Oct, 29, 2009
This is updated from last year. No major changes. You can find my analysis of Columbia’s essays for Fall 2010 here. Columbia Business School offers only one flavor of admissions interview: “Columbia Business School Ambassador” alumni invitation-only interviews. You will get to select from multiple interviewers, so try to figure out who they are first […]
Oct, 08, 2009
This post includes minor updates made in November 2010. A REACTIVE VS PROACTIVE APPROACH TO INTERVIEW PREPARATION First, I think it useful to contrast two different of ways of preparing interviews. As I will argue, a proactive approach to interviews is a more effective way to prepare for an MBA interview. 1. REACTIVE INTERVIEW PREPARATION […]
Aug, 14, 2009
Deborah Riger, Assistant Director of Marketing, MBA Programme, INSEAD, was kind enough to take the time to answer my questions about the MBA Program. Our interview was conducted both by telephone and email. By the way, Deborah will attending the World MBA Tour this September (Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, and Taipei). While these fairs can get […]
Apr, 15, 2009
(This is an updated and expanded version of a post from 2008) Was your admissions game plan for Fall 2009 a failure? For those, who have yet to apply, do you want to understand some of the common pitfalls you should avoid? Below are the typical reasons for rejection(stated as questions) and some of my […]
Feb, 10, 2009
This is a short follow-up to my post on HBS MBA interviews. In that post I wrote:You need to know your application very completely as you will be asked by adcom about its content. Review your entire application (not just resume and essays, but everything including the transcript) very carefully and consider what your interviewer […]
Feb, 07, 2009
In this post, I have decided to simply comment on the mostly helpful advice that Wharton provides in Tips on the Wharton MBA Admissions Interview. In addition to my own knowledge of Wharton MBA interviews, I am drawing on the reports found at accepted.com and clearadmit.com. For those who might be interviewing with J.J. Cutler, […]
Feb, 07, 2009
Before reading this post on UC Berkeley Haas MBA, I suggest reviewing the Director of Admissions for the Full-time MBA Program’s excellent Tips for Acing the Admissions Interview. I also suggest that you listen to the short podcast on interviewing found at http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/haas/podcast/audio/haas_mba_interview_tips1.mp3. The advice is very simple and clear and applicable to most schools. […]
Feb, 06, 2009
Before reading the rest of this post, I strongly suggest downloading a copy of MIT’s excellent guide to behavioral interviews, The MIT Sloan Interview Guide, because reading it first will maximize the value of my comments below.The behavioral interview method is not old:“Bill Byham, CEO and founder of Development Dimensions International, originated the behavioral interviewing […]
Feb, 05, 2009
In my experience, Duke interviews are all about fit. Frankly, I would not characterize them as hard when compared to those of other top schools. For some of my clients, I think the hardest part was that their interviews were conducted in a busy hotel lobby by a student interviewer. One would hope that Duke […]
Feb, 05, 2009
My comments below are based on my experience and my review of McCombs School of Business in University of Texas at Austin MBA interview reports found at accepted.com. I think that there are five key things to consider when preparing for McCombs interviews: 1. A recent report indicated that interviewers had a two page list […]
