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.
10 Highest GPA Averages in the Business School World
The role of a GPA in MBA admissions is a hotly debated topic among both admissions officers and applicants. How much does it really matter? Does a low GPA destroy your chances of getting into a top business school?
One of the most important things to keep in mind when considering how your undergraduate GPA will impact the MBA admissions process is the fact that not all GPAs are alike. Far from a standardized figure, GPA and the way it’s measured can vary from school to school- even major to major. For this reason, it can be difficult to use the GPA’s of different applicants as any accurate predictor of success.
An student’s GPA will always be an important part of the admissions process, because it helps tell admissions officers about past academic success. Still, admissions officers are well aware of the high level of variability between GPA scores. Taking this into account, most officers working in MBA admissions will always look for more to an individual’s story than just the GPA. Numbers like a GMAT/GRE can often paint a much more exact picture of future academic success than the highly variable GPA. Designed for standardization and to test individuals on the specific challenges of an MBA, a GMAT score allows admissions officials specific insight into each application.
When considering GPA, a general rule of thumb is to not ride or die by this number—whether for better or for worse. A low undergraduate GPA doesn’t necessarily spell disaster for one’s MBA ambitions, and even a perfect 4.0 can’t save an application if the other factors don’t add up.
Overall, the exact number of an undergraduate GPA may be less important than the story behind it. If your low GPA was a result of illness or another external factor while in school, personal statements on the application are a great opportunity to give context behind the numbers and help tell your story to admissions officials.
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Nevertheless, getting a sense of the average undergraduate GPA for your prospective programs can help give provide crucial insights. Class profiles and statistics for business schools throughout the country can give prospective students a good sense of the typical student looks like in each program, and help applicants decide if they’ll be a good fit.
Below, we take a look at the top 10 MBA programs with the highest average undergrad GPA. Take a closer look at these top schools to get an idea of the average student in each program- and your potential future classmates.
10 Highest GPA Averages for MBAs
1. Stanford University Graduate School of Business
The highest GPA average for MBA students in the U.S. belongs to the class at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. For the Class of 2019, the average undergrad GPA was 3.74. This is down slightly from the school’s 2015 average of 3.75.
2. Harvard Business School
Often jockeying for position with Stanford, HBS took the number two spot this year with an average undergrad GPA score of 3.71. Three years ago, HBS still loomed large with a 3.66 average, and it just keeps getting higher.
3. Haas School of Business – UC Berkeley
Staying on the heels of Harvard, the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley takes a top spot today with an undergraduate GPA of 3.7. This is a slight increase from the school’s 2015 average of 3.66.
The Haas School of Business GPA average for MBA applicants rose from 3.66 to 3.7 since 2015.
4. Yale School of Management
Significantly up from its GPA average of 3.6 in 2015, the Yale School of Management today has one of the highest undergraduate GPAs in the country at an average of 3.69.
5. Booth School of Business – University of Chicago
The MBA at University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business has consistently maintained one of the top GPA averages for programs in the U.S., up from 3.59 in 2015 to 3.6 this year.
6. The Wharton School – University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School, consistently recognized for having some of the country’s top business programs, is nothing if not consistent. With a 3.6 average for incoming students between 2012 and 2015, Wharton maintains a perfect 3.6 average GPA this year as well.
7. Kellogg School of Management – Northwestern University
Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management is another school where consistency is key. From 2014 to today the school has remained at an undergraduate GPA average of 3.6
The average Kellogg undergraduate GPA for MBA students has stayed at 3.6 since 2014.
8. Tuck School of Business – Dartmouth College
The average GPA for incoming students at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business has gone up and down throughout the years, but has consistently stayed among the highest in the country- down slightly from 3.52 in 2015 to 3.51 this year.
9. Columbia University – Columbia Business School
The Columbia Business School has always received distinctions as one of the top MBA programs in the country, and their average GPA for incoming students at 3.5—which has stayed the same for more than five years—is no exception.
10. MIT – Sloan School of Management
Typically placing much higher on the list, the average Sloan School of Management at MIT has decreased in recent years, from 3.54 in 2015 to 3.49 for this year’s incoming class. The number nonetheless still remains among the highest average GPAs for MBA programs throughout the country.
Financial Times Ranks the Top MBAs for Entrepreneurs
Leading entrepreneurs in the business world today can often be seen as trailblazers, standing strong and independent in an often cutthroat world. What isn’t seen as often is the kind of support—whether financial capital or mentorships—that can help get an idea off the ground. In recent years, business schools and MBA programs around the globe have made this kind of support for new businesses a core part of their operation, often offering entrepreneurship majors, business pitch competitions, startup incubators and more.
Each year, The Financial Times releases their ranking of the best MBA programs for entrepreneurship, helping up-and-coming entrepreneurs to make informed choices about the best program for their career and startup goals. Its latest ranking, for 2018, has just been released.
The 2018 ranking of the top MBA’s for entrepreneurship compiled fifty schools from around the world. A number of factors went into determining which schools would make the grade, including the percentage of graduates who started a company after earning their degree, percentage of female entrepreneurs, the extend to which funding from the school or from the school’s alumni network helped in the creation of new businesses, and more. These factors combined would help decide in what position a school would fall on the ranking.
This year, schools in the United States took the top three spots on the list: the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College, and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Two UK business schools—the Lancaster University Management School and the Cass Business School—rounded out the top five.
Despite dipping numbers of students, the Stanford Graduate School of Business entrepreneurship program is still the top-ranked in the world, according to the Financial Times.
At Stanford, although it still ranked as the best school for entrepreneurship globally, there was actually a significant drop since in the number of students starting a business within three years of graduation. This year, it was just 22 percent of students compared with last year’s 36 percent. Babson College’s Olin Graduate School of Business also witnessed a drop; from 52 percent last year to 37 percent in 2018.
One explanation for the drop, however, is not that interest in entrepreneurship is declining, but instead being taken on more as a ‘side hustle’ than a full-time career. This was certainly the case for Samantha Penabad, a former strategy manager at Accenture and MBA at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, who has been working on a digital donation platform called GivingFund. Although she didn’t intend on becoming an entrepreneur when she started business school, tutors at the university helped her to develop a business plan and a fellow student with finance experience joined as a co-founder. The service is scheduled to launch later this month.
But GivingFund remains a side job for Penabad, who will be taking on a full-time job in strategy and operations at Google in New York after graduation. As a result, someone like Penabad will be not be included in data for students starting businesses after graduation, but among those accepting full-time jobs. Students pursuing similar paths—working full-time but starting businesses on the side—may help explain the dip in entrepreneurship that many MBA programs are witnessing.
One reason behind this trend may be the fact that many students see a full-time role as just one step to eventually starting their own company. By putting their skills to work at a top company like Amazon or Google, students are able to more quickly pay off their student loans, which means eventually starting a business debt free. Companies like Amazon also may seek out those with entrepreneurial experience, because it demonstrates an attractive leadership quality.
“We welcome applicants with an entrepreneurial spirit,” says Amazon’s senior manager of campus recruiting, Dee Clarke. “They are given the ownership over their work, like they would [in] their own business, but within a global support network that provides added guidance and support.”
Guthrie Jones, an MBA at London’s Cass Business School, holds a similar philosophy. Although he had no intention of getting into entrepreneurship, he couldn’t stop thinking about one particular business idea and decided he’d have to pursue it. Guthrie believes his company, Icepick, which lets people rent out space on their hard drives, has the potential to become a global business. Still, if he right opportunity for a salaried role came up after graduation, he would gladly shift his plan to the side.
Nevertheless, student interest in studying entrepreneurship as part of their MBA has grown at schools like Cass. Part of this may be the result of Cass’s £10m investment fund, which has not only supported new MBA start-ups but has also trained students in the process of investing.
Financial Times MBA Entrepreneur Ranking (2018)
- Stanford Graduate School of Business
- F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business (Babson)
- Tuck Business School (Dartmouth)
- Lancaster University Management School
- Cass Business School (City University)
- Otto Beisheim School of Management (WHU)
- IMD Business School
- Saïd Business School (Oxford)
- Harvard Business School
- Judge Business School (Cambridge)
MBAs Hold High Expectations for B-School Admissions Process, Survey Finds
According to the 2018 MBA Applicant Survey conducted by the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC), MBA applicants expect a lot from business schools as they make their way through the admissions process. Not only do they want the schools themselves to be more transparent—including providing status updates, feedback, and earlier wait list decisions—they also want more consultant advice and interaction.
“More transparency in terms of the status of the application will be appreciated,” wrote one survey respondent. “Leading schools like [schools] were notoriously quiet about the application for more than 5 weeks.”
Even applicants whose bids for admission were unsuccessful want more from schools. “Feedback at some point would be fantastic,” wrote one. “At least some indication of what portion of an application was below expectation would be helpful even just for personal development.”
The latest annual AIGAC survey drew almost 2,000 responses from applicants to more than two dozen leading business schools. Results were released as part of the admissions consultant group’s annual conference, which took place last week at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.
Where Do MBA Applicants Look for Admissions Information?
According to the survey results, school websites are a primary source of information for 80 percent of applicants. After school websites, online information sessions, student and alumni referrals, and admissions teams are where applicants are most likely to turn. In terms of what they are looking for, applicants are most eager for information that helps them set expectations for the admissions process, but finding it isn’t always easy. As one survey respondent said, “[School]’s application process was steeped in mystery.”
Outside of school resources, students look to social media, online communities/forums, MBA rankings, and then family/friends/work colleagues. They also look to the blogs and websites of admissions consultants as well as printed viewbooks and brochures. And many applicants look in as many places as possible to find the information they crave.
“Videos, interviews, and current or alumni experiences are very valuable,” wrote one survey respondent. Another underscored the importance of school websites being “very easy to navigate.” Online seminars that only reiterate information available on the schools’ websites are less valuable, shared another.
In the social media sphere, more applicants look to LinkedIn for information than any other channel, followed by YouTube and Facebook. Quora follows, trailed by Instagram and Twitter.
Schools That Get to Know MBA Applicants Best
Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, UVA’s Darden School of Business, and Dartmouth’s Tuck School scored the highest marks in terms of how well they get to know applicants as part of the admissions process. Notably, some of the most highly ranked business schools fell short in this regard, with Stanford Graduate School of Business and Harvard Business School bringing up the rear. As one candidate explained, “Though I fell in love with [school] during my campus visit, I felt that their application process was very impersonal, and I didn’t feel like I had enough of an opportunity to show the school who I was with a video and a [short essay] …”
Why the MBA? Why a Particular School?
The survey also sought to understand what most motivates applicants to apply to MBA programs in general. More than half—57 percent—seek to acquire new information, skills, and knowledge. Forty-nine percent, meanwhile, want access to job prospects. And 48 percent are seeking a stronger network or to advance their careers.
As for the top factors influencing which schools applicants choose to target, reputation reigns supreme, cited by 66 percent of applicants surveyed. School rank was a top factor for 61 percent, and school culture, for 53 percent.
To learn more about the survey results and to read more personal responses from applicants, consult the full survey here.
This article was edited and published with permissions from our sister site, Clear Admit.
The California MBA Program Guide
If you’re looking to earn a California MBA, where should you go to school? Should you choose a top MBA program in Los Angeles or San Francisco? Both cities offer beautiful weather, gorgeous beaches, and world-class business education, but is one location better than the other?
Los Angeles vs. San Francisco
To get started, it’s necessary to compare the cost of living in Los Angeles and San Francisco. According to Numbeo, the world’s largest database containing user contributed data about cities, San Francisco is far and away the more expensive place to live. You would need $7,748.24 in San Francisco, CA to afford the same lifestyle that you can have for $5,700 in Los Angeles. That’s just over $2,000 more per month needed to live in San Francisco, and here’s how that’s broken down.
- Consumer Prices:98 percent higher in San Francisco
- Rent Prices: 51 percent higher in San Francisco
- Restaurant Prices: 62 percent higher in San Francisco
- Groceries Cost: 8 percent higher in San Francisco
- Local Purchasing Power: 77 percent higher in San Francisco
Right off the bat, it’s obvious that the cost of rent (real estate) is what will eat up most of your paycheck in San Francisco, but is that offset by anything? Here are the other things to consider when choosing between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
- Industries
- Los Angeles is ranked top in the country for manufacturing with over 500,000 workers in the industry. Other top industries include banking and finance (more than 100 foreign and domestic banks), entertainment, and tourism.
- San Francisco, on the other hand, is known as Silicon Valley (with San Jose) for its technology companies and startups (Intel, Apple, Genentech, Google, Uber, and Twitter). It’s also a great city for finance, global business, medical science, biotechnology, tourism, and fashion apparel (home of the Levi Strauss & Co headquarters).
- Economic Development: According to the Center for Jobs, San Francisco far and away outperforms Los Angeles in terms of economic growth and development with the Bay Area growing year-over-year while LA has struggled with almost consistent decreases.
- Top Companies: California is home to 53 Fortune 500 companies, second only to NYC. And more of those companies are located in the Bay Area compared to Los Angeles. San Francisco is home to Apple (3), McKesson (5), Chevron (19), and Wells Fargo (25). While Los Angeles is home to Aecom (161), CBRE (214), and Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co (320).
Los Angeles vs San Francisco MBA Programs
The next step is to compare the top three MBA programs in each city. In particular, we wanted to take a look at the tuition rates (two years), GMAT averages, and post-graduation salaries at each program in each city to get a well-rounded picture.
There are a few things to note right away.
- San Francisco is home to more highly ranked MBA programs with two ranking in the top ten on every list. However, it’s important to note that both cities have programs that rank well and are considered top tier schools.
- The average tuition in each city is fairly even. However, the most expensive ($137,00) and the most affordable ($77,000) schools are located in San Francisco, whereas Los Angeles is more even regarding tuition across the board.
- You’ll need a better GMAT score to go to a school in San Francisco, and that GMAT score translates into a higher salary after graduation. San Francisco graduates earn about $11,000 more per year compared to their LA counterparts.
Here’s how it all breaks down per school.
Top 3 Los Angeles MBA Programs
Anderson School of Management – UCLA
The UCLA Anderson School of Management offers a full-time MBA, a part-time MBA, an Executive MBA, and a UCLA-NUS Global MBA (Asia Pacific) program. It’s considered one of the top business schools in the world, ranking 6th in the Economist, 15th in Forbes, 16th in the U.S. News & World Report, and 25th in Financial Times.
- Tuition Rates (two years): $117,176
- GMAT Averages: 719
- Post-Grad Salaries (Mean): $119,964
Marshall School of Business – USC
The Marshall School of Business at USC offers a full-time MBA program, a part-time MBA, an Executive MBA, and IBEAR (International Business Education and Research) MBA, and an Online MBA program. The school’s full-time MBA program is ranked: 20th in the U.S. News & World Report, 33rd in Forbes, 59th in Financial Times, and 65th in the Economist.
- Tuition Rates (two years): $116,361
- GMAT Averages: 703
- Post-Grad Salaries (Mean): $115,309
The Paul Merage School of Business – University of California, Irvine
The Paul Merage School of Business has both a full-time MBA program as well as a part-time fully-employed MBA program. In addition, the school offers an Executive MBA and a Health Care Executive MBA program. The business school is ranked highly across multiple rankings including 41st in Forbes, 42nd in the U.S. News & World Report, 56th in the Economist, 64th in Financial Times.
- Tuition Rates (two years): $87,661
- GMAT Averages: 652
- Post-Grad Salaries (Mean): $97,808
Top 3 San Francisco MBA Programs
Haas School of Business – UC Berkeley
The Haas School of Business offers a full-time MBA, part-time MBA, and Executive MBA program. Haas is ranked as one of the top business school’s in the world ranking in the top ten on every list: 7th overall in U.S. News & World Report and 7th overall in the Economist, as well as 9th overall in Forbes, and 10th overall in the Financial Times.
- Tuition Rates (two years): $117,444
- GMAT Averages: 725
- Post-Grad Salaries (Mean): $125,573
Stanford University Graduate School of Business
The Stanford University Graduate School of Business offers only a full-time MBA program, but it’s one of, if not the top two-year program in the world. When looking at how Stanford GSB stacks up to the competition, the rankings speak for themselves with all in the top ten and most in the top five, including: 1st overall in the Financial Times, 2nd overall in Forbes, 4th in the U.S. News & World Report, and 9th in the Economist.
- Tuition Rates (two years): $137,736
- GMAT Averages: 733
- Post-Grad Salaries (Mean): $144,455
UC Davis Graduate School of Management
At the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, MBA applicants can apply to the full-time MBA or the part-time MBA program. Once again, UC Davis is one of the top schools in the world, ranking 37th in the U.S. News & World Report, 63rd in Forbes, and 67th in the Economist.
- Tuition Rates (two years): $77,698
- GMAT Averages: 669
- Post-Grad Salaries (Mean): $97,695
California MBA Breakdown in Charts
When breaking down the data between MBA programs in Los Angeles and San Francisco, here’s what it looks like
California MBA Tuition (Los Angeles vs. San Francisco)
California MBA GMAT Averages
California MBA Post-Graduation Salaries
Stanford Reveals New MBA Deadlines
Class of 2021 MBA hopefuls: mark your calendars.
The Stanford Graduate School of Business has officially announced its newest MBA deadlines, beginning this fall and culminating in spring, 2019.
Round One
Deadline: September 18, 2018
Notification: December 13, 2018
Round Two
Deadline: January 10, 2019
Notification: March 28, 2019
Round Three
Deadline: April 3, 2019
Notification: May 16, 2019
Head over to the official Stanford GSB website for more application information.
