APPENDIX 1
In the Flesh: Admissions Interviews

Some business schools try to interview all their applicants; some interview only those who’ve survived an initial screening review; and other schools’ interview policies fall somewhere in between. Whatever the policy of the schools you’re applying to, the business school interview will be an important stage in your MBA admissions hunt. Whether you interview with admissions staff, alumni, students, or even faculty, a lousy interview performance can sink your chances, and a brilliant one can advance them.

We’ve seen that most B-school essay questions can be categorized into a handful of basic topic categories. The range of possible interview questions is much wider. After all, where most business schools limit themselves to three to six essays, even a 30-minute interview can cover 10 or more questions, ranging from why you majored in physical education to which kind of vegetable you would be (if you were one) and why, to what you think of the Chicago Bears.

The impossibility of predicting the interview questions is partly why business schools continue to conduct them: they test you in ways essays do not. Nevertheless, there are several interview questions that you can be fairly confident will be asked in some form. I provide sample responses for these core questions in this appendix. These core topics are followed by sample responses for three broad categories of questions that you should also practice for: behavioral questions (in which the interviewer asks hypothetical or situational questions to see how you would act in certain circumstances), tough questions (“Tell me about yourself”), and questions you should be ready to ask the interviewer when your interrogation is over.

If you need to practice your interviewing skills (and who doesn’t), schedule a Skype video interview with me at paulsbodine@gmail.com. Using actual questions asked by your target school, I’ll walk you through a realistic admissions interview and critique your responses afterward.”

THE CORE QUESTIONS

“What are your career goals?”

My short-term career plan after Stanford is to work for a couple of years at a venture capital firm like Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers or General Catalyst. Evaluating alternative energy firms for possible funding, I’ll have a great opportunity to recognize emerging technologies, develop my venture analysis and mentoring skills, refine my own business plan, and establish contacts in the energy and VC industry. My long-term career goal is to launch an alternative energy firm that will focus on sustainable but also scalable alternative energy solutions such as wind-powered desalination plants or non-silicon-based solar power farms. With a Stanford MBA I’ll be ideally positioned to ensure that my firm attracts enough seed money, recruits top scientific talent, and aligns itself with a major energy company that can help us leverage our technological breakthroughs. I’m really excited about the opportunities that are emerging.

My short-term post-MBA goal is to work as an investment research analyst covering emerging markets either for an investment bank with a strong presence in Southeast Asia, such as HSBC, or at a mutual fund specializing in the region, such as Matthews International’s Pacific Tiger Fund. Combined with the special insights I have gained through my knowledge of China and Vietnam—both their cultures and their economies—this career phase will give me a rich and nuanced foundation in the market and its companies. In the long term, I plan to exploit my investment research experience through a position as a fund manager. Based in the United States, Singapore, or Shanghai, I will run a Southeast Asia emerging markets fund that enables me to travel frequently to the region to visit companies and speak to company managers. Eventually—say, 10 to 15 years out—I hope to start my own fund focused on Southeast Asia or maybe even entirely on Vietnam, which I expect to grow as quickly as China did during its initial breakout period.

“Why do you want an MBA?”

Well, it’s really only been in the past one or two years that I’ve known for sure that private equity is the path I want to devote my career to. Carlyle Group’s acquisition of my firm forced me to learn in a hurry what private equity firms do and what kinds of impacts they have. When I began to see the positive effects they were having on Remington’s operations and strategy, I sought out some of Carlyle’s contact people for our firm and learned a lot more. That led to informational interviews with managers at TPG Capital and Permira. I just became really passionate about PE at that point, and I knew it was what I should be doing. Needless to say, with my background in engineering there’s no way to break into private equity unless I “retool” with an MBA. And at 27, it doesn’t make sense to wait.

The skills I’ve gained in project management at General Mills have given me a great foundation for my post-MBA marketing career. But technology management to marketing is a big career switch, and I need the MBA to help me fill in my specific knowledge gaps, for example, the principles of advertising, how to interpret statistical data from market research, how to price products, strategic marketing planning—even the use of branding partnerships with other companies. The MBA is the best way to quickly but also thoroughly ramp up my knowledge of these areas. Of course, an MBA program will also enhance my “soft” leadership skills, sharpen my quantitative and analytical skills, enable me to network with sharp, talented people from different backgrounds, and experience a summer internship that will open a door for me to transition into marketing.

“Why our school?”

I first learned of MIT Sloan before I was even seriously considering an MBA. Mary Goffin, a Sloan MBA at my firm, was and is very active as an alumna, and she was always singing the praises of MIT’s MBA program. When I became serious about the MBA, I remembered what she had said about Sloan’s superlative technology resources, including the Center for Information Systems Research, Productivity from Information Technology, and Center for e-Business. I began exploring the program on my own, including a campus visit last spring, and was impressed by the students I spoke with, including Tim Zhang, Beatrice Ellfeldt, and Vijay Singh. I loved the idea of the “First-year Challenge,” the emphasis on experiential learning through the leadership courses, and the unique Sloan Innovation Period. Since entrepreneurship is my goal, the $1K Warm-Up Business Idea Competition and the MIT $50K Entrepreneurship Competition will be fantastic opportunities for me. I’d be happy to go into more detail about the Sloan classes, professors, and student clubs that I’m excited about.

RÉSUMÉ-KEYED CORE QUESTIONS

“Walk me through your résumé.”

I majored in biochemistry in college because I planned on becoming a doctor. A summer job as an equipment tester at my father’s pharmaceuticals firm and a macroeconomics course sparked my interest in business. So after eye-opening internships at E*Trade and Mercer Consulting, I accepted an offer to become an associate consultant in the Chicago office of McKinsey & Company. McKinsey’s hypothesis-driven approach to problem-solving fit my science background perfectly. I also wanted a general introduction to finance, marketing strategy, or operations in a variety of industries, which consulting for McKinsey could give me. A McKinsey project gave me my first taste of entrepreneurship. My colleague and I created from the ground up the business plan for a client’s technology start-up, working directly with their CEO and dozens of client staff. Our plan was accepted and implemented, and it ultimately led to a business that today generates $100 million in revenue. This project sparked my interest in entrepreneurship, so after three years at McKinsey I moved to Warburg Pincus to get insight into new ventures from the operational and investment side. My year at Warburg has really broad ened the way I think about companies. I have developed an in-depth knowledge of finance and have been able to work with companies’ balance sheets much more than I would have at McKinsey. After three years in consulting and one in private equity, I’m ready to get the skills to become a successful entrepreneur.

“Why did you leave Stragetel after only six months?”

That was a difficult experience for me, but one I take full responsibility for. I had been working there as an IT contractor for about six months in the sales and marketing department. Because I was looking for ways to break into technical sales, I loved the environment and the department. My client manager knew of my interest and went out of his way to expose me to some of the sales functions. When a full-time opening came up for a technical liaison with the development department, the sales and marketing client manager suggested that I take it and promised me it was really a stepping-stone position into a direct technical sales position. That would have been just what I wanted, but it didn’t turn out to be the case. In fact, the full-time position took me even further from Stragetel’s sales and marketing functions, and turned out to be a straight technical role. I should have done more due diligence rather than rely on the client manager’s assurances. Anyway, when Intel offered me a true technical sales position—exactly what I had been looking for—I decided to jump at the chance. I learned a lot about doing my “homework” and taking responsibility for my actions from that experience.

“Could you explain this gap of six months on your résumé in 2008?”

Sure. As you know, the subprime crisis led to Bear Stearns’s purchase for pennies by Morgan Stanley, and in April, my entire department was downsized—15 people in all, regardless of experience, seniority, education. As the credit markets were still reeling, most of the companies I would have looked to for work were not hiring. I interviewed at over 20 firms in the space of six months, networked at at least 10 industry events and conferences, and used my personal network to do informational interviews outside the industry. But the job market was crowded with people with my skill sets by then. Fortunately, I also used my time between jobs to deepen my involvement at The Hope Place, mentoring two kids, who are now my good buddies. I also completed my CFA III exam, studied for the GMAT, and began visiting business schools, including Anderson. It was a challenging period for me, but I never gave up, and finally this May, Banco Popular offered me an interesting position in its merchant services group. Since this aligned with my post-MBA international goals, I decided to take it and apply for your Fully Employed MBA program.

BEHAVIORAL QUESTIONS

“If you were working on a project with a team of peers late at night and they had an opinion entirely different from yours, how would you manage the situation so that the team completed the assignment the next day?”

In these kinds of situations, I first ask a lot of questions so I can clearly understand each person’s point of view. If the explanations they give me persuade me that my position is flawed, I back off my position as appropriate and offer a new solution that integrates their position and the elements of mine I’m still confident in. We can then proceed forward. If their answers to my questions fail to convince me that my approach needs revising, I need to consider how important it is to me that our project’s success take priority over my team’s unity. I mean, I might be willing to accept a less-than-optimal solution for this project because I don’t feel I have time to convince my teammates, or I believe there will be long-term negative impact on the team’s cohesiveness if I try to push my position on this project too hard. It would depend very much on the context. But if I believe so strongly in my position—for example, if I believe my teammates’ solution could have extremely negative consequences—I will use all my persuasive and analytical powers to make the best possible case for my solution, specifically identifying the reasons why I believe their positions are flawed. Wherever possible, I will offer compromises so they won’t feel “defeated” or resent my resistance. For example, I might offer to support their position on some other project if they buy into mine on this one. Or I might try to incorporate aspects of their position that won’t be harmful to the net outcome if they agree to follow my position on the really mission-critical aspects of the project. If I am certain my position is the best solution for the project, I have enough confidence in my negotiation and interpersonal skills to believe that I could eventually persuade them. I have encountered some examples of this kind of situation from my professional life if you’d like me to share them.

“What kind of manager are you? How do you motivate people? What is your managerial style?”

I consider myself to be an inclusive, collaborative manager with high standards but a nonconfrontational style. I developed this leadership philosophy as class president at McMaster University and refined it at as a corporate manager for Sand River Systems in the United States and Lenovo in China. It’s based on three basic principles: taking initiative and motivating team members through encouragement, synergizing skills, trust, and shared vision; welcoming criticism as feedback toward improving the process; and solving problems through rigorous analysis and hard data. When I first joined Sand River in 2002, for example, the company had just been dealt a major blow when the virtualization industry standards group omitted its core technology from the industry standard. When Sand River’s stock nosedived, management called a meeting, but because we had just enjoyed a successful round of venture funding, no one really sensed the urgency. Though I was only a junior manager I stood up and made what I meant to be an inspiring speech on behalf of focusing less on our promising but still-incubating products and putting greater energy into reducing the time-to-market for our more fully developed products. I was surprised by how much flak I received for that, but I didn’t let it rattle me. I asked for time to put together a detailed proposal and timeline for repurposing our product development efforts. I also explicitly asked my critics to review my proposal and offer their feedback. This won over management and some of my critics, and two weeks later I presented a proposal, which had definitely been rigorously worked over and improved by my critics. Because that proposal was thoroughly backed up by data from our product development staff, competitor intelligence, and a couple of germane case studies, it won the day, and today I’m working directly with the CTO and the entire product development staff in implementing my new time-to-market plan. I’ll bring this same leadership style to my Tuck study group.

TOUGH QUESTIONS

“Tell me about yourself.”

Sure. Though I was born and raised in Peoria, Illinois, I think I can say I’ve led a pretty unusual life. When I was 10, my father took a sabbatical from his teaching job and bought a sailboat, which he and my mother, sister, and I sailed around the Caribbean for two years. The exposure to the cultural variety of this region was an incredible revelation for me, and ever since then I have been a travel and language nut. So far I’ve lived or worked in four countries, including Norway, Panama, and the U.K., and I speak three languages fluently: English, Norwegian, and German. I think I can offer a lot in terms of cross-cultural insights to my Yale classmates. When I was 16, my family moved to Oslo, Norway, which was a bit difficult for me at first because of the cold winters and language barrier. I worked hard at learning the language though, and eventually made friends who showed me Scandinavia’s hot spots and backpacked with me through Europe and Russia.

My technology knowledge grew directly from my desire to be an “international person.” I joined Germany’s SAP right after graduating from Humboldt Universität. SAP was an exciting place. I worked on SAP’s business process outsourcing efforts, and in my spare time I started a successful travel-rating Web site similar to TripAdvisor but Europe-focused. This entrepreneurial experience gave me an interest in product marketing, which I pursued by joining the start-up Crescat Group, a global technology consultancy. Within a year, I was promoted to director of development, in charge of all of our business development activities for the firm’s Western Europe region. Leading teams as large as 15, I played a key role in growing Crescat’s top-line revenue by 350 percent.

My success gave me the resources to start SeaGuide, a travel-based youth leadership program similar to Outward Bound but more nautically based. That’s grown by leaps and bounds. We now have chapters in nine countries. To get social entrepreneurship skills to professionalize and expand SeaGuide is the reason I’m seeking the MBA. I’m confident my cross-cultural, technology management, and social entrepreneurship skills will enable me to add a lot to my INSEAD class.

“Why should we accept you? What would you add to the program?”

Well, I think I can bring a pretty diverse perspective to my classmates that will really enhance their experience. Professionally, I have unusual leadership exposure to both the public and private sectors. As the commander of gunnery crews on two Singaporean navy frigates, for example, I was exposed to the military’s unusual technical and organizational demands at sea. But I was also later assigned to develop a system for motivating and tracking the performance of naval recruits and to command a naval facility on the Malaysian border. As a technical manager at Flextronics I have learned how to quickly build teams to manage the complexity, competition, and change of the outsourced electronics manufacturing industry.

Personally, I can offer the insights of someone who led effectively in Singapore’s armed forces, a melting pot of Malays, Chinese, Indians, and Eurasians. As both a Singaporean and ethnic German, by any definition I would be considered a “diversity” applicant. But as an avid scuba diver I also bring my unique vision of the global community. Scuba diving opens up an entire “global community” of life that most people never experience. I have found that diving with people from every walk of life always creates bridges across cultural and language difference as we appreciate and explore the diversity of the underwater world that binds everyone on earth. My family’s story and my involvement in the Pacific Rim Environment Fund add to the diverse contribution I can bring to London Business School, and I’d be glad to talk about them.

“What is the primary weakness in your application?”

Probably the fact that early on my career basically centered on research, so I didn’t gain any leadership opportunities for three or more years. However, I began to address this two years ago when I pursued and won a lab manager position at Fusion BioEnergy and then helped start GreenFuel. I think I proved my managerial potential by leading the efficiency changes in this group during the integration of Fusion and BP. Moreover, in the process of launching GreenFuel, I was able to set a vision for the company, begin to implement that vision, and achieve tangible results. When you look at my management successes of the past few years—all achieved with only my technical degree and my own leadership instincts—I think I have demonstrated strong leadership potential.

QUESTIONS FOR THE INTERVIEWER

You must be prepared for the moment near the interview’s end when the interviewer turns the tables on you and asks you to fire away. Saying you have no questions will be interpreted as either laziness or lack of interest. Similarly, asking questions that anyone could find on the school’s Web site or that show more interest in getting admitted than in the school itself will send equally unflattering signals. What you ask will depend to some extent on who’s doing the asking.

For the Admissions Committee

If an admissions committee member is interviewing you, you should ask questions that show you have a fair amount of knowledge about the school already but have specific questions related to your academic or extracurricular interests. You can assume the admissions committee member has the depth of program knowledge to answer such fine-grained questions. Avoid any questions that suggest anything negative about the school or display your anxiety about the admissions process.

“Is the new dean planning any major changes that will affect next year’s entering class?”

“Second-year Brett Delmar said a new trek to South Africa was being planned. Is that true?”

“At University of Oklahoma, I was very active in convincing alumni to meet informally with students for professional networking opportunities. Will there be opportunities for me to help out the Career Services Office in any similar way?”

“I read that Dean Chen wants to expand your offerings in the human resources specialization. What changes are likely within the next year or so?”

For Student Interviewers

If you are being interviewed by a current student, you can ask much more specific questions about the curriculum, professors, and the student experience. Never forget that students, more approachable though they may seem, are evaluating you as potential peers: stay positive and professional.

“Have you taken any courses with Professor Jenarczak or Thirumalai? What are they like as teachers?”

“Which student clubs are most popular in your class?”

“Can you recommend any off-campus neighborhoods for first-years?”

“What has surprised you most about Chicago since becoming a student?”

For Alumni Interviewers

Alumni interviewers are the most unpredictable. You may be lobbed softballs for an hour with an avuncular alum eager to smooth your way, grilled rigorously by someone with a mysterious chip on his shoulder, or be frozen out entirely by an alumnus who seems more interested in his own story than in yours. Don’t ask questions that assume they have current knowledge of the program, and remember that most people are flattered by questions about their own experiences.

“How has an INSEAD MBA helped you in your own career?”

“What aspects of your MBA experience have been most useful to you in your post-MBA career?”

“How helpful has the school’s network been to you since you graduated?”

“What are the opportunities for alumni to stay connected or involved with the school? Is the chapter here in San Jose pretty active?”