Booth (Chicago) Hub

Experience: Don't get hyper reading the debrief below. The overall interview was very conversational and I didn't even realize when 50 mins past by. Just make sure to know your story well (resume specifically) and you should sail through easily. Booth Interview by a current Student ⁃ Tell me something which is not there on the resume ⁃ Walk me through your professional experience ⁃ Why do you want to do an MBA now and why not two-three years down the line ⁃ ST and LT goal ⁃ Questions on leading a team -> how do you manage leading a big team of {#} people -> how do you make the offshore employees keep motivated considering the cultural and time difference ⁃ Ever had a difference of opinion with the team members and how did you handle it ? ⁃ Favorite means of communication at work ⁃ How will you contribute to the class ⁃ One of the volunteering efforts I had mentioned in my resume was something atypical. She had put a star mark on it and asked me to detail that. This opened up as a good story conversation ⁃ How do I plan to commute to Chicago and if my family is okay with doing this (getting away every weekend) ⁃ Weaknesses that I want to cover while at Booth ⁃ Open questions for her (I had only prepared one question and other one I made up while waiting for the interview) Takeaway - should have prepared a little more questions for her ⁃ In the last I asked about a famous Professor Raghu Rajan and that I’m looking forward for his class as he had been the Governor Of Reserve Bank of India. The interviewer liked this info and added this to her sheet that I wanted to attend this particular class. I think it was a good stint and kind of covered my lack of questions for her. The interviewer was making notes for every answer I was giving. I couldn’t read the gibberish but I guess it was the key points like my ST goals, volunteering efforts, Professors I’m interested in etc.

Booth is in Hyde Park, which, for those (like me) who are not familiar with Chicago, is not very close to much else in Chicago. The first thing I would note is to give yourself plenty of time to get there! I was staying in Hyde Park, so I was close, but the weather was pretty bad the weekend I went (my flight to Chicago was delayed by 2.5 hours!) so this is something to just keep in mind for logistics. Booth gives you the option to do a whole day of programming, but if you visited campus previously, it will be the same programming (tour, going to class, info session). I did an official visit when I visited Booth a few months ago, so I opted to only go to campus for my interview. You will likely hang around a little bit in the admissions room, where you'll get to know some current students and other interviewees. I really enjoyed this part, actually! It helps put you in a relaxed state of mind. My interview was with a current second-year student. She had a list of questions she was asking and they were all pretty typical questions. - Why MBA? Why now? - What are your post MBA plans? - How did you become interested in XYZ? - Tell me about a professional success - Tell me about a professional failure - What do you like to do outside of work? - Why Booth? My interview was 45 minutes long and there were a few minutes at the end to ask questions. Overall, not a stressful experience - this interview is really about getting to know you and about fit - no tricky questions here!

As others have stated, generally a very casual interview. My interviewer was fairly happy to speak so it really was conversational and we'd typically have few minutes of related conversation after each question and we barely got through any of the more standard interview questions. Main ones I remember being asked below. The others were just follow-ons from these. - Walk me through your resume - Why MBA - Why now - How do you handle unfamiliar situations / tell me about a time you dealt with an unfamiliar situation (the context being that I'm looking to career switch) - Questions for the interviewer Notably he did not ask why Booth (this was slightly annoying as it made me wish I'd weaved some of this into my earlier responses) / how do you think you'll contribute to Booth etc. And there was only the one behavioral type question. But yea overall fairly chill interview. He was really happy to chat. It lasted an hour and I feel like if I kept asking questions he would have been happy to continue.

Very casual and fun interview with an alum! My interviewer told me to wear whatever I was comfortable in so I dressed business casual, they were dressed more informally. Questions along the lines of: - Tell me your story - Why pursue an MBA now? - ST/LT goals -- really dug in here - Why Booth? - How do you think you'd fit into Booth's culture? - What would you contribute to Booth? - Tell me about a time you demonstrated leadership - Tell me about a time you dealt with a high-stress situation - Questions for interviewer Overall, I really enjoyed the interview! It definitely felt like they were gauging fit and motivations. Excited for the final decision!

My interview was during the polar vortex (-20F) on campus in Chicago, so that created an interesting dynamic and conversation starter! I was interviewed by a 2nd year female student. The entire interview was about 30 minutes. It was incredibly casual, and as soon as we started she emphasized that she would prefer to keep it as casual as possible so the questions were a bit more natural and flowed well with our dialogue. They weren't direct questions since they were leading off from my answers, so I'll try my best to summarize the questions she was asking. Tell me about yourself (I used this to not talk about my resume and more about myself personally). Walk me through your resume (Next four questions were lumped into one answer for me since it was more conversational but I could tell this was what she was interested in). Why MBA now? Why Booth? Short-term/Long-term goals with MBA. What role do you play in a group setting/group project? How would your friends describe you in one word? What do you like to do in your free time? Any questions for her? During our banter, I asked several questions naturally between these "questions" and provided information in that direction as well. Such as, what classes I would like to take. I asked her what her favorite classes were while we were on the "Why Booth?" part. She was part of clubs that I was interested in so we chatted about that heavily. I asked how much interaction she had with FT and weekend/weekday students, etc. I definitely recommend emphasizing why you want Booth specifically and knowing what makes them stand apart from the others, and coming prepared with questions that show a specific genuine interest deeper than just information you can find online about the program. Find a club or professor/class that interests you! Also knowing what you can contribute and provide to their program as well. I specifically spoke with several Booth alumni to find the answers to these questions, and to create a better picture of what student life would truly be like if I were to attend. Overall, I was genuinely interested since this was my number one choice and she was very easy to speak to, so the conversation flowed very well and it was highly enjoyable. My favorite interview from the schools I interviewed at! Good luck, everyone!

Just had my interview yesterday on campus. It was amazing, and the questions were somewhat similar to what was mentioned above. I attended Booth Live and that was an incredible event. Based off the mock Entreprenuerial Selling class, I can tell that I would enjoy my academic experience at Booth, if I am admitted. This was my first time visiting Chicago and I must say that downtown Chicago is amazing. I went to the soundbar and had a great time turning up to Fetty Wap. I can't wait to see what happens within the next couple of weeks. Good luck everyone!

I interviewed with an Alumni off campus. We met up at his office at noon. Overall, the interview experience was a very good one. He was very friendly and well prepared with questions. The interview included the typical MBA interview questions (Why an MBA, Why Booth, Career Plans, etc.) plus some specific "fit" questions (Hardest decision, biggest failure, etc.) However, I felt like the whole interview was aimed to test fit with the program and what the candidate can bring to the table. Make sure you have some very specific questions that show your interest in the school and the research that you have done. Overall, if you are very interested in Booth, know how to convey your past experiences, and are a reasonably personable guy/girl you should be just fine. Nothing in this interview is meant to be technical, it is a matter of fit mostly.

interviewed with 2nd year on Monday, went really well I'd say. Nothing surprising. Resume walk through Post-MBA Goals Why MBA, why now. Why Booth? What is special about Booth's culture? Tell me about a failure. Tell me about a time you influenced someone. 3 strengths, 1 weakness 3 things a friend would say about you.

Had my interview today on campus. Overall it was very conversational and pleasant. 1. Tell me about yourself 1a. This essentially was my resume walk-through. My interviewer had a lot of followup questions that came out of this one, especially around a small business I started and a genre of fiction I listed in my personal interests 2. Why MBA 3. Why Now 4. Why Booth 4a. Every person I talked to said this was the most important question. My friend who is a 1st year, as well as four people I met during my class visit all told me to sell this point, and two actually asked me to walk them through my planned answer and gave me some feedback which was really helpful. My interviewer asked me this then followed up with a tangent question so I ended up asking if we could get back to this point b/c I felt like I hand't gotten enough of an opportunity to talk about what excited me at Booth. 5. What has your performance feedback told you to improve on in your job? 6. ST and LT career goals 7. My questions Hope that anyone who has yet to interview finds this helpful.

Had my interview last Friday, my interviewer was really friendly. Questions Tell me about your personal interests Tell me about what you do at work How do you persuade people at work How do yo negotiate with other senior guys in these deals? What are some of your techniques? Tell me about a time when you worked in a team when people didn't get along? Why Booth? Any questions for me Hope it helps,

Had my interview last Thursday with an alumna here in Sao Paulo. The interview last ~ 45 minutes and the questions were pretty standard: Walk me through your resumé Why MBA Why Booth How will I contribute to the community/learning teams ST goals and my plan B Strengths and weaknesses Tell me about your hobbies Any questions? Cheers

I had my interview last Friday (Oct 31st). It was off campus. Questions he asked me were: - Resume specific (like why did I pick my undergrad school, my career path, what my work function is, etc) a huge chunk of time was spent here. - What do I find challenging about my job? OK this kind of stumped me for a while since he said he wasn't 'convinced' that the answer I gave was challenging enough. We also spent a bit of time discussing this - What are my STGs and LTGs? - Why MBA? Why now? - Why Booth? - What classes do I plan to take? - What is my greatest professional failure? - Any questions for him? The interview took an hour more or less. But I honestly found it tough because I had a hard time connecting with him. I talked a lot about social impact, because that's really my story, but he didn't seem to be interested in that. He also kept grilling me on all my answers (he kept pushing back on my answers and asking 'why' more times than I can count). So different from the interview I had with Kellogg. I handled it the best way I could though. I only hope he had a good impression of me. :| Oh! And the interview was supposed to be at 5, but he pushed it back to 5:45, but then he couldn't get out of a meeting so he had me go back to his office at 9 pm (!)

Interviewed on Saturday. Everyone was very nice and chatty. All the applicants were even very supportive of one another; overall great experience. I got really nervous in my interview and I'm hoping I didn't blow it - one of those cases where you're worried you rambled, or said something silly, or something, but can't pinpoint any specific thing. So I guess that might just be nerves. Questions I had: Tell me your story. Why an MBA? Tell me a time about when you worked through something difficult on a team. Tell me about a team you worked on that had conflict or was difficult to work with. Tell me about a team you worked on that was a great team to work with. Tell me about a time when you showed leadership. How will you contribute? Any questions for me? Also, an important thing to note, they didn't even ask the "Why Booth" question. I spoke with someone who interviewed right before me who said they didn't ask him that, so he made sure to fit it into the "Why MBA" question. Maybe it's because we addressed that question already, but I would recommend fitting it in so that you're not left trying to sell yourself over it at the end.

I just had my off-campus interview, very kind alumna Why MBA? Why now? Why Booth? What characteristics a leader should have and if I think I have some of these A time when I had to motivate someone, how did that person react and how did I react after that A question about one of my ECs that she found interesting How did I prioritize when I have to do or choose among many things (then we talked about the many things we can choose at Booth) How I see myself in 5 years What I do in my free time Questions for her I think it was ok (not bad, not amazing)..... now just wait 38 days :(

Interviewed on campus today. My interviewer was an extremely nice second year student. She made me feel very comfortable and it was overall an enjoyable experience. She introduced herself and then went through the following questions with a little bit of chit-chat in between questions: 1) Tell me about yourself 2) Why MBA? 3) Why Booth? 4) Short and long term goals 5) Define your leadership style 6) Tell me about a time when you failed 7) How did you transition from that failure to your next endeavour 8) Tell me about a time you worked for or with someone that you didn't like That is pretty much all I remember.

I interviewed with an alum last week... He ended up having some things come up at work, so when I met him his mind was still focused on work. As a result, he wasn't prepared with all of the standard questions (the suggested questions list someone mentioned before that Booth provides the interviewers) and only asked me a couple of those "tell me about a time when.." questions. Instead, it was very conversational and we talked about my experience and why an MBA/Booth. He flat out told me that the main purpose of the interview was to assess fit and if an MBA made sense based on my career goals. Overall, it was a very casual experience and I think it went very well. Fingers crossed for December 8th!

The interview itself was very conversational, competency questions and understanding my strengths. Really just wanted to know how I would fit into Booth, - why MBA, - why now, - why Booth, - why USA. After every question we conversed about it casually. Hope this helps!

My interviewer admitted she had only interviewed 1 other candidate in the last 20 years. A lot of her questions, id say about 80% were behavioral. She was going through a list provided by Booth, which contained about 50-60 questions, and was picking the ones she seemed to like. Despite that, I felt like the interview went quite well and she was really attentive and interested in what I was saying. Can't really remember specific questions, many were about challenges, failures, leadership, teamwork, strengths & weaknesses.

Off-campus interview with an Alumni. Met in a small-cafe in the morning. Started out fairly conversational, first he told me a little bit about his experience, how he got into Booth etc. Afterwards we started with resume: Tell me about yourself? Resume walk through Why MBA? Why Booth? What is your goals? What is your biggest achievement? What is your biggest non-work achievement? What do you like to do outside work? Hobbies? Went into specifics about each job, asked detailed questions about the bullet points I had listed on the resume. Questions about the time I failed, or things did not go as planned. Spend the last 10 minutes with my questions. He was very friendly, submitted the report the same day.

We started from personal questions (what are you doing outside of work) and went to why mba, why now, why booth, weakness, strength, whom you admire and why, and behavioral ( could not sell your idea or convince someone). Was no question WMTYR, so I tried to insert my story into one of the answers. he was super nice and I felt we connected well on a personal level, we talked in details about every question - he asked a lot of follow-ups. I asked him about his experience of experiential learning and how he stays connected after graduation (he is alum). In the end I added how I will contribute to Booth.