myice

Yale Offsite 面试

看到有人在中国要求off-site面试，我来分享下经验。（我是R1，但是上周刚刚面，还没有结果。）

1. 全部统一发的都是on-site通知，但是可以要求off-site。一直到我确认off-site后，依然收到on-site的各种系统统一发出的信件（如地图和交通路线）。

2. 我是Skype视频面试的。Admin直接建议Skype视频面的，我不知道能不能要求face to face，但是后来我个人觉得Skype不好。

一个是虽然我当天和北京、和加州的朋友都试过，但正式面试时，信号不稳定，声音断断续续，显得我英文听力很差似的。所以如果遇到这种情况，请果断地说讯号不好，要求reschedule.

二是视频吧，eye-contact很困难。所以我觉得效果一般般。

3. 问题就是Yale常见问题，基本把简历问了一遍。没有什么惊奇。

供大家参考吧。

myice

是ADMISSIONS DIRECTOR: BRUCE面试我的
旁边一个二年级学生学习。
30分钟真的过得很快，好多没来得及说。
接下来，就是等待了。
被问了WHY MY MAJOR，WHY CHOSE MY GRADUATE SCHOOL, WHY MBA, WHY YALE，HOBBY。
还有就是因为我的背景是SCIENCE,
BRUCE就问了很多关于我专业的问题，因为他都不懂。
这一部分是我没准备的，就深入浅出的给他讲了一下。
然后我问了2个问题。

myice

Yale on campus visit & interview 信息及面经

背景: 国内非名校工程本科, 美国非名校硕士, WE 4年(到2009夏), G760, T免

昨天刚去的ON CAMPUS INTERVIEW, 先说问题吧. 是个黑人GG, 人非常FRIENDLY, 在香港实习过, 将去上海工作, 对中国很感兴趣的样子. 问题很常规, WHY 本科专业, WHY 美国硕士, WHY MBA, WHY YALE, QUESTIONS TO ME?

一起来面试的有一个中国MM, 一个从北京来的中国GG(敬仰啊, 这么远), 一个印度人, 我前面一个面的是一个美国白人GG. 我快走的时候, 下午3点半左右又进来一个中国MM, 应该也是来面试的吧. KIMBERLY在整理下星期一来ON CAMPUS人的名字牌子, 大概有7,8份的样子, 不会全是面试的, 但是我猜面试的居多, 因为这个时候来看学校的人应该比较少吧.

下面主要说说ON CAMPUS VISIT 或者 INTERVIEW的信息吧.

我在申请前去了一趟做 ON CAMPUS VISIT, 然后这次面试又去了一趟.

1. 交通.

我两次都是坐飞机去的. 第一次飞机到纽约LGA机场, 然后坐Primetime Connecticut Airport Shuttle到旅馆. SHUTTLE是预先在网上定的, 从LGA机场到学校$50多点单趟, 来回$100多, 网址是http://www.2theairport.com/. 第二次去我是直接飞到NEW HAVEN AIRPORT, 在费城转机. 由于NEW HAVEN 是个小机场, 机票选择比较少, 只有US AIRWAY一家, 机票相对贵一些, $270, 但是省了坐SHUTTLE的100多, 所以价格是差不多的.

2. 住宿

第一次我住在NEW HAVEN HOTEL, $100多一点吧. 从地图上看离SOM很进的, 我就走着去了. 这是一个很大的错误! 要走30~40分钟! 而且我还拖着行李. 一定要打CAB的! 第二次我住在 LA QUINTA, 我是AAA的MEMBER, $85加税, 不是 AAA的MEMBER的话应该再多10块钱的样子. 旅馆本身房间里的条件很一般了, 但是服务真的是很好很好. 它有自己的免费SHUTTLE去NEW HAVEN机场接, 然后早上有免费SHUTTLE送去学校. STAFF也非常友好. 它附近吃也很方便, 走着就可以去饭店什么的. SHUTTLE的司机说旁边有家IKEA, 里面也有CAFE. 和旅馆相连的有家餐馆叫 GREEK OLIVE, 有汉堡也有正餐, 价格也不贵. 我点了GRILLED SALMON 的正餐, $13, 味道非常不错.

提供一些信息, 希望对来年的申请人有用. 还有致谢I版, 得到了I版的很多帮助. 昨天那个从北京来的GG还在跟一个一年级的泰国MM赞I版呢!

myice

The Format: I was notified by email that the admissions department wanted to interview me, and was asked to call to schedule a time. I then traveled to New Haven to have an on campus interview in the admissions office.
The Interview: I flew in to Connecticut about three hours before my interview was to begin, (Tip Number Eight: If you have to travel to your interview, try to arrive the night before if at all possible. This minimizes the chances of missing your appointment due to any factor related to travel.) and amidst blinding snow took a taxi to New Haven where I was dropped off at the wrong side of campus. I then walked what seemed like miles in my fancy interview shoes to the Admissions Office. I was wearing the same (conservative black) suit that I wore to my MIT interview, but I realized after my interview was over that I had forgotten to take my scarf off. Needless to say, it wasn't actually a stress free experience. However, my interviewer, the Head of Admissions, made the actual interview formal, but not intimidating, and was very prepared, having obviously looked over my entire application and brought a copy of my resume with her. She took me into a quiet conference room on the side of the building and asked me every kind of question you could imagine, ranging from "Can you elaborate on your long term goals," to "I see you enjoy rowing, did you know we have a rowing club in New Haven?" to "Can you tell me more about your work with this project? How did you get interested in something like that?" My interviewer was engaged and interested during the entire interview, making me feel as though she was really interested in my thoughts. After the first few minutes of our chat, I felt very confident, probably due at least in part to my level of preparation. (Tip Number Nine: Review each school's program offerings briefly, the night before or the day of the interview, so you are clear on what the school's strengths are, what their recent achievements or changes have been, etc.) My appointment lasted over an hour as my interviewer was very thorough, and when it was over she walked me out. I left feeling that I had really been able to give an accurate picture of myself and my goals for business school, and am currently on the waitlist at Yale. This leads me to Tip Number Ten: Always be yourself. Sounds simple, but it's actually harder than it seems. With all of the "How to get into the Top MBA Programs" books and magazines out there, it's hard to admit that you might not fit the "perfect" mold for each school. You just have to remember that sometimes, schools aren't looking for the "perfect" candidate, but rather the candidate that's perfect for their school, and that just might be you. In closing, I hope these ten tips will be helpful to anyone beginning the wild ride of business school interviews- just refer to Number Ten if you get confused.

myice

Scheduling the interview: I did not schedule a voluntary interview and was contacted by e-mail for an interview after my application was submitted. I ultimately asked for an alumni interview in Washington, D.C. so I did not have to travel.

Location of interview: The offices of Booz-Allen & Hamilton in McLean, VA on New Year's Eve.

Preparedness of Interviewer: The interviewer had access to my resume and other materials, but I didn't get the sense that she had reviewed them particularly thoroughly.

Interviewer University affiliation: Alum who is currently an Associate at Booz Allen.

Atmosphere: The atmosphere was very relaxed, and ended up being more her sharing stories and me asking questions about Yale than her asking me specific questions.

Questions asked: Only a couple of basic questions about what I do now and what I want to do after school, as well as why I was interested in Yale.

Length of interview: Approximately 30 minutes.

Additional comments: The interview was very informal and provided me the opportunity to get frank answers about the school from someone no longer attached in any way to the admissions committee. However, there was very little substantive discussion with respect to my accomplishments and qualifications, and I cannot imagine that her assessment played any great role in the admissions decision.

myice

Yale面试

面试官是一位MARKETING的MANAGER，此前在IB做过，有很多的面试经验。YALE是我面试的第一所学校，而且我一直非常非常崇拜它在NPO领域的杰出声誉，但因为是第一所面试，太想得到反而放不开。整个面试的感觉就是自己太想去表现自己，对每个问题都尽力表现，反而显得不自然与做作。
面试的问题非常常规化：
1. Your undergraduate experience;
2. Why your undergraduate school and major;
3. Why current job;
4. Biggest achievement in your current job;
5. Biggest challenge in your curreng job;
6. Career goal;
7. WHY MBA, Why Yale;
8. Hobby;
9. Three words to describe yourself;
10. Strenth & Weakness.
可能有一些问题忘记了，总体感觉就是面试官很看重FIT。她提到了很多她对于YALE的感觉，包括small & close community，Yale整体学校和商学院的帮助，她对同学的感觉，两年MBA她自己最大的收获。YALE真的是非常好的学校，校友给我的感觉就是很有"贵族气息"， 儒雅中带着一丝自豪。

myice

Yale R2 interview (校友面试)

一个class of 2010的校友，帅哥一枚，根据口音和google，应该是米国亚裔。

其人非常nice，上来先warmup几句，事先已经知道我最近在休假，所以问我说休息多久什么安排，我说我就要回家过年袅，帅哥说啊好啊，我知道等待的过程很煎熬，所以我们赶紧面完你就可以回家啦。我万分真诚涕泪交流的说thank you very much! （之前我确实是因为不定时间就无法订机票的问题等得望眼欲穿了……）

warmup完毕，介绍了一下this is sort of an informal interview, more like a conversation.  他作为校友事先只看过我的简历但没有看过其他的部分。但是有的人的package是被看过两三次了，每个人情况不一样，等等。

正式问题是先问我的education（完全搭不上的natural science & economics双学位……此乃我简历中必被问到的问题囧）然后是awards, 然后是activities.  然后是work experience. 几乎完全按照时间顺序。讲到WE的时候特别让describe a team you worked in.  其他的基本是按着简历问的。还问了一个比较special的是if you have a totally free day, don't have to think about money and stuff, what would you really want to do?  我很囧的说it may sound fake but I want to do some social work...

最后还问了一下我还有什么想present但是没提到的(so nice!!!)，以及有没有什么问题想问。本来是30分钟的面试，人家也是很有心要30分钟完成，我却厚脸皮的拖到了45-50分钟左右，还好他也没有焦躁&取出擀面杖来打我……总的来说，是蛮不错的experience.  Yallie确实名不虚传的nice.

myice

Round 2 / Second-year Student / On-campus (Published April 1, 2010)

My interview was with a second-year student and we finished within the allotted 30 minutes. She took extensive notes and didn’t really ask follow-up questions. The questions she asked were:

Talk me through your resume (particularly interested in how I selected my college, course of study and majors).
How did I pick my first job and subsequent roles?
Why an MBA and why Yale?
What do I intend to do following Yale and during the MBA?
Any questions?
I would strongly recommend prospective applicants to schedule the interview for the afternoon if he/she hasn’t visited campus before. The admissions office can organize a class visit, campus tour and lunch with current students in the morning before the interview. I found this to be incredibly useful in getting more information and use as an ice-breaker in the interview.

myice

Round 2 / Second year student / On-campus (Published March 8th, 2010)

I scheduled my interview for the late morning and took the train from NYC. The staff in the admissions office were warm and welcoming. The interview itself was held in a small conference room upstairs from the admissions office - my interviewer was a second year student, dressed casually and very low-key in temperament. As I recall, the questions were:

What did you do for fun in college? Why did you pick that college and why that major?

Your work history is pretty broad - walk me through the major experiences you've had since college. (We then drilled into a couple items to get at the impact my actions had in specific projects and how difficult it was to get certain things done).

Why MBA? Why Yale? I discussed the fit of the curriculum with my experience and general outlook, and specific examples of classes, clubs, and professors I was interested in.

I was asked about my hobbies and what I'm currently reading, and then I asked him several questions building off the "why Yale" themes I had discussed.

The interview style was fairly conversational - not many discrete questions, as you can see, and the interviewer was happy to interject with his own experiences where they were relevant and share details on classes and professors he had enjoyed. He referred to my resume and wrote notes in the margins as well as on his own paper, which I noticed he had divided into a four-part plot, presumably for different types of information or perspective. He cut off a couple answers to focus in on something I had mentioned, but in a very straightforward way, to get information rather than signal that I was rambling.

All told the conversation lasted 45 minutes and then he walked me back down to the main office.

myice

Round 2 / On-campus (Published March 5th, 2010)

To begin with, let me just say that I highly recommend checking the daily schedule of events that SOM plans for interview invitees before you schedule your interview (I unfortunately scheduled my interview in such a way that I missed two events I wanted to go to).

The interview itself was very similar to what's mentioned earlier. I met my interviewer downstairs in the admissions lobby and he took me to a small interview room where we sat across from each other with no table between us. He then proceeded to tell me about his background.

After that, we spent the majority of time discussing my resume. I started off describing my background and lead into talking about my internships. Along the way I was asked why I chose my undergraduate school, why I chose my internships, and why I chose my first job. Next, he asked about other parts of my resume ("talk about extracurricular X"). I spent a good amount of time detailing what kind of things each of my activities were and how much time I spent on them and how those activities have lead to things I do post-college. After this, I was asked to talk about my "best" team leadership experience.

Then, I was asked why I'm doing an MBA and why I want to attend Yale and where I see myself 5 and 20 years down the line. Lastly, I was asked what questions I have (I ended up asking about job prospects, how the economy has effected programs at SOM, and more information about my interviewers background since we had a similar profile).

Overall Vibe: I think the interview went well. For about the first 3/4 I felt he was trying to be intimidating, but I think we connected towards the end when we started talking about startup ideas (both of us were very interested in entrepreneurship).

My recommendations:

If you are arriving on campus/in New Haven the day of the interview, schedule it later in the day so you get a chance to go to class, take a campus tour, and talk to students before the interview. (Though this probably isn't a good idea if you are the nervous type)
Be ready to drill into details on the "Why Yale"
Don't BS. The person you are talking to is a student who came from a similar position as you did. I had quit my job (for good reasons) and was almost afraid to say it because I didn't want to show immaturity, but the interviewer was very understanding of my line of reasoning for quitting.
Be ready to answer "Why or How" to everything you say (especially the more general things like "I think I am very good at X" or "I think X situation shows that I'm good at Y"