Welcome to Wiki Wednesdays, a column in which we highlight new and noteworthy content in the Clear Admit Wiki, an applicant-driven resource on the MBA admissions process. Just a week after launching our new interface and issuing a call for content, we’ve received a number of great interview accounts!
The theme of this week’s installment is the importance – and perils – of preparation. Starting us off, an applicant to Duke’s MBA program posted an account that helps illustrate how knowledge of a school’s priorities and culture might help a candidate predict the focus of interview questions. Given the focus on team culture at Fuqua, it’s not surprising that this applicant was asked the following:
5 Characteristics of a good team.
What role would you play on this team.
A time when I had a difficult person on my team and what did i do.
A difficult choice I had to make and what did I learn from it.
In addition to being prepared to simply field the questions asked, it’s also a good strategy to have a clear idea of the information that you feel is most essential to your candidacy and actively incorporate these points into your responses. A recent contribution to the Chicago interview page shares a list of the questions asked and ends with this commentary:
Even though the questions were not too many, I did my best to weave the above mentioned points into my answers making sure I got all my points across. This is important – do not rely on your interviewer to ask you all the questions you want to be asked. Make sure you know ahead of time what you want to communicate and weave them into your answers for other questions. I also sent my interviewer a thank you email reiterating all the above mentioned points.
Of course, it’s important to be flexible as well. Our final excerpt, taken from a very detailed account of a Wharton interview, shares a humorous example of the potential downside of pointed preparation:
One question that caught me off guard was “What would you do if all of a sudden you had a free week”. Ironically, I had prepared for the 1 free day and 1 free month questions, but not this one. After taking more than a few seconds (10 sec maybe), I think I came up with a solid answer.
That wraps up our summary of new additions to the MBA Admissions Wiki. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this resource thus far. We look forward to seeing more great content from all of you in the coming weeks!
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