What Are the 5 Most Common MBA Interview Questions?
To get into an MBA program, you’ll first have to make it through the interview process. Depending on where you apply, you could be asked a range of different questions, many of which are specific to the school. Unfortunately, this can make it difficult to prepare for success, especially if you’re applying to more than one school at a time.
To help you prepare for your MBA interview, we’ve gathered together the five most common MBA interview questions, along with advice for answering each question. But first, we need to figure out what questions you’re most likely to run into.
Determining the Five Most Common Interview Questions
In a recent podcast on Clear Admit, Alex Brown, who wrote Becoming a Clear Admit: The Definitive Guide to MBA Admissions, tackled some of the most common MBA interview questions faced by current applicants. He unpacked interview questions such as, “Walk me through your résumé” as well as “Give us an example of a time you took a leadership role.”
To get a full idea of the most common interview questions, we took a look at the top ten schools as outlined by the U.S. News & World Report to figure out which questions were asked by the most schools. We looked at:
- UC Berkeley Haas
- University of Michigan Ross
- Northwestern Kellogg
- MIT Sloan
- Stanford Graduate
- The Wharton School
- Chicago Booth
- Harvard Business School
- Columbia University
- Dartmouth Tuck
At each of these schools, there were a few common denominators when it came to questions asked. Here’s what we found:
1. Why did you choose this school/program?
Almost every school, except MIT Sloan and Harvard Business School, wants to know why you’re interested in their specific program. After all, admissions teams know that you’re interviewing at more than one school and they want to know that you’ve done your research and chose schools that were a good choice for you personally. They don’t want to necessarily know that you know the history or prestige of their school or program, they want to know how their program aligns with your goals and interests and how it makes practical sense for you.
When answering this question, you want to try and be as specific as possible when it comes to “why” this program. Be sure to know which clubs, classes, centers, professors, case studies, alumni, or events fit into your MBA goals. This is your best opportunity to demonstrate your research and to show the admissions committee doesn’t question why you chose them, and that you’ve taken the time to imagine what it’s like to attend their school.
2. Why are you pursuing an MBA now?
You can go back to school for your MBA at any time, but why are you interested in going back now? That’s what every school wanted to know except for Wharton, HBS, and Columbia. The goal with this question is to figure out how an MBA fits in with your current goals for your career and objectives.
During this question, you want to talk about your future career plans and why your situation in life is leading you to make a move to the MBA now. You’ll want to discuss your motivation for choosing the MBA now and how the MBA will help your long-term interests be accomplished. Make sure your explanation plots out a path where the MBA is vital to reaching your goals.
3. Walk me through your résumé.
All but four schools on our list asked students to walk them through their resume. Often, this is the first question that you may be asked in your interview. The goal of this question is to allow you to give a summary of your experience to date. This gives the interviewer some groundwork that they can build upon for the rest of the interview. So, how you answer this question is vitally important.
This question might appear very simple at first glance, but it can have a lot of little landmines that you’ll want to avoid. A good approach to this question is to think of it as your resume executive summary but in verbal terms. The interviewer is looking for key descriptive terms that define who you are. This is your opportunity to weave in some strengths, passions, and interests.
We suggest coming up with a two- to three-minute verbal version of your resume that focuses on highlights in your career. Make sure you focus on “why” you made certain career choices to better explain your path and then highlight the outcomes of those choices.
4. Tell me about a time you demonstrated leadership. What did you learn from it?
This can be a tricky question, but it’s definitely one that you could come across since all but four schools were reported as asking it. The goal here is to demonstrate that you’ve had some experience in a leadership role, even if it’s not traditional. During this question, you can speak about any influence you may have had over your peers—outside of traditional hierarchy—or leadership skills you may have gained during a project.
The key is to prepare three to four anecdotes that you can draw from to highlight such things as your leadership style and skills. In particular, make sure you can talk about key leadership skills such as vision, communication, teamwork, and so forth. And if you can, make sure you can quantify the outcomes of your experience.
5. Are there any questions you’d like to ask the interviewer?
At all but two of the schools—Harvard and Dartmouth Tuck—interviewees were asked to finish out the interview with their own questions. While this might appear to be a simple question at first, it is vital that you get it right. No admissions committee wants you to be a passive candidate, and this is your chance to demonstrate that you are thoughtful, prepared, and interested.
The key here is not to be generic and only ask questions like, “Why do you love X school?” Instead, you want to ask questions that are specific to your goals. For example, you might ask, “What other resources does the school offer for this industry?”
In the end, whether you’ve already been invited to a few interviews or you’re still waiting to hear back, it’s important to get prepared as quickly as possible. By practicing answers to some of these common questions, you can ensure that your interviews go off without a hitch.
How To Avoid Costly MBA Résumé Mistakes
Submitting a résumé is perhaps the most crucial part of every prospective MBA’s application process. A good résumé provides insight into who an applicant is, and what they’ve accomplished. A well-crafted, attention-grabbing résumé that captivates an admissions team can bring an applicant much closer to an acceptance letter.
But aside from a name, contact info, and educational and professional details, what should a slam-dunk MBA resume include?
What Are The Résumé Basics?
Starting with the principle basics, résumés should be short, sweet, and concise. Ideally, they should fit on one page—maybe two. Stephan Kolodiy, an admissions officer at Rutgers University, told U.S. News & World Report that long résumés are a common issue with many MBA applicants.
“Sometime we get a résumé that’s five to six pages long, and that’s way too much information,” he says.
That one-to-two pages of concise information should also be 100 percent accurate—one should never lie on a résumé. Because credibility plays a big role in the application process (MBA or otherwise), it is unwise to fabricate work or school experience. Deceitful, even exaggerated, résumés are always rejected by business schools, and admitted students who submit compromised résumés are at risk for expulsion. This is serious stuff, so don’t lie!
Carrie Marcinkevage, MBA Managing Director at the Smeal College of Business at Penn State University, told U.S. News that honesty is always the best policy.
“Authenticity allows you to find the right school and that school to find you,” Marcinkevage says. “Allow them the chance to find the real you.”
Perhaps most importantly, all MBA résumés should provide examples of success. Prospective MBAs should give admissions officers a reason to send an acceptance letter by showing concrete examples of career advancement, or of how an MBA candidate achieved results for a particular client.
“When applying to a top-tier business school, you’ll need to show admissions committee on a clear path of professional growth,” U.S. News reports.
What Are You Forgetting?
There are also some not-so-basic guidelines that MBAs are encouraged to follow when crafting a solid résumé. Investopedia published a guide reviewing some of the best resumes for MBA applicants that outlines a few tips that many prospective business students may not have previously thought of.
Without sounding like too much of a graphic design nerd, it’s important to take typeface into account with a résumé. Yes, fonts matter. It’s best practice to rely on on two typefaces: A bold sans-serif face for headers, and a standard serif face for body type. For those of you who don’t know, a serif is the tiny extension on the termination point of an individual letter, the little “hat” at the end of a letter if you will.
Serifs exist to make smaller text easier to read, so they are the best friend of admissions offices who may read hundreds of résumés per day. Sans-serif fonts—letters that don’t include serifs—are cleaner and pop easier when bolded out. Résumés should avoid using fonts that are too common, such as Times New Roman, but also avoid ridiculous fonts like Comic Sans. Nobody likes Comic Sans.
Aside from listing relevant work experience, and showing how much growth took place at each job, there are other skills that every résumé should highlight. According to U.S. News, the three skills that can best help sell an MBA applicants résumé to a business school are:
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- Leadership
- Communication
- Innovation
First and foremost, business schools want to see strong leadership skills as well as personal growth. All MBA programs focus on developing management skills, but schools wants to know that a solid foundation of leadership is already there. Good résumés provide evidence of an applicant motivating a team behind a common goal, figuring out the best use of other’s talents and skills, instilling a concrete vision, and prioritizing the needs of an organization above personal needs.
As for communication, a résumé is an applicant’s first line of communication to a business school, and should be chock-full of structured writing and thought-out word choice. U.S. News shows the different between a boring resume and beautifully worded one:
“Here’s a real example of a blah bullet point in a client’s first draft: ‘Helped with new software implementation.’
Now, a brilliant bullet point: ”Spearheaded software upgrade in the San Francisco field office by coordinating with software developer, leading training sessions, and facilitating implementation schedule.’ The second example offers a much more comprehensive understanding of the scope of the accomplishment.”
Some applicants may try to hard to impress admissions officers with technical jargon or fancy terminology. Lose it, and show that you can clearly, and simply explain headier topics in writing:
“One client listed this bullet point on his resume: ‘Created VA1 Business Acquisition.’
Once we translated that into something the MBA admissions audience would understand, the résumé said: ‘Devised and launched outbound communications plan for our premier voice activated product. Product was well received and became cash flow positive within 14 months.’
Much better.”
Lastly, a résumé that shows an applicant has helped innovate will go a long way. This piece of advice is especially handy for applicants with traditional pre-MBA jobs. All admissions officers know what a consultant or analyst is tasked with at an entry-level position. A resume is an opportunity to shed light on things that sets an applicant apart from other typical analysts. Things to keep in mind include: training a newly hired analyst, leading college recruiting efforts, or organizing an office volunteering or fundraising initiative.
Avoiding Deceptive Mistakes
Now, here’s where we can get a little dramatic: Résumés are the first impressions a prospective MBA job candidates has with a potential employer. Since no one gets a second chance to make that first impression, don’t mess it up!
Bloomberg issued a list of the “Ten Biggest Resume Blunders” that outlines exactly what not to do with an application résumé, which includes obvious items like avoid writing a bad cover letter and remove foolish typos and inconsistencies.
The list also features some gems, like how to avoid making your résumé a cluttered mess. Again, not to sound like a graphic design professor, but the look of a résumé certainly counts. Avoid using fancy graphics or designs, and provide a crisp, clean document that’s easy to read on a computer screen.
“The résumé should be presentable, not an information dump,” Chris Thomas, Global Recruiting Director of the Experienced Commercial Leadership Program at General Electric, told Bloomberg. “There should be some white space.”
A well-done résumé shouldn’t misfire on any points—bullet points, that is. Some schools offer formats for resumes, specifically on how to list past job experience. Schools like the University of Michigan Ross School of Business advise students to use the “Action Context Result” format, which describes an action they performed, where they performed it, and the results it garnered.
“‘Worked for XYZ Corp., 2008 to 2012’ says close to nothing,” Damian Zikakis, Director of Career Services at Ross, told Bloomberg. “’Led a review of supplier contracts for the technology division resulting in savings of $250,000 opens doors.”
Lastly, a résumé should never disregard an applicant’s worth, nor should it overshare information. As we mentioned earlier in this piece, a good résumé should demonstrate what an applicant has accomplished and what they can bring to a new employer. It should not feature information that, even if positive, is irrelevant to a desired position.
“Think of the résumé as a future-focused document and not an historical one,” Char Bennington, Director of Career Management at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, told Bloomberg. “Focus on what’s important to the people in the career that you want now.”
How Else Can Your Résumé Stand Out?
To help make sure a résumé stands out in the crowd, consider participating in some relevant volunteer work. David D. Schein, the Director of Graduate Programs for the Cameron School of Business at the University of St. Thomas, told MetroMBA that adding volunteer work to a résumé. With that said, not all volunteer work is equal.
For example, if you volunteer at the SPCA and play with puppies all day, that probably won’t your résumé or your application. Instead, find “responsible positions that deliver a lot of bang for the time commitment,” Schein says. Find a position that will allow you to spend time organizing a major fund-raising activity or event. It should be something that has a demonstrative impact on the organization and illustrates your leadership potential.
Including unique and interesting hobbies can also be a fun way to illustrate your skills and stand out. Schein recommends that applicants choose hobbies that “demonstrate drive and ambition. Some examples might include white water rafting or learning a difficult foreign language like Chinese or Farsi.”
The MBA Application: Know Your Audience
As Round 1 deadlines approach, applicants are coming to understand that applying to business school is an incredibly demanding process. In addition to taking the GMAT, assembling academic transcripts and providing recommendation letters, candidates are required to draft multiple essays, job descriptions, lists of activities and more.
With the obvious incentive to save time wherever possible, it’s understandable that many applicants simply cut and paste content from an existing résumé and write about their work in the manner that comes most naturally. However, in doing so, countless candidates each year assemble their materials without ever asking a fundamental question.
Who will read my MBA application?
While the answer to this question may vary from school to school, one thing is certain: It is unlikely that the person reading your MBA application will have an intimate level of familiarity with your specific industry or job function. This being the case, if you use industry-specific jargon or assume prior knowledge of your field on the part of the admissions officer, you will undoubtedly lose your reader.
It’s also important to keep the big picture in mind; many applicants become so mired in the details of their own work and role that they fail to provide sufficient context for an outsider to understand the impact of one’s efforts to the department or organization as a whole. Write about your experiences in a way that the average person will understand. While this is easier said than done, it underlines the importance of sharing your materials with an unbiased adviser (ideally not a work colleague or family member) to make sure that you aren’t off-base with some of your assumptions.
For some extra resources on how to perfect your application, read up on the Clear Admit Essay Topic Analyses for each school, read interviews with members admissions committees, and visit the Clear Admit shop for the informative Clear Admit School Guides. The School Guides offer in-depth, side-by-side comparisons of your target schools and their peer programs. The Clear Admit Strategy Guides and Interview Guides provide added insight into all aspects of the admissions process.
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from Clear Admit.
Savvy MBA Application Strategy: How Many, Which Schools, and When to Apply
You’ve decided the MBA is the next stop on your career path. What now? The smartest applicants are those who take the time to create an informed MBA application strategy—a well thought-out game plan that can help you obtain your goals as efficiently and effectively as possible.
One of the first challenges you’ll face is school selection—strategically choosing which schools to target, bearing in mind the competitive mix of those schools.
In recent years, MBA applicants appear to be trending downward in terms of the total number of schools to which they apply. Research we have undertaken on data from MBA DecisionWire suggests that candidates now typically apply to about five programs. You can also explore MBA ApplyWire to learn more about other candidates application strategies.
“A combination of factors could be at play here,” suggests Alex Brown, a consultant to Clear Admit who spent years working in MBA admissions at Wharton. “More information is now available about schools, so it is easier for candidates to determine which are truly target schools, rather than the more shotgun approach of yesteryear,” he says. “The complicated nature of the application, engaging recommenders and so forth, may also be encouraging applicants to really refine their school list before applying.”
Making Your List
So what types of schools should make up the list a candidate ultimately applies to? While the answer will obviously depend on the individual candidate, one piece of advice applies to all. “Remember: Only apply to schools you would be absolutely happy to attend,” says Brown. “There is no value in applying to a school just to get an acceptance letter if it’s not a school that will help you reach your goals.”
With that main tenet as a guide, many candidates find it valuable to classify schools into three buckets: reach schools, realistic schools and safety schools. Applying to at least one school in each of these buckets helps position a candidate to get into and ultimately attend the best possible school her candidacy will allow.
Say you apply to all safety and/or realistic schools and gain admission to every school. While on the surface this appears like a successful MBA application strategy, that is only true if your mix of schools included the best possible school to reach your goals. “If you only apply to ‘realistic’ schools, you will never know if you could have achieved something that you presumed was beyond your reach,” Brown points out. Therefore, a truly successful application strategy often includes one or two rejections along with acceptances at schools where you will thrive.
The final consideration of a comprehensive MBA application strategy is when to apply to your selected schools. That is, what admissions round should you target for which schools and why. More on that in an upcoming post, so stay tuned.
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from Clear Admit.
Admissions Tip: Addressing Unemployment or Gaps in Employment
Given the emphasis that schools place on a candidate’s work experience, it is important to be proactive in addressing unemployment or gaps in employment. When applying to business school, many candidates worry about how the adcom might perceive gaps in employment. We would like to take some time to discuss strategies for addressing this issue.
Admissions Tip: How to Write a Résumé that Will Get You Into Business School
Your resume is not only an important component of your MBA application, it’s also a great place to start when crafting your overall positioning strategy. This document forces one to distill a candidacy into a concise summary, focusing on key aspects and themes. With that in mind, here are a few simple tips to get you started on your business school resume:
