Four MBA Admissions Interview Must-Knows

[mikelee]

Last week, we just had a gathering in KH. Some friend start to construct a team to do the mock interview. It's a good sign. Personally, I strongly recommend the applicant to have a team to do the simulations. FormosaMBA must be a good place to find the mock-interview teammate.

Share this article with those who are preparing for interview.

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Four MBA Admissions Interview Must-Knows

by Linda Abraham on November 14th, 2009
Linda is the Founder of Accepted.com. Click here to learn more about Accepted.com's products and services.
It’s MBA interview season, which doesn’t mean you get a free pass to stress out. In fact, if you keep the four “must-knows” in mind during your interview prep and during the big event itself, you’ll find that acing the MBA admissions interview doesn’t need to drive you crazy.

In fact once you sort out the following five key elements, you’ll feel more relaxed and more confident—two “must-haves” for interview success!

So, what are these secret ingredients?


Interview Must-Know #1: Your Interview Goal

Your interview goal is two-fold: First, it’s your goal to show that you’re a good fit. Your interviewer is sizing you up—academically, professionally, and personally—to see if you’ll be compatible with the school’s methodology, strengths, and career opportunities. Second, you need to prove to your dream school’s adcom that you’ve got strong communication and interpersonal skills and that you know how to use them. This is particularly important if English is not your first language.

Interview Must-Know #2: Yourself

It should come as no surprise that your interviewer is going to ask you questions about yourself. Here are some questions to guide you in some interview prep introspection: What do you want to do after your MBA? Why do you want to attend this program? Why do you want an MBA at all? Consider jotting down a few key qualities to highlight during your interview as well as experiences where you demonstrated those attributes.

Interview Must-Know #3: The School

You may find yourself in quite a pickle when your interviewer asks how you’ll contribute to the school’s mission and you don’t know what the school stands for. Research the ins and outs of the school in question and its programs: Are there cohorts? Learning teams? Projects, lectures, cases? Plan to answer questions in a way that demonstrates your knowledge of the program and prepare a few questions that show you have done your homework.

Interview Must-Know #4: The Interview Type

MBA interviews are conducted either “blind”, where the interviewer know only what’s on your resume and what you tell him or her, or informed, where the interviewer has gone thoroughly through your file and has seen your entire application. For blind interviews you’ll be able to pull the best of the best from your unseen application and present that to your interviewer. If, however, your interviewer has already seen your application, you should come prepared to address weaknesses and gaps and also be ready to bring something new to the interviewer’s understanding of you. Go deeper into the stories you have told and tell additional anecdotes. With both types, you can also use the interview to inform the interviewer and the school of accomplishments and events of interest that occurred since you submitted your application.

Interview Nice-to-Know: Your Interviewer

If you can uncover this “nice-to-know” information, then you’ll be even closer to acing the MBA interview. Knowing in advance whom you’ll be speaking with will help you determine topics that will interest your interviewer. If you know the interviewer’s name, google him or her and try to glean a little information about this person so you can connect better on an interpersonal level. What if this person is invisible on the Internet? Don’t worry; it’s not essential.