Executive MBA Interview. I interviewed at Haas for EMBA with the program director. No surprises there, usual questions. 1. Why MBA? 2. why at Haas? 3. How you embody the 4 pillar values of Haas? 4. What will you bring to the class? 5. What are your interests? Hope this helps!

I applied on the last day of the R2 deadline (5th Jan) and received an interview invite by the end of Feb. Porter Blackford Interviewed me. She really tried her best to make me feel comfortable and make the experience conversational. All the future applicants. Rest assured that you will feel extremely at ease during the interview and so there is absolutely NO reason to stress. It started with Tell me something about yourself What brings you to do MBA What are your short term goals? Any dream companies (after I mentioned where I wanted to recruit in short term) Why do you think are great attributes of a good leader ?(since I have a leadership experience she picked it up from one of my stories) How would my supervisor/manager describe me in 2 or 3 words? Tell me about a time when you had a hard time managing your team members for e.g. you worked on a project but didn't get success and had to manage them What activities have you done besides business development in your family business? My questions? The interview lasted for 29 minutes including my questions.

Was interviewed by Colton. The interview started right on scheduled time. Colton tried to make me very comfortable letting me know that the conversation was about getting to know me better. The questions were pretty straight forward except a couple I guess (as far as I remember). He had read my resume and essays. He clarified at the start that there would be about 10 questions. Tell me a little bit about yourself/your story Why do you want an MBA now? What made you select the platform/Concentration "Consulting" in your Olin application and how did you decide that as against the concentration you pursued during your previous MBA in India? What is one creative thing that you did at work? What would be 1 most significant reason why you would join Olin? Which other schools have you applied to? Tell me about a time when you had success because of your ability to deal comfortably with a foreign national? (quite curve-ball) Do you have any questions for me? The interview lasted for 30 min (including my questions and his introduction) KM

My interview was scheduled for 12:00 IST. It started an hour late at about 1:00pm IST. Questions: 1. Can you tell us about your current role? 2. Can you provide more details on your patents? - I have two patents that i mentioned in my application so talked about those They switched to my current role next. I work in lean six sigma. 3. What metrics would you implement in an eCommerce business like Amazon? 4. How would your skills be useful in the eCommerce business? 5. Do you get a lot of push-back from process owners in your job? How do you handle it? Next the panel asked about my goals. I want to go into management consulting. 6. What if you can't get into management consulting? What would be plan B? 7. Last, why do you want to move back to India? They asked if I had any questions. Talked a bit more about culture of ISB and opportunities in India. Overall, pretty easy and conversational interview.

The interviewer was really friendly and LBS adcom did a great job of matching me with the right interviewer, who had similar experience as I. Started with introduce yourself and why I took the decisions that I did. Was really invested in finding out why MBA and why LBS - so work hard on that. Ask some questions to test my vision - like what problems do I see in the consumer tech industry 15 years down the line. Overall pretty smooth, fingers crossed, hoping for the best.

Done interview with Ms. Elaine today. Was a pleasant experience. Felt like talking with a friend about a new business opportunity Here is the list of questions: 1. What made you choose the major in university? 2. Walk me through your professional experience 3. Describe a typical day of your job 4. Why MBA and USC? 5. What do you do for fun? 6. 3 things that your peers tell about you? 7. Any question for me? The interview lasted 31 minutes. Best of luck guys :)

Haas EWMBA Program Interview Let's talk about the interview. I felt this way before, but the interview solidified this. Don't worry about "preparing" per se for the interview. At the end of the day, the only thing you should prepare for with any interview is that you need to be very decisive about what you want out of your life and your career. This goes beyond an MBA but if you are able to be decisive, it makes your interview preparation process way more chill and your answers will be more comfortable/natural. Everyone's questions will be slightly different, but for Haas, they cover the following: Walk me through your resume - Much like a job interview; be able to confidently answer why you chose your field, why you chose certain jobs, what empirical benefit you gave to the company, and any leadership positions you held or projects you led. For me personally, because I held a lot of leadership roles at a lot of jobs, currently run a startup, and started my career at 10 (no joke), this was like 95% of my interview haha. That typically doesn't happen. It's usually like 1/4 of the interview. One question you should be ready to answer is why you left certain roles, especially if you were there less than a year. I get these questions in job interviews, but my interviewer at Haas was more astute about my career path and dates than what I had experienced during my Anderson interview. Why did you choose your career path - This seems similar to the above, but I separated this question out because this is where Haas gives you room to give more intrinsic reasons for why you are going down your career path. Why an MBA - Duh. Every grad school question haha. Why Haas - Double duh. However, one thing I will say about this question is that this is where you can probably stand to subtly incorporate the principles. I'm not as intelligent as the rest of the people on this thread so I honestly forgot to plan to address the principles. However, by the grace of God, when I answered why an MBA and why Haas, I addressed two of the principles without knowing it. So at least they know my answers weren't contrived. I also was able to point out specific aspects of Haas that I wanted to take advantage of as an aspiring entrepreneur. I had researched what they have at Haas and the organizations tangentially connected to them. Oh and I also slipped in what cultural benefit I could bring to Haas, that would help the class. So I took the info from my class visits and information sessions and positioned the second half of this answer as what aspects of Haas' culture my inclusion could bolster. What would you change about your current job - I really liked this one. Mainly because I complain about my day job almost daily and come up with a ton of hypothetical solutions haha. What was cool about this question too was because I run a stealth mode startup on the side and we have been getting traction/investor interest, I was able to juxtapose what I thought my day job should do and how I remedy and validate my beliefs with my startup. What do you think you bring to a work environment - Don't be fooled, just see this as "what are you going to bring to Haas' culture, and how will the refinement through Haas allow you to bring an elevated version of your 'secret sauce' to a company post MBA graduation". Just make sure you answer it as what you bring to a work environment and try to slide in how that will be reflected in Haas' culture if you get in. What do you like to do for fun - Don't be weird or stiff about this. Just be honest. I messed up a little bit here because I was so passionate that I kept talking for 5 minutes longer than I wanted to on that question. Another negative, because I like helping people become better versions of themselves (applying for schools, applying for jobs, running companies, etc.) I kept repeating how I know that because of the unique experiences I've had, my duty is to give back. I'm just really passionate about it, but I may have rambled too long on that particular tidbit as well (much like this post). Any questions for me - I just asked how they support entrepreneurs and I asked about some of the tangential organizations that they are affiliated with and how their logistics work. Dumb thing I did (on a long list of dumb things I do daily), I asked what she felt like Haas needed reinforcement in culturally and what type of students could do that. I think she interpreted that as me asking "what do you want me to be so I can get in". I was honestly just curious; don't be like me haha. Miscellaneous tidbits: Their poker face game is strong. Don't think you can read their faces and get an indication or doom or reassurance. Just be yourself. The room they bring you in is small. I didn't care. I went to an HBCU that didn't always have the best resources so I was just happy to have some water and a chair.

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!

Just got done with the interview . Not sure whether anyone ever had a shorter interview than mine. Lasted for 17 minutes . I don't know whether to read too much into the short interview duration or not What do you currently do? Why MBA Goals ? What do you like to do for fun ? Any questions ? Alexi was great and the interview was extremely conversational . He made me feel extremely comfortable . I think those about to be interviewed at Marshall should just relax since it will be like a fun talk with an old friend you're connecting after years Let me know if any of you have any other questions

So I interviewed at Marshall the other day after doing interviews at Anderson and Haas 2 consecutive weeks prior. Needless to say, between what I do professionally and the fact that I was flying from San Jose for the UCLA and Marshall interviews, I was extremely tired. But one thing that was unique about USC that I really appreciated, given that I'm a really weird candidate in regards to background, was how open the lines of communication were. It was energizing. Nirav was very, kind, accommodating, and made me feel excited about the prospects of attending USC, despite me applying to GSB, Haas, and Anderson additionally, tough in state competitors. Leading up to the interview, like 72 hours before, and peaking about 30 minutes before my interview, my personal life was falling apart in all facets. Literally. I didn't know how I was going to interview. But walking into the office, I felt and understood the mystique. Marshall is not as flashy as other facets of USC, but I will say this - you can tell that at Marshall, people just get stuff done. There are not a lot of frills, but you can tell the program is straightforward if you've been on campus or done extensive research. Additionally, walking around Marshall, I was surprised how quiet and peaceful it was. I know it was a Friday afternoon, but for being in the middle of LA, the environment is serene. That helped given what I was going through at the time. As soon as I walked through the office, I felt empowered and calm enough to give at least a not completely terrible interview. The interview was very straightforward, same as all MBA programs - walk us through your resume. One aspect of the interview that appealed to me, that was different from my other interviews was how open and flexible it was relative to other programs. That is neither good nor bad - it's just something to consider when preparing. What I mean by that is when you interview, if you're a person who knows exactly what you want out of life and can articulate it effectively, your interviewer will allow you the space to express that. Conversely, if you're someone who may not be as confident in what you want or not sure what direction you want to go, that will be revealed more in a Marshall interview than at least Anderson and Haas. But if you think about it, it's effectively the same dichotomy with all MBA programs, just variations in the degree to which that dichotomy is engrained in the culture, but not by many degrees of separation. I had a good time. For being a top program, Marshall's admissions staff does a really good job helping you feel confident about your application process from sign up to post interview. To be fair, everything I'm mentioning is just based on single interviews across 3 schools, not a large sample size, but I do think that the overall culture will be reflected regardless of interviewer. Hope this helps!

My interview was with an alumni and it lasted for almost 3 hours. I think the length of the interview really depends on the interviewer so be prepared. But generally your interview will let you know in advance. Mine texted me a day in advance and asked me to prepare my timing accordingly. The interview was really informal and conversational. He let me ask questions along our conversation so it didn't feel like an intense interview. At first I was asked several basic why questions (why LBS, why London, why MBA). Then it was more about my post-MBA goal and my current job. I could tell that he really gauged my interest in LBS since he knew I applied to another school. Additionally, he seemed genuinely interested in my current job and asked a lot of follow-up questions about projects that I have done and how I interacted with my co-workers. The conversation flew by and I was asked to do the presentation part. The interview was in one of his company offices so I had access to a white board and post-it notes. Therefore, I was quite comfortable using all of those to demonstrate my answer. He did not ask any follow-up questions after I presented. At the end, he was really honest and told me that I performed well and promised that he would report back to the school exactly what happened and put in his recommendation. I still keep in touch with him now and plan to ask his advice when I start preparing for my move to London :) The Video Interview: I was super nervous about this as I don't generally feel comfortable looking into a camera. I believe the school does understand that some people feel like me so they won't judge you too harshly on your video performance. I rehearsed my answer to the first question (known in advance) so I think I did ok. The second question was somewhat not a surprise but I think I did terribly. I did not say what I should have said. I think my nerve got the best of me but I at least I did not run over time. My recommendation would be to "Really be yourself". I know it sounds cliche but if you can feel comfortable, believe me, it makes a whole lot difference. For the in-person interview, remember to keep your answers very structured and concise. Imagine that you're trying to help the interviewer to take notes! The more detailed his/her notes on you are, the better chance you have :) Good luck!!!

I had my Fuqua interview today. It was a great talk, I felt really comfortable. Questions being asked: - Why MBA now and why Fuqua? - How do you work in teams? - How would your friends and family describe you? - Which clubs and activities would you like to join/do at Fuqua? - LTG/STG It was really conversational. Hope it helps

She told me that it's a blind interview, so if there is anything from application I would like to add, I can. Walk me through your resume Why MBA Why USC? Have i visited campus and have interacted with students? One Leadership example What is my leadership style? This went on for a few minutes I had mentioned that I have stayed in LA in the past, so she asked what I liked about LA in particular. What do i do in my spare time? Asked about my recent road trips which I had mentioned in one of previous questions. (spoke in length about 5 -8 min, coz she also liked to travel and we had been to some common places in last ne year). Last not the least, if I had any questions for her. Interview lasted 30-33 minutes. She told me college will start sending out decisions after thanksgiving weekend and they did. Hope this helps.

I had my interview with Sharon Barrett (Ad-com) at ITC Maurya, Delhi and lasted for close to 25 mins. The interview was conversational and an attempt to understand the candidate. The following questions were asked: 1. Why Mccombs 2. Any challenges you faced in your work place and how did you overcome that 3. Favorite place you have travelled to 4. One trait which you wish you had 5. What were the challenges faced as a leader in your project and how did you overcome them 6. How will you add value to the school- any specific group you would want to be a part of 7. What is that one question you wished I had asked you but I didn’t 8. If you could teach the class one thing, what would that be 9. How did you hear about McCombs 10. Any questions?

3 member panel: 1. Tell me about your roles and responsibilities in company. 2. What your client is trying to get out of this project? 3. Tell me about your career progression in your current company. 4. Did you face any conflict in the project? How did you handle it? 5. Why MBA now? 6. What did you do to giveback to the society in your professional career? 7. If tomorrow I give you 5 cr INR, will you start your venture or will you pursue MBA? 8. What are the 5 entrepreneurial ideas you had in recent past? 9. What are the steps you think are required to start the venture? 10. What are some challenges you think you can face? 11. What are the operational challenges you think you can face? 12. Any questions for us?

Hi, guys! Had my interview last night via Skype. It was pretty conversational; the interviewer was nice and made me feel relaxed and comfortable. Questions were straightforward and standard: talk a little bit more about this work experience, why you made some career choices, what's your leadership style, how do you deal with conflict, have you ever visited LA, why MBA etc. It lasted 30 minutes sharp! She told me I will hear back from them by the end of the year; they're working hard to release decisions earlier, but we never know. I have a good feeling about this one! USC Marshall is a great school that makes total sense for me and my career goals! Fingers crossed! Good luck to you all! :)

Some notes on my interview. This was a blind interview, the adcom only had my resume. It was very conversational. The adcom spend a considerable time talking up Kelley. Questions I was asked 1. Why do you want an MBA? Why now? 2. Why have you chosen this career path? 3. Why Kelley? 4. What is something positive your colleagues or manager would say about you? 5. What is something they would say you need to work on? 6. What is something you would change about your professional journey? 7. Do you have any concerns about getting an MBA? 8. Anything else you would like me to know? 9. Questions for the adcom

I had my HHL interview today with Prof. Vivek Velamuri. The questions were all generic: Why MBA Why HHL Why Germany Career goals With a 720 GMAT you can get many top-ranked schools, then why HHL? I see from your PDF score report that you applied to these 5 colleges, HHL doesn't compare to them, why are you applying to HHL now? How will you fund your MBA? In the end my interviewer told that he will send the positive recommendation to AdCom. He also told that the final scholarship decision will be made by AdCom. However, he opined that my profile (score, experience, etc) will get around 5%-10%.

Just got done with my interview with an admissions officer on campus. It was very laid back and the interviewer asked me the following questions. 1. Have you gotten in touch with any students or alumni from USC Marshall? 2. Walk me through your resume post undergrad. (She further asked some specific questions about my current job based on the impact listed in my resume) 3. What are your short time goals, and what kind of company would you like for post MBA. 4. What do you like to do for fun? 5. Who’s your favorite artist and why? (This was based on my prior experience as an entrepreneur in entertainment) 6. Do you have any questions for me? The interview took about 45 minutes, and it was very conversational. I came straight from the airport to campus to attend the interview so she made me feel comfortable and gave me suggestions on where to go and what to see after the interview.

Lead Engineer, Samsung, 40 months 730, Q50 V38 NIT Rourkela, CSE, 7.08/10 I left early, due to the fear of Bangalore traffic, reached the hotel 2 hours early *sigh*. It was lunchtime and unfortunately, my interview call came an hour late. P1 came to call me around 3 PM (slot was at 2 PM). When he asked me how I was, I gave an honest reply, “Extremely hungry!”. He apologized and gave reasons for the delay. Anyway, here is the debrief to my interview: P1: Man, Co2010 P2: Woman, Alum, much younger P1: So tell me something about yourself Started off with a brief introduction but I was interrupted halfway and they jumped directly at work-related questions. For around 25 minutes, they asked me questions related to my project (Samsung Pay), its rivals, how to improve the product, what my role has been specified in the global team, etc. (Basically they left no stones unturned to verify and understand everything I wrote in my JD and essays) Then they asked people management related questions, challenges that I have faced with people or in the project, how I overcame, how do I use the learnings in my day to day life, etc. I was able to answer each question with relative ease and confidence. ~25 minutes gone… P2: So I am done, P1 do you have anything to add? (I was so glad to hear that since the interview had gone excellent up until this point) P1: (Looking at me and then my application) I just need 2 more minutes. (me: gulp!) So, Rohan, you have had an excellent career till now, and have been working with product managers. (my goal revolved around becoming a PM) Why can’t you just try to get a Product Manager at your current workplace? With utmost confidence, I gave an answer that I had prepared and refined over and over again but the panelists had a poker face. P2: Ok, so we understand that why you need an MBA but why ISB? *grilling starts* They negated every point that I stated : Diversity: 90% of ISB students are engineers out of which 70% are from Tech, so diversity goes for a toss Specific courses: You’ll get those courses online Study groups: There are online forums/blogs for discussions, you can meet people online or offline, etc. Brand name: You already have a good pedestal at Samsung They grilled me for some time and I tried defending, but sometimes they didn’t even let me finish my sentence or speak at all. (very IMP to keep a straight/smiling face during stress interviews) Then, they asked that if I were to join ISB what electives would I take. I told them a few, but it was here things actually went south. P1: So what major do these fall under? Me: Sorry, I don’t know P1: Ok, do you know what majors you want to do at ISB? (I couldn’t remember a damn thing) Me; Sorry, I don’t know How many majors does ISB offer, what are they… -> don’t know Grilling for a few more minutes!! P2: Is ISB a university or an institute? Me: University… Oh no, sorry its an institute. P1: What body is ISB accredited by? Me: Sorry I don’t know. P1 went into a rage stating that in his n years of interviewing experience he had never come across such a batch of interviewees who didn’t even know what major they want to do or what ISB is or has to offer ( apparently he had faced this situation with a lot of candidates this time ). They both went on for 5 minutes explaining that I shouldn’t be paying so much money to study at a place I don’t know about. All the time I was silent because I knew that my dream had to wait another year. P2: So, I guess we have nothing more to ask. Do you have anything else to ask? Given how the interview had gone I had a lot of things to say, but I just asked a question regarding ELP on which we had a 2-minute discussion. When it ended, we got up and shook hands while they said that they understand that I have done pretty good work and that I want to become a PM, but I should seriously consider other options. 25 minutes of cloud 9, then 10-15 minutes of grilling and I was back to square 1, feeling terrible about myself. Most of the people, with whom I shared this experience, said that its ok, you still have a chance, it was a normal stress interview, etc. etc., but I could remember the panelists' faces and words, and knew my fate. 2.5 weeks later, I got the accept mail :) Please feel free to DM me for any queries!