Was pretty nervous so I only had a snack bar, a cafe latte, and a bowl of soup before I drove to the school. Decided to change in a bathroom there to avoid staining my new suits. Interviwed with a very friendly lady from the admissions office and felt pretty good about it. Will have to see what they thought of it. Questions: (pretty close to the sequence of questions during the interview. May have reordered one of two of them) 1. Why did you choose the company that you're with (I've only worked at one.) 2. Tell me about your role at work. (specific responsibilities, contributions to the team, and some results) 3. Tell me about a professional setback. (she said anything so I picked a small one and talked about what I did to address it including specific actions) 4. Why do you like developing others. 5. Tell me about a time when you enabled someone else to do their job. 6. How would your coworkers describe you. 7. Tell me about the biggest challenge that you have in leading your team. (followup question was how do you motivate someone) 8. Tell me about your career vision. 9. Any specific companies that I see myself working at, post graduation. 10. What skills/expertise are you hoping to get out of the HBS education. 11. Difficulties that I might experience because I don't have a finance/business background. 12. In what ways do you see yourself contributing to your classmates' experience at HBS. 13. What do you see as your biggest challenge in a classroom (case-method) environment. 14. Tell me about xyz experience (something I mentioned in my essay). 15. Talked about my class visit and my conversations with HBS students/alums. 16. Anything she hasn't touched on. 17. Questions for her. 18. (don't remember when she asked this) Significant achievements/impacts in my team lead job. 19. (don't remember when either) Questions about a recent award that I got after I submitted the application. 20. (somewhere around the career vision) How HBS can open up my mind and help me find paths that are potentially more suitable for me.
There were a few more follow-up questions based on my answers. I talked VERY fast (not a good idea but wasn't bad either) so it allowed us to get through a lot (she took 2 pages of notes) in 30 minutes and not allow me any time to feel nervous. She knew my application very well and came with a list of thoughtful questions. Probably sat in a weird position and my left leg fell asleep. I could barely stand straight after the interview and almost fell right down the stairs. Was really glad that the interviewer walked in front of me and didn't see me struggle down the stairs. Good luck everyone! |