I arrived 15 minutes before the scheduled time and had a chat with other participants of the group discussions. We were 5 in total, all males.
Then, we were invited to another room by the adcom representative. After we took our seats she gave a guideline on the discussion format. She took notes and kept time.
Each one of the participants made a brief introduction of his idea. Next, we selected one common idea and elaborated on it. Quite quickly we came up with a constructive idea and added some solid layer of details. Then, one of the guys made the presentation to the adcom rep.
I believe we were very productive as some other groups couldn’t even define their key idea properly. My opinion is that we were lucky to have people with similar professional background (consultants and finance guys) and who are used to make presentations and structure data. Also, everyone was playing it safe and was extra polite, smiling and supporting.
One-on-one interview was blind and lasted about 10 minutes. I was asked to share my feedback on the group discussion and walk through my resume. Then, I asked 2 questions about the school.
Overall, in my opinion, every participant performed well and tried to add some value to the discussion.
