I got an Interview call on 30th Jan, 2016 and it was an Off-campus Interview in Delhi. There were 2 alumni ( supposedly from the same background as mine since they asked me few technical questions on my experience ) The questions were: 1. Are you a Trained Dancer? Why don't you pursue that? I was not but since I mentioned that I teach in a dance studio, they probably presumed that. 2. What's the name of the dance studio you work at? 3. They scanned my application hard-copy and were really prepared to grill me on some results achieved. How did you achieve those results? 4. How and why did you shift into this different domain? I don't think technical people are able to do that? 5. How would you achieve the Post-Mba goal you have written? What would you do at ISB? 6. Why did you shift back to technical work? I think they were really skeptical of my work experience. 7. Why ISB? Why MBA now? 8. Questions for us? I asked 2 questions. They responded perfectly clearing my concerns. Overall it was a nice experience though I was sure they were not fully convinced of my work profile.

I was a R1 applicant to Wharton and as I come from an overly represented group I was not expecting an invite from Wharton. I do think that using the optional essay worked. I don't think I would have received the interview invite without it (based on my profile parameters, obviously!). I delayed my interview registration by 1 day that was a mistake (hindsight) as I wanted to go for the last available time slot in Philly. I had already planned on doing an on campus interview as I did not have a chance to visit the campus before the interview. Went with 19th Nov (Afternoon, the last spot left at Philly!). It was a decision worth the travel and hectic schedule (as I had 1 interview on 18th morning and a school visit scheduled for 20th Nov). Couple of points to keep in mind once you get the interview invite. 1. Make sure to pick up a day comfortable for you and not rush into booking the interview spot as TBD is a different way of interview. Give yourself some time to gather your thoughts for the TBD as each year the prompt will be different. 2. Keep the day before the TBD/PI yourself calm and not doing anything stressful. I would learn this important thing later when I did not make it to Wharton or the one for which I had interviewed the day before!). The campus visit was really good and I opted to go for 2 classes (wanted to maximize my visit!). After attending the classes , we were made to wait in the waiting area just outside the TBD conference rooms and were called in a random order in groups of 6. Once we all sat in the conference rooms alongwith 2 moderators (2nd year admission fellows), we were told again told about the TBD prompt. Once the time was open for a discussion, we all presented our 1 minute speech and then started to jot down points with the last 5 minutes to gather out thoughts and to present them to the moderators. All the participants were very receptive to others' ideas and everyone tried to work towards presenting a coherent chain of thoughts leading to a successful organization of a 1 day event. Tips for TBD (do note that the rules/tips mentioned are for TBDs till 2015 application cycle. Wharton might change the regulations): 1. Refer to my post http://gmatclub.com/forum/calling-all-wharton-applicants-2016-intake-class-of-200055-600.html#p1642703 for links on good TBD practice. 2. If you dont want to pay for TBD practice, reach out to fellow interview invitees on GMATCLUB and set up a mock TBD on your own. 3. Make sure to spend a day or two in thinking about ways in which you can bring in your profile (personality/WE/education/extra curriculars etc) in the scheme of the things. 4. Do have a really good/confident 1 minute pitch at the beginning. 5. Be very receptive of what others have to say. Try to assimilate most (if not all) the ideas presented. This will only show that you are a great listener. 6. You can show initiative or action oriented nature by volunteering (not fighting) for keeping the time for the group or for taking the notes or for assigning the final presentation roles at the end of the TBD. 7. Make sure that the group is on time at any given moment. This is important as a group that does not respect time constraints in TBD will not have a single person selected from. 8. Remember that your fellow TBD members are your friends and NOT enemies. Work together as a team and it might even be that all of you make it through. 9. Be confident about what you say and how you say it. Dont use a condescending or a rude tone. Once we were done with the TBD, we were called in 1 by 1 by the 2 TBD moderators and had our PI (personal interview) for 15 minutes. As TBD is already for 35 minutes, the PI is kept really short by Wharton (I personally think it is way too short to present any meaningful information), the interviewer did not seem interested to be engaged in the conversation (it was at 5 PM at that time, just before the MBA Pub on Thursday!). I was asked the following in my PI 1. Walk me through your resume 2. Why this/ why that (from my resume) 3. 2-3 questions on my extra curriculars, why this activity, what did you learn 4. 1-2 Professional questions 5. Why Wharton Although I did not make it after the interview, I still felt good about my TBD/PI (these two are 2 of the many variables in play).

I had my interview yesterday and it was one of the better interviews I've had so far. I'm sharing my experience here and will be keeping it brief, however, if you have any queries I'm available on PM to assist. My interview was initially scheduled earlier last week, and then after being re-scheduled a couple of times finally took place yesterday. It was with an alumnus from Mumbai in a coffee shop and lasted for about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Following are some of the questions I can recall 1.Can you explain what you do in your daily work? (Resume walk-through) 2.What would your subordinates say is your leadership style? 3. How do you show leadership at work? Is Leadership and Management the same? (Behavior analysis.. I aced this one I bet..) 4. As part of company X, tell me a time when you were part of a team that did not perform well, how did you contribute... 5.How do you work with people from different cultures? 6. What do your co-workers say is your weakness? 7.How have you overcome this weakness? 8. Why would you choose our school’s MBA program? etc. etc. My interviewer was from a somewhat similar background to mine but had much less upstream experience and more downstream and mid-stream experience.. So once the grilling was done he was genuinely interested to learn much more about upstream services and hydraulic fracturing(my domain of expertise).. we spoke about lot of things from energy sufficiency for india and how i envision the future of shale oil/gas and EOR etc. etc... All in all a pretty good one, wrapped up with him asking me to catch up for another informal meeting sometime soon and that I was headed down the right track in going to Stanford, told me about the energy research institute at Stanford and how i can leverage my functional knowledge too along with business skills gained through an MBA.

The experience was an absolute blur, but the interviewer kept the conversation very casual and made me feel comfortable. Having said that, you need to be ready and totally focused. The questions and follow up questions come quick, and you should provide thoughtful and concise questions to each to keep the energy of the interview up. Flow of the interview was as follows: Walked through resume from undergraduate experience to present. Random follow ups on personal interests and current events. Undergrad leadership experience Why undergrad major? Why job/company selected out of undergrad? Challenges, achievements in first job. Follow ups Challenges, achievements in second job. Follow ups Current assignment - how has responsibility increased? (I have worked for same company for 5 years, so the whole interview was showing how I've developed and taken advantage of opportunities in development program) Saw one of my interests in resume, asked why I enjoy it and asked me to expand (learning more about personal side) Asked where I learn about current events. What am I interested in in my own industry and other industries? What companies am I following, etc.

I interviewed last week in New York. Similar to what others have said the interviewer was friendly, but he definitely came at me from the beginning. We did not touch my resume, or any of the traditional leadership questions that I had anticipated, instead he asked mainly curve ball questions really from every direction. I feel like I did well, I made a point to be articulate and conversational in my responses. To echo what others have said though, it was very apparent that his purpose was to get me off of my script and then push me around to see how I reacted. I think I reacted well, and he definitely had me off of my script from the first to the last question. My interview was 44 minutes long though, not sure if that is a good or bad sign! In the beginning he said there wouldn't be time for questions, and as we were wrapping up I knew we were already past time so I was very surprised when he said, "Do you have any questions?", and then after I asked one and he responded, he asked me, "What is another question?"! Whether I get in or not I know I did my best and there is no way I could have been more prepared for the interview. I am grateful that I did plenty of mock interviews and personal preparation beforehand though, had I not there is no way I would not have been a deer in the headlights 5 minutes into the conversation.

I had my interview on campus this week! It was a good conversation lasting exactly 30 minutes. The first 15-20 minutes was spent about my current role, my employer and my industry. Later it moved to my post MBA goal (I want to start my company) and details about my business model, challenges, plans etc. We also spoke about my leadership style (what will be team mates say is my biggest leadership trait?). Overall it was a fun 30 minutes and passed by very quickly. I had prepared a lot and though it came handy, wasn't all that necessary. I am glad I did the interview on campus as I was able to participate in the full day of activities (campus tour, chat with faculty, chat with current students, "What's next" with Dee, etc.) and also sat in a class the next day. This has completely changed my impression of HBS and the value it provides. I had a great time!

My interview was a blur! Here are a few thinks I remember: 1. Know your resume well. You will be asked specific to your experience. 2. Know about how the recession affected your industry and your life. I know 2 other peeps who had the same exact question asked. 3. 1 other person and myself were asked about entrepreneurship and how often I thought about "getting rich quick" and what business ideas would allow that to happen. Keep in mind I am NOT an entrepreneur! 4. Would you still attend HBS if you won the lottery? 5. Where do you see yourself 30 years from now? 6. What do you think about the M&A market right now? I blanked out on this. 7. Is your job logical? Why or why not? I know of 2 other people who got this same question. Overall a very intense but friendly process. No time for questions at the end. Good luck to everybody! I know I will remember some questions here and there, so I will post more when I have a long enough list but they were fairly farfetched and unrelated to my profession!

I interviewed last week and have been meaning to post my thoughts on here. I enjoy lurking on the site so I try to be helpful every now and then. . . I would reiterate everything that has been said above by everyone else. My interviewer asked some pointed follow-ups, but overall it was very friendly, conversational and pleasant. I think it went well for me. Thinking back on what we focused on content-wise for my interview the only two things I would add, which have been stated above at various points, are: -Be able to discuss in detail any aspect of your resume (We spent way more time on my present and past than my future goals, etc.) -Be familiar with the macro issues at your company/within your industry. I was asked several questions relating to this and get a feeling that it's very common for us candidates coming from less-represented backgrounds. Good luck to everyone still waiting to interview. I enjoyed the day on campus, particularly meeting the other prospective students. Probably met some of you other gmatclubbers. . . .

I had my interview on Monday. 30 mins, about 15 questions. One interviewer who led the discussion, and one observer who was mostly silent taking notes, but asked me some probing questions. Both very friendly and kind, but very formal at the same time. Their last question was "is there anything you wish we'd asked", so I assume that we managed to go through all the questions they had prepared. It was a very intellectually stimulating conversation, and I think it went well. I enjoyed it. The whole application process is now finished and regardless of the outcome it has been a fantastic experience. Good luck to all applicants who are still to do their interview! EDIT - They asked me lots of probing questions to test my mental agility and, I assume, my capacity to contribute to case discussions. A few questions related to my industry, and obviously I knew the topic very well. Some other questions related to other industries, and I had to remain calm, quickly put thoughts together, and go ahead with a crispy and concise answer that I definitely had not rehearsed. I agree that it was exhilarating and not relaxing at all - but definitely a terrific experience!