Interviews
by Institutes abroad is very rare and is usually limited to some
business schools. You most probably will not have to go through one.
But, just to let you know, Wharton visits Delhi, Bombay and some other
cities every year to interview applicants. Some schools conduct
interviews telephonically and some others through their alumni who are
based in the city you live in.
If
you happen to be applying to an institute that wants to interview, you
ought to be prepared.
Preparing
for the Interview - have the right attitude and do your homework.
-
Consider
the interview as your final opportunity to market yourself.
Establish your objectives for the interview. Think about ways
of reinforcing your strengths and addressing your weaknesses.
Be prepared to support your claims in the application essays.
Good preparation will also help you relax somewhat during the interview.
-
Know
all that you can about the school and the program - the school
brochures and the website can be useful sources. Carry out a search in
Google or Yahoo by the name of the school and read the relevant
results. This could make you aware of some specific details about the
school or the program, which would reflect in your answers during the
interview. It could pay to project yourself as a person who pays
attention to detail. It also conveys your interest in the school.
-
Prepare
for the typical interview questions. Most of the interview
questions come from two categories
(1) Standard questions for all students like Why MBA, Why Yale etc.
(2) Questions tailor-made for you based on your essays and your resume.
The interviewer may wish to probe into some of your claims to fame in
your essays. Be sure to review your application, essays and
resume prior to the interview. The worst thing you can do is
contradicting yourself at the interview.
List
of standard questions
- Why do you wish to
pursue the program that you have applied to?
- Why do you want to
attend this school?
- Name some other schools
that you have applied to?
- Tell me about yourself.
- What are your career
goals?
- Where do you see
yourself in ten years?
- What value can you add
to the program?
- What are your greatest
achievements?
- What do you consider
your three top strengths/weaknesses?
- Why should we accept
you?
- Do you have any
questions?
Most
of the above questions would have been covered in your essays in one
form or the other. Review the exercise that you did in the essays
section to get your life in perspective. The interview is
your big chance to elaborate on things that you could not cover in your
essays. You should also be ready with 3-5 good questions that
reflect your concerns about the school and your success in the program.
Other
typical interview questions would most likely be from one of these
categories:
a)
Undergraduate Education
Tips:
Remember your interviewers are from the academia, so give adequate
importance to learning and education. Show your commitment to
learning and growing. Talk about your extracurricular
activities and how these activities helped build your well-rounded
personality. Detail your contribution as well as what you learnt.
Describe how your schooling will help you in achieving your career
goals. Describe any leadership experiences and what you learnt from
those experiences.
b)
Work Experience
Tips:
Be enthusiastic about your job experience. Portray yourself
as one who tries to exceed expectations. Stress on teamwork,
motivation, continuous learning and ownership. Be positive
when talking about your boss or your firm. If you changed
jobs, it should have been motivated by a desire for more challenges,
more responsibilities, opportunity to grow and so on. Avoid
negative comments like unappreciated, underpaid etc. Don’t
be afraid to talk about a failure. Stress on what you learnt
from your failure. Describe your leadership
experiences at work. Leadership potential is a very important
quality desired by all MBA programs.
c)
Goals
Tips:
Show that you are committed to your career objectives. Your
goals should be consistent with your experience and your desire to
pursue further education. Be practical where you see yourself
in five years ( refrain from making a statement like "I will be the CEO
of Hewlett-Packard") and be prepared to demonstrate how advanced
training and education will help you achieve your goals.
Highlight some of the strengths of the program to further justify your
choice. Make sure that all your answers connect and reflect
the thought you have put in planning for your future.
d)
Personal
Tips:
Be sure to prepare a brief outline of your upbringing. Take
every opportunity to show that you are achievement oriented and strive
to develop both personally and professionally. At the same
time, show yourself to be a well-balanced and sensible person with
varied interests. In your choice of books, it does not matter whether
it is science fiction or biographies: the idea is to show yourself as
knowledgeable in whatever interests you pursue.
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