Questions to ask a Dean of Admissions in an interview:

Question

What do you look for in an applicant?
What do you thin students are most surprised by when they start program X?

HELP, add more!

refurb · Answer

The Dean? Ask big questions:

What direction do you want to take the program?
or
What do you think the school could do better?

The best questions are based on current info. If you read an article by the Dean, ask him about the content. It shows you've done your homework!

RF

spiridon · Answer

Questions to ask per PhilosophyMan:

We've all gone through this phase in life, sometimes more often than others. But haven't you ever asked yourself, "Why am I on this earth"? What am I here for? Exactly just what is your purpose in life?

Rubashov1 · Answer

Boxers or briefs?

Apologies if said dean is female.

solaris1 · Answer

Wait, is Randall interviewing you at Cornell raabenb?

TL · Answer

What's most important to you and why? Then pull out a stopwatch and say you have 90 seconds !!

Raabend · Answer

Nope! This is for my WashU Olin interview. Its a phone interview tomorrow.

walker · Answer

What matters most to you, and why? EDIT: TL has already post this question

But if seriously... I almost sure that I would ask: If you were me what directions would you focus on during study in order to get maximum benefits from the MBA program? or a slightly modified question depending on overall impression. I don't think that question like "What do you look for in an applicant" will add value in your interview. I'm almost sure that Dean answers every day that question and will say automatically maybe even word-by-word from school site. The question does not force him/her to think a lot and you will look like many others. In my question, Dean should take my side even for a few seconds. Actually I ask him or her to play for me. Moreover the question will force to think, maybe even to think for a while as each of us is a unique person with own set of skills and experiences. Additionally, in the question you passes through choice, in other words, you ask as you have already admitted. Do you see the difference between: "Would you like to buy a car, or not?" and "Would you like to buy red or black car?". You also have a chance to get a really good personal advice from successful manager who is better than any admission consultant . Finally, the first and last words are more important because their more memorable. So too is your last question. too many thoughts about simple question? At least it gives me a bit confidence

refurb · Answer

You could also ask "What do you think Olin does best (or better than other schools)?"

RF

Sleepy · Answer

how do you handle the wait between sending out offers and hearing back? Are you disapointed when a student chooses another program over yours?

Yahsek · Answer

Ask him if his refrigerator is running. If he answers yes, then tell him he'd better go catch it. If he says no, then, well, I haven't figured out that part yet.

Seriously though, refurb's question is really good. It's simple yet effective because you're asking the Dean, "Why Olin?" Each school tries to establish it's own "thing" that differentiates its brand from all of the other brands out there. If you know what direction the program is heading then it'll help a lot when you're trying to decide betwene Olin and the other schools you get into.

Raabend · Answer

I did ask refurbs question and OMG it got him talking for soooooooooo long! He totally loved that question. KUDOS REFURB!

refurb · Answer

I had a feeling he might like that question. I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but the top 15 b-schools in general tend to be quite similar.* They often offer very similar courses, have similar lists of recruiters, similar student body, etc. However, they try like hell to differentiate themselves from each other. I think everyone from the Dean on down really focuses on what makes their school different. It would be the same as asking an your local IT guy about networks, it's all he does all day so he'll have a lot to say. *Funny story: A few weeks after visiting Tuck I was having dinner with a friend who graduated from Yale last year. I told him that I thought the class visit was really interesting, it was an operations class about the Toyota model. He said: "Oh yeah, they talked about stuff like Hansei, Kaizen and Jidoka (key Japanese ideas that the model follows), right?". I was like :shock:

, it was practically the same dam class. RF

tmino · Answer

I'd ask questions that you're actually interested in and care about. Maybe your post-MBA goal is a certain industry, so you could inquire about things the school offers in that area aside from stuff you already researched (e.g. clubs). Or maybe you need financial aid, so ask about assistance (e.g. school scholarships, corporate scholarships). That way, you will appear more credible, curious, and sincere.

MBAbot · Answer

Hello from the GMAT Club MBAbot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.

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