MIT MLOG 面经
周四时收到Mark的邮件告知要给个15分钟的电话面试，作为final stage of the admissions process，让给了周五的两个时间让选一个。稀里糊涂的我啊，算了半天算出来一个晚上八点左右的时间，可回复的时候手一抖却回复成了北京时间夜里4点，后来发现已经晚了，幸亏有闹钟和咖啡。

闲话少说，言归正传。

面试人：Dr. Jarrod Goentzel，Executive Director of the program
时间：大概25分钟，超了些
主要问题：
- why MLOG
- Career plan
- work responsibilities
- research experience ( 特别值得注意的是，他听说我以前写过英文的course essay,让我挑一篇发给他看看）
- why choose current job
- 还扯了一些家常，如家乡在哪里等等

总体来说面试还是比较随意，可能主要是fitness test. 另外，由于我完全没有供应链背景，所以没问我任何关于供应链的东西，甚至没有提及论文题目，其他有供应链背景的tx可能就不一样了。

最后报下家门：国内/G780/ IELTS 7.5/4年IB+PE/GPA:本科2.3 硕士3.5

That's it. 祝大家好运！

2010年1月 MIT面试

Adcom 面试，大约30分钟，Julie非常nice，但面试的问题还比较难，全部是behavior question，而且不能是essay里面提到过的内容，对每个回答都抠了很多细节：

最近的一个achievement，learning是什么
举一个teamwork的example
举一个lead 一个team完成一件事情的example
举一个在没有足够facts的情况下做decision的example
举一个别人给你feedback之后你的反应的例子
末：其实本人申请的环节中有很多不科学的地方，整个申请过程中因为长年在外地出差，基本没听过info session，也几乎没有mock过interview，很多学校申请之前也不认识什么校友，所以在申请的过程中在材料准备上有很多不足，我觉得这几个环节其实都很重要，大家如果多花点心思在几个环节应该能提高申请的把握，最后祝大家都能拿到心仪的offer

各位朋友分享一下MIT Sloan的面经。我向主要谈谈我的感受和怎么准备，单纯的问题其实没有什么意思，因为绝大部分的问题都可以google MIT 面经找到。

拿到面试通知后，我仔细看了一下近两年面经的总结，加上各种渠道打听的小道消息，以为MIT的面试应该不像传说中那么tough。后来事实证明面试官还是蛮sharp的。总的说来，面试官十分nice,，交谈在和谐的气氛中进行，所有的问题全部是behavior 的问题，和Sloan官方的preparation guide 完全一致。对比zhupp的面经，可以推测不同的面试官对待不同的申请人可能有不同的策略，但不管怎样，按照Sloan 的STAR策略应该是明智的。

具体准备的时候，我花了一些时间，把每个不同的scenario 提前想好几个例子， 按STAR准备一下。值得注意的是，面试官明显非常熟悉我的资料，而且明确要求essay 之外的事例。有几个问题明显是probe我的profile的不足之处。建议多practice，而且面试当天要提前到，我当时提前一个小时到，结果面试官提前让我进去，多谈了10分钟，感觉时间充裕更有机会present自己。

具体问题很多已经记不得了，但有一个很tricky的问题印象深刻，give me an example that you failed your expectation... ，我说了例子以后被问了很多细节，具体到故事中涉及的各个的人名，职位，关系，而且还在纸上记录，画出关系图，我没有想到要求如此详细，着实紧张了一下，最后还好答的不错。

MIT on campus 面经

12月18号下午面的，45min. 之前从各方面的消息听说，mit的面试很tough，mit的面试guide里面说会全部问behavior的question！然后面试官会不停的挖细节。但是实际上我的面试比较简单直接，一个behavior的问题也没有问，也没有追问细节，可能我自己讲的比较细。
面试官问了我三四个问题。
1。 do you have any new update
2。 did you join the lunch with students today? how do you think？
3。why did you change from the first job to the second job？ anything you were not happy about your first job？
4。why did you choose to leave your job now？
然后就说take a break，问我有啥问题，我问了两个问题，我以为之后还有问题问，结果就wrap up了，问了一个：
5。what do you want me to say to the admission committee team about you？

总体感觉比想像中简单。

另外front desk的kim很nice，我昨天早到45分钟，坐在那边紧张的不行，他一直在跟我讲笑话，虽然这是他的工作，但是还是很感谢他。另外谢谢所有的朋友。过程很圆满，结果对我来说反而没有那么重要。
good luck to everyone!! I am willing to answer questions if any of you need help!!

Round 2 / Outside consultant / On-campus (Published April 5th, 2010)

The interview went fairly smoothly today. It was all too fast before I realized the time was up! Anyway, I hope I left a good impression on the interviewer. It is not in m hands anymore...

Here is the interview format:

A very brief greeting, maybe 2-3min, just talked about the incredible weather and how I got to the place by taking the cab (instead of walking),
She then sat me down and asked for the transcripts.
She then made a one-min introduction of herself. It turned out that she was an outside consultant hired by Sloan to do the interview. From what I heard, there should be very little difference of interviewing with admission officer vs. outside consultant. But try to find out about the interviewer could be helpful
She then directly went to the behavioral questions.
The first question she posed was: how did you manage to resolve a conflict situation and move the team forward?
Tell me of a time when you set up a goal and moved towards achieving it;
Tell me of a time when you took the risk and the outcome, what did you learn from it
I used the innovation and initiative story for the first question, where I talked about how I convinced the team to pursue my new idea and so forth. She was probing how I persuaded the team and whether there was any push-backs from the team members. So just make sure that you are prepared to address those details.

I used the ballroom story for the second question. I think this one went really well, and we shared lots of laughs about dancing. No significant issues here.

I then used the grant writing story to talk about how I took the risk by focusing on the grant writing rather than the other errands. She then asked me whether I was willing to submit the grant, knowing that even if it was not perfect. I told her yes, that I have learned to strike a balance between quality and quantity.

She then asked me for any questions. I posed two questions to her: mentorship and the students at E&I track. It was a nice conversation, as I made an effort to weave in my fit and my career goals into this conversation.
That is it. Then she walked me out of her office, I shook hands with her, and ...
I then rushed to the bookstore and signed a Thankyou card and mailed it right away
General tips:

Relax, people are nice, so just focus on being positive and being in control. Even if you knew the answers to some of the questions (especially behavioral), try not to start answering right away, because that may sound a bit scripted. Instead, ask to take a moment, and (pretend to) think about it, and then start talking. Use every chance to establish a connection with her. For example, when I talked about my dance story, I mentioned a dance movie and we started chatting about the movie,

Round 1 / Adcom / Off-campus / Admitted! (Published March 29th, 2010)

Did it in India with AdCom officer in January 2010.

There was some initial small talk about the company I work with, and then there were following questions
What does your company do?
Why did you choose your current job?
Tell about a difficult interaction with your manager.
Why did you make this job change?
What do you want to do in long-term?
How did you prepare yourself for your new job?
Lot of small, follow-on questions about a sports I had written about in my resume to assess knowledge of that?
Tell me about a latest accomplishment since you submitted application
Question about my quizzing hobby, and how I did it at my college
Discussion about academics at Sloan and various recreational facilities in Boston.
He had read my application thoroughly, and asked many relevant questions. Surprisingly I didn't have too many behavioral questions. Overall it last 35 mins.

Final result - Admitted.

Round 1 / Off-campus (SF) / Adcom (Published January 20th, 2010)

The admissions committee member was very warm and friendly and really didn't press me too hard on the questions. For various reasons, hadn't really had any time to prepare in advance so I was pretty much walking in cold. I am also not the type of person who performs well on the fly. She started off explaining the application process and timing and then the interview format. Here are the questions she asked:

do you have your transcript?
how do you have time for all the things that you do (referencing my resume); basically a question on my extracurriculars
tell me about your job, have your responsibilities changed since your promotion
tell me about a time you had a challenging interaction with someone
tell me about a time you had to convince others to see your perspective
tell me about a time you had to ask for help
tell me about a time when your expectations were not met
how did you decided to apply to Sloan?
is there anything you wish I had asked?
any questions for me?

Round 1 / Off-campus (Paris) / Adcom / Accepted! (Published January 19, 2010)

I was notified three weeks before my interview date of two possible days to interview. I registered on the interview time slots portal, which had about 17 interview slots. I was lucky to get a slot which would allow me to travel to the interview location comfortably the same day.

Preparation

Reading the forums for MIT Sloan interview questions, I got a pretty good idea of what sort of questions I needed to prepare. I rummaged my brain for interesting stories from the past year, making sure to think about situations which I had not described in my essays. I thought of stories which could be used to answer a couple of questions. I used the STAR interviewing technique to write down these situations. I "tagged" these stories with topics, e.g. handling opposition etc., to be sure I had enough stories covering a variety of topics. I went through my application quickly, as I knew more or less what I had written in the essays. I did that just to be prepared for some detail questions my interviewer might have had. He did not, however, ask any questions from my application.

I practised giving the interview answers by recalling the situations and sort of giving a speech to myself. I had a couple of mock interviews with my wife. I made sure that I did not learn my answers by heart, so that my answers came out natural.

The day before the interview, I relaxed.

Interview

I reached the venue, made sure my suit was ok, and asked to see my interviewer (whose name was on the interview invitation). He came down and seemed a pleasant chap. My interview, overall, was pretty informal. He started by talking about how I like living in Europe, and when I hesitated thinking this was part of the interview, he explained this was not part of the interview. after a few minutes, he explained how the interview will run. The questions he asked me:

Walk me through your resume and some detail questions based on what I said
Situation about persuading/convincing people and details
Situation in which I had to present something to someone who I did not like, and details
Why MBA and why MIT Sloan?
What question do you wish I had asked you
What do you do Outside of work
Questions for him
These questions were not really asked in any order, instead it seemed as if we were having a conversation. He took notes when he needed to, during the interview. He was also willing to share his thoughts and comments with me. This helped keep the atmosphere informal. In my opinion, he was looking to strike a good conversation instead of having a formal interview.

Tips

Read the MIT interview guide and prepare stories with a beginning, middle and end (result). Use the STAR technique and prepare stories that show you handling professional relationships well. Mention the accomplishment at the end.
Be prepared for unexpected questions and try to think on your feet (Show presence and listen to your interviewer). Be confident in your answers. Stay cool.
I can only second what Angel Navedo said during an MIT admissions chat: "Presence is important in your interview. Poor presence is one quick way to be unsuccessful in the interview. This means demonstrating a confident, composed presence, strong communications skills, etc."

Round 2 / Off-campus (Seattle) / Adcom / Accepted!!! (Published April 6th, 2009)

I was notified of my interview fairly late and only had a few days to prepare. I was *extremely* nervous due to everything I was reading about MIT interviews and how insanely difficult they are. I was expecting a barrage of questions and then probing on everything I said... but the questions really weren't too bad, and his style was laid back. We talked a lot about my nonprof stuff which probably took up a good 10 min (and helped me calm down too). The interviewer was very, very casual and genuinely interested in what I had to say. We got into a rhythm early on and the conversation flowed like gravy...

Here are the general questions:

transcripts?
recent achievements/promotions? (showed him some community awards)
tell me about yourself. what do you do at work? (i work in tech and brought in some product samples. he seemed to like the fact that i brought something to "show and tell". this also ate up some time and allowed me to go into engineer mode and ramble a bunch of tech stuff
what do you enjoy outside of work? (talked about my love of snowboarding/baseball/nonprof)
tell me about a time when you had to convince someone to follow your plan
tell me a time when you thought outside of the box
why mba? why sloan?
are you sure you need an mba? you already have a lot of "mba" experience.. (wasn't really prepared for this one so watch out for it..)
I studied by arranging the questions here into different categories, then choosing different stories based on the category for each question. I probably had 7-9 different scenarios ready but only talked about 2 of them in depth. Most of the follow up questions are straightforward and natural: why did you do it that way? any difficulties with people? how would you do it differently next time? what's the greatest thing you learned from the experience? etc etc

Probably the best advice is to be yourself and pretend like you're talking to a friend. I even slipped up a few times and said "man" just like I was talking to a classmate. Another thing I'd do is keep your answers short (maybe 1-2 min). When I rambled he looked away but when i said something interesting he would nod and write. If you're from tech like me, try to pick stories that have nothing to do with work. Remember you are trying to show why you'd be a good business leader and not a good IT/tech guy. He seemed to be more interested in my nonprof/community stories (he was even interested in my snowboarding experiences). Just show passion, conviction and be humble about your accomplishments. Another tip: show up early. I was fortunate enough to overhear the interview before me which helped calm me down a bit and get a feel for his interviewing style. Finally, when the interview was over I asked for feedback (i didn't ask outright but did so in a creative and non-obvious way). He basically said I did fine which made me feel a lot better about the whole ordeal.

The interview lasted ~40 min. I was accepted Round 2.

Round 2 / Off-campus (NY Hub) / Adcom / Accepted! (Published March 10th, 2009)

My interview went smoothly. After a casual exchange about urban versus suburban life, the interviewer went over the behavioural interview format and noted that she's looking for new examples and experiences, not ones that I used in my essays. She was very polite and cordial, and that helped me feel comfortable from the beginning. Unlike others, my interviewer provided positive feedback throughout the meeting. She smiled and said things like, "That makes sense." and "I can see why you did this." She even commented on what she liked. It was more conversational than I had expected.

These are the questions that I recall:

Do you have your transcript?
Do you have any recent achievements/promotions that you want to share?
How did you find out about MIT Sloan? How did you decide to apply? Tell me about your thought process.
What's a personal goal that you've set for yourself recently?
Tell me about a time when you had to convince someone to follow your plan.
Where do see your business heading?
How would a friend describe you? A client?
Tell me about a time when someone needed your help.
Tell me about a time when your expectations were not met.
Tell me about a time when you had to step out from your comfort zone.
Tell me about something that you've encountered, at work or outside of work, that made you feel uncomfortable.
Any questions?
The questions are roughly in order. The interview was about 35-40 minutes long. I remember leaving the building at a quarter to. Because of my past experiences, throughout the interview, I expressed my interest in and knowledge of design and construction. So as I was getting ready to leave, I naturally gave an introduction to two iconic buildings viewable from the meeting room's windows. My interviewer was genuinely interested and appreciated the information.

Like others before me, I recommend preparing a handful of good examples that can be used to answer a variety of questions. Also, go through the questions listed in this wiki and have a couple of examples ready for each. Good luck!

Round 1 / Off-campus / Accepted! (Published February 12th, 2009)

My interview went exceedingly well from the beginning. The interviewer explained that her role was to be my advocate to the admissions committee, and that my task was to give her good material so that she could effectively make my case. This put me at ease, and surprisingly, the interviewer wasn't as stone-faced and dig-downy as the MIT interview guide had led me to believe. I was accepted in Rd 1.

Here are the questions that I remember:

Tell me about something you've done that you're proud of.
Tell me about a time you failed.
Tell me about a time you convinced others to follow your plan.
What do you do for fun outside of work?
What do you wish I had asked?
Why an MBA, and why MIT?
Any questions?
The interview ran long--about 50-55 minutes. I'd give the same suggestions as others on this wiki: be concise, follow the STAR method but in a natural, human, storytelling way, and be genuine about why you're excited about Sloan. Your enthusiasm will shine through and hopefully differentiate you from all the others who woodenly give canned answers. I found myself framing my stories/answers in terms of Sloan's "mens et manus" (mind and hand) philosophy, and it worked really well. Lastly, it's important to show smarts-plus-humility (which is a proxy in some ways for the other personality attributes Sloan likes).

Good luck!

Round 1 / Off-campus / Accepted! (Published February 9th, 2009)

My interview seemed like the standard MIT Sloan interview. I was told to recall stories that I had not mentioned in my application.

I cannot remember all the questions, but here are most of them.

Tell me a time when something unexpected happened to you
Tell me when you did something innovative
Tell me a time when you influenced someone (Then a follow up question to my answer was: Can you tell me what your plan was?).
Tell me how Sloan ranks against the other schools you applied to
Is there a question you wish I had asked?
What questions do you have for me?
My interviewer was very friendly and laid back. He didn't ask me too many follow up questions to my stories -- he listened intently and wrote down a lot of notes. My interview was 35 minutes long.

I prepared about five versatile stories that could answer most of the questions that have been listed in this Wiki. It's also important to weave in themes that Sloan finds important into all stories (e.g., collaborative, laid-back, respectful of everyone's opinions, humble). I made sure that my answers were no longer than 3-4 minutes each (this forced me to be precise about what I was saying and gave the interviewer a chance to ask more questions). Once the interview questions began, the interviewer became more serious. I would take advantage of the few minutes before and after the formal part of the interview starts to slip in something interesting about yourself (in a natural way) that you think wouldn't be asked in the interview.

I got accepted in the first round .

Round 1 / Off-Campus (Europe) / Adcom (Published 20 January 2009)

I met with a member of the adcom. He was perfectly friendly, and actually did not dig in to my answers as much as I was expecting. The questions I was asked were:

1. Tell me about yourself, what have you been doing in the last two years.

2. Tell me about something at work you have been proud of in the last year.

3. When were your expectation not met?

4. What do you do outside work?

5. Why do you want an MBA, why Sloan?

6. What do you wish I'd asked?

7. I'm meeting a lot of people today, what is going to make me remember you?

8. Any questions for me?

I would definitely recommend following some of the other advice on here of not just filling the silences. There were plenty as he was writing, but it didn't feel too awkward. I also agree with some of the comments on here that there is almost an air of disinterest from the interviewer, and he was VERY difficult to read to assess how it was going.

To prepare, I went through eight projects / stories I had, and matched each of them to a number of different categories of questions. I felt I had an answer for most of the stuff he asked. The "what do you wish I asked" one is tricky to decide what to talk about on the spot, but not too bad.

The interview was less than 45 minutes, probably about 35.

Round 1 / Off-campus / Adcom (Published December 16th, 2008)

I had a somewhat different experience with my Sloan interview than I read from the wiki. I interviewed at an offsite location in my home city. My interviewer was an adcom and was very casual. Surprisingly, it was even more casual than my Yale interview which was with a student.

We exchanged small talk and then the adcom explained that MIT conducts behavioral type interviews and laid out other structural guidelines our discussion would follow. I was expecting to be battered with the "tell me a time when you..." type questions, but I actually did not get any. The questions included Why MBA / Why Now / Why MIT? And I was challenged or asked for more detail on each (but in a very non-threatening way).

We discussed my career goals and how I thought an MBA would help me to achieve them. I already have a masters degree which I received about 4 years ago so the adcom dove deep into why I need another degree, what I plan to get from an MBA that I didnt already get from an MS, etc. This was heaviest line of questioning. I was also asked about my current position and how my career plans after school would differ.

I was asked me to describe more about two or three of my application essays. The questions were pretty vague (i.e. "you mentioned your undergraduate experience in essay 3. tell me more about that"), so I recommend reviewing immediately prior to the interview.

I was asked what question I wished I was asked. I stumbled a bit because I was able to previously mention the two stories I had planned if this came up. I took some time to think and talked about what I would contribute to Sloan. I was then asked if I had any questions about the program. I asked about the career placement office and the downsides of having a small program.

The adcom spent a good amount of time checking over notes from my application and taking new notes based on our conversation. The silence felt a bit awkward, but I think I made a smart move by not rambling.

The interview lasted about 45 minutes.

Round 2 / Adcom Consultant / On-Campus / March 2008 (Published April 9th, 2008)

My interviewer was very warm and friendly and made a concerted effort to make sure I was relaxed and comfortable. She had clearly read my application thoroughly and after some small talk, she told me she had prepared 3 questions that I should answer with new stories in the STAR format.

Tell me about a time you led a team to a solution.
Tell me about a time you had to sell an idea.
Tell me about a time your idea was rejected.
She then allowed me to ask several questions about the program. We ran a little over 45 minutes.

I prepared for my interview by making 1 notecard for each of 5 good stories that were deep enough to answer a wide variety of questions and diverse enough to show characteristics of me that weren't emphasized in my application. My notecards were in the STAR format that MIT recommends - 1 bullet for each point. Finally, I looked at this wiki to see the range of questions and thought through whether or not my stories addressed most of them. I also did a mock interview.

Her line of questioning as we explored each story was very logical and she did not throw any major curve balls. I felt that I was stumbling through #3 at times, but she helped me stay on track. I was admitted in R2.

Round 2 / Adcom (Published March 27th, 2008)

Of my interviews thus far, MIT was by far the most rigorous and thorough. They hold true to the "behavioral" interview model, where they spend most of the time asking you about a situation from your past where something happened and you need to say what you did. Note that they want stories that have NOT appeared in your essays. It sounded like they didn't mind if the stories were from my personal or professional life (I asked) as long as they were relevant.

The interview was conducted by a member of the admissions committee. It is exactly like a job interview and, while not necessarily pressured, is much more intense then my Tuck, Kellogg or Wharton interviews. The interviewer was cordial and friendly, but there was almost zero small talk.

The major questions I was asked:

What exactly do you do? What have you been doing in your position recently?
Tell me about a time when you were overwhelmed and asked others for help
Tell me about a time when you mentored someone
Tell me about a time when you butted heads with a co-worker/client/employee
Tell me about a time when you were part of a team that had poor dynamics/didn't get along well (say what you did, of course)
Tell me about a time when you had to deal with someone who wasn't pulling his/her weight
Why an MBA, why Sloan (although only briefly and at the end)?
I was then asked if I had any questions. You'll really only have time for one, so make it a good question that shows you've done your homework and will help you evaluate the school. I asked about how hard it was to get into classes, as this has come back as the most universal complaint I've heard from current top b-school students (Wharton especially).

My advice (along with others who have posted here) is to review the list of Sloan questions we've all posted and think of two or three stories that could work. If you do that, you'll have a good 30-40 stories that could be applicable for any question the interviewer might ask.

Adcom Consultant, On-Campus, Round 1, December 2007 (Published January 15, 2008)
I interviewed on-campus with a consultant that worked with the admissions committee. She was not a full-time member of adcom, but apparently worked with them during admissions season. At first glance, she appeared like she wasn't going to be very friendly, but I pushed the small talk and we developed some good rapport early on. Like you probably know if you're reading this the MIT interview is non-blind, they have read all of your material. At the beginning of the interview, she reiterated everything MIT provides in the interview guide about the behavioral interview. She wanted specific anecdotes and she didn't want to hear the same stories I had used in my application.

Her first question was about a story I used in one of my essays. She basically asked me about the challenges in managing this project and specific difficulties.
I have an office overseas which I manage remotely, she spent a lot of the interview asking specific questions about the challenges in managing the offshore staff. She wanted specific examples of issues I've faced and how I handled them. She wanted specific examples.
Tell me about a time when you had to decide multiple options. Drilled into my answer.
What will your business do when you leave? Wanted details.
She didn't ask my Why Sloan? - Why an MBA? - Goals? or any of the other standard interview questions.
Questions for her? This really was my only opportunity to show that I've done my research on Sloan. I mentioned specific courses, professors, treks, and clubs in the context of my questions.
At the bottom of my resume, I had some "other interests" listed. She even asked me about a couple of those.
Do you have your official transcripts? I didn't have the official transcripts, so I handed her the photocopies I made.
She would drill down into every question. One question she asked multiple times because my anecdote didn't directly address her question.

Overall, be prepared to discuss stories from your app materials and have several new stories ready. They want details. I recommend using names and specifics. Story should be detailed as if you were telling a colleague.

This was very different from your standard interview. Focus your efforts on preparing some good stories. Don't worry too much about the standard interview questions like why Sloan. Also, don't save your good stories for the end. Use your best anecdotes early because you will only have the opportunity to go through a few because of the time the interviewer spends drilling down.

I think I did well, but I am certainly glad that this was one of my last interviews. If you interview on-campus, I recommend participating in "lunch with a student". Eased the tension and gave me some good information about the program.

Adcom, Hub Interview, Round 2 (Published March 23, 2007)
I met with an assistant director of admissions at a hotel lobby in Santa Monica, CA. The interviewer was suffering from a bad cold/flu. He was friendly, affable, relaxed, and professional. It focused on the interview at hand with some smiles and laughs thrown in. He asked the following questions. My interview was short, about 25 minutes.

Do you have your transcripts? (He opened the envelopes and looked them over)
How did you like (undergrad institution)?
Describe a time when someone's input impacted your actions?
Tell me about a time when you had to sell an idea to an individual or a group.
Tell me about a time when you had to decide between many different routes or options.
What's a personal goal you've set for yourself within the last 2 years?
How does Sloan rank compared to the other schools you are applying to?
Why Sloan?
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Do you have any questions for me?
He did not grill me too much. Just asked the questions and sometimes asked me to elaborate on certain points of my response.

Adcom, Hub Interview (Published March 9, 2007)
Basically had the following questions:

What other interviews have you had?
What great experience have you had on your job within the last one year ?
What expectation have you had recently that was not met?
Why MBA?
Why Sloan?
What question do you wish that I had asked you?

Adcom, Off-campus. (Published March 2006)

My interview was in London with the assistant director of admissions. The interview was pretty short, somewhere between 30 and 45 mins. The interviewer was very professional, but not robotic.

As noted elsewhere on this page, I was asked not to use examples contained in my essay.

All questions were behaviourial type questions. Here's what I can remember being asked:

Hand over your transcript
Give an example of a time when you had to deal with someone who wasn't pulling their weight
Give an example of a time when your actions annoyed a superior or colleague
I explained, then was asked how that made me feel
How do you stand out amongst your peers
How does MIT rank against the other schools you've applied to?
Do you have any questions for me?
I haven't heard yet either way, but after being in the interview here's my advice:

This interview was professional, don't expect any weird questions
Have a swathe of examples of cool things you did professionally and personally ready and waiting. Don't be robotic in your answers - believe in what you did and the successes you've had.
The interviewer will pause to scribble - don't feel like you have to fill the gap. It's ok to pause and think of stuff, so while the interviewer writes, you can think.

Interview w/ Adcom in NYC; Round 2 - Interviewed: March 8, 2006 (Published March 2006)

My Sloan interview lasted about 30 minutes, with the last few minutes reserved for my questions. Below were the questions asked:

Do you have your official transcript?
Tell me about how/why you transitioned from your first job to your second.
Tell me about a time where you had an impact on a group.
Give me another example.
Tell me about a time where you had to make two groups come to a consensus.
What other schools are you applying to, and how does MIT rank against those schools?
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Do you have any questions for me?
My advice:

Be prepared to have at least two examples for each possible question! Alternatively, have examples that are very versatile (one that can answer both leadership questions and impact questions for example).
Be especially aware if you have a tendency to ramble on. Because the interviewer was taking copious notes, there were times of extended silence, which I initially filled by reiterating my points. I had to make a conscious effort to stop.
If you're interviewing in the NYC hub location, allow extra time to figure out the elevator system (seriously!). There are several banks of elevators and some only go to certain floors. It took me literally 10 minutes of walking around, perplexed, to get to the office.

Interview w/ Adcom in Bay Area; Round 2 - Interviewed: March 2, 2006 (Published: March 4, 2006)

The MIT adcom I interviewed with was extremely friendly and loved to talk. :-) The interview lasted about 45 minutes and was very conversational.

Started off with her reading my transcripts and mentioning, "Oh, you went to [this] high school?" Didn't realize that was on my transcripts! "Why did you go to [this university] for one summer session?"

Then came the *behavioral* portion of the interview. During our chat, the bells rang loud and clear that she knew my application very well. Often when I said something about my background or experience she would reinforce it with, "Oh yes! I remember you mentioning [blah] on your app!" Of course I tried to come up with other examples for the questions asked below.

"Tell me about a project at work that you co-managed... How did you feel?... What would you say the impact was to the client?... How did they react?"
"Tell me about a project at work within the last year that you're proud of... What did you specifically learn from it?"
"What's a personal goal you've set for yourself within the last 2 years?"
"Why Sloan?"
"I read about [this] in your app and loved the story behind it. Can you tell me more about it?... How did the members feel about that?... Why did you fail at that point?... How do you feel about the outcome?"
"Why do you want to go to the east coast?... Are you sure you wouldn't mind moving east?" (I live in California.)
Remember: Be yourself. They know your app, so they want to reaffirm: 1) who you've displayed yourself to be on your app, 2) your reasons for "why Sloan," and 3) your personality and your fit for Sloan. The easiest way is to treat the adcom like your peer. Imagine you're working on a team project and the Sloan adcom is a team member. How would you interact with your team member? Show this.

R1: Admit From: Business as Unusual (Published March 2006)

I was a little nervous for my 8:00 am Sloan interview in Seattle because I had flown in from Austin the day before and gone to bed at 2:00 am. Moreover, my gf had not picked up my suit from the dry-cleaners so I had no idea how I would survive the dreaded behavioral interview. Anyway, the cleaners opened at 7:00, we were there at 6:45. I changed in the dry-cleaners store and headed to my interview. Incidentally, my interviewer was a little late, which gave me a little time to catch my breath.

She started off my telling me that the person who read my file had told her that mine was an extremely strong application. Well, that kinda boosted my confidence. We did only 3 questions: Tell me of a difficult time you faced, Tell me a little about the non-profit work you do & do you have any questions for me. I think I did really well in the interview and by the end of it I could tell she was selling the school to me.

On the day of the results, my interviewer left a voice mail on my phone, telling me I had gotten in.

R2 Interview in Cambridge with AdCom. (Published March 2006)

MIT sends you a 2 page guide to their "Behavioral Event-based Interview" (BEI) before you visit. The key difference is that they do NOT ask you "Why an MBA? Why now? and Why here?" They simply take your resume and application and ask two or three main questions, each with several follow up questions. Note that it is not a blind interview. The adcom is supposed to review your application thoroughly before the interview. It's hard to list the questions they'll ask, because the questions will be about your application. Expect questions on conflicts/difficulties at work and how you handled them.

It's not as unique as some people claim. It is odd, however, to have an interviewer ask you "...and how did that make you feel?" You feel a bit like you're on a psychiatrist's couch then. The interviewer is also studiously poker-faced. It's not confrontational, but it's also not as warm and congenial as other schools. I tried to make my interviewer laugh, but he just smiled patiently. I agree with others who have observed that they are also trying to get a sense of how strong your committment to attending Sloan is.