Live Mock MBA Interview with HBS Alum & Ross MBA Student - Oct 22

Hi there! Some quick answers to your questions below:

For the qualities you're looking for, there are 2 approaches you can take:

Students who will be useful for you (i.e. people you can learn from that will help you in your career)

Personality wise, pick some of your favorite teamwork traits, say you're looking for someone with those traits, and then say something like, "I say this because this trait is very important for me in my career. For example, I always make sure to do X, and I like working with people who have the same values

For what you bring to campus, there are various buckets, but the primary contribution will be made via extra-curricular clubs. This question was handled in the video, so I won't go too much into it here.


I have a lot of advice in ApplicantLab on how to answer this question, but you're on the right track -- you need to find schools that have a common factor (otherwise you will look disorganized or like you don't really know what you want). If you mention schools that are all over the place in terms of geography, duration, specializations, etc. then you risk not looking like you have a cogent plan for your studies. Remember what I said in the video: all schools want to feel like they are your first choice!



Remember that you're applying with a strong long-term vision, but there are many ways to reach that goal / destination. Your plan B must in some way also help you reach the same destination. That is, don't suddenly make a sharp turn to some other path -- you need to seem very dedicated to the career path you've laid out!


Hope these tips help!,
Maria

Hi there!



We cover "Why MBA" in the video above; regarding "Why Now?" -- it depends upon whether or not you're in your early career, or later (that is, if you are more than 2 years younger / older than the average # of years of work experience for the class). If you're at the average number of years, it's unlikely you'll get asked this.

Either way, focus on how you already have a lot of great experience to bring to the classroom -- and how you've reached a sort of "ceiling" in your career where you can't advance (or can't advance as QUICKLY) without the MBA education in hand. IF you're young, focus on how your responsibilities are above and beyond what others at your age have done (e.g. managing others, managing budgets, etc.). If you're older, you can talk about how you thought earlier that you wouldn't need an MBA and that you would just learn on the job, but that it hasn't panned out that way and you see that the MBA is the fastest way to get this knowledge (or .... something like that!)




The good news is, we cover variations of these 2 questions in the video. The "why should we select you" question is a variation of "what makes you unique?", which I think was the last question we did (via an audience question). The "How can the MBA program help you.." is covered in the "Why MBA" question, which was the 2nd question practiced in the video.


Thanks!

Thank you so much, Maria.

Your video and these answers have been really helpful in getting clarity.

I just purchased the ApplicantLab interview module and finding it super helpful

I also found your recent video on recommendation very helpful as I'm an entrepreneur.

I have posted a query regarding that here: https://gmatclub.com/forum/i-m-an-entre ... 08879.html

Can you help with that query?

Hello from the GMAT Club MBAbot!

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