A hectic couple of days last Thursday/Friday, here’s how it went down (hope you don’t get bored with the details):
I landed at MDW airport around 7pm CST, got my rental car and drove over to my hotel near the airport. I went to bed pretty early around 10pm after ironing my interview clothes.
I had registered for an 8:30am class, but unfortunately I had HUGE problems finding parking on the streets around Harper Center. I finally was able to find a spot about 4 blocks away but when I got to the Admissions Office around 8:35am, I was told I wouldn’t have been able to get into a class anyways because they were all FULL! I was a bit relieved, because I didn’t know if missing a class would affect my candidacy — my guess is it wouldn’t have.
I sat around in the admissions office and talked to another prospective student who is applying to Chicago Booth for R2. He apparently hasn’t gotten his recommenders in line and I told him he should do so ASAP if he hopes to get his app in for R2. Fortunately, Chicago usually gives about 2 weeks leeway to recommenders so he should still be OK.
The first interviews started at 9:45am (mine was at 1:30pm). Chicago has first year students sit in the office with interviewees to calm their nerves, which I think is a great idea. I wasn’t nervous at all about my interview, but I’m sure many are. I got to ask a few questions about LEAD, which is something I was hoping to find out more about since it’s the only required program.
The office got really FULL by 10am. At 10:30am, there was an admissions info session in one of the classrooms. Normally, they are held in a smaller room but there was a very large number of registrants so they held it in a larger lecture room. In total there were about 80 people or so. Kurt Ahlm (director of admissions) lead the session and a couple students ended it. Pretty much typical questions. One new thing I did learn is that the breakdown of where students live is: 1/3 Hyde Park, 1/3 downtown (Loop area), and 1/3 north side of Chicago (around Wrigley Field, Lincoln Park, etc). I personally plan on living in downtown since I’ve never lived in a high-rise.
I skipped the building tour and met up with a few people from GMATClub at noon and had lunch with them. It was nice to finally put names and faces to their board handles and GMATclub profiles. As usual, ‘rhyme’ had some awesome information for me and gave me a perspective on how important the interview is, which is, not as much as I thought. He said he had a terrible alum interview and was still admitted.
I got to the admissions office at 1:15pm, fifteen minutes before my interview. I talked to the first year greeter for a bit and she talked about her trip to Thailand with other Booth students.
Finally, it was time for the interview. The interviewer was a second year student. She talked about her background, internship, and how she was returning to the company she interned for over the summer. Here are the questions I remember and some details of my answers — I’ve left out any details that may give away my identity:
Tell me about yourself and how you got here.
I didn’t know exactly what she was looking for so I talked basically about my career path, my love of electronics and technology, and how they’re intertwined.
What are your goals and why do you need an MBA?
Told her about my long-term goals in the high-tech sector and the relevant skills I will gain from an MBA that I can’t gain in my current career path.
Why Chicago?
I had a ton of reasons here, but just gave her a few, keeping in mind to include my impressions from my three visits to the school.
Why are you doing a second Masters degree?
Another easy one, as my MS degree is in a technical field and will be relevant to my future high-tech mgmt goals, but doesn’t give me the same skillset that an MBA degree would.
Tell me about a couple of leadership experiences.
I kept both experiences non-professional, which I’m second guessing at this point.
If you had a team member that wasn’t carrying his/her weight, how would you approach it?
This was an easy one, because I’ve been in this situation. I told her how I handled it and why, and that I would handle it the same way again if given a chance to do so.
Any questions for me?
I went through some questions about the flexible curriculum, student clubs, and student life.
Overall it was a very conversational interview and I think we had pretty good rapport. I left and headed to the airport for my flight, exhausted but satisfied with my experience.
Read the full article: Chicago Booth Interview detailed (i.e. LONG) debrief