We have curated a list of the common interview questions asked by MBA interviewers. You may see a little bit of overlap, but the idea is that you are aware of the different types of questions that can get asked on the same topic. It will be impossible to prepare all of these answers, but we recommend that you pick out 6-10 of your biggest stories and draw connections with the questions given below so that you are not fumbling for answers during the actual interview.

INTRODUCTION:
• Walk me through your resume
• Please introduce yourself
• Tell me about yourself
• Specific job-related questions/ day-to-day responsibilities in your current role?
• Goals - Short term, long term, Plan B.
• Why are these your goals?
• Why MBA?
• Why MBA Now?

B-SCHOOL RELATED
• Why our b-school?
• How will you differentiate yourself at our b-school?
• What resources will you take advantage of at our b-school?
• What do you hope to gain out of the MBA experience outside of the classroom?
• How will you contribute at our b-school?
• Which other schools have you applied to? If you get multiple admits, how would you make a decision as to which school to attend?

BEHAVIORAL:
Achievement/Leadership:
• Tell me about a time led a project. What do you think is the contributing factor to your success?
• Tell me about a time you found a problem and solved it.
• Tell me about a time where you faced obstacles in achieving your objectives.
• Describe a difficult situation you had to deal with at work, and how you tackled it.
• What was your proudest professional/personal accomplishment.
• Describe your most memorable professional experience till date.
• Tell me a time that you identified something that no one else had identified.
• Tell me about a time where you took on a leadership role that was outside of your scope.
• Tell me about a time you failed? How did you react?
• Tell me about a time when you led a transformational change in an organization?


Team situations:
• Tell me about a time you led a team. What went right or wrong?
• Tell me about a time where you had to convince a team on an unpopular opinion.
• Tell me about a time when you were on a team where others didn’t agree with you initially, but you influenced them to follow you (similar to previous one).
• How have you actively promoted diversity in the workplace?
• Tell me about a time where you had to deal with a challenging team member.
• How have you motivated people on a team?
• How did you change someone because of your mentorship?


ENTREPRENEURIAL OR FAMILY BUSINESS BACKGROUND:
• (Follow up to goals) Why not start up right now? Why do the MBA?
• Tell me more about your startup, why did you start it, where does it stand now (and other follow up questions)?
• Will you continue your entrepreneurial pursuit while in school? What resources do you plan to use while at our business school?
• Who will take care of your business while you are studying at business school?
• Are there any specific professional challenges working with family?
• Why do you not want to go back to your family business after the MBA?



SELF AWARENESS:
• What is your leadership style?
• How would others you have led describe your leadership style? Would you agree (similar to previous one)?
• If I had to ask a direct supervisor or a colleague about you, what are 3 things they would say to describe you?
• What do you think your legacy at will be? What will you be remembered by?
• How would the people you work with describe you in three/ four adjectives?
• What are your biggest professional achievements and failures?
• How did you cope with negative feedback?
• One piece of constructive feedback from your manager and how you’ve addressed it.
• Tell me about a time you did not agree with feedback from your supervisor.
• What are some areas as a leader you would consider improvement areas?
• What are some things the people you work with would say are areas you need to improve on?
• Is there any part of being a leader you struggle with?
• What would your biggest champion say about you (your strengths)?
• What would your biggest critic say about you (your weaknesses)?


RE-APPLICANT:
• What has changed since the last time you applied?

EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES:
• What do you do outside work?
• What do you do for fun?
• Describe your community service experiences?
• What is your motivation behind your extracurricular activities?
• What is your biggest accomplishment outside your profession?


OTHER QUESTIONS:
• A few industry-specific questions and your opinion on current news topics?
• Who is a leader you admire and why?
• What do you think makes a good manager?

LASTLY,
• Any questions for me?

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HOW TO ANSWER WHY MBA? And WHY NOW?

What do they want to find out?
They want to make sure that the real reason for you wanting to do an MBA is not that nothing else is working and you believe that an MBA is your key to success, your panacea to all problems in life.

They want to know if your decision is well thought out and if you know how an MBA will help in your career aspirations. Because if you don’t have this clarity, you will not make the best of your MBA experience. No one wants a confused, frustrated alumnus who believes that the investment was not worth their time and money.

Preparing your response:
This an important question and would invariably be part of most MBA admission interviews. Ideally, it should be an easy preparation as you would have written your career goals essay in the application describing your short-term and long-term goals.

Here is how we suggest you answer this question:
• Talk about your current professional situation
• Your aspiration, your short & long term career goals. Importantly, add the part about why this matters to you, in other words, why do you want to do this. Your career goals must be personalized to you, would have got shaped out of your experiences. They should not come across as wishful thinking.
• Why an MBA is necessary to bridge the skill gap to transition into your aspired career path
• Include the ‘Why now’ answer in your response. Typically, a plausible response is on the following lines…at this point doing more of the same will not help me get in the direction that I aspire to move into…but you can of course tailor it to your situation.


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Tell me about a time you failed

What do they want to find out?
They want to know how you dealt with failure and importantly if you learnt from it. They are asking you to describe an incident. Again a question to check your humility and your self-awareness.

If you come across as a paper tiger (your application is very strong), a little more likely that you will get asked this question. Be prepared nonetheless.

Preparing your response:
To err is human. We all have several failure stories personal and professional. Choosing the right one for this question is important. Would suggest the following considerations:
• Don't make up a story. A pseudo failure can be immediately recognized. And the moment the interviewer starts doubting your integrity, there ends your story. Nothing else matters then. And there is no need to make up a story as the emphasis of the question is less on the failure itself but on how you dealt with it and what you learnt from it.
• Select a recent story if possible, but nothing that happened so recently that you never got the time to work upon the failure. While there is nothing wrong with a failure when you were in high school but it indicates that since then you've probably not done anything even remotely challenging and that's why you never failed.
• Select an example where you had a role to play and the failure mattered. A failure that no one cared about, no one was impacted by is not worth mentioning. Explain what your role was, do some self reflection- let the interviewer see that you are aware of your mistakes.
• That said, do not select a story where the failure had a catastrophic impact on your organization, as such impacts would get the interviewer worried about your capability.
• Lastly, do explain why you learned from the failure and how you were in control the next time you faced a similar situation.


Download our Interview book: The Most Definitive Guide for MBA Interview Preparation
Prepare for your interview with us. click here
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