I’ll share my experience with the phone chats and interview. The phone chat as everyone mentioned is very informal and it sounded like this is to be seen as an opportunity for you to figure out how the program can help you in achieving your goals. At least in my case there weren’t any interview questions per se. It was mostly them trying to understand my career and my current role and where I want to go with an MBA. In fact I actually had 2 phone chats since I had some doubts about the program after my first chat a few months ago and they were very accommodating of my second chat request. I had my interview with Barbara Craft in San Francisco and again it seemed to be very informal and conversational. No curveballs. It was not like a Q&A session, but more free-flowing and she touched on my current role, responsibilities, examples of leadership outside of work and walked me through my career and we discussed my aspirations. I’m a Fellows candidate so she also asked me about my company’s financial support situation specifically. Barbara mentioned that at least 50% financial support must be provided for Fellows candidates. My interview lasted almost an hour. Overall, I’d say that if you prepare for the standard questions of why MBA, why Wharton, your goals, extra curricular etc you should be fine. They’re definitely very open about the admissions process for Exec MBA, so also prepare some good questions that are specific for your case.

Walk me thru your background/resume Why MBA and why Simon? What are your post-MBA goals? Any specific industry/companies/functions? Do you have a backup plan if you don't achieve your primary goal? How do you handle working in teams? Do you have any international work experience? What do you like to do outside of work? Nothing unusual, just come prepared knowing your story and why you want an MBA at Simon.

Had my interview on Wednesday (Jan. 16) in person and it was a mess. 5 minutes into the interview the fire alarm went off and didn't shut off until 2 minutes before the interview ended. So along with the two of us getting constantly interrupted by the alarm, we were interrupted by the person on the intercom updating us about the alarm and the horde of people evacuating from the upper floors (we were on the first floor). By the end of the interview the two of us just looked at each other because we had both had enough haha

Had my skype Interview with Consuela yesterday (jan 17). Submitted my application R2 deadline (jan 9), invited to interview jan 14. Interview was very conversational, lasted about 45mins total and had the usual elements: 1)background, why mba and career goals 2) what skills and experiences will help you succeed in chosen career 3) why Owen 4) time of demonstrated leadership 5) contributions to owen community 6) tell me about your country 7)any questions for me. My advice is not to get lost in the conversation but remember your key points/answers to these questions. No rolling decisions according to her; all decisions will be made on the decision deadline day (I guess March 8 for R2 applicants) Goodluck to everyone here.

Round 1 Interview - Sept 2019 Intake; Location: Mumbai The interview took place with 1 AdCom member. The setting was a comfortable coffee shop of an upscale hotel in Mumbai. On the whole, the interview was extremely relaxed and detailed. The interviewer genuinely seemed interested in knowing about me as an individual and about my profile in depth. She did not interrupt me even when I somewhat spoke at length about some experience or my personal motivations as a response to some question of hers. To reiterate, the interview was indeed quite detailed. It lasted approx. 50 minutes. And almost all of the questions any applicant would prepare for were asked by her. Some of the questions asked are listed below (in no particular order): 1) Tell me something about yourself. Notes: I dove right in giving her a background of my education, work experience, the motivation for my decision to pursue an MBA along with its genesis, my subsequent actions to show my seriousness about MBA, and why MBA is the perfect way to achieve my goals. 2) Why ESADE? Notes: Listed 4-5 USPs of ESADE - Brand Value, Flexible MBA, Exhaustive list of B-Schools for International Exchanges, Network of alumni, especially in Europe and Asia. I also added that it is a 1 year course, which means I minimise my loss of work ex. And it is an European B-school, which is important because I want to work in the EU. Plus, I mentioned that I had done my due diligence by actively reaching out to an ESADE alumnus and finding out important details. (ESADE appreciates such initiative of reaching out and connecting with alumni. It is important to highlight this.) 3) Why you? 4) But you have low work experience. Notes: More work ex in my current field won't further my goal - MBA is the only appropriate tool to shift fields. Plus, hours spent per week at work were extreme. Converted the number of hours into equivalent months of work ex, and explained how they add up to more than double my current work ex. So effectively, actual work ex (in number of hours) perfectly fits the profile of the average student at ESADE, i.e., 5-5.5 years at the time of joining. (While this is obviously not very accurate or convincing, the idea was to show my confidence in fitting in at ESADE, managing the work load and that I had put in enough thought before applying to ESADE and coming to interview). 5) Which industry do you want to work in after your MBA? Where do you see yourself in 8 years? Notes: Listed out my short term (right after MBA), medium term (8-10 years) and long-term (ultimate objective) goals. Also, named a few companies in my industry of interest who have a long standing relationship with ESADE (to show my familiarity with ESADE's employment report). 6) What is your proudest achievement - personal or professional? 7) What is your biggest flaw? 8) If we bump into a colleague of yours in this hotel, and then we get talking. And then you excuse yourself to visit the washroom. In those 2-5 minutes that you are gone, if I ask your colleague what they think about you and ask them to describe you, what will they say? 9) GOOGLY - Now imagine you are in my place - an ESADE AdCom member, and I am a prospective applicant. How would you sell ESADE to me in 30 seconds? Go. Notes: Gave a quick description (essentially an elevator pitch) of ESADE USPs. She appeared to be both pleased and amused by my answer. (ESADE often likes to throw such apparently weird questions. The important thing is to not get flustered. They are essentially normal questions that you have prepared for, presented in a twisted manner. In my case, she was essentially asking a repeat of a question she had asked earlier - why ESADE? To be able to answer her question (by selling ESADE to a prospective applicant) I had to have done my research on ESADE and then list out the things that I like about this B-school.) 10) Now flip our current scenario. You are an ESADE AdCom member and I am an applicant. What qualities or characteristics will you look for in me during the interview, to determine whether I will be a good fit for ESADE? Notes: Named the personal characteristics similar to the ones I had listed about myself in the previous questions. (The idea is to link your profile with the suitable profile for an ESADE applicant.) 11) How would you contribute to ESADE? 12) How do plan on getting practical experience during your MBA? Notes: Spoke about the Business Labs program and the importance of mixing practical experience with theoretical knowledge. 13) Are you aware of Career Acceleration Program? Notes: I had no idea. So I said I was aware of the existence of the Program but was not too familiar with the details. She then spoke about the Program, explained what it does and how it would help me. 14) What do you do to relax / what do you do in your free time? Notes: Named a sport - described how it calms me, gives me time to reflect and get away from the stress of life and work for a few hours every week. Also, passionate about Formula 1. 15) But if you have such a stressful life, how do you find time to play your sport? Notes: If you are serious and passionate about something, you can always find time and make time for it. I understand the importance of taking time off and resetting / recharging batteries. (Idea was to highlight that I understand the importance of maintaining work-life balance and that I am not a unidimensional workhorse.) 16) You said you watch Formula 1 races live. Where have you watched such races? 17) Have you travelled abroad? How many countries have you visited? 18) Give an example of how you found differences in cultures during your travels abroad. 19) How will you handle the stress and manage the course-load and various demands of the MBA program? Notes: College + work ex till now has been so intense, that multitasking comes naturally. Course-load and stress will not be an issue. 20) How comfortable will you be living in Spain for 1-1.5 years? 21) Are you aware that ESADE and other B-schools in Europe are not like Indian B-schools. There are no campus placements, and students are expected to actively work towards securing the job placements on their own. 22) What will you do if you do not get secure a job in Europe and have to return to India? Notes: No problem. I know it is certainly a possibility. But India in the short term does not mean I cannot make a lateral shift to the EU a few years down the line. So not too worried. 23) How do you plan to finance the MBA program? 24) Which other B-schools have you applied to? And why? Notes: Mentioned the ones I had already mentioned in my submitted application. Rationale - Top 1 year MBA B-schools in the EU. Which fit my goals and requirements. 25) What will you do if you get admission offers from any or all of these other B-schools you have applied to? Notes: This is always a tricky question. Especially when the other B-schools you have applied to are regarded as better ones. I replied by stating that I would still choose ESADE because of the batch size. The other top B-schools in EU have batch sizes ranging from 500-800. Whereas ESADE is between 180 and 200. I would want a smaller batch size to forge meaningful relationships and deeper connections with my cohort, something which would not be possible in a big batch. 26) If someone is not doing their part in a team, how will you handle the situation? 27) Do you have any questions for me? Notes: Asked her two pre-planned questions - 1) How important is it to know Advanced Spanish and / or Catalan to work in Spain, especially Barcelona? and 2) What is the selection procedure for the international exchange program as that information is not provided on the website. On the whole, it was quite an enjoyable interview, not stressful at all. Before leaving, I asked them AdCom member when we could expect to hear some replies by, just to get an idea. She said it will take at least 2-3 weeks, but they informed me of the admission offer 9 days after the interview. Good luck for your interviews! And PM me if you have any further questions.

Hi, I just wanted to share my experience for the benefit of future applicants. I applied to the Co-op program and received an admit. The application itself was very comprehensive. There were 5 written questions. After the application was submitted I got the Kira interview request in 3 days. The kira interview was quite challenging. There were 4 speaking questions (two for 2 mins and two for 1 min) and 1 written question (8 mins). The theme was basically professional life. The questions revolved around topics such as challenges, leadership, Why MBA, etc. I gave the Kira interview in the end of December and had to endure an excruciating waiting period because of the long holiday season. I finally got an email in the second week of Jan with an invitation to a skype interview at a fixed time. I was asked to attend a webinar before the interview, which I found extremely helpful. I recommend everyone attend this. The interviewer was very polite. She kept is very conversational and I tried to be humorous to keep things breezy. The questions were all behavioral in nature and they expect you to use examples from your professional life to answer them. I was in the end asked a 'situational question', which was basically asked to judge my sense of ethics. 3 hours post the interview, I got the decision by email. A note to all interviewers: The interview is conducted by the careers team. So don't worry about being grilled about your academics. They simply want to see if you will be marketable enough in the Co-op interview stages.

My interview was taken by two AdCom It was very comfortable and casual. Questions were general and profile based. They asked about my career transitions and some specific questions on my role. Since my company was in the news frequently at the time the interview happened they asked me about the news. They also asked me about how I think one of my recommenders' would describe me Then they asked WHY MBA and my career plan. In the end,​ they asked me if I had any questions for them. HKU MBA has one of the best interview processes and I think they really want to understand you as a person so just be honest and be yourself.

Kira interview questions for Pudue Krannert 1) what makes a group sucessful 2) how to lead a dsyfunctional group 3) what is one thing you would change about modern business strategy 4) how will your past experiences help in a rigorous MBA 5) what are the skills of a good problem solver

Interview lasted for 30mins. And it was a very enjoyable conversation with Chris, he made it seem like a breeze. There were expected questions - tell me about your professional background, why Mba, why now, why Johnson, contributions to Johnson, which clubs I intend to join and the back up plan. There were also few questions I didn’t expect but nothing too difficult. He asked me what I loved most about my consulting career so far. He also asked me what is my strength and weakness with regard to my leadership skills. What do I expect to be the most challenging aspect during the Mba. How am I preparing myself for the Mba. I had name dropped and mentioned that I spoke to multiple people. So he asked what was one advice that I have received from the students I got in touch with. Finally he asked me what is the one thing I would like him to tell the admission committee about me. And then wrapped up the interview with ‘if I had any questions for him’

My interview was approximately 40 minutes. During the interview I was asked the following questions: 1. What is your short-term goal? What do you want to accomplish exactly? 2. What's plan B if your short-term goals don't work out? 3. Why an MBA? Why is getting it now the right time? 4. What will be your biggest challenges coming here? 5. What is the biggest piece of professional criticism you have received? 6. What is a common misconception about you? 7. Tell me about a time you made a decision with imperfect data and what you did? 8. Describe a situation you were having trouble motivating your team. What did you do? 9. What are your strengths and weaknesses in regards to networking? 10. Tell me about an ethical dilemma you faced and what you did. 11. What other schools are you applying at? I hope this helps anyone who reads this, and I wish you good luck!

I thought my interview was loooooong and intense! Lol. So many questions, unlike the others who had about 5 questions. It lasted for about 40 minutes. I made sure I memorised the school site and was reeling out numbers and stats from the school site, almost as if my life depended on it. With the benefit of hindsight, I think my life literally depended on it. I knew that I had to get the fellowship! I did not have the greatest GRE score either, but knew I checked every other box. I had to nail this interview to eliminate any chances of doubt due to my score. The interviewer seemed impressed and even commented that I had obviously done my research! Word of advice, apply round 1, especially for internationals seeking funding! I cannot overemphasise this. I am talking out of experience. I had applied to other schools last year in round 2, mostly because I was so sure that I was gonna get accepted in round 1 of MSU – Eli Broad. Got dinged after the interview. I was devastated! Applied round 2 for others, and had delays because I had to write TOEFL. I think I might have even started competing with round 3 applicants at some point! Eventually I did not get significant funding from most of the schools I applied to. Right now, I've got full ride and an assistantship from one, a 45% tuition waiver from another and a fellowship from Smeal! Smeal truly looks at the candidate holistically, unlike other schools. You need to familiarise yourself with the school site. Smeal is all about fit, so best to know why you are applying to Smeal and not any other school. Questions asked: • Walk me through your current role as a manager. • Why Smeal? • What is your long term goal? • Tell me how your work experience fits into your long term goal. • Tell me about a challenging situation where you succeeded. • Tell me of the most challenging engagement you worked with and why. • What is the greatest misconception about you? How do you prove them wrong? • Most constructive feedback that you have been given and what did you do? • Know Smeal is obviously number 1 in Supply Chain, so what other reasons? • What other schools have you applied to and status? • What is your greatest concern about joining the Smeal MBA class? • What do you look out for in a team and what will you look out for in your MBA team? • Tell me of a time where you faced an ethical dilemma. • What qualities do you possess that you think will make you stand out in front of potential employers during interviews? Questions from me. I just got my decision and I received a fellowship!

My brief profile: B.Tech NIT Trichy, M.S in Aerospace Engineering (University of Florida), Work ex of 6.9 years in Bell Helicopter Textron as a Product Development Engineer. 6 Research Papers, 2 scholarships and 5 awards. Lots of extra curricula Location was ITC Windsor in Bangalore. My panel had three alums. Interview was all on my work. It started like, "lets start with your work". I described the nature of my role, project that I was in (a new helicopter development program) and key contributions. There were a lot of cross questions and the panelists were really encouraging me to add a surprising level of detail in all my answers, like even which methods, software or tools I am using, engineering details, nature of interactions with shop floor people, technicians, end users, cross -functional groups, customers, etc. They also asked me on my papers and innovations and emphasized on providing as much scientific detail as I could. I explained everything but never used any technical jargon. I elaborated my answers well, yet kept them simple and never used any technical jargon. I broke down all engineering or scientific terms in 'what it means to you' language. They also asked me why I decided to return to India and why I took this job - and from thereon transitioned towards my post MBA goals. Here again they wanted specific answers. They read my essays and picked up my aspirations in consulting to understand and know why I want it to get into that and how I think I can realistically get there. They cross-questioned on my flexibility to do something else and my alternatives, if I dont get into that. I mentioned about my other choice area of product management. They asked for company names and what i meant by product management. I took example of indian automotive companies and homegrown products at that. They went back to why not aerospace and I explained the limitations of the indian aerospace industry and why I was keen to stay away from industries that are heavy on outsourcing. As a 'hardware' person, they asked for my opinion on the future of indian physical products or consumer durables and where we can make world class products. I said motorcycles, cars, trucks and consumer electronics and after a couple of cross-questions on the same, the interview basically concluded there. They asked if I had any questions and I asked a couple. The interview was very cordial and conversational and lasted a little above 45 minutes. They seemed happy with my answers and at the end they asked that 'on a lighter side, how much does a helicopter cost'. I came out of the interview with a smile and got the offer a month and a half later. I guess the key take away is that they want to make sure you know what you do now, what you want to do post mba and why. All the best to folks going for the R2 interviews! Hope this helps!

It was a skype interview with Scott Smith (Admission Direc.) for around 30 mins. Scott makes the conversation casual and makes you feel comfortable. These were the following questions: 1. Courses selected on the application. 2. Tell me about yourself. 3. Why Broad? 4. What is your post-MBA goal? 5. What do you think you need to improve in your communication? 6.What company you would want to get into and why? 7. When did you work extra hours at your workplace and why? 8. Whom you admire for leadership skill at your workplace and why? 9. Any recent news from your field of work? 10. Any questions to ask from him. Suggestion: Be confident with your stories. Research well on the school. Specify the people with whom you got connected. Keep your answers within 2 mins Have your answers in STAR format. Be true/sincere to your stories. Smile and Breathe. All the Best Regards Shoum

Phone "chat": Very informal. This is an opportunity for you to understand whether the EMBA is right for you. I recommend you come armed with a couple [relative] softball questions that you can't find answers to online. For example, I asked about years of work experience and job titles. In my case, I have eight years of experience (right on the borderline between a Fellows and Traditional applicant) and my job title does not include "manager" but I have management responsibilities in my role. I mentioned it earlier in the thread, but it was recommended to me that the resume I submit as part of the request to schedule a phone chat should be a final version that I expect to submit along with my application. The committee doesn't like to see major overhauls between the phone chat and application. I made a single change: the addition of a bullet describing my accomplishments in a recently announced major acquisition. On-campus interview: More formal; however, less formal than the FT MBA interview process. There's a clear interest in greater transparency in EMBA admissions than in the FT MBA admissions process. I was asked all about my resume and then given an opportunity to ask questions. I was asked a lot about projects in which I demonstrated leadership or assumed management responsibilities. I was asked what kind of manager I am. I was also asked an interesting, unexpected question on ambition and at want point in my career progression will I feel like I've "made it." The "Why MBA?", "Why Wharton?", and "Why now?" all crept in there one way or another. In fact, I think "Why Wharton?" was something I circled back on when Diane asked the last question, which was "is there anything you wanted to discuss that we haven't touched on yet?" So I was given a fair opportunity to make sure I sold myself the way I wanted to. Overall, it was much more conversational than the FT MBA process. (full disclosure: I went the FT MBA application route a few years ago and among the schools to which I applied was Wharton)

My first interview was during working hours at a coffee shop with an alum who had graduated in 2010. The discussion was very casual right from the start, and I felt completely at ease. I come from a non-traditional sector, so my interviewer asked me a few questions regarding my motivation for applying to an MBA, what I planned to do afterwards, and why I thought an MBA would be a necessary next step. The rest of the discussion revolved around why I chose INSEAD, what I hoped to gain from my time there, why a one year program in Europe, and which other schools I had applied to. We discovered we had a mutual interest in photography so ended up talking about that for a bit! Overall, it was a very relaxed process and lasted about 45 minutes. The questions were straightforward and nothing out of the ordinary. We spend the last ten minutes talking about my interviewer's experiences at INSEAD and he had nothing but glowing reviews. If you have a logical reason for getting an MBA at INSEAD and can articulate that well, you'll be fine.

Hi, I received my admission offer about 2 weeks ago and a little over a week after my interview. While I am an international applicant from Canada, due to my frequent travel to Asia, I decided to take the interview in person at NUS. The interview was very straight forward and conversational, while some may have found it intimidating as one of the two interviewers was intense and quick on his feet (the head of career services). My interview consisted of the Dean of the School of Business and the head of the career services. Much of my interview was a back and forth with the head of career services, most likely due to my background in trading and him being previously the head of Asia recruitment at JP Morgan. The questions posed were very standard at first, the usual why MBA now, why NUS, any other schools and long term goals. From there the interview became more personalized due to my career goals of shifting into the commodities industry and moving to Singapore. Hence why the career services head took up much of the interview vs. the dean. Overall the interview experience was very positive and enjoyable. They were in a rush, originally planned for 30 mins but ended up going over to 45 mins, probably because they had multiple interview lined up that day. After the interview, the graduate recruiter gave me a tour of the school of business and gave me a run down of the places on campus to visit. Hope this helps anyone going into an interview at NUS! Thanks, Shubrat

Hi, I received my admission offer about 2 weeks ago, and after little over a week from my interview. While I applied from Canada, since I travel to Asia quite a bit, I decided to take the interview in person in Singapore. The interview process was very relaxed, I developed a really good relationship with the admissions recruiter so the whole experience was very welcoming. I was interviewed by 1 adcom individual and 1 career services. The questions were pretty routine, why are you interested in an MBA, why now and why Nanyang. As per previous debriefs, they pose the tough question of career prospects and the work you have to put in to get work in Singapore. As long as you are confident and have done your homework, this should be a very straight forward process. I know it sounds very cliche, but one of the most important things during these interviews is to be relaxed and self confident. Having been in a front office brokerage role for 8 years has made me very relaxed when talking to new people, but everyone has to do their homework and be articulate in their future plans. Hope this helps everyone going into interviews in the near future! Thanks, Shubrat

Questions for pre-interview video You're given the question then 30 seconds to think about it then a minute to answer it while you’re being recorded Some of the questions included for me were - what do you know about Bocconi MBA, - what do you want to do post MBA, - what are good qualities of a team, and another I forgot

The interview was scheduled for half an hour, whereas my interview lasted for 15 minutes. Partly because my slot was the final slot of the day before a long Thanksgiving holiday there. Was not expecting the admit since I was sure 15 minutes aren't enough. But in those 15 minutes, they asked 6-7 questions. Based on the profile, why mim, why France, priority over other schools etc.

Got interviewed yesterday. Got the mail on 1st to have the interview on 3rd. Questions were: Genral work experience related Failure project Any group project that was a success What do you add to the wisconsin student body What do u expect to learn from the wisconsin student body