Interview Process at MBA Programs (Individual Analysis of B-schools)

Thank you MBA Decoder - this is very timely and helpful (some are already interviewing though or done) but many will still interview.

There are also latest interview prep videos available on our YouTube channel:
Filmed in the last 2 weeks during the Interview Prep series:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... q83pjF8RWH (there is a Kellogg and Stanford videos; more coming)

The Wharton MBA Interview:

The Wharton MBA interview is the most distinctive among all b-schools, centering around a Team-Based Discussion (TBD) followed by a brief individual interview.

Duration: 35 minutes team Based Discussion (TBD) + 10-minute face-to-face interview

Format: By Invitation only

Who conducts the Interview? Members of admissions committee and second-year student ambassadors

Location: Both the TBD and the interview are held virtually

Interviewer’s access: Interviewers’ have access to the applicant’s resume; these are blind interviews

How to schedule the interview? As Wharton requires applicants to participate in team discussions, they send interview invites to all applicants from one application cycle on the designated date mentioned on their website. Applicants whose applications are not moving forward(dinged) are also informed on that same day.

Applicant invited for the interview are provided with the necessary information about the TBD, including the prompt for the year, well in advance. This allows them time to prepare their one-minute response.

Wharton MBA Interview Process: The TBD is a 35-minute exercise where 5-6 applicants collaborate to develop a solution to the given prompt. Teams are assigned randomly and participants are not acquainted beforehand. The exercise is meant to be collaborative and assesses applicants’ communication style, engagement and decision-making in group settings. Two observers, typically second-year students or admissions ambassadors, oversee the discussion.

All applicants in a single year’s application cycle receive the same prompt in advance. This prompt is always centerd around Wharton, like designing a new course or curriculum for a newly launched program or creating a new committee for social impact. This requires applicants to research the MBA program so they can prepare their response which is both informed and relevant.

During the TBD, the first 5-7 minutes are reserved for each applicant to present their ideas. Every applicant is allotted ONE minute and its advisable to adhere to this timeframe to keep the discussion on track. The observers then put the timer on, allocating roughly 30 minutes for the rest of the exercise. The team collectively discusses their ideas for the next 25 minutes to develop a solution. The final 5 minutes are dedicated to preparing and delivering a presentation to the group observers. After the TBD, the observers break out into chat rooms where they interview every applicant individually while other applicants wait in the virtual waiting room for their turns. Every interview lasts about 10 minutes.

Due to the brief nature of these interviews, typically only 2-3 questions are posed. Possible questions include:

Your views on how the TBD went
What could be improved in the team’s performance?
Did you notice any conflicts within your team?

What challenges did you face during the TBD?
How did you contribute to the TBD?
Could you have done something better?

There may be questions about your goals, reasons for applying to Wharton or an opportunity for you to ask the interviewer questions. Demonstrating observance of the group dynamics and self-awareness about your performance would go towards making your interview a successful one.

Tips for Succeeding in the TBD:

Build a rapport with teammates: Logging into the TBD virtual room a little early can help you get acquainted with other participants and break the initial ice. This can ease nerves and foster a more collaborative group discussion

Practice your one-minute presentation: Although a single minute is very brief, you would not want to overshoot this time limit as a respect to your group members who abide by it. So practice your one-minute presentation. One caveat is that while you don’t want to waffle and sound unimpressive due to lack of practice, you also don't want to sound robotic because of over-practice.

Be open and flexible: Don’t feel disheartened if your idea is not selected by your group. Maintain a positive and flexible attitude and actively contribute to developing the chosen solution. By listening attentively and constructively supporting your teammates' ideas, you can play an effective role in building a group presentation.

However, if your group selects your idea, then elaborate on the plan and lead the discussion. Even in this case, encourage suggestions from your group mates to build a stronger solution together. Avoid dominating the discussion just because your idea got selected; instead, foster an inclusive environment.

Show your team skills, but genuinely: As the TBD tests your team skills, its natural you will try to demonstrate these. However, instead of agreeing with others merely to avoid conflict, you can respectfully disagree and offer constructive feedback to advance the discussion. This approach can showcase your genuine collaboration skills and commitment to the team's success.

Leverage your natural strengths in a team setting: What role do you tend to play in your teams? Are you good at keeping the discussion's momentum by including everyone? Do you like to listen quietly and contribute by consolidating the discussion? Are you good at keeping track of the time? Adopt your natural role.

Your group should reserve the last five minutes to decide on who speaks what during the presentation. While it's not mandatory for everyone to speak, the presentation should not be dominated by just one or two individuals. This would be your last opportunity to adjust team dynamics if needed, so collectively decide who will present and for how long, keeping the group's best interests in mind.

Outcomes: Wharton interviews roughly 40% of applicants. 1 out of 3 people interviewed make the cut to admission.

Chicago Booth's MBA Interview Process

Duration: approximately 45 minutes

Format: By Invitation only

Who conducts them: The Booth MBA Interview is conducted by admissions committee members, alumni and second year students

Location: Applicants have the flexibility to choose the interview modality that best suits them. They can take the interview on campus, in-person (outside campus), in a location convenient to them or via Zoom.

Interviewer’s access: Alumni interviewers have access only to the resume, so Booth interviews are blind

How to schedule the interview? Upon receiving the interview invite, you are required to schedule their interviews within 72 hours. You can decide upon the modality- whether you want to interview on campus, in a city of your choice or virtually. You are then matched with our interviewer and expected to contact them within three business days to set up a mutually agreeable date and time for the interview.
Interview invitations are sent mid-decision dates, between your application deadline and decision notification dates. Applicants who do not make it to the next stage are also informed about their application status at this time ( A little less agony for them!).

Booth MBA Interview Process: Booth requires you to complete a short video before your interview. At the time you receive your interview invitation, you will be given the video essay prompts - you have to submit this before the interview. You have to give your answer in 60 seconds.

The two prompts for the 2024-25 application cycle are:
1. "Tell us about something new you learned recently that shifted your worldview. How did it influence your behavior and/or actions?"
2. "What is something you wish people knew about you, but you’re not sure that they do?"

The purpose of this video is to provide applicants with a fun and informal way to showcase their personality. Make sure that your video does not sound over scripted, be natural while delivering your response.

Booth’s interviews are relaxed and conversational. The b-school expects a two-way exchange - while the interviewer gets to know about you and your experiences through the interview, you should also use this opportunity to learn more about Booth. Its therefore acceptable for you to take down notes and ask questions to the interviewer.

Booth has some very unique features in their MBA program – their flexible curriculum, analytical focus and emphasis on debate and enquiry. Applicants can use the opportunity to show their understanding of the Booth MBA by articulating how these factors appeal to them for their specific learning needs.
The interview questions are the regular ones- walk me through your resume, career goals, why Booth, and behavioral questions. Here’s a list:

Work, Career Goals and Booth related questions:
Tell me about yourself/ walk me through your resume.
What are your short term and long term career goals?
Why MBA? Why now?
Why Booth?
What do you hope to take away from your experience at Booth?
How will you contribute to Booth?
How will you juggle your time and choose activities to pursue at Booth?
Which clubs and activities will you be involved in?

Behavioral Questions:

Tell me about a proud professional experience.
What is a recent learning you are going to take to future projects?

Failure/ Adversity questions:
Tell me about a time you received critical feedback.
Tell me about a time you dealt with a challenge in a team.
Tell me about a failure and what did you learn from it?

Self-awareness questions:
What are three words your friends would use to describe you?
What are three words your supervisor would describe you?
What are your major weaknesses?
Tell me about a time you had to improve upon a weakness.
Tell me about a time you had to open your mind to other people’s perspectives.
Tell me about meeting a person who broadened your horizon
Tell me about a time you worked with people from different backgrounds. What did you learn?

Leadership and Teamwork questions:
What kind of team do you work with best?
Tell me about a time you asked for help.
What kind of a leader are you?
Tell me about a time when you had to influence someone above your level
Tell me about a time when you had to influence your peers.
Tell me about a time you exhibited empathy or collaboration at work.
Tell me about a time you had a conflict with someone at work. What did you do?
Tell me about a time you had to engage with someone who did not agree with you. How did you navigate the situation?

Who is your role model and why?
How do you keep yourself engaged in your free time?
Was there anything I didn’t ask you that you wish I had?
Any questions for me?

MIT SLOAN MBA Interview

MIT Sloan has always placed emphasis on learning by doing or practice-based learning; this has reflected historically in their essays and interview questions. Its no wonder then, that the MIT Sloan MBA Interview is largely behavioral (even 100% behavioral for many applicants). Read on to know more about the MIT Interview process:

Duration: about 30 minutes

Format: By Invitation only

Who conducts them? The MIT interview is conducted by members of the admissions committee.

Location: All interviews are conducted virtually.

Interviewer’s access: The Interviewer would have read your application and watched your video that you need to submit as part of the interview process

How to schedule the interview: If invited, you will receive detailed instructions on how to schedule your interview.

Interview Process: As part of the MIT Sloan interview process, you will have to respond to two additional questions within 24 hours prior to the interview. The questions would be shared by MIT’s admissions committee when they send you an email inviting you for the interview. These questions are:

Required Question #1:
The mission of the MIT Sloan School of Management is to develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world and to generate ideas that advance management practice. We believe that a commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity, and well-being is a key component of both principled leadership and sound management practice.
In 250 words or less, please describe a time when you contributed toward making a work environment or organization more welcoming, inclusive, and diverse.


Required Question #2:
We are interested in learning more about how you use data to make decisions and analyze results. Please select one of the following prompts to respond to:

Please select an existing data visualization and in 250 words or less explain why it matters to you. The data visualization should be uploaded as a PDF. Examples may come from current events, a business analysis, or personal research.
OR
In 250 words or less, please describe a recent data driven decision you had to make, and include one slide presenting your analysis. The slide may include a data visualization example and should present data used in a professional context. Your slide must be uploaded as a PDF.

MIT strongly believes that your past experiences are the best indicator of your future success. That’s why they focus the interview largely on behavioral questions that determine how you respond to challenging situations, how you behave as a leader or a team player and what qualities do you possess. To give well-structured and coherent answers to behavioral questions, you should frame your responses using the STAR approach.

Another tip for answering behavioural questions is to tell more recent stories (within the past few years) as these are more indicative of your current capabilities and personality. It’s understandable that you may not always have a recent story for every situation asked, however, try sticking to this advice wherever possible.

Many interviewers start by asking about any changes in your candidacy or updates since you applied. This is interesting as no other b-school asks this question and its your opportunity to update the b-school of any job promotions, job changes, a crucial project you have just started leading, or a GMAT/GRE uptick. Your interviewer is also likely to questions you on the data visualization exercise, so be prepared to explain your submission. Besides a largely behavioural line of questioning, the interviewer may also ask you questions based on your resume and work experience.

Here's a list of questions asked in the past:

Intro and work-related questions:
Anything new since you submitted your application?
Has anything changed on your resume since you submitted it?
Tell me about yourself beyond your resume.
Walk me through your resume.
What professional development have you undertaken?
What does a typical day at work look like for you?

MBA-related questions:
Why MBA? / Career goals
Why now?
Why Sloan?
How will you contribute at Sloan?

Pre-Interview presentation:
Share something about your data visualization story with me. (follow up questions)
Tell me about your DEI Essay. (Follow up questions on the DEI essay)
Achievement, influence and leadership:
What’s your biggest accomplishment?
Tell me about a time you showed leadership.
Tell me about a time you thought innovatively.
Tell me about an experience you are most proud of.
Tell me about a time you had to convince someone.
Tell me about a time when you had a different opinion with others. How did you convince them?
Tell me about a time you led a project when you didn’t have direct authority in your team.
Tell me about a time you had to make a difficult decision? What was difficult about it and what was your reasoning?
Tell me about a time you challenged the status quo.
Tell me about a time when you had to make a recommendation based on incomplete data

Self-Awareness Questions:
What is your leadership style?
What is the most constructive feedback you have been given?
What are your 2 strengths and 2 weaknesses?

Teamwork and Diversity:
Tell me about working with a difficult colleague.
Tell me about a time that you disagreed with a co-worker.
Tell me about a time you mentored someone.
Give me an example of you helping someone in your team who was underperforming.
Tell me about a time when you faced a challenge as a team leader and how you handled it.
Tell me about a time you worked with a diverse set of people.
Tell me about a time someone changed your perspective on something.

Adversity and Failure questions:
Tell me about a failure. What did you do and what did you learn?
Tell me about leading a team during an adverse situation. What challenges did you face?
Describe a time at work when something unexpected happened that derailed a project.
What do you do in your free time?
Any Questions for me?

Kellogg MBA Interview


Kellogg's MBA interview process is unique because the b-school tries to interview a majority of its applicants. That's why applicants can start getting interview invitations within the next day of applying. The interviews continue to pour-in, right until the decision date, which means, it can be a long-long wait for some applicants before they hear back with an interview update.

Duration: about 30-45 minutes

Format: By Invitation only

Who conducts them? these are conducted by alumni, adcom and second year students.

Location: All interviews are conducted virtually

Interviewer’s access: Interviewer would access to only your resume

How to Schedule: After you receive an interview invitation email from Kellogg, you will log into the application portal and ‘submit a request’ for an interview by selecting a time zone. You will then be matched with your interviewer and will set up a date and time with them. You have a time window in which you will have to complete the interview

The adcom allows applicants to reschedule interviews ONLY in cases of emergency. So be sure, to pick a date on which you can definitely attend, otherwise you can miss your chance.

Interview Waiver: Kellogg tries to interview about 80% of its applicants. However, sometimes applicants are given interview waivers because of high application volume and limited availability of interviewers. If you receive a waiver, the admissions committee may contact you later for further information before making a decision on your candidacy.

The admissions committee also gives interview waivers if you are unable to attend an interview that you have already scheduled. They do not allow rescheduling of interviews so do not to default on this opportunity.

Interview Process: Kellogg interviews are behavioural. Prepare the usual questions like walk me through your resume, goals, why Kellogg, how will you contribute and situational examples. The b-school highly values teamwork, collaboration and people skills, so incorporate these elements in your answer (without force fitting them),

Because Kellogg has a very close-knit culture, they care whether you understand how the program is suitable for you or how will you contribute to the community. So, you may have researched the program while writing your essays, but continue to speak with students and alumni even after you have submitted your application to understand the finer aspects of the MBA program, which will give you a more informed perspective during your interview.

Sample Interview Questions:

Introduction and Career related:
Walk me through your résumé
What are your short-term and long-term goals?
What are your alternate goals?/ What is your plan B for the short term?
Why MBA? What do you hope to get out of Kellogg MBA?

What do you like and don’t like about your current job?
Elaborate on your responsibilities for your full-time jobs
What drew you to your current role?
What does your day-to-day work look like?
What is the most difficult part of your job?

B-school related:
Why Kellogg?
How will you contribute to Kellogg? How will you get involved in Kellogg’s community?
Which extra-curricular activities will you engage in while in school?
What traits make you a good contribution to the future class?
Which other b-schools have you applied to?

SITUATIONAL QUESTIONS:
Leadership:
Tell me about your leadership style.
Talk about a time you took on a leadership role?
What is your most significant leadership experience? Why?
What role do you tend to play in your organization?
Tell me about a time you had to jump in and solve a problem using your leadership skills.

Achievements:
Describe a professional success
Tell me about your proudest accomplishment at work.
Tell me about a time you went above and beyond your mandate?

TEAM:
How do you manage teams if you are leading them?
Describe your best team experience.
In which of your recent projects have you shown the best teamwork?
What role do you tend to play in teams when you're not the leader?
What do you do to work well with your teammates?
Describe a time you had to manage a difficult teammate and how would you handle it differently the next time.
Tell me about a time when a teammate wasn’t doing his job. What did you do?
Tell me about a time when you had to convince others to follow your approach.
Tell me about a time you went out of your way to help someone?
Tell me about a time you worked with people from diverse backgrounds or teams.

Challenges:
Describe a time you overcame a challenge at work
Tell me about a professional failure.
Tell me about a time your team failed to achieve goals, how did you handle it and what did you learn?
Tell me about a time you received criticism and how you reacted to it.
Tell me about a moment where you had adversity with a coworker or subordinate?
Tell me about a moment where you had adversity with a boss?
Tell me about a time you dealt with conflict?
Tell me about a time you had to change your behavior when things didn’t go as expected.
Tell me about a time you worked in an ambiguous situation.
Tell me about a time you got knocked down and had to pick yourself back up.

Self Awareness Questions:
What motivates you?
What would your coworkers or boss give you as feedback for strengths and weaknesses?
Three words your colleagues would describe you as?
What would your friends say are your biggest strengths?
Who is a leader you admire? Why?
What are you most curious about?

Other Questions:
Describe your hobbies
Tell me about an activity/cause that you are passionate about
Tell me about an extracurricular with particular meaning for you.

What questions do you have for us?
Is there anything you wished I had asked you?
Is there anything you hadn’t shared yet in today’s conversation that you’d like to cover?

Columbia Business School's interview

CBS' interview is conversational and easy, with the interviewer's intent being to determine your fit with the b-school.

Duration: 30-60 minutes

Format: By Invitation only

Who conducts them? These are conducted by alumni, second year MBA students or the admissions committee members.

Location: All interviews are conducted virtually

Interviewer’s access: Interviewer would have access to only your resume. You can provide them with your resume to the interviewer once you are matched with them.

How to schedule the interview: After you receive an interview invitation, the admissions team will connect you with the interviewer and you can decide a mutually agreeable date and time with them.
If you have applied for J term- your application will be viewed on a rolling basis after the application opens in June, so the earlier you apply, the quicker you will receive the interview decision

Interview Process: The Columbia interview is friendly and conversational, purposed so that you and the interviewer get to understand each other. Unlike many other b-schools, CBS does not overly focus on behavioural questions (yet you should expect to be asked 2-3 such questions). Instead, a larger part of the questioning is around getting to know about your job, your career goals, motivation to join CBS and your fit with the CBS MBA program.

Sample questions are:
Introduction, Career goals and CBS related:
Tell me about yourself/ walk me through your resume
What are your short-term and long-term goals?
What are your alternate goals?
Why MBA and Why now?
Why CBS MBA?
Which classes will you take at CBS?
Which clubs will you join at CBS?
How will you contribute at CBS?
How do you see yourself interacting within your learning team at CBS?
What is your plan if you don’t get into any B-School?
Which other b-schools have you applied to? What factors influenced your school list?

Job Related:
Interviewers ask questions based on pointers in your resume
What do you like and dislike about your current job?
Tell me about something you are particularly proud of in current role
Have you led a team? (Follow up questions on your experience)
What challenges do you face at work?
When working in a team, What role do you feel comfortable and what role do you feel uncomfortable in?

Behavioral Questions:
What is your leadership style?
Tell me about a challenge you faced at work.
Tell me about a time you disagreed with a coworker.
Tell me about a time you disagreed with your manager.
Tell me about a time you led a project you’re particularly proud of.
Tell me about a time when have you overcome obstacles?
Tell me about something you could have done better.

Other questions:
In what way are you involved in your community?
What is your proudest undergraduate achievement?
How do you spend your Friday night or weekend?
What do you do for fun outside of work?
Any questions for me?

INSEAD MBA Interview

INSEAD is among the few b-schools that require two interviews from every selected applicant. However, their interviews are friendly and conversational and not stress inducing. Here's how the INSEAD interview works and sample interview questions:

Duration: 30 minutes to 1 hour

Format: By Invitation only

Who conducts them? INSEAD interviews are always conducted by alumni. Every applicant is interviewed by two alumni, typically matched based on your industry, functional background or geography.


Location: Interviews are conducted either in person or online, on platforms like Zoom/ Google Meet.


Interview invitation timing: INSEAD notifies selected applicants within approximately six weeks of receiving completed applications. They follow this up with another email to provide the names and contact details of your two alumni interviewers.

Applicants not selected for interview are also informed at this stage.


How to schedule the interview: Once you receive your interviewers’ contact details, you are expected to reach out to each of them and fix a mutually convenient date, time and format (in-person or online). You are asked to share a PDF of your application along with your resume with the interviewers. If you prefer, you can remove your motivation essays and share the rest of the application.

Both the INSEAD MBA interviews must be completed within a deadline provided in the invitation email.

Interview Process: Interviews usually last about an hour each. They are conversational with a mix of resume based and behavioral questions. The purpose of the interview is to get to know you better and determine your fit with INSEAD. As the interviewers have access to your application form, they may ask for clarifications or deeper insights into the content you provided. So, be prepared to answer questions about your career decisions, your motivation for certain projects or responsibilities and your leadership experiences.

Most interviewers are friendly and towards the end of the interview, extensively share their experiences at INSEAD. So research the backgrounds of your interviewers and go prepared with some meaty questions to ask them. These can be related to the interviewers’ backgrounds and their experience at INSEAD.


Common Interview questions:

Career Related:
Walk me through your resume / Tell me about yourself.
Give me two things you would like to highlight from your resume.
Explain your career choices (From undergraduate to now).
Tell me about your reasons for each professional move.
Elaborate on your responsibilities for your full-time jobs.
Follow-up questions on your job


Goals and INSEAD related:
What is your short-term goal and why?
Why MBA? Why is now the right time?
Why INSEAD? How would INSEAD help you achieve career goals?
What do you see yourself doing 10 years after MBA?
What’s your plan B if you couldn’t fulfill your immediate goals?
What are your geography preferences post-MBA?
How do you see the value of MBA considering the gloomy economic conditions and job market, how do you evaluate the risks and returns?

Which starting campus have you selected and why?
Will you do an exchange? Explain why/ why not.
What will you contribute to the program/ your study group?
In what ways would you get involved in the INSEAD’s community?
What would you bring to the INSEAD community?
Which other colleges have you applied to?
What will you do if you are not accepted to INSEAD?
How would you prioritize coping up with so many offerings at INSEAD?

Behavioural Questions:

Diversity:
Tell me about cultural differences you have experienced working with colleagues from different regions.
What have you learnt from someone who has a different background than you?
Tell me a time when you worked with people from different cultures? What do you wish you had done differently?
Tell me about a time when you had an experience with diversity.
There are many different nationalities and languages in the INSEAD class. How would you work through related challenges?
How would you work in a study group with peers from different backgrounds?

Leadership:
What is your management/ Leadership style?
Tell me about your most significant leadership experience.
Tell me about a professional achievement that you feel very proud of and why?
Tell me a time you led a team. What was your role?
Tell me about a time when you convinced someone, what was the result?

Challenges and Failures:
Tell me about a challenge in your life and how you overcame it.
Tell me about a time you failed in a professional setting.
Have you ever had an experience where there was a conflict of opinion or interest?
Have you ever had to be confrontational with a colleague or subordinate?
Tell me about a time you received criticism and how you reacted to it.
Tell me about a time when you had an uncomfortable conversation at work?

Tell me about your strengths and weakness.
What do you love to do outside of work? What’s your passion?

Any questions for the interviewer