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Calling all Said-Oxford Applicants (2015 Intake) Class of 2016

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newsOxford

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26 Nov 2014, 10:00

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FROM Oxford Admissions Blog: Who says you have to have a job?

Muhammad Yunis says a job is an artificial thing. It is old-fashioned thinking. “A real human being,” Yunus told us, “is an entrepreneur. I’m not a job seeker; I’m a job creator.”

Nobel Laureate, founder of the Grameen Bank (Grameen …

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MBA1239

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27 Nov 2014, 06:04

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Do you guys know if we (Round1 applicants) will only know whether we got admitted on December 5th, or is there a chance for an earlier decision ?

naren87

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27 Nov 2014, 09:04

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MBA1239

Do you guys know if we (Round1 applicants) will only know whether we got admitted on December 5th, or is there a chance for an earlier decision ?

I think we are stage 2 applicants..and from what i have noticed we get our decisions on dec 5 spot on.

MBA1239

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27 Nov 2014, 09:04

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naren87

MBA1239

Do you guys know if we (Round1 applicants) will only know whether we got admitted on December 5th, or is there a chance for an earlier decision ?

I think we are stage 2 applicants..and from what i have noticed we get our decisions on dec 5 spot on.

You are totally right, not sure why I wrote Round 1.. Thanks!

naren87

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27 Nov 2014, 09:07

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Just curious did anyone from here come to the 25th Delhi interviews apart from me... just wanted to know the general tone of the interviews that day.

farhanchaudhary

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27 Nov 2014, 11:43

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naren87

Just curious did anyone from here come to the 25th Delhi interviews apart from me... just wanted to know the general tone of the interviews that day.

Finally someone who had an in-person interview. Who took your interview?

I was looking forward to an in-person interview but was told all the slots were given away.

farhanchaudhary

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27 Nov 2014, 11:48

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Interview Debrief:

Time : 30 mins to the dot

Questions
1. Why Mba, Why now, When did you think about pursuing one?
2. Essay related questions
3. Lot of industry related chat and questions
4. Personal question : Strengths, Values, Areas of improvement
5. Corporate Social Responsibility( I mentioned something in my essays, so I guess it stems from that)
6. Any questions for interviewer?
7. Anything else you want to add?

Thats it, basically a very conversational interview. 2-3 mins of Skype issues but the interviewer was very patient with me.

Good luck!!!!

MBA1239

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27 Nov 2014, 14:27

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Skype interview debrief

Time - was scheduled to last 30 minutes lasted +/- 70 min

Q's:

1- Walk me through your resume
2- Why MBA
3- Why now
4- Why Oxford
5- Tell me about your industry - opportunities/future/challenges (interviewer was familiar with my firm/sector so we had a good convo about that)
6- What will you bring to Oxford
7- Tell me about a situation when you demonstrated leadership
8- Tell me about a situation when you were faced with a problem
9- What would your friends say about you
10- What other MBA programmes have you applied to
11- Questions for me?

MBA1117

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27 Nov 2014, 19:58

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Had my SBS via Skype the other day and wanted to give everyone a debrief. Based on what I've read, my interview was a bit different...

1. Interviewer (professor) was 35 minutes late - attributed to Skype issues
2. Total interview time lasted around 20 minutes including my own questions
3. It became quite clear to me very early on that she hadn't read my application in great detail. Maybe glossed over my CV before the interview started...
4. Her first set of questions were pretty standard (e.g. why Oxford, how will you contribute). I answered these in a concise format that was consistent with my essays. She then spent some time asking me about my GMAT score (690) - which she seemed to indicate that it was low despite being the average of admitted students last year. I replied that it was not a clear representative of my quantitative abilities and backed it up with a higher GRE score and pretty decent GPA in engineering
5. There were no questions about why MBA, why now or even my career goals. At one point she alluded to my previous role and my current role but didn’t quite seem to get the connection, which was pretty clear in my essays. I had to try and steer her other questions to incorporate these reasons. Again, this was indicative to me that she was not familiar with my application
6. After about 10 minutes, she asked me if I had any questions, which I did (related to her reasons for choosing Oxford and some of her research)
7. There was an awkward moment after my questions where she asked if there was anything else, wanting to wrap things up (this is 15 min into the interview). I replied asking if she had any more questions for me to which she asked some standard behavioral based questions that she read off a list

I don't want to come off as sore in this post as I did actually enjoy the interview. She was very friendly and apologized for being late and I thought we had decent rapport. I also felt that I answered her questions well (I certainly felt prepared and knew my application and the messages I wanted to convey beforehand). However, I can't help but feel that the interview didn't go as well as I had hoped. I think the fact that the interview was late certainly put a time pressure on things and I can appreciate that she is a very busy person – hence the 20 min. However, I was disappointed in that she didn't seem very interested in my career goals and how the MBA fits – probably more so because I felt she hadn’t taken the time to read my essays.

Anyways, at this point I feel like it could go either way. It seemed that she made a decision fairly early on in our conversation. I can only hope it was it was favorable. Will keep you guys posted and good luck!

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28 Nov 2014, 00:12

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Wow a sudden surge in activity .. farhanc85 my interview was taken by Mr. Jonathan Reynolds , @1239 Wow thats the longest ive heard of in any interview not just for sbs, @1117 may be she was convinced of your goals and wanted to know more about other things, but that being said its not a ideal situation. A quick Q to all of you , as mentioned in your posts did the interviewer specifically ask the Q's why MBA and why SBS or were they kind of leading to them. the reason being my interview didnt have the direct Q's they were all leading :-(

MBA1239

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28 Nov 2014, 00:18

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naren87

For me it was mostly direct. I wouldn't worry too much about it as different interviewers use different styles

farhanchaudhary

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28 Nov 2014, 01:40

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naren87

Wow a sudden surge in activity .. farhanc85 my interview was taken by Mr. Jonathan Reynolds (

Wow!!! I just wish I could have met him. He is an industry expert in my field.

Anyways good luck mate.

naren87

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28 Nov 2014, 04:24

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farhanc85

naren87

Wow a sudden surge in activity .. farhanc85 my interview was taken by Mr. Jonathan Reynolds (

Wow!!! I just wish I could have met him. He is an industry expert in my field.

Anyways good luck mate.

Good Luck to you too...

vypr999

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Updated on: 28 Nov 2014, 20:54

Originally posted by vypr999 on 28 Nov 2014, 05:07.
Last edited by vypr999 on 28 Nov 2014, 20:54, edited 1 time in total.

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Hi all,

Great activity on the forum last few days, thanks for your interview debriefs. Here's mine.. I interviewed with a sector consultant via Skype. Core interview lasted 30 mins on the dot, with five mins later for QnA.

The interviewer started by asking me for a photo ID, which I had forgotten about. I rushed to get one. So, safe to say it didnt start off well.

I had the following questions, more or less in this order:
- Why MBA
- Why now
- Other schools I had applied to - reasons
- Describe your career and your future career goals, the companies you may want to target
- Instances of leadership, instances of resistance in a team situation

(Went downhill from here)
- What differentiated me from other candidates
- A place I'd like to go to
- My core values
- Any questions from me
- Anything the interviewer didnt cover

Basically, it wasn't a conversation. I couldn't see any link between consecutive questions. It sounded like a checklist, and the interviewer gave absolutely NO visual feedback on my answers. This became a bit disconcerting after a while. Ie - random question... my answer... blank look from the interviewer... an occasional yawn... next random question. So I honestly dont know what to make of this. It was half good, half bad with a lot of yawns from the interviewer :-(

.. Lets see what happens, come Dec 05th.

Posted from my mobile device

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28 Nov 2014, 07:56

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same here...
checklist-like interview and a strong feeling that I did not do well.

almost no standard questions besides "why MBA", very few questions in general, she spent a lot of time asking me about an unpopular decision I had to make and in 25 minutes we were done.

naren87

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28 Nov 2014, 09:55

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I got a mail to survey the interview experience... I think it's good forum to voice any concerns

mybjourney

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29 Nov 2014, 10:31

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Did everyone receive the mail to fill up survey form about interview experience?

farhanchaudhary

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29 Nov 2014, 12:00

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mybjourney

Did everyone receive the mail to fill up survey form about interview experience?

I did. I am guessing they are sending to everyone.

Posted from GMAT ToolKit

MBA1239

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30 Nov 2014, 01:50

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mybjourney

Did everyone receive the mail to fill up survey form about interview experience?

Nope, didn't get it

newsOxford

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01 Dec 2014, 06:00

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FROM Oxford Admissions Blog: From investment banker to financial wizard – pursuing a MBA degree in Hogwarts

Four months ago, when I was sitting in my office at the CBD of Singapore, bidding farewell to my colleagues and shredding the pitchbooks I spent days and nights putting up together, I thought I finally can take a break …