Duke MBA Early Action / Off-campus / Alumni (December 21st, 2009)
My interview was conducted at Duke’s offices in Fleet Street, London. I was told by admissions to show up at 7:30am for registration and an alumni reception. Unfortunately, no Duke staff/alums arrived until approx. 9am so I and the other applicants had to wait outside the main entrance for 1.5hrs. Apparently, the interviewers were instructed by admissions to arrive at 9am. Approx. a week after my interview I received an apology (read: letter) and gift from admissions (a Fuqua paper clip) for the mishap.
Apart from this glitch I thought the atmosphere was enjoyable once we arrived in the office. There were around 7 or so applicants and 3 alums, two of who conducted the interviews while one alum was tasked to entertain us. I got to know some of my fellow applicants and exchange contact details.
The interview was blind and conducted by a Class of 2007 alum who had read my resume the day before. He was a snr. manager working for a large US firm in London. The interview lasted for 45 minutes in total with 15 minutes set aside for me to ask questions. My interviewer made it clear at the beginning of the interview that he was not allowed to provide feedback and that he wouldn’t be able to keep eye contact because he was planning on writing lots of notes.
List of interview questions:
Tell me about a story/headline you recently read in the news that has impacted you personally or professionally
Explain your role in teams
How would you explain your job to a 6-year old?
Tell me about an important goal/accomplishment that you have achieved in life
If you were working for a consumer products company and were about to launch a spaghetti product in France who are the 5 people you would include in your team and what are the skills you would be looking for and why?
Why Duke?
Tell me about your career goals after business school
Tell me about a time when you experienced conflict at work
What would you do if you were working with a team member who didn’t cooperate
What are the three things your best friend would say about you?
If your best friend had to tell me a story about you, what would he say?
Is there anything else you would like to tell the admissions committee?
I have to admit I was caught off guard by some of the oddball questions because I had mostly prepared for situational questions (i.e. what would you do if a coworker….blabla). A friend of mine works at Fuqua and advised me that there would be lots of situational questions but there were very few of them. My advice is to prepare for a wide range of questions, but specifically pay attention to the ones listed above.
I was impressed by the alums I met and the diverse (read: international) student body that Duke attracts.
Result: Waitlisted |
