Kellogg Hub

Interviewed with 2019 Alum. We setup a time over email. Interview lasted 30mins (I think I spoke a little too fast than I should have). In the beginning, my interviewer clarified that he has not seen my application (except the CV which I sent) and that this is just one other data point for the application evaluation. Questions: 1. Walk my through your CV 2. Two follow-on questions from my CV Walkthrough: 3. Tell me about a time when you worked in a diverse team, what you enjoyed, what was challenging 4. What is your leadership style 5. What are your goals? 6. Why MBA 7. Why NOW 8. Why Kellogg Remaining time I spent on asking questions (mostly about Alum's experience at Kellogg and beyond). The alum was very friendly, and even suggested that I can reach out to him anytime if I have more questions. Overall it was a good experience. I will advise to practice behavioural questions.

Got done with my interview too. Strangely not a lot of behavioral questions; just one about a challenging experience. Took about an hour. Half of it was the interview; the rest we were talking about my interviewer’s experience at Kellogg. They really went deeper into why Kellogg; what classes I would want to take, extracurriculars I’d want to take part in, etc. I didn’t expect to be grilled so much into the Why Kellogg part though. School research came in real handy. I was more surprised about the lack of behavioral questions.

Had my interview with a 2020 alum yesterday. She was very friendly and surprisingly made me feel more motivated and relaxed in the interview. Lasted 1 hr exactly, mostly standard questions with some follow ups on job choices and leadership stories. Good experience overall

just completed the interview. He was very friendly and asked very standard questions. The interview lasted 35mins including my questions for him.

I got done with my interview today. Decent experience, but just a barrage of questions. There wernt any cross-questions to my answers, and the interviewer was from my industry so she could relate to some of the context behind my answers. Just a friendly advice to all interviewees, do prepare for variety of behavioral questions. I got asked mostly all of them

Skype with Alumni in my city. Positive, conversational, and casual. Few follow up questions to specific points. Tell me about yourself? Short/Long Term Goals? Most significant career achievement? Tell me about a time you demonstrated leadership. Tell me about a time you Why MBA? Why MBA now? Why Kellogg? What if Kellogg/MBA doesn't pan out? What do you think will be most challenging for you at Kellogg? Questions for me?

Was a relaxing one, yet very formal interview. Overall positive, but just a lot of questions squeezed in. The interviewer was from my same industry so she could easily relate to some of my answers. There were no cross-questions to any of my answers, so difficult to interpret the interviewer's vibe. Following were the questions asked: Walk me through your resume? Typical day at work? What do you enjoy the most at work? Most significant achievement? Your leadership style? Your weaknesses? Tell me about a time you had to deal with diverse perspectives? Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult person at work. Tell me about a time you had to navigate through ambiguity? Tell me about a time you had to pick yourself up and try again? What is the thing you will struggle with while pursuing your MBA? Why MBA? Why Kellogg? Why now? Any questions for me? Overall, just stay positive. None of the questions were asked to grill, but they were definitely lot more evaluative than my interviews at other colleges. My interview lasted for 50 mins.

I had my interview with an alum (she was 2016 pass out from 1Y full-time MBA) - as she asked me to schedule it, I used Google Meet for the interview. Interview Details: 1. She started by introducing herself. 2. Then, she asked me to provide details about my career including all important decision points. 3. It was an interactive discussion, as she kept on asking me more details related to projects, my 1st MBA, and company switches. 4. By the end of this discussion, she was like - I have gt answers for couple of questions which were in line such as achievements, strengths etc. 5. Then, came standard questions - why MBA, why Kellogg? 6. After that she asked me one thing that I feel is weak in my application - I told her my GMAT score. 7. After that, it was open forum, if I have to ask her anything related to Kellogg - I asked a few questions regarding her exp at Kellogg and professional life impact post Kellogg. She ended the interview post that - overall it ran for around an hour, and I think it was good - let's hope for the best.

I interviewed with an AdCom member via Skype. The entire interview lasted for about an hour, of which 45 minutes were me answering the interviewer's questions and then we spent around 15 minutes on questions that I had for her. Here's the list of questions: - Walk me through your resume? - What does your day-to-day work look like? - What do you enjoy the most about your job? - What has been your most significant achievement? - (Leadership) Tell me about a time when you led a team that had people with different opinions. What was rewarding, what was challenging. - (Leadership) How did you overcome those challenges, as a leader. - (Leadership) What would your colleagues on that project say were your strengths as a leader? - (Leadership) What are your other strengths as a leader, in addition to the ones mentioned above? (elaborated on the previous question) - (Leadership) What has been your most significant achievement as a leader? - Tell me about a time when you received constructive feedback. - What are your short-term and long-term goals? - Why MBA? - Why Kellogg? - Why now? - What clubs will you join? - What’s your Plan B? (Answered with a plan B and Plan C which she seemed to have liked) - What has changed since the last time you applied (I was reapplying)? - Is there anything else you’d want us to know? - Questions for me (I ask 3 or 4 questions, don't remember exactly.) She was clearly a seasoned interviewer as she managed both listening to me attentively and taking notes pretty well. I felt that overall I had a great conversation with her, and was able to clearly drive home some of my strongest stories. Bummed that in the end, it wasn't enough. Best of luck to everyone else!

**BIG YIKES** I had my interview with an Alumni off-site in LatAm. We coordinated to meet at a Starbucks at 8 am for a 30-45min interview. It lasted around two hours. I bought his coffee and got myself a green tea. As I sat down, he opened his laptop and started working, saying he had some essential emails to send. I sat still and didn't go on my phone while I waited. He then lowered his screen and asked me: "Ok, so I barely read your resume. Can you talk a little bit about yourself and walk me through it?" As I started to talk, he interrupted me and decided to introduce himself first. He spoke about his education, work experience, travels, family, and current ambitions for the following ten minutes. I made a couple of jokes trying to engage in his narrative, but he dismissed them quickly. He then received a call from his wife and spoke on the phone for two min and continued to send emails. Once again, I sat there politely without checking my phone, just sippin my tea. Finally, It was my turn to speaks: -Could you walk me through your resume? A bunch of follow-up questions about my previous work experience. It turns out his wife used to work at my last company. He made me go into detail about my life post my COVID-Lay off. -Why do you want to get an MBA now? -Why Kellogg? Follow up question: What clubs and activities do you plan to join? -What is your dream post MBA, and how will Kellogg help you achieve it? -What are your immediate goals post, Kellogg? Follow-up: do those companies recruit Kellogg students? His wife calls again. He doesn't pick up but starts texting and prompts me to continue speaking as he could "multi-task." He then opened his computer to take notes and mentioned he would skip some questions because I had already answered them. Up until then, I thought He was a little rude, but we were vibing. He was smiling and commenting positively on my responses. We continued: -What was your GRE/GMAT score? Why did you get that score? -Please give me an example where you made a mistake. -Please give me an example of a time when you demonstrated leadership. -Any questions for me? I asked him 3-4 questions about the Kellog culture, life as an alum, and what he considers a "successful" student. He barely answered them and then... He said, listen, I will do my best, but frankly, there is not much I can do with what you gave me today. He asked if he could be acid with his comments, and I obviously agreed. For the following 45min, he started lecturing me on how I was not the right candidate for Kellogg: -How I lacked confidence in my untraditional background. -How he hoped my essays were better than my resume. -How He had to study for two years for the GMAT before he got the score he wanted. -How he doesn't care to understand ADHD or dyslexia, but on how she was sure if I made a little bit more of an effort, I could get a higher score and overcome MY disabilities. -He commented on my appearance and said I looked terrific. -He said that my resume did not display my wholeness as a person/applicant. -He recommended that I withdrew my application and retook the GRE/GMAT so that I had a better chance of getting in next year. -How he thought that I should work on my start-ups more before going to business school (bruh, that's why I am trying to go to business school) -He told me that I had wasted my time applying. He said if you want to go to Kellogg, withdraw, give me a call next year, and I can help you with your essays. I hope you will have something more to show by then. -He flexed that out of the 18 applicants he interviews per year, at least seven get in. He made me feel like the smallest person in the room. I had to contain myself from crying. He was ranting so hard, everyone around us kept looking at our table. I continued to smile and agree with every stringent comment he made about me. SUPER TOUGH. Finally got a text from his wife again saying she needed to borrow the car. I was so relieved it was over. He stood up, we shook hands, and He left. I emailed him that night, thanking him for his time and for being so sincere with his comments. The thing is, I really want to go to Kellogg; I had to be nice. My hopes are not high anymore... I hope this post serves as a consolation for anyone who feels they bummed their interview. LatAm applicants, hmu/comment if you haven't interviewed yet. I won't disclose my interviewer's name, but I can confirm if this guy is yours. Best of luck to y'all out there!

The Alum introduced himself in the beginning, spoke about his career path, and explicitly mentioned that the interview is just one aspect of the decision making process, and that I should be at ease and not be nervous about the experience. After a light banter to start off, we went on to the questions. He went through my CV in detail the previous night and also learnt about the companies I had worked with. Here is the list of questions. 1. Walk me through your resume. Quite a few follow up questions about my previous jobs. 2. Walk me through your decision making during company switches 3. Talk an example when you demonstrated teamwork 4. Talk an example when you demonstrated leadership 5. Why Kellogg? 6. Why an MBA now? 7. Any questions for me? I asked him 4-5 questions regarding his takeaways from Kellogg and life after Kellogg. He ended the conversation on a friendly note mentioning that I can contact him any time to know more about Kellogg or if I needed any help in general. The whole experience felt not like an interview but like a coffee chat with the sole aim for identifying fit. He initially mentioned that the interview would last for around 30-45 minutes, but it went on for over an hour.

Interviewed with an adcom member. She said the interview would last 30-35 mins, but it went on for 55 mins. Very pleasant conversation. 1. Can you take me through your resume, and focus on the transition points between each role? 2. What do you like most about your current firm/job? What do you not like? 3. Can you tell me about a typical day at your job? 4. What would your colleagues say are your 3 major strengths? 5. Now on the flipside, what would they say you could improve on? 6. What’s your leadership style and what makes you a good leader? 7. Can you tell me about your greatest career achievement? 8. Can you tell me about a time you worked with a diverse team? What did you learn from it and what were the challenges? 9. What do you want to do in your short term? 10. What do you want to do in your long term? 11. Can you tell me about a time you lead a team to achieve substantial impact? 12. Why MBA? 13. Why Kellogg? 14. What clubs would you want to join at Kellogg? 15. What would be your biggest challenge as a student at Kellogg? 16. Anything else you’d like to mention? 17. Any questions for me?

My interview was conducted with an Alum (Class of 2017) via Skype. We shared same academic background but apart from that our profile were totally different. The interviewer was very friendly and professional. Because we live in different country, she started off by asking about the COVID situation in my country then explain the interview process. The question was standard 1. Walk me through your Resume 2. Why you decided to switch your career - cause I completely change my industry 3. What is your typical day at work look like/ Do I have direct reports? 3. ST/LT goal 4. Why MBA/ Why Kellogg 5. Leadership, Teamwork, International experiences - I think she wrote the report right away while I was talking because she asked me for some clarification and start typing. 6. What will be your challenge at Kellogg? - Honestly don't know how to answer this question since I mentioned earlier that I was quite adaptive and have lots of international experiences. I probably don't get the question's intention cause the interviewer repeat the question again before give up. 7. How I prioritize 7. Anything I want to tell her - I asked to talk about my extra curricular activities and how I can contribute to Kellogg. 8. Any question for her - I had previously checked her Linkedin so I asked her specifically about the project she did while she was in Kellogg and how it went and she gave lots of details + tips living in Illinois (very nice and thoughtful). - If she could change one thing about Kellogg what would it be -very nice and thoughtful answer. The interview took full 60 mins -45 mins about me and 15 mins about the interviewer.

Interviewed with AdCom - fairly standard questions - Tell me about yourself - Questions around specific roles in my resume - promos etc. - What does your everyday job look like? - Significant accomplishment at work - Teamwork experience where people in the team were different from you - opportunities and challenges - 3 strengths that your colleagues would attribute to you - 2 weaknesses - What is your leadership style and example of that style - ST and LT goals - Why MBA? Why now? - Why Kellogg? - Apart from professional clubs, what are you interested in? - What do you think will be a challenge for you at Kellogg? - Any questions for the adcom from me The interview was at 12:30 am IST so the ad-com was very nice about the fact that it was late and was empathetic to the situation. Great experience overall and a pleasant conversation. The atmosphere she set allowed me to be myself and speak confidently.

Interview with Adcom member. Very conversational and casual. Around 35 minutes. Run me through the resume. My role and responsibilities in current job. Best achievement in this job. How would your employees describe you (3 things)? 2 areas you think you can improve on on. Short term and long term goals Why mba? Why Kellogg? How would you involve yourself at Kellogg? What will be your biggest challenge at Kellogg? Anything else you would you like me to ask you? What would you like to ask me? +mild follow ups for clarifications in some questions.

My interview took place at 11:30 pm IST with a member of the admissions team (who was also an alum). Interview was friendly and the interviewer had a good vibe about her. I was slightly nervous because the stakes were so high. As a result, I think performance was kinda ok. Questions:- 1. Tell me about your undergrad. 2. Tell me about your work history. 3. Goals & why MBA/ 4. What if you don't get your post-MBA goal? 5. Why Kellogg? 6. Tell me about a time when you worked in teams. 7. How would you describe your leadership style? 8. Help me understand what you do in your job. 9. Anything you want me to discuss (I mentioned 3) 10. Any questions for me? Total time - 30 minutes (including the questions I had for her). She said it would take 30 minutes and it did! I think the interview ended on time (30 mins) probably because it was already midnight here in India. Tip - 1. The interview will happen via Zoom, so, pre-select "Touch up my video". It'll make you look fresh! 2. Be prepared for a random order of questioning (i.e the interview might not always be in a flow; there might be abrupt change of topics).

The interview was extremely laid back. Zoom call that lasted about an hour (we had said about 45 minutes before the call). The first half of the call was dedicated to him asking the prescribed questions: - Give me a little background about yourself - Why Kellogg - Why JD/MBA - Typical questions about your experience with teams The second half was very much a two way conversation. Just asked questions about their experiences. Overall was a very natural conversation. Based on this conversation, I’m not sure that the interview is a “make or break” type of thing. Was definitely good, but it seems to be just a piece of the admissions process.

My interview was conducted by a 2nd year student and lasted around 40min. I entered the interview slightly anxious, but this anxiety was quickly gone after I saw a person of my age and emotional level (very open and rather from the extroversive wing:)). The questions were all standard, the ones already mentioned in other debriefs like "how your colleagues would describe you in two words?", "tell me about a time you led a diverse team". The interviewer asked me about the school's international offerings and what I would be interested in. Even though I always dropped in some ideas on where I could elaborate "I took this job, I can tell you later why if you wish", he never picked up on any, but continuously went through his list. So I'd say the biggest challenge for me was to make the interview sound like a conversation not like a monologue. All in all, very positive experience making one further grow interest in the school and also luckily enough time for Q&As - kudos to Kellogg! P.S. I tried to enter the interview online room from Safari web-browser, this did not work. Chrome worked out perfectly.

Very standard. 1. Tell me about yourself. 2. Why MBA? Why now? 3. Why Kellogg? 4. Give me 1 example of: - leadership - teamwork - conflict 5. How will you give back to Kellogg? I asked about how the schools was helping students during this time. Alumni was very honest - gave a good picture of the school's positive actions as well as areas for improvement. Over in about 45 mins. From what I gather, this is standard for interviews here. Honestly, they're working and taking time out during a work day. Don't really have the time to be doing 3 hour interviews like some of the other debriefs mention.

I had the interview yesterday with an alum ('19) and it was quite smooth and free flowing. He started out by giving a brief introduction of himself then asked me to do the same. His overall demeanour instantly put me at ease. After introduction he asked me where do I see myself compared with my peers in my company and my undergrad batch. Then a couple of typical questions - - Why MBA - Why Kellogg - ST/LT goals My goal is consulting and I explained that with 2 reasons. After this he mentioned that I had really thought through about what I wanted to gain through an MBA. But he followed that up with asking about my backup plan. He seemed satisfied with my answer. This was all done in less then 30 mins and next 15 mins I asked him some questions based on what I gathered from his linkedin. I was expecting some behavioural questions, but that did not come up. My only advice is to do your research about the schools, mention specifics, name drop current students/alumnis.