE over a zoom call. My interview lasted for about 40-45 minutes and it was no less than a roller coaster ride. The interview was in two parts. The First part involved common questions which all the MBA aspirants would prepare for - questions such as Introduce yourself? Why MBA? Why IE?. The second part was the tricky part it involved out of syllabus questions from diverse topics such as Economics, Finance, Current Affairs, Verbal Maths etc. I will try to list down questions to help you prepare better. First part: 1) Introduce Yourself 2) Why IE? 3) What are your post MBA goals? 4) How will you be financing your MBA? Second part: 1) 99/2 2) Square of 33 3) 15 X 15 - 3 4) Questions about inflation, hyperinflation, deflation 5) Recent news which I have read 6) What should be priorities of global politicians 7) Recession in 2008 8) Explain Balance sheet to 10 yr old 9) Greatest innovation according to me 10) Few more questions from random topics which I am not remembering now. 11) Any questions if I have for IE I would suggest all the future interviewees to prepare well for your interview. Do take IE interviews seriously. Second part of the interview can significantly turn around your interview on either side. Probably adcom knows all the aspirants prepare well for the common MBA questions and behavioral questions, hence they have this pop-up quiz sort of thing. During my interview, I fumbled a bit; for some of the questions I admitted I am not aware of the topic in detail but this is what I know. I would recommend you to be honest through the time; there's a reason they are on the other side of the table. After the interview, one tend to have unending thoughts about the interview - I should have said this and that, why did I say like that, how stupid I was to respond this way. Try to be calm and relax. Even if things haven't gone the way you wanted it to be, there's still a chance of getting a result the way you exactly you want it to be. Cheers! Read Less

I had my interview with a senior associate director of Admissions over Skype. I had already spoken t... Read More

I had my interview with a senior associate director of Admissions over Skype. I had already spoken to him before applying to IE to know more about the Tech MBA program. I applied to the IMBA and the newly launched Tech MBA program at IE. My interview went on for one hour I would say. The questions I was asked were: Tell me about yourself Why MBA now? And Why MBA? Since I applied to IMBA and Tech MBA asked me what attracted me to apply to both the programs. Asked me some questions regarding my post MBA goals. Which Technology do you think will completely disrupt the industries and also the Tech Industries? Asked me some questions around AI What is your favourite programming language and why? Asked me some questions on ethics and AI. Asked me a question on blockchain Asked me about a failure moment Asked me about other schools I had applied to and what were my preference and why IE. Tell us about yourself in one sentence Asked me about my academics We spoke a bit about the Financial aid in IE Do you have any questions for me? The interviewer was really engaging and even though I don't feel I did very well in the interview but I just felt good how much deep they want to know you and they test you really well on how you can handle difficult situations. My advice would be to prepare well on the topics of latest technologies and how AI is disrupting the industries if you are applying for the Tech MBA program. Read Less

The interview lasted for 45 mins. All the questions are very generic. 1) Tell me your short term an... Read More

The interview lasted for 45 mins. All the questions are very generic. 1) Tell me your short term and long term goals 2) Why MBA and why IE? 3) What inspired you to do an MBA? 4) How can you add value to the class if admitted? 5) Tell me the biggest challenge you overcome recently and your role in persuading other members during the process. 6) Tell me about your leisure time activities and on what basis you chose them. 7) How did your career evolve? These are the questions asked to me. The interview went very smoothly and the interviewer said I will be informed about the decision, not more than by 2 weeks. Luckily, I was informed in 8 days. Read Less

I was invited for interview by September 5 and had the interview on September 12. Interview question... Read More

I was invited for interview by September 5 and had the interview on September 12. Interview questions were mostly related to my - work experience, - Why IE, - walk me through a typical day, - what are your long term goals, - which program do you prefer IE or IE-SMU, - What do I like to do for fun. Read Less

The interview went as per my expectation. The following questions were asked during my interview wit... Read More

The interview went as per my expectation. The following questions were asked during my interview with the Associate Director of Admissions Committee: 1. Walk me through your resume 2. Walk me through your professional work experience 3. Tell me about your biggest professional achievement 4. What is the biggest challenge you faced during that and how did you overcome it? 5. What do you like doing outside work 6. If your colleagues were to write a book on you, what would be the title? 7. Tell me how you would contribute to the diversity of the class? 8. Any questions you would like to ask me? I was very fortunate to have worked with Arvind from "Dream School Admit" (https://dreamschooladmit.com/) on my interview preparations. He was very proactive on sending me the basic set of questions I need to have my answers ready on. He has deep insights on how and what the interviewer thinks. We also had a couple of mock interview calls and he pointed out very specific things for me to work on. This was really helpful for me to gain the necessary confidence and context. I wholeheartedly recommend Arvind to anyone looking to get into a Top B school anywhere in the world. Read Less

I was lucky to be accepted into the program. I would like to share my interview experience. It was 5... Read More

I was lucky to be accepted into the program. I would like to share my interview experience. It was 50 minutes in Madrid. - Tell me about your academic and professional background, in general. - Why an MBA and why now? - Your immediate goals after the program and the long term ones? - If you are to choose 10 people to live with you in an isolated island, what professions would you pick? - what is inflation? - who is adam smith? - what is the GDP of your country? - what is 12*12-10? - who is the president of China? - What languages do you speak? - what is 279/6? - If you have the chance to meet famous person, dead or alive, who would be that person? and why? - How will you be financing your study? I was just myself and straightforward. It turned to be good interview, and have received the offer on Monday. Read Less

I had my interview with an IE alumni over Skype. The interview was very conversational and took abou... Read More

I had my interview with an IE alumni over Skype. The interview was very conversational and took about 30 minutes. We mainly went over my resume. Some of the questions asked: 1) Walk me through your resume 2) Why MBA? Why IE? 3) You've already been promoted a lot of times. Would you join IE if you get promoted again this year? 4) Do you have any international experience? How will cope up with the class since the student body is very diverse? 5) What are your short term & long term plans? 6) More about my essays( which focused highly on AI, machine learning etc.) : How much do you think we depend on AI and robots now? Do you think this will change? What will be the impacts? 7) Do you have any questions for me? ( I asked a few regarding the labs and career prospects as a foreigner in Spain ) We ended up chatting about his experience at IE and how it had impacted him. Overall, it was very friendly and not much of a psych interview. I was told there might be a second round of interview with the admissions people from Spain. But, got admitted nearly a week after the interview. Read Less

My interview took place at IE, with a guy of the admission department. I would split the interview... Read More

My interview took place at IE, with a guy of the admission department. I would split the interview in two parts. First one: The easiest one: Walk me throught your resume, why an MBA?, why IE?, why now? what are your mid and long term goals?... Second one: quite weird and pretty difficult from my point of view . What is 99/2? What is the nearest international airport you have to your city? How many wheels are there right now? Then a practical case. The gave me a some info about a company similar to Netflix. This company had some economic and strategic problems...what plan would you do to improve the situation? (they gave me 5 minuts to think about it). Then...he asked me about inflation, and also asked me to tell him the latest economic news I had read. I guess that, with this part of the interview, they want to see your hability and creativity to face uncommon situations and under pressure. And finally he asked me to tell him everything I knew about the IMBA program, the three different periods, how long they are... To sum up, I would't say that it's a piece of cake at all. Actually I would say that it's one of the hardest interviews I have seen. I recommend you to prepare for it! Best of luck to everyone! Read Less