MIT MBA Round 1 / Off-campus (Paris) / Adcom / Accepted! (January 19, 2010)

icebluecc

I was notified three weeks before my interview date of two possible days to interview. I registered on the interview time slots portal, which had about 17 interview slots. I was lucky to get a slot which would allow me to travel to the interview location comfortably the same day.

Preparation

Reading the forums for MIT Sloan interview questions, I got a pretty good idea of what sort of questions I needed to prepare. I rummaged my brain for interesting stories from the past year, making sure to think about situations which I had not described in my essays. I thought of stories which could be used to answer a couple of questions. I used the STAR interviewing technique to write down these situations. I "tagged" these stories with topics, e.g. handling opposition etc., to be sure I had enough stories covering a variety of topics. I went through my application quickly, as I knew more or less what I had written in the essays. I did that just to be prepared for some detail questions my interviewer might have had. He did not, however, ask any questions from my application.

I practised giving the interview answers by recalling the situations and sort of giving a speech to myself. I had a couple of mock interviews with my wife. I made sure that I did not learn my answers by heart, so that my answers came out natural.

The day before the interview, I relaxed.

Interview

I reached the venue, made sure my suit was ok, and asked to see my interviewer (whose name was on the interview invitation). He came down and seemed a pleasant chap. My interview, overall, was pretty informal. He started by talking about how I like living in Europe, and when I hesitated thinking this was part of the interview, he explained this was not part of the interview. after a few minutes, he explained how the interview will run. The questions he asked me:

Walk me through your resume and some detail questions based on what I said
Situation about persuading/convincing people and details
Situation in which I had to present something to someone who I did not like, and details
Why MBA and why MIT Sloan?
What question do you wish I had asked you
What do you do Outside of work
Questions for him
These questions were not really asked in any order, instead it seemed as if we were having a conversation. He took notes when he needed to, during the interview. He was also willing to share his thoughts and comments with me. This helped keep the atmosphere informal. In my opinion, he was looking to strike a good conversation instead of having a formal interview.

Tips

Read the MIT interview guide and prepare stories with a beginning, middle and end (result). Use the STAR technique and prepare stories that show you handling professional relationships well. Mention the accomplishment at the end.
Be prepared for unexpected questions and try to think on your feet (Show presence and listen to your interviewer). Be confident in your answers. Stay cool.
I can only second what Angel Navedo said during an MIT admissions chat: "Presence is important in your interview. Poor presence is one quick way to be unsuccessful in the interview. This means demonstrating a confident, composed presence, strong communications skills, etc."