Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants : MBA Archive

aditya2789

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Re: Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

01 Mar 2013, 06:58

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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!!

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Re: Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

01 Mar 2013, 07:43

aditya2789 wrote:

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

rocky312

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Re: Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

01 Mar 2013, 11:14

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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.

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Re: Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

01 Mar 2013, 11:18

rocky312 wrote:

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.

rocky312

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Re: Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

01 Mar 2013, 11:25

golsey wrote:

rocky312 wrote:

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.

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Re: Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

01 Mar 2013, 11:32

rocky312 wrote:

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 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.

golsey

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Re: Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

01 Mar 2013, 11:35

rocky312 wrote:

golsey wrote:

rocky312 wrote:

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 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.

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Re: Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

01 Mar 2013, 11:38

rocky312 wrote:

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.

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.

rocky312

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Re: Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

01 Mar 2013, 11:42

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!

B

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Re: Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

01 Mar 2013, 11:54

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Expert Reply

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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Re: Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

01 Mar 2013, 11:55

1

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rocky312 wrote:

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!

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!

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Re: Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

01 Mar 2013, 12:02

aerien wrote:

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.

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

B

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Re: Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

01 Mar 2013, 12:18

Expert Reply

Zynga wrote:

aerien wrote:

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.

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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Re: Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

01 Mar 2013, 16:23

aerien wrote:

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.

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.

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Re: Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

01 Mar 2013, 16:39

nyama wrote:

aerien wrote:

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.

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.

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Re: Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

01 Mar 2013, 22:21

aerien wrote:

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.

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.

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Re: Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

01 Mar 2013, 23:47

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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?

gmatclubot

Re: Chicago (Booth) 2013 - Calling All Applicants [#permalink]

01 Mar 2013, 23:47