If you are preparing for an MBA admissions interview, be sure to check out the Clear Admit Wiki! It’s chock full of firsthand accounts of interviews, as reported by MBA applicants themselves. This Round 2 applicant to Duke / Fuqua shared the following interview experience with a second-year student:
“I had my interview with a 2nd year on campus doing one of their recruitment weekends. Most of the other students interviewed had 2nd years as well and I had been told that the interview was very laid back and a lot like a conversation. I did not feel that way. I will say that after the interviews, a lot of other prospectives felt like theirs was very laid back but this was not the case for my interview. He seemed to just go down a list of questions and wrote down my answers. All of the questions except for one (the last one listed) were exactly like you will get at any other business school. Some of my questions were:
- Tell me about yourself/walk through the resume
- Why an MBA? Why now?
- Why Duke?
- What are your future career aspirations?
- Tell me about a time when you were in a group setting and you gave an idea that was successful.
- Tell me about a time when you were in a group setting and you had a difficult team member and how you handled the situation.
- Tell me about your leadership experience.
- Explain your job to me as if I were an 8 year old child.
There were some other questions revolving around teamwork but again, nothing that you probably haven’t heard before. This wasn’t one of my favorite interviews, in that the interview was very stiff, but it wasn’t awful. It did feel like I was fighting for business school, not really having a conversation. This could have been just my experience because I heard from others that had completely different experiences. The interviewer offered me a chance to ask any questions I had and I definitely say come prepared with questions THAT HE HASN’T HEARD BEFORE. I’m sure they interview with a lot of candidates so make sure to stand out. My interview lasted about 30 minutes.”
To see more MBA admissions interview reports, check out the Clear Admit Wiki – a free resource with hundreds of real, documented interview experiences from b-school applicants. Also, if you’d like to help your fellow applicants by adding your experiences, please send us your interview field report and we’ll post it to the wiki. Finally, if you’d like even more helpful hints and detailed analysis on how to ace your interview, check out our line of Interview Guides, which demystify the most common questions asked by the leading programs and offer step-by-step guidance for a successful interview.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the Clear Admit Wiki and best of luck to those undergoing admissions interviews!
Read the full article: Duke / Fuqua MBA Admissions Interview Questions 2011