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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. |