Mar 21, 2014

The interview was straightforward and pleasant.
It focused a lot on what I had written in my essays.

1) Question about mentoring experience I described in one of my essays.

2) Question about progress with success of an initiative I promoted at work.

3) Follow-up question about how I persuaded someone for that initiative.

4) Question about an example when I delegated work to someone or a group.

5) Follow-up question about the result of that experience.

6) Question about what I like to do outside of work.

7) Question about my goals /why MBA / why Sloan.

8) Clarification of whether anything has changed since submission.

9) Offer to highlight some aspect of my profile.

Then we talked about Sloan’s applied learning opportunities and Sloan’s community.

Mar 20, 2014

-Elaboration on how I convinced senior management to adopt the model I wrote about in my application

- Elaboration on my leadership role in my extracurricular activity

- Describe a time I had to resolve a conflict. How did I do it? How did I feel?

- Describe a recent initiative I took

- Describe a time an idea was rejected. How did I feel?

- Why an MBA? Why now?

- Anything I want to add since application submission?

- Any questions for her

Mar 4, 2014

I interviewed with an adcom member in Los Angeles. It was an application-based interview. We met at a hotel. There were no surprises in this experience.

1. “Have there been any changes in your application/experience since you submitted?” I used this as an opportunity to break the ice and share something fun I’d done recently. This also let me gauge her attitude/mood.

2. She introduced the format of the interview and that it was for me to help the committee get a better sense of who I am beyond the paper file. She explained the format of behavioral questions.

3. “Walk me through your resumé.” Standard– I introduced themes, talked about my experience, and pivoted smoothly to the next phase, which included “why MBA?” I moved to post-MBA goals, and she stopped me to ask “Why Sloan?” I was really glad I had prepared well for this, because it came up positively later on.

4. “Why Sloan?” in detail.

5. Tell me about a time you’ve been on a team with low morale/that was underperforming.

6. Tell me about a piece of feedback that surprised you.

7. What do you do when you encounter some work that isn’t exciting/interesting?

8. Tell me about a time you set a goal and worked toward it.

9. What do you do when a team member isn’t pulling his/her weight?

10. What does “efficiency” mean to you?

11. Questions for me?

Really straightforward interview for Sloan. No surprises. I used the STAR format (situation, task, action, response) for all my questions and used a template rather than a script. It went well and I am feeling good about it.

Feb 24, 2014

I did my interview for MIT Sloan at the Marriott hotel in Paris. I currently live in Dubai and work for a top-tier management consulting firm. I was given the option to interview either in Mumbai or in Paris.

The interviewer was very friendly and asked me the sort of typical questions that you prepare for in every MBA admissions interview:

- Walk me through your CV up until now
- Why an MBA? Why do it now?
- Why MIT Sloan?
- Tell me about your biggest achievement
- Tell me about a time you faced a problem and you had to solve it
- Did you talk to someone about the program?

Couple of useful tips:

- MIT is really looking for people who can show that they are creative and can go out there and “do” what they want to do, make sure you convey that in all the examples/stories that you use in your interviews
- Research the program really well and show that you’re really passionate about it (action learning, tracks, etc…)
- Be humble and down-to-earth. MIT likes students who are very good team players and do not possess a sense of arrogance
- I took a flight to Paris on the same day and risked being late for the interview. If you can always fly a day earlier

I got admitted to the program but still not 100% sure about attending, as I got accepted at several others as well.
Good luck everyone!

Feb 12, 2014

I was not living too far away from the campus (about a 2 hour drive), and thus I visited the campus an hour before the time of my interview. The atmosphere was good similar to any good school. And especially the interviewing room was even better. Earlier I thought that the interview might take too much time as I had heard from others that sometimes many questions are asked. But in my case, it was not so long and I was done in just around 15 minutes.

The interviewer checked my resume at first and asked things which he wanted to know in detail.

He wanted to know why I am pursuing an MBA rather than any other master’s degree.
Then he asked why I selected this school rather than one in my own state.

He also asked me if I had any work experience anywhere or how easily I mix with other people.

He even discussed  MBA specializations with me.

Everything the interviewer asked was in a nice manner and in a friendly way.

Just make sure you dress nicely and look like a gentleman. There was not much problem and I was admitted.

Feb 12, 2014

My interviewer began the questions by asking me to explain what my prior employer does, my contributions there and why I decided to move to my current job. Then she asked why MBA now and why Sloan. She followed up with whether I would return to my employer after graduation, and I told her my manager is open to it and I am definitely open to it.

Then she asked three behavioral questions – a time when I had to rally a team and a time when I had to say “no” to a boss. Then she asked about a time when one of my ideas was rejected and what I did. I talked about the CFO of one of our departments rejecting one of my suggestions for a presentation. She followed up by asking how my relationship with this person is now.

We ended by her asking if I had any questions for her. I asked her to talk about the changes she’s seen at the school and any future changes at Sloan in the near term. Overall I think it went pretty smoothly and was pretty casual.

Dec 9, 2013

My interview was held in the offices of MIT alumni and I was allotted 45 mins. I was the second interview of the day out of a total of 12 on the schedule.

My interviewer was friendly, but professional. While I felt like I connected with him during the interview and we had an easy conversation, I could not read him at all and have no idea what he thought about my answers. The probing follow-up questions made me feel like I wasn’t answering his original questions the right way.

The questions asked were:

- Any updates to your application?
- What do you think about MIT?
- Why did you change jobs from (company x) to (current company)?
- You have an offer from (current company) to return. Do you intend on taking it?
- Tell me of a time you received feedback and how did you respond?
- Tell me of a time when you had to mentor someone.
- Tell me of a time when others disagreed with you / when your opinions were challenged.
- Tell me of a time when you had to work with people not at your intellectual level.

I don’t remember the follow-up questions in more detail.

The interview portion only lasted 30 mins, which flew by. I spent the next 15 mins asking him about the future of Sloan. Throughout the interview, he either wrote on a notepad in front of him or on the iPad mini which, I presumed, showed my application/resume. What he wrote was in quite small text, and it did not make much sense to me (there were some key words and numbers in a corner).

Nov 13, 2013

Here are the questions the MIT Sloan interviewer asked:

- Elaboration on how I convinced senior management to adopt the model I wrote

about in my application

- Elaboration on my leadership role in my extracurricular activity

- Describe a time I had to resolve a conflict. How did I do it? How did I feel?

- Describe a recent initiative I took

- Describe a time an idea was rejected. How did I feel?

- Why an MBA? Why now?

- Anything I want to add since application submission

- Any questions for her

Apr 15, 2013

I walked into the office 20 minutes early and chatted with someone who looked like an applicant but ended up working there. Oops. Then I sat with applicants and we talked about our careers and where we were applying. One girl had applied to MIT and Kellogg, the other girl had applied to HBS and Stanford.

My interviewer came out first, she was smiling and excited to meet me and begin. She definitely made me feel like she was on my side during the interview. We made small talk first and connected on some information about China (I worked in China and she had traveled there often). Then she said what kind of interview it would be and began with questions

Questions:

• Describe a major initiative that you have done
• Describe a time when you mentored someone
• Describe a time when you worked on a team
• Describe a time when you took a big risk
• Anything else you would like me to tell the admissions committee?

I felt the interview went smoothly but on the risk question I told the same story I told in my essay. My advice to anyone would be to have 5 or 6 stories on hand but more than anything just try to relax the interviewers are people too and I did not feel intimidated.

Jan 18, 2013

I’m a US development worker in Africa. My interview was conducted over Skype with an adcom member in mid-January. I was notified of the time in mid-December so I had ample time to prepare.

Questions asked:

• Anything new to add to your resume since submitting application?
• What item would you like to highlight from your resume?
• Tell me about a time when a teammate wasn’t pulling his/her weight, what did you do?
• Tell me about a time you received feedback from a supervisor. How did you feel and what did you think when he sat you down to talk? Have you received any feedback from your current supervisor?
• Tell me about a mentor or a person in your life who has influenced you. Describe that influence.
• Tell me about a recent setback you’ve encountered at your current position. What happened, how did you feel, and what did you do?

After that I was asked to explain the reasoning and evolution of my past jobs. My work experience seems a bit eclectic on paper, Global Fortune 500 intern > nonprofit > political campaign mgmt > Peace Corps & international development, so I explained how each position fit together and why I’m now choosing to pursue my MBA. She asked a few questions about Peace Corps and choosing to work abroad.

This led to a question on how I learned about MIT Sloan (since I’ve been living in Africa for past few years) and why I wanted to attend.

Next I was asked what I thought she would ask but hadn’t yet, and what would I want her to take back to the other adcom members about me as a candidate.

Then a couple minutes for me to ask questions.

Overall the interview lasted 42 minutes and had a casual tone during most of it; more of a conversation than a formal interview.

What I was most unprepared for were the probing questions about my work background. I may have come off defensive on some questions when the adcom was asking about how my work applied to business school. In hindsight I should have prepared a concise explanation of my nontraditional career path and why it’s a good fit for Sloan, instead of focusing entirely on behavioral question prep.

Mar 28, 2012

• Any updates to your application or anything new you’ve accomplished at work?
• Tell me about a company in your industry that has caught your eye.
• Given your role at your company (work for a startup), what will it be like when you leave?
• Tell me about a time you helped a colleague who was struggling professionally.
• Tell me about a time you had to persuade your colleagues. Follow up questions about how I delegated analysis of the issue and how I felt my colleagues perceived my approach.
• Tell me about a time a colleauge had a contrasting opinion or gave you feedback and how you incorporated that into your approach to a task or project.
• What would you like me to communicate to the adcom about you?