So I just finished up my interviews this week -- overall, I think it went alright. I have no idea whether I did well or not though, since I am usually nervous in interviews...
Both of my interviewers were local alums, so they were pretty easy to schedule time with -- first interview was with a director of corporate strategy (my intended elective area) and the second was with an entrepreneur.
Interview 1:Met up with my interviewer at a local restaurant -- interview structure was informal and conversational.
This first interview was my first MBA interview ever, so needless to say, I made a few (hopefully minor) mistakes. I completely glossed over one of my jobs when talking about my career progression, and had to go back and fill in that gap. I was also asked what I did outside of work, so I went into hobbies, etc. -- but forgot to talk about my extracurriculars as well, so we never covered that portion.
On the other hand, both my interviewer and I have post-undergrad consulting backgrounds, and my career path was almost an exact match (different industry, but same desired position for me). So talking about my reasons for an MBA and for choosing INSEAD were pretty straightforward.
Overall interview was about 55 minutes over lunch -- he had to leave early for a meeting.
Interview 2:Met up with my second interviewer at a local coffee shop -- interview structure was very casual as well.
Learned my lessons from the first interview this time around, so I didn't seem to make any major mistakes. Questions were very similar, but we had a great conversation as well about our travels and about his positions pre and post-INSEAD (he has a very diverse and eccentric background). He was a recent graduate, so he had great insight into classes and program details as well.
The interview ended up lasting about 1.5 hours.
To summarize, I found both interviews to be distinctly casual and both alums were very down-to-earth and friendly, structuring the interviews as easygoing conversations rather than stress interviews or interrogations.
As has been mentioned before, be very prepared to discuss the questions:
- Tell me about yourself.
- Describe your career progression.
- Why an MBA?
- Why INSEAD?
- Short-term and long-term goals?
I also received questions about my leadership experiences, interests outside of work, cross-cultural experiences and conflicts and about what books/newspapers I was reading. So figure that any of those could come up as well.
Good luck to everyone interviewing!