Kellogg (Northwestern) 2013 - Calling All Applicants

Change of plan. In for R2.

Guys temme one thing. In the 'degree' section it lists 'BTEC'. Is that what we know as 'BTech' in India?

Folks,

As I plan to apply for R2, would like to know if there's a list of things I need to be ready with before I hit the submit button for PART -1, and another list of things for PART -2.
Please let me know ASAP, otherwise I might ruin my chances

Hey prabshan,

For Part 1 you need to have these things ready:

• Resume
• Employment History
• Extracurriculars Details
• Achievements

I would also suggest you visit the Kellogg website to cross check. it's important you don't miss out on anything significant. also creating a login ID and password and actually opening up the application form and going through all the parts will tell you exactly what you need.

From what I've read in the part 1 app, there's nothing much you need apart from the GMAT/TOEFL scores.

I do have a few doubts of my own regarding a few minutae of the app and I've mailed kellogg regarding the same.

Might even call 'em up tonight.

Regards

Thanks a lot for the quick response. I have 'em all ready, I just need to copy, and paste into the respective fields I guess.
Also, do I need to provide info about my recommendations??

Honestly, just open the app and go part by Part. An no need for reco info in Part 1. But I would suggest you fill it out and notify your recommenders soon since the holiday season is coming up and many ppl travel. You don't want to dilly dally and have them submit late. Recommenders are notorious for doing that.

I actually sent out my reco notifications 2 months ago although my first deadline was 3 days ago.

has anyone spoken to the admissions group recently? it looked like last year they gave a rough date when admits would start rolling out

Str1der - I'm sorry to hear this. I was for sure you'd get an interview invite at Kellogg to say the least. Have you heard good news from other schools? You seem like a strong candidate, so I'm sure something will come through in either R1 or R2 schools. I'm rooting for you!

Hi guys I thought I would share my interview report

My interview was on Friday around 1PM. I live 5 hour drive from Chicago. My gf and I drove down that morning straight to Northwestern. We reached there around 11AM. I registered at the admission office which is on the second floor. I had some questions regarding information session later that day. We grabbed lunch downstairs and walked around the campus.
Around 12.30PM, I walked back to the admissions office. There were 4 other interview candidates waiting for their interviews as well. I chatted with them a bit. All of them had pretty impressive backgrounds.
My interviewer came around 12.55PM and asked me to follow her to one of the executive interview rooms. She was very friendly and tried to put me at ease right away. We chatted for a bit about how nice the weather was that day and how my drive to Evanston was and if I am staying the night or not.
She formally introduced herself with her position and everything. I gave a short introduction. She also gave some background information about how this was a blind interview and she hasn’t seen my application Part 1 yet. She also emphasized that the notes she would make would not be used until the last stage and I could repeat the stories in my essays as the admission committee doesn’t review the interview notes until they see my complete application.
Here are some questions I remember. Most of them should be in the order they were asked
1. Walk me through your resume.
A. I gave her a brief background and then started with my college to the current point
2. Why did you chose the undergraduate institute you chose
3. Why did you pursued a graduate degree
4. Why did I chose to work for my current company
5. Tell me more about your current role
6. What is your leadership style?
7. Give me an example of you leadership style
8. How do I work in teams at my current job?
9. How do I contribute to my team?
10. What do you do if someone in your team is not willing to follow through or there is a confrontation
11. My s/t and l/t goals?
12. How does Kellogg fit in to that picture and MMM program especially.
13. How have I displayed some of the traits required for my career goals?
14. What will I bring to Kellogg
15. If my manager has to give me a constructive feedback what would it be?
16. What are the top two weakest links on my application?
17. If I have any questions for her
I asked her why she chose to work for Kellogg and what does she really like about the Kellogg culture. I also asked her would it be possible that day to meet any MMM students.
Toward the end she asked me if I want them to know anything which she couldn’t ask. Here I talked about my extra-curricular and briefly mentioned what motivates me. I was really satisfied with this answer because I was able to put a really good final touch on my entire application.

I also wanted to end my interview on a really lighter note so I told her about the time when I played for a Pink Floyd cover band in India and how out first show sucked and how popular my band is now. I am glad I mentioned that because this really lightened the mood and added a personal touch.

Regardless of the outcome, I really enjoyed the interview and the conversation. I think she is going to remember me as a Pink Floyd fan and fusion rock-star who turned rocket scientist to design air-conditioners and will solve Indian food security problems in the future.

How on earth did she have the time to ask you 16 different questions with extra room to boot? (considering you discussed your cover band experience). Were your responses extremely brief and to the point?

I had maybe seven questions tops. I suppose part of my interviewing strategy is to provide in-depth and comprehensive answers so that I can pre-emptively answer questions they may throw at me. (For example, if she asks me to walk through my resume, when I cover the 1.5 month gap between 2 of my jobs I can use that to describe a time I hit a setback and how I overcame it.)

So either I'm rambling in my answers... or you're providing more succinct answers... or your interviewer simply provided generous time for your interview. Congrats on getting that over with tho~!

All the possibilities you listed are valid.
I am a brief person and I answer with max 4~5 sentences. I don't have any gaps in my resume. I mentioned setbacks in one or two sentences. I am of the opinion that if she was interested in knowing more, she would have asked me to elaborate on that particular incident.
I used examples only when asked or when particular questions was more important or directed towards Kellogg culture. How on earth you are going to provide examples from you current experience when you are asked about s/t and l/t goals. The only examples I could use were the company names and position description.

Above all the rhetoric, I don't think number of questions or the duration of interview have any bearing on your candidacy. If anything, I would think that you just had a good clean profile and clear answers that she/he didn't have to ask you that many questions to understand your personality and values.

Just out of curiosity, do you design air-conditioners that go into space shuttles? In any case, yours is some interesting career...Rock Star, Rocket Scientist, Air conditioner designer, and someone who plans on solving Indian food security problems (wow! that could fetch you a Nobel you know).

I agree on the Nobel prize

And yes I do design component for space shuttle HVACs. ok not quite. But I am an Aerospace Engg by training but work in product management/strategy for a climate solution company.

Yup. (I definitely wasn't insinuating that the high # of questions had a bearing on anyone's candidacy.) Was just curious at the wide range of # of questions asked. Best of luck MALD

Thanks Ojil, all the best to you too.

I kind of wonder if we had the same interviewer because I had virtually the same questions.