09年Cornell MBA Interview 面试精华汇总

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1，2月15

补一点面经，不过是校友面试，对方很NICE，像聊天，所以可能不是TYPICAL的CORNELL面试。而且我有点记不太清楚了……可能顺序也有点乱……
1. Go through resume's W/E part
2. Why MBA?
3. Give an example in which you are provided with two equally good/bad choices, how do you make your decision? (No need to share the final result)
4. Teamwork & Communication (Maybe my current job nature indicates that there should be no problem with the both...so go through quickly)
5. (Because I am of HR background) HR strengthens a lot on process and procedure, so what will you do when you feel that some specific case is just go against the process or policy?
6. From your personal view, how do you evaluate your daily job/communication/project, etc.?
7. Share some example of taking initiative or creativity in your daily work.
8. In your opinion, what is the most important factors in leadership?
然后好象就结束了，没有被问到经典的三个形容词那题。中间还就HR的工作啊什么的讨论了一会。
接着就是聊聊MBA生活啊，得到很多有用处的建议。闲聊时间比面试还要长，整体感觉很放松的。

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2，2月12

真高兴收到了Cornell的offer!!! 是我申请的第一所学校，也是我最想去的学校。和DD一样，也是Forte Scholarship，不过只有10K，但已经很知足了，毕竟申请的是国内第二轮，学校真是Nice呀！

面试是一周前和上海的alumni面的，cornell的校友真的是无比的nice，不但平易近人、和蔼可亲，而且循循善诱，非常替面试者着想，每个问题都尽量给我解释清楚他想要听我回答的重点，并且留给我足够的思考时间。所以，虽然我自己觉得面试准备的还是挺仓促的，但是回答起来却一点也没有吃力的感觉，因为都是亲身经历，just be yourself就好了！（顺便说一句, cornell的Adcom是我见到过最好最负责任的adcom，严重表扬Christine和Ann! ）

我面试的问题并不多，甚至于都没有why school, why mba这类最最基础的问题，相反alumni给我介绍了很多他学习期间和学校的情况，给我提了很多valuable的建议，我们闲聊的时间要比正式面试还多。。。恩，还是总结一下面试的问题：
1. Career goal
2. Career process: I got promoted twice in two years. He checked how difficulty the first promotion was.
3. Job responsibility
4. Teamwork experience: 这个问题不是直接问的，而是问我工作中和哪些人交往，会不会发生冲突，我是怎么解决的。
5. A difficult decision with two good choices. 这个问题专门解释他想听我怎么面对复杂情况make decision的。
6. Decision making style. 这个问题以一种情景模拟的方式问我的。大家也可以理解成学校想了解我是一个什么样子的leader。
7. How do I make analysis in my daily work. What tools do I use. 这个很惭愧，我直接承认我用的都是普通的excel分析，没有建模一类的高深方法，但是校友很宽厚地笑笑，没有追问。
8. What other schools I applied.
9. Other questions

上面的问题都是随意地穿插在闲聊之中问的，校友真好，每次提问前还特意提醒我这个是学校要求问的，呵呵。我们大约聊了半个多小时英文，后面就开始天南地北地扯，学校生活啊，Ithaca啊，经济危机啊，找工作啊，还聊了我辞职申请和现在的新工作，这些都是用中文说的。整个面试气氛都很轻松，Cornell的每一个人都很替他人着想、很看重人的成长，不会为了一点点小过错就误判一个人，所以大家去面试只要端正态度、be yourself就可以了！

最后share一下我的background:
Bachelor & Master at top 5 Chinese university. GPA 3.7
Career path: Management Trainee 1 year --> Marketing Manager 9 months --> senior Marketing manager 3 months
GMAT: 750（5个月内考了三次）TOEFL: 102 (口语发挥失常，面试检验过了)

另外，我是辞职申请MBA的（主要为了考G,T），这一点我很坦白，所以大家以后也不用过于担心career gap的问题，只要你用行动证明你的决策是对的，学校都会理解和支持你。我在几次考G的过程中就是一直得到cornell的positive feedback，所以我相信是Johnson的宽厚仁慈让我圆了MBA的梦！Thanks so much! 我也相信这样的学校能够帮助人们真正地快速成长，无论曾经辉煌的cornell现在是什么排名，我对它的未来都很有信心！

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3，ffice:smarttags" />2月5日

我2号面试的
On-campus /2 yr student / Round 2 (done on February 2rd, 2009)

I had the interview on-campus at the Cornell Johnson School for the November application round. To my surprise, the admission staff didn't even mention other options, just let me choose which time is OK for me to have the interview on campus. I drove up the morning before from New York City (4 hour drive), toured around the campus, talked to some students I contacted before and stayed at the super8 motel downtown(cheap but great). On campus parking is free for admission visitors, so don't worry about parking. Just drive to one of the four info booth and identify yourself as admission visitor they'll give a parking permit, a map and a clear direction about where to park, how to get there. (the staff in the info booth was a pretty blonde student worked as a part-time!)
My interview was with a 2nd year student who had already signed his offer, so he really spent some time reading my resume and made marks and prepared specific questions. We talked in one of the breakout room (no. 121). Although it's a blind interview, I found the interview a little bit challenging than other reported interviews but the interviewer was nice and I believe I've also prepared well. It lasted about 50 minutes.
Questions Asked:
I've read thru your resume and let's start with your most recent one, ok?
The employment gap? what did you do? (unemployed during the application process)
Why MBA?
why now?
which specific area and location are you intrested in? (related to my goal)
what's your 3 strongest strengths and weakness?
How will you do to turnaround a difficult team situation, when someone don't even care to contribute?
What other schools are you applying to?
what activities will you join if admited? anything specificly interested in Johnson?
What questions do you have for me?
In addition to these questions he asked many follow-up questions that were specific to my responses.

I also scheduled a class visit / information session / lunch(only 7 dollar coupon for 1 person, other schools I visited even provided for my girl friend) / tour with current students, which I found not so helpful.

When I drove back to NY in the afternoon, the snow came. The Pocono Mt was all in snow and very difficult to even see the road. The location of Ithaca really is a problem for some others, but I'm OK.

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4，11月25

我觉得是个挺难的Interview.自己说的有些地方有点糊涂。 嘻嘻。Christine很nice。现在想想有些问题答非所问，估计自己没戏了。
1. You went to Indiana University. Why did you go there? What did you like about the school?第一个问题回答得特别傻。现在想起来想打自己。
2.What did you do between 2003 and 2004 after you graduated in 2003. 我说我在学校工作。
3. What was the biggest challenge when you first returned to China to work?
4. You left after a year, why?
5. Second job responsibility
6. PwC experience
7. Failure
8. Why Johnson? What other school did you apply and why?
9. What's one thing that you could bring to the class of 2011?
10 If you were admitted, what would you do to prepare you for school? (可能看我gpa低所以才问的）
11. What is your leadership style?
12 What have you done to know more about the school? What do you know about the school?
13 Why did you start your own company? Where do you see your company is going?
13. What questions do you have?

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5，

Just finished my interview, currently typing this at Startler Hotel. The interview was ok, questions are very specific including
Why do you want to work in investment banking at XXX location?
Tell me about...a line in my resume?
How are you going to be part of the community?
Why MBA?
Why Cornell?
Other schools applied?
Why did you apply to those schools?
Did you hear back from any of them?
Why applying for MBA now?
You say your going to work in XXX field, it is very competitive, how are you going to adjust?
If you were to move to XXX place like you said, what would be the biggest shock you would expect?
What is your biggest failure or thing you can improve at work?
How is teamwork part of your current job?
Anyway, I just hu you and hu you-ed, don't know if she believed me or not. It was ok, just be confident and you'll be fine, just make sure you do yoru research of the school...I didn't...

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Cornell R3 InterviewJust finished my on-campus interview with Cornell -- pretty late in the game, but was told that there were still around 100 applicants to review for R3.


Overall, the interview went really good -- surprised that I didn't get any tough questions at all.


1. Walk through resume
2. Why first job?
3. Short-term goal and long-term goal. Why?
4. Why MBA? Why Now? Why Johnson?
5. Define leadership
6. Give a leadership example
7. If I ask your manager, what he would say about your weaknesses?
8. Do you agree with him and why?
9. What will be your contribution to the Johnson community?
10. Anything else you would like to talk about?
11. Questions for me?

Davidsun

谢谢斑竹[em231]

shufromchina

thanks for sharing!

IORIYAGAMI

感谢LZ

yaya06

thanks for sharing!