McDonough (Georgetown)

"1. Tell me about yourself 2. With such less work ex what can I contribute? 3. Why Georgetown? 4. ST MT LT goals 5. Where do I think the industry is headed in next 5-10 years? 6. About a time when I led a team? 7. About a time when I took an initiative? 8. 3 Qualities that my employer will say about me 9. Questions for her Overall I blew it I had one opportunity and I blew it. I rushed through the answers I didn't give them much story from my work side Both the stories were from the University side I was so fast in speaking that she had to interrupt me Guys I was so nervous, I wish they give me a chance to get in, but asking for a chance twice is may be asking too much Luckily my background does much of the work for me, born in family of developers but I am really bad at speaking in pressure Please don't blow up your interview guys It lasted for about 27 mins, she seemed displeased However, since I always catch the words Look at the difference between these two sentences "If you are selected come to the event that we are organising in India" "When you're selected please join us in the event we're hosting in India" See the difference? No? Watch Aquaman Well she used "if" So may be I have the clue However, try to trap the interviewer into telling you how it went as I did but plz don't ask directly Immediately post interview I texted the current students and apologised as I could not live up to the expectations."

"My McDonough interview was held with a current student. Was curious about the process and was told by my interviewer that all students/faculty/admissions team are trained in the same manner for interviews and who interviews you does not have any bearing for the interviewee. Just a note that I thought might assuage others. The interview was fairly straightforward and discussed my career up to that point, why I wanted to continue my education at Georgetown, etc. Then we got into behavioral questions which included things like: "tell me about a time when you lead a team," Did you ever have bad feedback, why?" ETC. I also got asked what I had been doing to prepare for the quantitative aspect of the program. All in all, the interview was conversational and I enjoyed it. Best of luck to my fellow applicants!"

"Hi All, Had my interview last week and I wanted to share my experience. My interview was with a second-year student from the admissions committee. I had his details in the zoom invite which gave me time to look him up on LinkedIn. He was courteous and friendly. After some basic small talk, he began by introducing himself and explained that the interview would be for 30 mins. And that he would give me time to ask questions towards the end. He also went on to explain that he had only seen my resume and that he would impartially report the proceedings of the interview to the adCom. Questions were: 1) What is your current job function 2) My ST and LT goals? Then he had a few follow up questions on my LT 3) Why Georgetown 4) What am I looking for when I consider schools 5) A challenging situation at work 6) A time when I took initiative at work and what were the results 7) What does it mean to work in teams and what has your experience been with working in global teams Then he asked me if I had any questions and answered each one of them in detail. Overall it was a great experience and the tone of the entire interview was conversational."

"Hi folks, I had a Zoom interview with Lauren Grainger from the academic affairs team. It was a blind interview and she had already gone through my resume and had some questions on my work exp. 1. I already know your professional achievements, so give a brief overview of your work experience and then tell me why do you want an MBA and why now? 2. ST & LT Goals 3. Why don't you consider working 2-3 more years at your current company (I was working directly with higher mgmt on a project undertaken by chairman) 4. Why Georgetown? 5. Time when you worked in a team and faced a challenge. How did you react? 6. Time when you traveled abroad for work or when you worked in a multicultural setting. 7. Any questions for me? She had mentioned in the beginning that she might take some notes and keep track of time and won't be able to look at the screen at all times so I should not be distracted or discouraged. Interview went on for 32mins. Decision will come on 13th December."

"Hi All, Just had my interview at McDonough on Friday and wanted to share it while it's still fresh in my head. My interview was held by a Student Ambassador in the MBA Admissions office. He was a first-year student and literally started in September, so that set a unique tone for the interview. Intro--the interviewer was friendly and warm and made small talk about how my drive was (he knew I was from New York) before we sat down. He then explained the structure of the interview: 25 minutes of him asking questions and 5 min left to answer any that I may have. He was courteous to let me know that just because he's looking at his phone does not mean he wants me to speed up, only that he's keeping track of time overall. Questions-- 1. Tell Me about yourself 2. What are your short term and long term goals 3. Why Georgetown? 4. If admitted, what is the likelihood that you would attend? (I forget the order of these next couple of questions) 5. Describe a time to me when you worked on a team to get something done. 6. What is your proudest work accomplishment? 7. Name a time when you faced adversity and how did you get over it? 8. Tell me about a time when you led a project and it didn't go so well. What would you do differently? 9. What are two of your weaknesses? 10. Do you have any questions for me? Here are the questions I asked him in case anyone was interested: 1. From going from an applicant to an admitted student, what surprised you about the program? 2. Even though you just started, where do you see the program and the school evolving in the future? 3. I'm attending the Flex MBA Preview Day the day after. What advice do you have for me to make it a fruitful experience? 4. So I'll be hearing back on 12/13 then, correct? (And then he mentioned how the school will call you, not email you, if admitted so to keep your phone close to you.) Overall, he let me answer the questions with detail without cutting me off. I could tell that he also was observing my physical responses--posture, hand movements, tone of voice, articulation in telling a story, etc. so I would recommend applicants to practice those things None of the questions were overly complex or complicated. I could've probably given better examples, but I was content with my performance overall."

"My interview was on campus. The interview was blind so she had only see my resume. The interview was relatively short lasting roughly 25 minutes. 1. Tell me about your experience since undergrad. 2. tell me about your short term and long term goals. 3. Why georgetown? 4. What sort of networking have you done? 5. How do you resolve conflict within a team 6. Greatest strength 7. Two greatest weaknesses 8. How have you interacted with a different culture?"

"I realized the debriefs for McDonough weren't as up-to-date, so I decided to help the cause. I interviewed in February with a current student on campus in the Hariri Building. Overall, I loved my interview experience. It's blind, so the interviewer only had my resume, and the questions were pretty general: walk me through the resume, why do you want the MBA, what are you looking to do, etc. In no way did it feel like there was a sense to prove my goals were valid or worthy of the school. A lot of our discussion branched off my explanation of my resume. We talked in detail about my international experience, my first leadership roles, and conflicts at work. If I had to offer a piece of advice, it'd be to know why you made the decisions you made. I lived abroad for 7 years and then moved home 2 years ago, and we discussed why I made those decisions and how they now factor into my wanting to get the MBA. I walked out of it feeling great and confident that, if I do attend the MSB, I'll be happy and gain a lot. One of the questions I asked the interviewer was what he thought was the most undervalued aspect of the program (that wasn't easily gleaned from online literature), and he said it was the academic rigor of the program. I love that answer. Hope this helps! Good luck everyone!"

"Just finished my interview with Adcom (via Zoom application). It lasted about 30 minutes. She said that it was a blind interview with only resume as the source of information. For technical advise, suggest you download the Zoom application prior to the interview, look your email 5-15 minutes before the interview (in case the Adcom ask you to send him/her your resume, just like my case), and prepare your passport or citizen ID to be shown to the Adcom. The questions asked during the interview include: 1) Tell me about yourself, career progression up until now (please limit in 2 minutes) 2) Tell me about your side business 3) Short term and long term goal 4) Why MBA & Why now 5) Why Georgetown 6) What would be the main challenge in your role post MBA 7) What is your greatest accomplishment 8) Tell me a time when you had a conflict with your peers / supervisor and how did you resolve it 9) What would your peers / supervisor say about your strength 10) What would they say about your area of improvement 11) Do you have any questions for me Best of luck for us!"

"Thanks! I had the interview a couple of days ago on 10/31 I think the interview went very well. My interview was with a current first-year MBA student. She had a paper that she was asking questions from and writing notes on. I walked her through my resume, explained some of my experience. She asked me a series of questions and the responses yielded conversation. In the end, I got to ask her a few questions. If I don't get in, I don't think it's because of my interview lol."

"I applied on the last day of the R2 deadline (5th Jan) and received an interview invite by the end of Feb. Porter Blackford Interviewed me. She really tried her best to make me feel comfortable and make the experience conversational. All the future applicants. Rest assured that you will feel extremely at ease during the interview and so there is absolutely NO reason to stress. It started with Tell me something about yourself What brings you to do MBA What are your short term goals? Any dream companies (after I mentioned where I wanted to recruit in short term) Why do you think are great attributes of a good leader ?(since I have a leadership experience she picked it up from one of my stories) How would my supervisor/manager describe me in 2 or 3 words? Tell me about a time when you had a hard time managing your team members for e.g. you worked on a project but didn't get success and had to manage them What activities have you done besides business development in your family business? My questions? The interview lasted for 29 minutes including my questions."

"Had my interview recently. Following question were asked: (a) Tell me what you do at work ? (b) Why MBA ? (c) Short term and long term career plans ? (d) What are the positive and negative feedback received at workplace ? (e) Who are you outside your work ? (f) How can you contribute to different clubs in the college ? (g) What are other colleges applied to ? If selected in all them, then what will be your choice ? My advice to future aspirants: (a) Questions are pretty normal and usual. So go prepared ! (b) If it is a skype interview, then look straight into the camera instead of looking into your screen. Eye contact shows confidence. (c) Search and gather information about college (d) In the last, don't try to complicate the things. Go simple and prepared. All the best !"