Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants

Hi everyone!!

I've just came from my interview this afternoon. It was with an alumni (off campus).

Questions that I can remember (no exact order):

1) Why MBA?
2) Why do you think you would be a good fit with Booth?
3) What do you think are the key characteristics of a leader and how do you identify with that?
4) Tell me about a project that didn't work as you wanted?
5) Have you ever made a mistake in your career? What did you learn from that?
6) How would you contribute to Booth?
7) Why did you get involved in surfing?
8) What's the thing that you love most when playing the guitar?
8) What are you most passionate about or gives you the greatest joy?
9) From the books that you've read, what book would you recommend me to read and why?
10) What would your friends would say are your greatest strengths?

He asked a lot about my extracurriculars and few (i guess nothing) about my resume. As everyone loves to talk about their hobbies, those questions were relatively easy for me, but I'm wondering why he didn't asked me a lot about why Chicago and how would I fit considering that this is supposedly the big emphasis of the Booth interview... I feel like I didn't explain that part as much as I would have wished... the WHY CHICAGO question??

I don't think I did it bad, but I don't know if I did it great as I wished I had to. This was because, he was a little bit serious and very concentrated in taking a lot of notes while I was talking, (like a psychologist) so at the beginning that didn't seemed to me that it was a conversation, but more of an interrogation. As he was inexpressive during the interview taking notes, I couldn't figure out what was he thinking, so I don't really know how good or bad my performance was...

At the end of the interview, he stopped taking notes, told me that the interview had concluded and asked me if I had some questions. I asked him a lot about his experience at Booth. That was the most relaxed part of the interview because this time it was a conversation... he seemed to be a very nice guy.

I guess I've just have to wait and hope for the best... (fingers crossed)
Hope that for some of you guys that are anxious preparing for your interviews (as I was this morning) found this post useful.

Yep I did, it was pretty useful and got good insights.

As regards the transcript, this still has to be published. It should come out in a few days. You can check on the Booth website:

Booth Home - > Programs - > Full Time MBA and you'll see an ENGAGE box on the right. Click on Participate in a Chat and scroll down: you'll see all the transcripts.

Cheers
Sannuzzo

Hey guys,

Just got done with my interview today. It was with an alumnus who now runs his own software company here in Chennai.

It was quite short (20 mins) - I hope that's not a bad sign, since the average is around 45 mins as far as I know.

He first started off by introducing himself, told me about his profile, what he does now and why he chose Booth.
The questions were (not in the same order):
1. Tell me about yourself.
2. Why MBA?
3. Why Booth?
4. What are some of the challenges you face at work?
5. How does it feel when older people report to you?
6. How I am involved in the community, and when I replied that I don't really have the time to be actively involved, he asked me what I would like to do if I had the time.

I then asked him a couple of questions, and it all ended in like 20 mins! Now it's the wait!!

Don't sweat it. There's no correlation between the length of an interview and your chances of acceptance. As has been mentioned on the forum, doing well won't necessarily get you an admit and not doing well won't keep you out.
Some applicants reported great experiences but ended up getting dinged or wait listed. Just take a breather and wait it out

hey guys,

just had my booth interview this week with an alumnus (off campus). my interview was not typical to say the least. a number of times during the interview he criticized booth and kept asking me why i want to go there despite that. it was mostly centered on why booth and whether its the right fit for me. when i told him about my career plans, he said they were fluff and too idealistic.

its honestly put me off booth a fair bit. i'm not sure if others have had an interview like this. oh and he didn't take any notes.

i'm curious, are alumni really allowed to criticize their school during the interview? it sounded very unprofessional to me.

I would definitely contact someone at the admissions office and give this feedback to them. I feel that your interviewer did not take things seriously and this might affect your admittance chances to Booth.

i was thinking of doing that. just afraid of any backlash that might happen if i send out an email.

I agree with the above posters. You should contact admissions to let them know what happened. Also, so they don't ask that person to interview candidates in the future. Best of luck in the admissions process.

I would recommend to either contact someone from the Adcom that you have already met via the phone or just give the office a call. Ask to speak with an interview coordinator if you can. Express your concern about the overall experience without being too negative. Tell them you are concerned about what the outcome might be given the interviewer's behavior throughout the interview. Do not be demanding either. I think they would understand where you are coming from in a situation like this.

wow! that is unheard of.
As others said, you should contact the admissions office and let them know.
Maybe they will arrange for another interview opportunity.

thank you everyone. i'll just speak to the adcom member who helped set up this interview. the incident has just left me quite worried.

hope the rest of the applicants have a better interview!

That's a horrible interview experience to have, but to play devils advocate a bit, some people do that to see how you'll react. They want to test how you face adversity and the unexpected. Not something I would do if I were on the other side of the table, but I've had it done to me before, both during this process and in the job search process.
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I agree with the others that you could call but I recommend keeping it objective and factual if you do:

1) I had my interview on X date with Y person.
2) He said these things, and I was surprised.
3) I wanted to share this information for two reasons: a) I am not certain how the interview report will look and b) I left feeling a bit uncomfortable.

Obviously you should frame in the way that suits you, but I would steer away from making any recommendations or criticisms.

Sorry to hear about this - good luck!

I can understand this tactic for job interviews ( criticizing your/other companies and see if you follow suit) but B-school interviews would be the worst place to use it.
Also, the poster said that the interviewer was not taking any notes

An interviewer doesn't need to take notes to watch you squirm. Maybe I've just had evil interviewers...and for better or for worse, the results don't tend to be in my favor when all is said and done.

Regardless OP, if you want to tell adcom about it, go ahead and use the great advice that's already been posted. After that, sweep it under the rug and hope for the best.
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Although i'm against contacting the adcom with '/notes/flags' i think if you do decide to do it, do it the diplomatic way. Sweeping it under the rug, the best way to go. Just think of this as being dealt a 'bad hand' and hope for the best. As they say, it's not the bad hand itself that matters, but how one handles it and emerge, victorious.

Most definitely contact the adcom, by phone if possible. It is almost certain that they have absolutely no idea that this alum is representing their institution poorly. While it could have been an "interview tactic", it certainly didn't come off that way and caused you to doubt your commitment to the school. That's bad for business and bad for the school. You may not in the end benefit your application itself, but you could save some applicant in the future from this kind of uncomfortable situation. Pay it forward.

i've been through this during the job interview process but never heard of it happening during b-school interviews. as the other posters have mentioned, it is bad for business. i mean you don't want to drive students away.

Interview is over. Is there anything I can do to improve the possibility?
Hmm.. is the interview very important in Chicago Booth's admissions criteria?