Chicago GSB MBA面试精华汇总

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面试有关问题（一）

Chicago GSB interview (2007-03-16)

I talked to a second year student in Chicago,
questions:

1.               Please introduce yourself.

2.               Why MBA, why Chicago?

3.               What do you want to  get  from a MBA?

4.               What  other school did you apply?

5.               What kind of book are you reading? Why?

6.               Introudce Chicago GSB leader ship class.

7.               Chat about Chicago GSB clubs

 

Chicago GSB上海校友面试

今天下午面了chicago，面试的是在强生医药工作的一个校友，帅哥。

1.               go through resume

2.               LT/ST career goal, why MBA, why Chicago

3.               Leadership example

4.               define leadership (what's the most important aspect of leadership)

5.               talk about the most challenging experiences (life/work)

6.               .....

剩下的时间了解了一下学生生活，他读MBA的收获，找工作情况，以及对准MBA们的建议。

 

Chicago GSB Alumni Interview

The interviewer was 5 mins late, so the whole interview was like 20mins.

Questions:

1.               Walk me through your resume.

2.               Why MBA, why GSB (some questions around here, like why not choose other schools, etc)

3.               Why not choose b-schools in HK, Singapore?

I didn't feel very well in general, but at least I believe that I hit a few questions.....

Good luck!

Chicago Round One Interview Experience

I had my alumni interview in Nov, 2006. The interviewer was a very nice Chinese lady.

Questions asked were pretty standard ones:

1.               Walk me through your resume

2.               Why MBA?

3.               Why Chicago

4.               Leadership experience

5.               Teamwork experience

6.               Ask me whether I have any questions for her

Following the interview, we also chatted in Chinese for a while about life in Chicago, GSB campus, etc.

Chicago Interview Experience

Interview Date: Feb 13
Location: Beijing

Questions:

1.               Introduce yourself

2.               Describe your position/ roles in your organization

3.               Why MBA (we discussed my short/long term goals for a long time)

4.               If your short term goals after graduation can not be achieved, any back-up options do you have in terms of career hunting?

5.               Why Chicago

面试约一个多小时，因为校友比较了解我所处的行业，所以我们聊了很多关于行业发展的话题。一些面视问题不是直接问的，而是通过对话自然引出的，如面试官问我是否觉得自己在xxx公司工作的时间太长了，我于是回答了我的想法并引出了why MBA now. 校友非常nice, 大家不要紧张，耐心回答自己的观点就好。建议大家多多练习，把问题准备充分，回答要简洁、清楚。

 

[原创]我的chicago第二次interview （2006-3-2 ）

由于第一次interview不是很合理（见帖子 bad chicago interview experience...),我马上联系了 chicago admission office, 3 天之后，他们回信告诉我，他们也认为interview 的 nature 不合理，并给我安排第二次面试。我在前天完成了这次面试，让我感动的是这一次他们特别为我选了一个非常友好的校友，使得interview 进程非常愉快和顺利。 整个interview 持续了 1个小时40分钟。前一个小时是 Q&A, 后40分钟他推荐了很多chicago 的课程也讲述了很多他的个人经历。他非常鼓励我去美国，并强调没有prior finance knowledge 绝对不会给我造成任何在chicago 学习上的困难。

问题很多，问的很仔细，除了why mba, why Chicago 和resume 有关的问题，其他比较特别的问题有：

1. tell me one of the favorite courses you took in the univerisity
2. do you enjoy working in a environment with pressure? why?
3. there are type 1 error and type 2 error. type 1 refers to the error we make when we try something new and later fail. the type 2 error refers to something we don't try and later reailize that could be a mistake becuase we miss a great opportunity. which one do you like and why?
4. describe any disagreement happened in your working place.
5. your hobbies?
6. have you ever experience any significant failure?
7. describe a (ethics) delimma at your working place
8. describe your understanding of the culture in Chicago

[原创]Chicago interview experience

虽然面试已经过去几天了，但当时的场景仍历历在目。在此与大家分享。

她大概看了一下我的简历，然后开始提问：

1、毕业之后想做什么？

2、你认为自己为什么能胜任你将来想从事的工作？（她不同意我在回答这个问题时提到的一个具体方面，我们交换了一下意见，我没有坚持争论下去）

3、毕业后想留在美国还是回到中国？（我的回答她觉得与我在叙述职业目标时有点冲突，但我给圆过去了）

4、如何处理工作中遇到的冲突？

5、Why Chicago?

6、作为一个leader,你最大的弱点（weakness）是什么，你是如何改进的？

7、作为领导你所需要具备的权威是来自于某个职位赋予你的权利，还是别的什么？

8、回答我的问题。

面试是在一位校友的办公室中进行的。其中三次被电话打断。因为之前只做过电话面试，所以感觉face to face的面试还是有很多不同之处，比如互动会比较多；可能就某一个感兴趣的问题展开问下去。但气氛比较友好，我尽量给出example，她听得挺认真的，有几次还大笑起来。

我被问到的问题并非都做过充分的准备，我觉得也不可能把可能的问题全部准备到。所以临场发挥很重要。要注意逻辑，不要前后矛盾。始终微笑，保持自信，即使碰到非常challeging的问题，也要微笑着应付。

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面试相关问题（二）

[原创]20日chicago校友面试经历

20日chicago校友面试

自从情人节收到芝加哥面试通知，赶紧上网约面试。一位校友第二天就回复了我的信。我的经验是选择了一个邮箱不是芝加哥大学，而是gmail的校友。感觉如果是私人或者工作邮箱的话，能够很快联系上。

鉴于可能这周会出差，所以就约在20日面试。好在之前面试过好几次，匆忙准备就上阵了。面试问题和一般的面试差不多，也就是why MBA之类的问题。虽然这个校友很忙，面试只进行了20分钟，形式也很随便，但是面试官仍然有做笔记，而且好像有一个提问或者评价的提纲。比如问我一个teamwork的问题，面试官告诉我这是MBA面试都会问的问题。

最难的问题是问我有什么独特的地方所以芝加哥会要我呢。我开始讲述我的uniqueness，从行业背景讲到个性。但是面试官把我打断了，和善地说：我知道申请者都是GMAT分很高，工作背景很强，但是有哪一点是你最独特地呢？

我心说：我写了四篇essay都是在讲我怎么独特的，怎么能用一点来讲完呢。多想问问已经给offer的那个学校，你们为什么要我啊？思量半天，终于说：我对芝加哥的dedication。因为我是reapplicant，还是痴心不改。看到面试官在做笔记，想就这样吧。就算他觉得不怎么样，写到纸上给adcom他们也不知道当时面试官是不是掉了一地鸡皮疙瘩，呵呵。

Interview w/ Chicago Alum

On Feb 15, I had my interview with a Chicago GSB alumnus (MBA 2001) in his office.

The interviewer was nice and friendly, and he appeared quite professional during the interview. As we met each other, he said he was sorry because he forgot to tell me I wouldn’t need to dress up for this interview. Then there came his ice breaker - “do you know what my first question is?” While he grinned at me, I thought the first question would be something like “why MBA”, but he turned out to ask me about a bullet in the “Additional” section on my resume. So I explained to him what happened, and added what it has meant to me.

Below is a list of (serious, or more serious) questions from him which I could still remember after the interview. I jot down these questions and sent the interviewer a thank-you note at a nearby Starbucks.

1. Walk me through your resume.

2. Why MBA?

3. Why Chicago GSB? He said I must be also looking at other schools, but he didn’t ask me why Chicago GSB over other programs.

4. What do you want to do after getting an MBA from Chicago GSB?

Somewhere during the interview, we chatted about the new building and its disruptive architectural style on the Gothic-dominant campus.

5. What brought you to the US from China?

6. How do you like your graduate school experience?

7. What can you bring to the extracurricular activities at Chicago GSB?

8. What brought you to this area (where I am now)?

9. Do people at work know about your MBA application?

10. Any questions?

Overall, the interview wasn’t stressful at all. As I was about to exit the interviewer’s office, he commented that I am a strong candidate and that he’d like to see me move to Hyde Park this fall. Certainly I hope he meant it.

[分享]My Chicago interview experience

Attended my Chicago interview at a coffee place. The Chicago alumnus met me in the evening, between meetings. But he definitely did not rush through the interview. We spoke for all of 2 hours and for almost all questions he asked me, he gave me his own opinion on Chicago as well. So, besides going through this important component of my application (i.e. the interview), I also got a first hand taste of life at Chicago. The interviewer was very relaxed and the mood throughout the interview was very conversational and cordial. He had a long list of pre-prepared questions. I didn't ask him if he prepared those questions himself or if he was provided the list by Chicago adcom. But in any case, he did tell me that we had to take note of my responses to be able to fill my interview review form for Chicago. So, he was scribbling on that one A4 size paper throughout the interview in really small letters to accommodate all of 2 hours of information on it.

Questions asked:

1. Very briefly and quickly, run me through your resume. It was indeed brief and quick. He asked me to go into some details on specific items on my resume. He even wrote some notes on my resume itself.

2. Tell me of a class from your undergraduate experience that you still remember. Why? He asked me specific questions about the 'why' reply.

3. Tell me of a time when you had a disagreement with someone. What happened? He didn't want to hear how the disagreement was resolved, but rather how I handled the disagreement itself, i.e. Were there any fights? Who did what to improve/worsen the situation, etc?

4. Why MBA, why at Chicago and why now? He wanted me to state these briefly.

5. What do you expect from the classes at Chicago?

6. What is your ideal breakdown of lectures and case based studies? After I had provided my answer, he told me that Chicago generally had a 50-50 breakdown that sometimes favoured case studies to become 60-40.

7. Tell me of a time when you faced a difficult situation. What happened? How was it resolved?

8. Tell me of an ethical dilemma you faced. How was it resolved?

9. Tell me about your contributions to community service.

10. Tell me about a leadership experience that you cherish.

11. Ask me any questions that you may have. I asked him 3 questions, all related to Chicago Alumni (since he is one). This part of the interview took 30 mins and the rest of it took about 1.5 hrs.

At the end, he paid for his coffee and I for mine. I didn't ask for any feedback, but the general feeling I got was that I had done well. Of course, that doesn't mean anything... after all, the interview is just one extra data point (or so the adcoms would have us believe). All the best to the future interviewees. I sincerely hope the above helps. 

面试

偶今天早上接到电话面试了。感觉校友同志情绪不太好，似乎有糊任务的态度。

tell me your current job
why u decide to work for your organization
r u going back to your employer after graduation
tell me your last job
why u changed job
what did u learn from that job
what did u do in school - activities
why chicago
what other schools are u applying
what's in common between chicago and yale
who are your recommenders and why
do u know anybody who are chicago alumni or students
any questions for me?
glad to talk to you, good luck in application

 

我的chicago interview

整个interview 持续了 1个小时40分钟。前一个小时是 Q&A, 后40分钟他推荐了很多chicago 的课程也讲述了很多他的个人经历。他非常鼓励我去美国，并强调没有prior finance knowledge 绝对不会给我造成任何在chicago 学习上的困难。
   

问题很多，问的很仔细，除了why mba, why Chicago 和resume 有关的问题，其他比较特别的问题有：

1. tell me one of the favorite courses you took in the univerisity
2. do you enjoy working in a environment with pressure? why?
3. there are type 1 error and type 2 error. type 1 refers to the error we make when we try something new and later fail. the type 2 error refers to something we don't try and later reailize that could be a mistake becuase we miss a great opportunity. which one do you like and why?
4. describe any disagreement happened in your working place.
5. your hobbies?
6. have you ever experience any significant failure?
7. describe a (ethics) delimma at your working place
8. describe your understanding of the culture in Chicago

Chicago interview experience

虽然面试已经过去几天了，但当时的场景仍历历在目。在此与大家分享。

她大概看了一下我的简历，然后开始提问：

1、毕业之后想做什么？

2、你认为自己为什么能胜任你将来想从事的工作？（她不同意我在回答这个问题时提到的一个具体方面，我们交换了一下意见，我没有坚持争论下去）

3、毕业后想留在美国还是回到中国？（我的回答她觉得与我在叙述职业目标时有点冲突，但我给圆过去了）

4、如何处理工作中遇到的冲突？

5、Why Chicago?

6、作为一个leader,你最大的弱点（weakness）是什么，你是如何改进的？

7、作为领导你所需要具备的权威是来自于某个职位赋予你的权利，还是别的什么？

8、回答我的问题。

面试是在一位校友的办公室中进行的。其中三次被电话打断。因为之前只做过电话面试，所以感觉face to face的面试还是有很多不同之处，比如互动会比较多；可能就某一个感兴趣的问题展开问下去。但气氛比较友好，我尽量给出example，她听得挺认真的，有几次还大笑起来。

我被问到的问题并非都做过充分的准备，我觉得也不可能把可能的问题全部准备到。所以临场发挥很重要。要注意逻辑，不要前后矛盾。始终微笑，保持自信，即使碰到非常challeging的问题，也要微笑着应付。

 

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-10-22 20:40:01编辑过]

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面试问题（三）

Share my Chicago GSB on-campus interview

面试时间：Feb.28 12:45 p.m. - 1:20 p.m.

面试准备：因为一周前刚做完Wharton的面试，大部分的standard questions都还记得，所以也没有花太多精力去准备。只是面试前的前一天晚上将所有的questions和my personal answers在心里review了一遍。（还好没花太多功夫啊，因为面试中大部分问题都不是standard的，估计那位老兄即兴提问，我也只好即兴发挥了。）

面试人：GSB二年级学生，一个挺严肃的美国GG。他自我介绍说他是GSB Management Consulting Group的co-chair，我嗯了一声点点头没别的反应。

面试经过：GSB的面试房间就在进大门后的左手边。我到的时候还早，就随便在Hype Park Center（GSB's building）溜了溜，看到楼下的教室旁边还放着红通通的大苹果给学生吃的，我毫不客气抓了一个。（GSB真好啊，每天都发放两次苹果或者其他水果，任由学生拿着吃，赞！）然后进入面试房间，交了我的resume后开始等。过了没一会，听到有人叫我名字，跟着他走到一个挺宽敞明亮的房间里，面试开始。

先问了几个standard的问题：

1.               Tell me something about yourself.

2.               Why you want to pursur an MBA program now?

3.               Why Chicago GSB?

4.               Chicago GSB is a place where people come from different places, while cooperate together to make things happen. What field do you think you will contribute to the GSB?

然后开始Challenge me了

1.               What is a new concept or idea you get to know recently that you think is very interesting, and why?

2.               In your current job, what is the most challenging thing?  Give me an example, and how you overcome it? (此处无数detail问题，一个接一个，看来此老兄果然是做consulting出身的，反应巨快，很会挑人家语句里的漏洞。我补啊补，哼）

3.               In what area do you think Chicago GSB could be further improved? If you were admitted, what will you do to improve her? (回答此问题时，该老兄不停的点头，应该还满意我的答案吧。呵呵。）

4.               Any questions do you want to ask me? （在回答我的问题之余，还要反问我自己怎么回答这些问题。寒）

大概这么多吧，想到了再补充。希望对大家有帮助。

原创]chicago Alumni面试-Feb 28

不知如何形容,总之感觉不太好. 自认为表现到极限了, 比面wharton时到位的多. 总之建议大家在选择alumni面试时还是校友录上寻找一下其背景. 尽量避免选择在大公司任高职的.

问题:

1. 10 minutes for instruducing yourself, everything you want me to learn about you.

被打断: 2. what' s the project you just mentioned, the size, value, customers name, location, how many team member you have.

3. how do you control people lazy, inefficient, passive.

4. your education.

5. why does this school attract you so much. (我分8条说的,感动的我自己都快哭了,但结果是他觉得不够convincing.)

6. why not other B-schools, xx, xx, xx. what's their differences from this one.

7. why do you think it's the right time for MBA?

alumni有讲到非finance背景的人在chicago会很suffer, 认为我应该选择其它学校. 我问到其背景,居然也不是finance. 但感觉其很喜欢chicago,所以不明白其为什么要这样说.其维持这种观点直至面试结束,我没能说服对方.

如果面试是剩下的applicants竞争的yardstick, 我估计我已提前结束竞争了.祝面试成功的各位好运.

 

[原创]23日Chicago面经

时间：下午
地点：画廊咖啡馆
人物：毕业10年的校友和我
事件：Chicago校友面试

先说大家关心的吧。校友非常友好，见了面后大家寒暄了一下，她作了自我介绍，她的背景，在哪里长大的（那是我问的），MBA前后都做了些什么（非常impressive），现在是个entrepreneur。然后，她非常明确地说，校友interviewers没有final decision power，是来learn more about the applicants；而且，她非常非常enjoy她的GSB exprience，所以从在校起就一直在帮学校面试applicants。

她事先问我要了我的resume，并且很认真地看了，所以她接着就根据我的resume问了一下我大学的专业选择，以及resume提到的跟世界各地colleagues的合作项目。之后就进入正题：why mba，why now。然后问了个比较interesting的问题：如果你最后不去b-school，你会怎么去realize your goals——这时我发现我刚刚忘记强调why now了，就把why now先讲了一下，再讲了一下我正在做的努力，然后说，MBA可以把整个过程缩短。

接着，就是why GSB。但因为interviewer经验比较老到，提问的方式并不是干巴巴的"why Chicago"，而是说：我知道chicago有flexible curriculum，有great finance faculty，analytically rigor，但你为什么会被chicago吸引？这里，我觉得就要把why chicago和自己的career goals联系，然后我主要强调了一个fit。

再后来，就是问了一下我在我的extra中做了些什么，以及我在teamwork中扮演了一个什么样的角色。

准备方面，我看了一下Montauk的有关章节——主要是对每个问题的诠释，以及重点。c-ban，william还有j-ban关于wharton interview的帖子，当中有很多要点很enlightening。还有business-week的mock interview videos，强调了eye contact，一个故事中自己的roles and actions，最重要的就是通过why this school和question for the interviewer表现出自己对program的research。

然后说说我自己的看法。resume和application应该是最基本的需要准备的——自己为什么做这些事情，遇到的困难，自己做了些什么，学到了什么。了解program，强调fit。在面试的时候，争取做到relax，be yourself，open up and be friendly。我在mock的时候得到一些很好的建议：go with the flow，不要像背书一样背你的答案。当然要把leadership and teamwork放在心里，但通过你讲你去帮助别人，通过你跟interviewer的interactions，都可以体现出you are good with people。

我的05-06年度申请工作算是正式结束了，过程中，我做错了很多事情，有很多惨痛教训，呵呵，所以也学到很多东西。希望有好的结果，但如果结果不尽人意，it's not the end of the world，明年再来就是了！

 

 

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面试问题（四）

Chicago GSB interview sharing-Round 2

I just finished the interview yesterday, right before CNY （good for me...I can have a peaceful CNY vacation then). The interview was conducted in a nice, quiet hotel.

I had the interview with a very nice alumni, Mike. I found all the Chicago GSB alumni I know are gentle, decent and willing to share. This is one of the reasons why GSB attracts me more than other b schools I think.

Questions he asked include:

1.               Please walk me through your resume-->he sometimes interrupted me to ask for more details, and what was good is that along the discussion, he also shared with me his experience. This was really helpful to smoothen the interview).

2.               Why MBA? Why now and Why Chicago? -->very typical question, nothing new here. but when I finished my answer about why now, he said he did agree with me that if you want to get an MBA degree, better kick-off everything early. That was encouraging.

3.               Tell me something that is not in your resume--> We should think seriously what answer to give to reflect who we are in a different way.

4.               Within your professional experience, share with me one example that you found out there was a problem and what did you do to solve the problem?

5.               What other schools you applied and why?--> No right or wrong answer here I think. Chicago GSB may just want to make sure that people  who get offer won't turn it down because they get better offer, hehe. The interviewer shared his advice here again. I was really touched.

6.               Among all the elements: Good faculty, good location, customized program, strong networking and good students, which two you think matter the most to you and why?-->Fun question.. Not sure why they want to know this. I think these are all GSB's strengths.

7.               If I want you to describe yourself with 3 words, what they are? --> Summary to who you are obviously

8.               How will you select study groups in XX courses?

9.               Okay, I've pretty much done with my qustion,  any question for me?--> Hugh, finally...

The whole interview finished within 80 mins. He had to stop it there because the next girl was waiting right outside, hehe. At the end, he said "you have done a good job and I will send the report to GSB by tomorrow".... How can I interpret this? God knows.

In summary, my personal experience to share with you is:

1.               Dont get overridden or intimidated by interviewers. Show your confidence. If you think you need to adjust the pace, make a joke and laugh or ask the interviewer a question for him/her to stop and answer! Of course I'm not telling you to be aggressive here...

2.               Dont be a copy machine. It's necessary to prepare but just dont try to remember everything. Interviewers can clearly tell when you are being a machine and when you're you!

3.               Dont look at other places. Focus on interviewer's eyes. Eye contact can reinforce your points and show to interviewer how firm you are. Also, from interviewer's eyes, you will know when to stop and when to resume.

4.               Dont really be a Niu Niu even if you really are. Interviewers have seen tons of people like you and Strong people really dont have high chances to win empathy.

Okay, that's pretty much what I know and how I feel. Hope it's gonna be helpful to you guys. Good luck to everyone and myself!

 

 

Chicago alumni interview in Beijing

Finished my Chicago alumni interview tonight with a really very very fat and also really very very nice woman (worked in CICC), questions:

1. walk through your resume(和以前的interview一样，我刚讲完第一部分话题就被扯到别的上面去了，等转了一大圈回来时已经why MBA了，所以建议大家上来就说最牛的那段)

2. why MBA?(谈到这个问题自然又是经常被带去“海阔天空”了)

3. why Chicago?(这里我们有很多共鸣，她还给我讲了很多她上学时的事，经常彼此大笑，让我一度以为我们的面试已经结束了)

4. if your friends use 3 words to describe you, what do you think they are?(我拿起手机对她说：你直接问我朋友吧)

5. if it’s the first day when you walk into the class of Market, how do you choose your other 3 group member?(本想脱口而出：大姐，那肯定是走错教室了，因为我去你们那是学Finance & Accounting的。后来一想毕竟是面试，还是老实点吧)

6. weekness(谁都有缺点，坦诚是最重要的)

7. seems no ending "any other question?" (最后把我感动得说了一句出来后自己都想抽自己的话“I think I really have taken you so much time”)

整个面试过程中，她给我讲了很多对我有帮助的话，而且还邀请我下次去参加他们芝大北京校友的聚会，告诉我在那里我会学到更多，我真的非常感谢她！而且她还时不时拽两句中文，真是“太有才了”！

Chicago Alumni interview

之前接触过的Chicago Alumni都无一例外的相当nice以及low key，给我面试的校友mm同样亲切和helpful，顿时对Chicago印象大好。整个面试都是在轻松友好的气氛中进行的，临走时还跟校友mm说真希望和你成为校友

今天真的是做到了be myself, 可能太放松了有些问题的回答反而不够logical...God bless me good luck吧！！

1.               Please talk about yourself.
It’s more like an opening self-introduction about your background and your main experiences. So be concise; don’t talk much about details.

2.               Why MBA? Why not choose to join a foreign big name company at this moment?
Almost the "must" question in all interviews. Tie your career goals to what you expect to get from this professional training program.

3.               Why Chicago?
Really need to think about what typical Chicago style is and whether you like it or not. Also it is time to show how much you know about the school.

4.               I hate to ask this question, but could you please give me an example how to resolve the team conflict when you are the team leader?
Better get prepared for this kind of question in advance. In order to highlight the “conflict” part, I think I put too many details…and a little bit lost during the conversation...

5.               What skills did you learn from your previous job? And your current job?
Solid skills-one or two points, but concise examples should follow.

6.               Talk about the community services you have ever involved.

7.               What else you hope to share with me.

8.               Q&A

 

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面试问题（五）

Chicago Interview Experience ( 11/24)

Had my Chicago Interview on last Friday.. November 24th with a nice young alumni ( working in the building beside my office ) in Toronto. It was a wonderfully chatting ..he was friendly and charming..haha..

I felt I was over- prepared.. ( I did prepared a 16 pages with over 60 questions list) .. The interview only last about half hour.. which half of it was the discussion about his experience at Chicago..

Firstly, He appreciated my time in the Friday afternoon ( of course , i did the same thing ) and gave me a short introduction of his background ( luckily, he was in the same bank with me before he went to MBA ,,hehe hope that is a plus) . Then my turn ( he did not ask question by question , just let me go with my own pace ) ..

I did not remember all the questions he asked , the following are the one still in my memory :

1. Your Background ( walk me through your resume)
2. Why MBA ?
3. Your goals ( he did not ask me goal but i told him before i answered " why MBA", which could link to my goal logically)
4. Why chicago ? ( i listed 6 reasons )
5. Why do you want to have MBA in state in stead of in Canada? ( I said that was one of questions i wantta ask you later , he laughed " you can ask me right now" ) -it turns out both of us have the same answers - US MBA ( top ones ) offers more flexibility , opens more doors
6. What is you plan after MBA ( in terms of location - US? Canada? or China? )
7. Your current job responsibilities ?
8. What do you like most in your current job? like least ? ( i linked it to my career goal and the reason i want an MBA)
9. Teamwork experience ( He did no ask me to give him an example, so i generalized 5 points approach which could apply in any teamwork )
10. what do you like to do outside of work?

Then I led him into my questions section.. we spent lots of time talking about his experience at Chicago, the reason he came back Canada.. Where did he live ? which area in the city have more fun ( clubs, bars ...) baba...

At the last, i asked him the next step ( although i already knew) ..he explained there could have three options - deny, offer and waitlist.. he even told me he was waitlisted ( he emphasized that he did not mean i would be waitlisted, he just told me the general situation ..hehe.. i hope that is a tip).. also, he gave me his business card and offered me to contact me if i have any questions or need any helps..

In conclusion, the interview was really conversation and causal, two of us like friends and chatted about the school experience.. may he is young ( 36 ) and we do share some common background ..

Anyways, I did my best.. and waiting for the result on Dec 20th, 2006

 

wharton interview and chicago interview

I had Wharton alumni interview and Chicago alumni interview last week.

Generally, both interviews were very laid back and both interviewers are very nice. 40 min. approximately. I prepared some questions and examples, but I felt preparation was not necessary. As long as you know your goal clearly and can talk about your experience with some details, it will be fine. Nevertheless, I still suggest to prepare in advance so that you will be more confident.

I had a very pleasant talk with both interviewers and did get positive feedback at the end. I spoke fast so we talked about a lot of things. I don't think there are so many questions usually. But I couldn't slow down, which is my habit. So I decided to be myself, although this meant more questions for me. Try not to talk too fast if you can.

Both interviewers had my resume before interview and I felt both had read it beforehand. I talked about my experience, my goal, why MBA, why this school, teamwork, a challenging thing...... These are what I remember. In short, general questions plus questions about my personal experience. I felt both interviewers were very experienced in interviewing people and there were some follow-up questions.

In a word, be confident and relax. This is really a good opportunity to let the school know more about you through a conversation with its representative. Any questions you have, feel free to ask the interviewers.

Good luck to everyone!

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面试问题（六）

[原创]Bad Chicago interview experience in Singapore

The Singaporean interviewer neither brought a piece of paper nor recorded down anything during the 40min conversation (or debating). Through the whole interview, he kept persuading me to give up the idea of attending a MBA, an idea in his mind even before he met me. Even he might think that’s a unique interview strategy, I didn’t appreciate it nor think the approach was effective and fair in helping the school know more about me. Here comes part of the transcript for my interview.

I: self introduction (on the half way of my introduction of career progress and my passion, he stopped me. I have used the exact same opening for my Duke Interview, the comment was excellent. )

He: Don’t waste time on that. Let’s get to the points. Tell me why would you like to do an MBA? Frankly speaking, the amount you are going to spend is almost SG$ 300k including living expense, school fees and opputonity costs etc. It is a huge investment. There are many cheaper ways for you.

He: I am just here to help you. I don't want to see you wasting your SG$300k on something you can get in a much cheaper way. [Suddenly he started talking in Mandarin as if he was the senior who give advices a junior. I insisted responding in English, keeping the interview as formal as possible. ]

I: well, SG$300K is indeed a big amount for me. But do you know how large the market of my industrials will be? I have read a report from IBM that says the market will grow into 26 billions by 2010. Considering I want to become an entrepreneur in this field, I felt SG$300K is not so significant if I can succeed in the long term…. (He stopped me before I finished.)

He: I felt it would be better for you to work for a few more years in some business functions for example, XX, XX or even my organizations before you considered a business education. [I am working in a non-profit environment] I do suggest you looking for other options.

I, Fine. Actually I did not say MBA is the only route for me to move further. I seriously evaluated other possibilities as well, for example, having a startup experience at this moment... however, I discovered that MBA would fill the gap between my current position and my long term goal. Specifically, my current position requires me to …My long term goal is ... (He stopped me again before I finished my arguments)

He: I just want to let you know that there are better options for you.

I: I had some reservation on the word "better". Even after we tried those things, we still could hardly tell which step is "better" in our lives. I would just like to say I saw MBA course as the step which could allow me to accelerate my career.

He: You have been wasting 20 min talking something irrelevant. I am a very practical person; tell me you practical plan in 1 year, 3 years, 5 years and 10 years.

I: I: I would like to work as a consultant in US upon graduation because … in 3-5 years, it is very possible that I will move back to the Asia pacific region partly because of some personal reasons that…. , 5-10 years down the road, i will start my company in the field because.... in the long run, I believed I can expand my company market to other regions with the networks I developed over the years and my understanding of the foreign market i gained during my experience in America

He: Ok. Now tell me why you would like to do an MBA??

I: (here I gave very specific personal reasons) I made up my mind because of three considerations. …first …second,,, The last reason is my interests. My understanding of my industrial is that… Based on my understanding, I do need to a business education which could complement my non-business background to fulfill my interests in …(He stopped me before I finished talking)

He: That’s why I would still advice you going to work for some business related jobs first, because that will make you learn much more in the business school.

I: well, I only partially agree that. I felt working in my current place could help me understand the professional knowledge… (He stopped me before I finished talking.)

He: Well, It seems you just didn’t want to seriously consider my suggestions. You are still young, why not delaying your business education a few years later?

I: well, It is nothing wrong for being young. I admit that my working experience is little. (three years upon matriculation) But as long as I have strong motivations and reasons to atte

nd the business education, that could still be a wise decision …. (He stopped me before I finished)

He: I just feel the cost is too high for you to attend a business school. If you don’t like to take my advices, that’s also fine.

I: well. If you are referring to the risk, I agree that the decision could be very risky. But I focused more on the potential. If we are only looking at 5 years duration, definitely 300K is not a clever investment. But how about duration of 20 years? What if I can become a successful entrepreneur at the end of the 20 years? Do you feel it worth the 300K? And do you think it is more likely for me to become a successful entrepreneur with the Chicago business school education?

(Then he started asking me about why Chicago and what I can contribute. I gave specific answers. At the end of the interview, He said)

He: Please consider my suggestions; I still feel you should look for other cheaper options.

I: I want to say it is indeed something about personal value. Some people would like to use 300K to buy a house and be happy, and I would use 300K to invest in my future career. There is nothing right or wrong.

He. OK. That’s fine

Later I sent a thank you note to him and here was his reply:

--------------------------------------------------------

Hi XXXX

It was my pleasure to meet you.

Hope you did not mind my being direct in proffering my advice.

Best of luck in your applications!

XXXX

----------------------------------------------------------

I truly feel he ruined my interview experience because of his perception and prejudice on people from my background. Please give me some opinions on whether you think that was a fair interview and if not, whether it will be useful for me to report the case to the admission committee to appeal for another round of interview?

Thanks.

 

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-10-22 20:43:09编辑过]

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Chicago MBA面试tips

Admissions Insider: The Interview: Who, What, Why, When, Where & How

The admissions interview is an excellent opportunity to exchange information with a GSB alumnus, student or staff member.  Here is some useful information about the admissions interview that will hopefully allow you to relax and enjoy this unique chance to tell us more about you!

Who: You!  And, of course, someone at or connected with the GSB.  The interview will be conducted by a GSB alumnus, staff member or Graduate Assistant.  Each interviewer's input is weighed equally.  You will receive instructions on setting up your interview from the GSB Admissions Office.

What: The interview itself, which will last about 45 minutes.  Be prepared to talk about your work experience, how the MBA fits into your future plans, and your interest in Chicago GSB.

Why: The interview is a mutual learning opportunity to exchange information about the applicant and Chicago GSB.

When: This depends on the round to which you’ve applied.  Generally, you’ll be given up to a month to conduct your interview, at a time that’s convenient to you and your interviewer.

Where: This is up to you!  We invite you to visit Chicago GSB to conduct your interview here on campus, with the added benefit of seeing the Hyde Park Center first-hand.  However, if a visit to Chicago isn’t possible, you’ll instead be connected to a trained alumnus who will meet with you in a mutually agreed-upon location.  At times, Admissions staff will visit high-volume areas to conduct interviews as well.

How: As in - how can I prepare for the interview?  Have a few questions ready to ask of your interviewer and get ready to talk about yourself.  Most importantly, though, be prepared for a lively conversation and don’t concentrate on giving a scripted speech.

Some final tips:

·                  Follow the directions given by Admissions.  When in doubt, contact us at admissionsinterviews@chicagogsb.edu.

·                  Dress for success!  Business attire is considered most appropriate.

·                  Call or email your interviewer or Admissions Office at Chicago GSB if are not able to keep your interview appointment for any reason.

·                  Bring a copy of your resume.

Finally, here’s a quote from a recent interviewee that should put your mind at ease:

“The tone of the interview was that of a conversation.  I thought that she asked questions
   that really got to the heart of who I am and why I was applying”.

 

 

IORIYAGAMI

thanks for sharing!

xiaoyue

thanks for sharing!

topguyv

wish chicago admit more chinese this year!