Step 4: Prepare for the Interview

Now that you have done the work to truly understand how an MBA would complement your prior academic and professional experience, clearly defined your personal brand and know definitively which schools you will be applying to, now comes the time to channel this self-awareness and knowledge of your target schools towards crafting powerful stories and strong answers to the questions you'll most likely encounter in the interview.

Before you begin preparing for the actual admissions interview, it is important to understand the typical formats of the interview, as well as the standard protocol.

Types of Interviews

Blind - The 'blind' interviewer will not read the applicant's file before the interview. In these instances, the interviewer will have the applicant's resume and rely on this as a starting off point for the interview. Since the interview is blind, the interviewer may ask questions about content that is already covered in the applicant's essays. In this case, it is acceptable for the applicant to reiterate key points s/he has included in the essays, as well as expand on those points.

Informed - In this format the interviewer will have had the opportunity to thoroughly review the candidate's application before the interview. The candidate can expect to be asked questions that probe further into the content of his/her application, particularly accomplishments, aspirations, and other noteworthy points included in the essays. The informed interviewer is more likely to delve deeper into any areas of the candidate's application that are perceived as being a weakness or of concern.

Types of Interviewers

Admissions Officers - Interviews are usually standardized, with a specific set of questions, although some schools use a free form interview approach with frequent follow-up questions to applicants' answers. However, in general, Admissions Officers are typically more regimented in how they conduct the interview.

Second-years - These seasoned b-school students are trained by the admissions office on how to evaluate an applicants profile and conduct an admissions interview. They will try to assess whether the applicant would be a desirable study group or project group member, what contributions the applicant will make to the school and how s/he will enhance the experience of fellow classmates during his/her time at the school.

Alumni - These interviews may seem to be more casual in the sense that alums may be very talkative and tend to go off-topic, while being more interested in touting the merits of the school than critically evaluating the candidate. That said, there are always exceptions and be prepared for the random element in alumni interviews, as alums vary widely in their interviewing style and the level of preparation and training they received from the admissions office

Length of Interview

Admissions interviews vary in length and depend largely on the school's interview protocol and the type of interviewer. You can expect that the vast majority of schools will conduct interviews that are between 30-60 minutes in length.

Schools that insist on interviewing a higher number of applicants usually have interview formats that are more standardized in terms of the questions asked, as well as being a bit shorter in length, usually 30 minutes maximum.

Interview Format

The format of the interview will vary depending on the school, although the essential components of each interview will be similar, and will usually consist of the following:

1. Welcome/introduction/explanation of interview format
2. Core questions to applicant
   • Can you walk me through your resume?/Can you tell me a little about yourself?
   • Why an MBA? And why now?
   • Why our school?
   • Tell me about your plans post-MBA.
   • Why should we admit you?
   • Teamwork example
   • Leadership example
   • Influence example
   • Failure example
   • Community service example
3. Probing questions about particular concerns or weaknesses in the applicant's candidacy
4. Questions related to the candidate's personal interests and extracurricular activities
5. Applicant's questions
6. Close

As you can see, the questions that you can anticipate being asked are fairly straightforward. Schools may have other specific questions that they ask their applicants in addition to those above. Refer to the Frequently Asked Question videos to get answer ideas for additional questions you could be asked. Begin to craft your answers to the above questions by using the Answer Grid. The Grid will help you think about specific professional and personal examples you will want to share through your answers.

Practice

When it comes to mastering the interview, there is no substitute for practice. Once you have learned the best practice techniques for interviewing through the ZoomInterviews' videos and developed strong answers to questions through the Zoom Method, you can then start practicing your answers. We recommend the following steps as you begin to practice:

1. Write out your answers verbatim as you would say them or using bullets to highlight the key points you would like to address. As a general guideline, for every 7 lines of typed text you will say about 1 minute of your answer out loud.
   
   Here's an example:
   
   Question: What is something unique about you that you can contribute to our school?
   
   Answer: "I think my experience in the Navy provides me with a unique perspective that I can offer to my classmates. I spent over 3 years as a Submarine Officer on an attack sub, working in the reactor control division. I had a large amount of responsibility and the seriousness of my work required a certain level of discipline and precision, as well as maturity. This helped me to consistently perform during missions, which were very intense. In addition, a submarine crew is highly interdependent - you must rely on your crew mates to function as one cohesive unit. This has given me an appreciation for high performance teams and I understand how to work with many different kinds of people. I believe that this will help me to be an effective team mate, whether in class or through different student group activities."
2. Practice your answers in front of a mirror. This will allow you to see how you express yourself non-verbally and notice any behaviors or facial expressions that could be distracting and incongruent with your spoken message. Another option is to video record yourself giving your answers.
3. Get feedback on your answers from other people. Your mock interviewer could be a current MBA student, school's alum, trusted friend or family member, or professional interview coach.