Interview Reports

Ross MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-campus

My interview was on 26th January 2013. I applied to FT MBA in second round and was invited on 10th Jan. I had to submit my resume in scheduling system and that was all the alumnus had except the interview form to fill in. We met in a local coffee shop, and the interview was 30+15 minutes. Overall was very conversational, even though my interviewer was not that chit-chat.

Here were the questions I was asked:
- Started with introducing herself with how thing would be proceeded.
- Run me through your resume. She asked a question about my current position before I could finish my run.
- Why MBA now?
- What can you deliver to class at Ross?
- What do you interest in Ross activity? (Cannot remember exact word, but intention is same)
- Specific question about my work. (Seemed to be only curiosity of interviewer – as she barely took note here)
- I asked her about her impressive experience during her time in Ross. She was so excited telling me.

I thought it was so-so. I understood that she did not quite understand my answer about how I could deliver to Ross, so she let me use another example to illustrate again.

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Ross MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Second-year student / On-campus

There were I think 5 questions she said she had to ask and then the rest was just conversation back and forth about my questions, etc.

The “required”/behavioral questions (not asked in the same order below) were:
- Describe a team situation — either tell me about a difficult team OR a time you led an exceptional team
- How will you contribute to Ross outside of class
- Tell me 3 things on your bucket list
- What are you most proud of personally or professionally
- Why MBA/why now/why Ross
- Walk me through your resume

Overall it was exactly what I was expecting. My interviewer had candidates right before and right after me and there were people coming by the door with time warnings so they will most definitely keep to the 45 minute limit since it seems to be focus on turnover

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Ross MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2/Second Year Student/Skype

It was a blind interview with a second year student over skype. I was asked the following questions:

1. Tell me about yourself?
2. Tell me when you worked on a cross-functional team and things did not go right?
3. Why MBA and why now?
4. Why Ross?
5. What will you bring to Ross both inside and outside the classroom in clubs?
6. What other schools have you applied to?
7. What has been your biggest professional accomplishment?
8. Tell me when others have mentored you?
9. Tell me how you have applied your improvement recently?
10. If you could be one character from some movie or TV show, which one would you be?

At the end, I asked her two questions.
Question number 8,10 took me off guard. I was also surprised the ‘short term/long term’ goals question.

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Ross MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 /Alumnus /Off-campus

I interviewed with a recent Ross alumnus in Manhattan. We met at a coffee shop and chatted for about 45 minutes. The interview was very casual. He instructed me to dress as casually as I felt comfortable – I wore a tie, blazer, sweater vest, dark jeans, and black oxfords.

Questions included:

1. Why an MBA? (I used the opportunity to talk about my background and tell my story of how I made the decision to apply)
2. Why Ross? (I spoke about the various factors contributing to my decision and worked in my experiences visiting the school and spending time in Ann Arbor.
3. Short and long term goals?
4. If you opened the newspaper 20 years from now and saw an article about yourself, what would you want it to say, what section would it be in, etc..
5. What ways would you want to get involved in the Ross community?
6. open up for questions.

He was very pleasant and relaxed, and very excited about Ross. And that excitement definitely rubbed off on me. I think I would be very happy there.

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Ross MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-campus

Hello everyone,
I am a R2 applicant and interviewed with an alum in Mumbai yesterday. Overall, the interview was quite formal. I met him at his office around 4pm.

Here are some of the questions from the interview:

Interview duration: 25-30 minutes

1) Walk me through your resume in 2 minutes
2) Tell me about your current role and organization. I work with a nonprofit working to expand education opportunity in India.
3) Why MBA? What do you hope to get out of MBA?
4) Why now?
5) What are your short-term and long-term goals?
6) Why Ross?
7) What is your most significant Leadership experience? Why?
8) Tell me about a professional failure.
9) Why do you want to stay in the Education Industry? What motivates you? Discuss personal experiences that have influenced who you are today. Why did you switch from Technology Services to Development sector?
10) Questions for the interviewer

I don’t really know when the admissions committee will get back to me. I just need to patiently wait it out.

Wish you all the best!

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Ross MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1/ Alum/ Off-campus

I interviewed with a Ross alum in Bangalore on Nov 28 2012. Before I scheduled the interview, I checked my interviewers linkedin profile and was happy to find out that his career progression is similar to what I intend to do.

The interview was short and my interviewer looked at my resume beforehand. The interview was very informal and conversational.
1. Tell me about yourself
2. How does MBA fit into your career ( I started with my career goals and then proceeded to answer why I need a MBA to achieve them)
3. Why Ross

Later I spoke about my visit to Ross and he added his experiences at Ross and shared his e-mail id for further questions.

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Ross MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Second-year student / On-campus

My interview with a second-year student took place on Super Interview Saturday during the first weekend in December. My interviewer was fully prepared, as I saw that she had a number of notes already on my resume. It lasted about 45 minutes, during which I was asked the following questions:

-Walk me through your resume
-Why an MBA?
-Why Ross?
-What sorts of companies are you targeting for an internship? Why?

We started with those, and the conversation flowed to other topics, such as how I would contribute to the community, what my passions are, etc. She left about 15 minutes for questions

The interview started off a little more formally than I expected (I was told by many first and second years that it was going to be fairly laid-back), but once we began talking, things seemed to become more casual.

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Ross MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1/Alumnus/Off Campus

The interview was in a coffee shop in New Delhi, India – very comfortable atmosphere. The Ross interview is a blind interview and the interviewer in fact did not even read my resume before interviewing me.

Questions I was asked

- What are your career goals?
- I wrote about my family business in the resume, so he wanted to know what the company does
- He wanted to know if I see potential in the industry of my family business? Where I see the industry in about 10 years
- Tell me about a struggle?

To answer this, I spoke about some projects at work, in which I struggled to convince my team members about something. The interviewer was not happy with this and wanted something deeper. He said it should be something I am comfortable talking about but wanted to know something deeper, something that changed my perspective, what I learnt from that- he rephrased:

- One of the toughest situations that I have been in
I spoke about my experience of working with a non profit in Africa

- Tell me about a failure
- What would my coworkers say are my strengths?
- What would my coworkers say are my weaknesses?
- Have you faced problems working in a team? what is the common reason for this in different situations?
- If you had one super power, what would you do
- Questions for him

Overall the interviewer was extremely friendly and easy to talk to. From the start, he told me that people at Ross do not take themselves and life too seriously and he asked me to just relax and let him get to know me. I enjoyed speaking to him and also learning about his experience at Ross.

I was surprised by the questions about a struggle and also the one in which he asked what I would do if I had one superpower. Overall pleasant experience.

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Ross MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Off Campus / Alum

I had two interviews: one with an alumnus and one with a staff member at the Tauber Institute. I submitted my application on Jan 4 and received an invitation to interview on Jan 17.

My first interview was over the phone with a Tauber staff member. It lasted about 30 minutes and was extremely conversational. The questions she asked were:

1. Why Ross?
2. Why Tauber?
3. What are your future career goals?

Her questions and my answers took up fewer than 15 minutes, and the rest of the time was spent addressing my questions. I asked about MAP, the interaction of Tauber students with other institutes, the group internship experience and how I could make the most of a visit to Ross. She also passed along the contact information of a Tauber alumna who shared a similar background to mine. Overall, very friendly and low-pressure.

My second interview was the following day with a 2011 Ross Alum, based in the Bay Area (there were four alumni in different Bay Area cities, which gave me some welcome flexibility). We arranged to meet near his office but, when I was given the choice, I opted to do our interview over coffee at Starbucks. Although I was dressed in business attire, his was more business casual. Despite the conversational setting, there was definitely some structure to the interview. Some of the questions were:

1. Tell me about a conflict you’ve encountered at work.
2. What clubs are you interested in taking part in at Ross (note: he was looking for “extra-curricular” (read: non-professional) interests)?
3. Why Ross?
4. What are your career goals? How can Ross help you achieve them?
5. What are some professional clubs you’d like to join?
6. How do you see yourself making an impact at Ross?

Our chat lasted a little over an hour. He put me in touch with a classmate of his, who had been in Tauber. Overall, while the interview was friendly, it was definitely more “business-like” than my phone interview. Fingers crossed!

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Ross MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Off Campus / Alum

I interviewed in NYC with a 2009 Alum. She was very familiar with Teach for America which helped because in previous interviews I had this issue. It was very conversational, we met at a starbucks, she took a few notes.

1. Why Mba?
2. Long-term career goals?
3. Why Ross?
4. How do you see yourself contributing to Ross with your nontraditional background?
5. Any questions for me?
6. We talked a lot about my experiences in TFA and in the classroom…dealing with parents, my passing rates etc.

She was very sincere about wanting to thoroughly understand my career goals (which was legitimate considering they are very different) and really took the time to allow me to explain my vision for my future. Overall she was very easy and actually fun to talk to.

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Ross MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Off Campus / Alum

I had my interview yesterday with a Ross alum in Boston. It was held on 2/20/12 as part of the R2 application process. The interview lasted roughly 45 minutes and was very regimented. He asked very little follow up questions and took lots of notes. The questions I was asked (and can remember) were as follows:

• Walk me through your resume
• Why an MBA?
• Why Ross?
• Since you studied Business for your Undergrad, what do you feel you can learn from a Master’s?
• How would you go about prioritizing all of the opportunities at Ross? (after I talked about all the opportunities at Ross)
• Describe a time where you had to fight for an idea within a team
• Describe a time where you were frustrated within a team
• Tell me about a time where you had to work with someone very different from you
• What was the most challenging criticism you have received at work?
• Is there anything else you’d like to add that wasn’t in your interview or essays?

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