Marshall (USC)

"Had my interview on 13 March with Mr. Nirav Mehta, Senior Associate Director MBA Admissions. Very conversational, he put me at ease right away. Started off with him asking me to introduce myself starting with education and moving on to my current job. Post that he asked me what I think my biggest work achievement is and to talk about it. Based on our conversation, he asked about the 3 qualities a good leader has as per me. Then we moved on to the goals that I have - both ST and LT This led to him then asking me about the need for an MBA and why I would like to pursue it at Marshall. He kept some time at the end for questions and answered all 3 questions I had patiently. At the end, he told me that the next steps - he would have a meeting with the committee next week and would be reaching out soon with their decisions! Overall a comfortable but short interview. 30-35 minutes in total."

"Just concluded my interview Conducted by Laura Hartman Interview time : 30 min It was a blind interview 1. Walk me through your professional journey 2. Any recent project 3. Why MBA 4. Career goals 5. Why USC Marshall 6. Strength that came naturally to you 7. Any weakness that you are overcoming 8. Any recent book you have read 9. Questions for me"

"Interviewed with Nicolas Lopez. Was asked the following questions: 1. How did you learn about USC Marshall? 2. Tell me about yourself -- I myself explicitly told the goals at the end 3. Why Marshall? 4. What motivates you? 5. What inspires you? How is it different from the previous question? 6. What is success to you? How do you decide that you have achieve the success.? 7. How would you set a goal? Take me through your process 8. A piece of critical feedback that you have received during your professional journey. 9. What are the qualities in you that makes you unique amongst your peers? 10. Questions for him"

"Interviewed with Nick Lopez. Here are some of the questions I can recollect: Tell me about yourself Goals Why Marshall What motivates you? What inspires you? If it's different from the above? What is success to you? How would you set a goal? Take me through your process A piece of critical feedback.. He shared a quote by Peter Drucker and said he wants to know how I would react to it - “The best way to predict the future is to create it”. Questions for him"

"I was interviewed by Laura Hartman from the admissions team. She said that she just had my résumé with her band it was a blind interview. I was asked these questions: 1. Walk me through your résumé 2. What does Leadership mean to you 3. What do you like to do in your free time 4. Weakness 5. What type of leadership experience do you have? Are you currently leading a team. 6. Why USC 7. What brings out the best in you (something along these lines - now i think she was asking me about my strengths, so i guess i messed this up a little bit) 8. Questions that i had for her The questions were not asked in the same order as i have mentioned here. The interview lasted 30 minutes and was pretty smooth. Towards the end when she asked me for any questions i had for her and that was when it became very conversational. Overall, a good experience. Hoping for the best now."

"Had a 50 mins zoom interview with Kim, it was nice conversation. Tell me a little bit about yourself. / Walk me through your resume. you had promotions throughout the years, what did you learn from each? How your leadership style has changed over the years? How do you respond to conflicts? If you can go back in time, what will you change and do this time? Why MBA now? What are your short-term long term goals? Why USC ? Questions for me? The interviewer also mentioned that admission decisions are on rolling basis, so expect it from today now till end of the month. All the best!"

"I interviewed with a member of the admissions committee this week. I do not believe she had seen my application, only my resume. My interview lasted 30 minutes. It was not on Microsoft Teams (as noted in the interview invite) but on Zoom. Walk me through your resume. Do you oversee anyone at your current job? What leadership opportunities have you had? What do you attribute to the success of your career? Why do you want an MBA? What are your post mba goals? Why Marshall? What will you bring to Marshall? Have you talked to any students or alumni? What is one soft skill that you are working to improve on? What are your top three strengths? How would your friends describe you? Is there anything more I should know about you? Do you have any questions for me? What do you like most about your job? What could your boss/company improve on? One more question was how would your friends describe you. A tip I would give is to present your answer and then give background information or additional context. I tried explaining why I’m different from my friends and because of this they would describe me a certain way. The interviewer took this that I didn’t understand the question. This might have docked me points. Another issue I had was anticipating future questions. When they asked why USC Marshall I should have talked about more specifics like classes/clubs/ examples from students I talked to, how specifically USC can help me get from A to B. I expected them to ask what courses I’m interested in or if I had talked to any students. They didn’t and I didn’t get to “show off”"

"Interviewed by Nick Lopez. - How did you find about USC Marshall? - Tell me about yourself - Why USC Marshall? - What motivates you? - What inspires you? - What’s ur definition of success? - What feedback did you get from your peer and how you learned from it? - What is leadership? - What is a good leader and bad leader? - How do you set a goal? - What is your long term goal?"

"Hi. It was the basic set of questions - why MBA? Why now? - Goals"

"I got a shortlist email on 25th Oct and was interviewed on 28th Oct by an adcom member, Nirav Mehta. The interview lasted for exactly 30 mins. The interviewer had gone through my entire application and was aware of my career goals. The interview was extremely conversational. Questions: 1. Walk me through your Resume. 2. Why do you have your specific career goals and why do you require an MBA degree to achieve the same? (Basically Why MBA?) 3. Why USC Marshall? 4. How will you leverage the Los Angeles location? (as I had mentioned about this in my application) 5. What is the biggest achievement in your career and why? 6. What are the three top qualities a successful leader must have? 7. Give me an instance of when you had to use empathy in your leadership experience. (As I had mentioned empathy as one of the top qualities a leader must have) 8. Any questions for me? The interviewer also mentioned that admission decisions might start coming in towards the end of November."

"The interview was blind and conversational (lasted about 35 mins). 1. How did you come across USC Marshall? 2. Tell me about yourself. 3. How will Marshall help you achieve your immediate goals? How does it fit in with your long term goals? 4. How do you ensure that the goals you have set at work are met/ how do you go about executing a project? 5. Tell me about a time you received feedback from a peer/supervisor and learned from it. 6. What are your key motivators/ inspirations? 7. What does success mean to you? 8. What are the qualities of a good leader and conversely, of a bad leader? 9. What is one characteristic of yours that helps you the most at work? 10. What about our application process was good/ any feedback on it? Any questions for me?"

"Interviewed with Nirav Mehta. One of the most easy-going interviewer I have ever met. The interview lasted for roughly about 35-40 mins. But it wasn't a blind interview. He had gone through my entire application. Questions: 1. What do you consider as your biggest achievement and why? 2. Why MBA and Why Marshall? 3. Tell me a time where you had a disagreement with your peers or supervisor. What was your reaction and how did you handle it? 4. What are the top three qualities you think a leader must have? 5. Tell me a time where you had to use empathy in your leadership experience (Because I had mentioned "empathy" as one of the three traits). 6. Any questions for me? He said expect to hear back by the end of November? So fingers crossed!"

"I was interviewed by Laura Hartman a member of the admissions committee. She said she had my résumé with her but had not read any other part of my application. Here are the questions I was asked: 1. Walk me through your résumé 2. Your strengths as a leader 3. Weaknesses 4. Talk about a project you worked on 5. You have been working at your current job for the past few months. Tell about a project you have worked on in the past few months. 6. Why MBA 7. Why USC 8. Anything else I want the admissions committee to know 9. Questions for her The interview lasted 30 minutes and was conversational"

"Interviewed with Rachel Woolslayer. 1. Walk me through your resume 2. Why MBA? 3. Why Marshall? 4. Leadership qualities you currently possess 5. Greatest accomplishment 6. One misconception about you 7. What are your interests outside of work 8. Do you have any questions for me"

"Online/ Conversational/ Adcom/ Resume Based/ "Interviewer: Nirav Mehta Duration: 35-40 mins 25-30 mins for interview questions 10 mins for my questions Questions: 1) Tell me about yourself 2) I can see many achievements on your Resume, what is your greatest achievement? 3) What are the 3 qualities of leader that you admire? 4) Tell me about the time when you motivated your team members? 5) What are your short term and long term goals? 6) Why MBA ? 7) Why Marshall? 8) Any question for him? I asked around 3-4 questions. Experience: At the beginning, He introduced himself and explained structure of interview. He was very warm and kept the interview very conversational. He also gave some great answers to my questions at the end. He also asked me few things regarding my city and in general. Overall it was my great experience to interact with him. Hope this helps!""

"Interviewer: Nicholas Lopez (Associate Admissions Director) Duration: 30 mins 25 mins for interview questions 5 mins for my questions Questions - What would you like to share about yourself? - How did you find the USC MBA program? - How can Marshall help you achieve your professional goals? - How do you make sure you achieve your goals? - What is something that you are really good at? - What motivates you? - What inspires you? - What does success mean to you? - What are the qualities of a good leader in your opinion? - On the flip side, what makes for a bad leader? - Tell me about a time you received feedback that made you upset at the time but has been constructive in hindsight. - How well does the USC program fit your expectations? Experience: At the beginning, Nick explained how the interview would be structured and then jumped into the questions. He was very warm and kept the interview very conversational. He also gave some great answers to my questions at the end. Hope this helps!"

"I had my interview with Nick Lopez, pretty chill guy. 1. How did you find the USC program, indicators for selecting a B-School. 2. Tell me about yourself. 3. How do you approach a problem. 4. What inspires you. 5. What motivates you. 6. What is the definition of success as per you. 7. Why MBA and how USC can help achieve you those goals. 8. Short term plan and long term plan. 9. TMAT when you had a conflict in the team and how did you go on about solving that. 10. Difficult decision that you made and how."

"I had my interview with Laura from Adcom. It was conversational and lasted 30 mins - 25 mins for the interview and 5 mins for Q&A. 1. Walk me through your resume 2. Tell me about your leadership experiences and what your leadership style is 3. What are your strengths? 4. What are your weaknesses? 5. Why MBA? 6. Why Marshall? 7. Short-term goals? 8. Did you connect with any student or alum? 9. What was the last book you read? 10. How do you spend time outside work? Hope this helps. Good luck!"

"Had my interview with Laura Hartman. Lasted for 20 min. Last 5 min for Q&A. It was a blind interview 1. Tell me about your work post-undergrad. 2. Why MBA? 3. Why Marshall? 4. Tell me about your leadership exp at my company and how are you as a leader. 5. Did you connect with the students/alumni at Marshall. Who were they? 6. Tell me your strengths. 7. Tell me your weaknesses. 8. what do you like to do outside your work? 9. Any questions for me? Hope this helps. Good luck!!"

"My interview was with Nicholas Lopez, Associate dirctor, Admissions. He was really professional and set the tone of the interview as more of a conversational one. These were the questions asked: 1. How did you find the USC program, indicators for selecting a B-School. 2. Tell me about yourself. 3. How do you approach a problem. 4. What inspires you. 5. What motivates you. 6. What is the definition of success as per you. 7. Why MBA and how USC can help achieve you those goals. 8. Short term plan and long term plan. 9. TMAT when you had a conflict in the team and how did you go on about solving that. 10. Difficult decision that you made and how. And some follow up questions as well around the answers. At the end, he asked if I have any questions for him. I did ask him 2-3 questions that I had and he explained them in a very polite manner. Went around for 30 minutes. Overall it was a good experience."