Overanalyzing an interview
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12 Sep 2007, 15:47
Recently I had an interview and now I would like to know what you all think. First, some background (without giving too much detail).
The school in question is in the Near Elite Frontier cluster. Interviews are not by invitation, you must request one before you turn in your application. I am an American living in a foreign country, so instead of conducting the interview over the phone, I requested an interview while the school is in the World MBA Fair and making a stop in the country I am in. When I contacted them about an interview, the person that was to interview me asked for my GMAT score and my resume. I submitted both and was granted an interview slot. What I have read about their interviews on Accepted dot com is that they are heavily based on your resume.
About me: My GMAT score is 80 points above the school in questions' mean and I graduated with a 4.0 GPA in Finance. The weak point in my application is my work experience, as it is only around 2 years' worth and EXTREMELY untraditional.
Anyway, I came out of the interview confident. I was ready for every one of the interviewer's questions and I managed to work in all the research I had done concerning the school into my answers (I know the school front to back).
A little later, after some thought, I started to believe that everything wasn't so great. First of all, I don't even think that the interview looked at my resume before the interview. The interviewer asked me, "Are you here in X country on business?" If the interviewer had looked at my resume for longer than 5 seconds he/she would know that I live in X country and am not traveling here for business. The interviewer also asked other questions that he/she should have known just from looking at my resume. Also, I noticed that the interviewer was agreeing a bit too heartily with everything I was saying. Furthermore, the last 10 minutes of the 30 minute interview was dedicated to the interviewer "selling" the school.
Maybe I am being paranoid, but I see this possibly meaning the following:
1. The interviewer quickly looked at my resume and the very untraditional work experience and thought, "Is this guy joking?" but decided to give me the interview anyway to sell the school and get one more application to boost their numbers. Why else would the interviewer not look at my resume when other people that were interviewed say that the interview is resume based?
2. The school was trying to recruit me because my GMAT is much higher than their mean, so the interviewer just saw the GMAT score and didn't even bother to look at my resume.
3. The interviewer is just lazy and spent their time sightseeing in the country I am living in instead of looking at my resume.
4. I am just being too paranoid.
What do you all think?