Stanford MBA Round 2 / Alum / Off-campus (March 29th, 2010)
I interviewed with an alumnus from Stanford GSB on February 19th, 2010 at 9:30am. I applied 2nd round on the day it was due, January 6th, 2010. He suggested to meet at the Westin Hotel restaurant and implied his company will take care of breakfast. He didn't have any information about me other than the resume I sent him but he was able to find a few blogs written from a while back. It was a very informal interview, with small chit chat. I was surprised at how informal he dressed and felt I was a little overdressed with my suit. Once the chitchat ended, he started out asking me to tell him a little about myself. I went on for a bit about my background but the interview was very conversational. He didn't take any notes and each response I made elicited another question from him. The whole interview lasted an hour and a half. During the interview when I was telling him about my experience with a non-profit in Botswana, he commented that the work I was doing in Africa with mobile phones is something he would want to do in his retirement. He mentioned that Stanford is all about changing the world and leaving a mark for the better. That confirmed I applied to the right school. In the interview, here are some of the questions I remember answering:
What's your background?
Can you walk me through your resume?
Why do you want to go to Stanford?
Did you apply anywhere else? Why?
Why do you want to go into entrepreneurship? Can you show me examples?
Do you have any regrets with your experience up to now?
What do you want to ask me?
He was surprisingly candid about his background; computer science major from Minnesota State University with no intentions of going to business school. He only applied after his friends from Stanford Law urged him to apply while he was teaching skiing. He thinks he got in because he led the tennis team while in undergrad and he graduated top in his computer science class. He was surprised at how confident I was with what I wanted to do and even admitted that he at that age didn't know what he wanted to do. He admitted that he doesn't know how the admission process works and knows of candidates who he's given great reviews to get rejected while candidates he's given mediocre reviews get accepted. But he did wish me the best of luck and to keep in touch. And offered that the interview was as much for him to sell the school to me as much as it was for him to assess me.
I left fairly excited and satisfied to get such a candid interviewer. It also left me with the impression that Stanford is definitely my top choice. |
