- Tell me about yourself. …
- Why do you want to receive an MBA? …
- Why are you interested in this school or program? …
- What has been your most challenging or rewarding academic experience so far? …
- Discuss a time when you were a leader. …
- What do you like most about your current work?
MBA Interview Questions And Answers! (How to PASS an MBA Admissions Interview)
Article Contents 32 minread
So, you’ve made it to the MBA interview stage, and now you’re facing the prospect of answering those tough MBA interview questions. The jubilation of making it to the interview stage is mixed with apprehension about how to ace your MBA interview. You must be wondering, is an MBA interview really all that different from any other interview? What kinds of questions will they ask me? What can I do to prepare for it? The fact is, the MBA interview experience is unique. Just like your MBA resume was different from your high school resume, your MBA interview is different from any other school or job interview you’ve ever had. To prepare for it, you need to spend a lot of time practicing your answers to the commonly asked MBA interview questions with an expert MBA admissions consulting service.
In this blog, we’ll walk you through 15 of the most common MBA interview questions, along with detailed tips on how to answer them, and sample answers for your reference.
Note: BeMo is the trusted leader in personalized admissions prep. If you would like to navigate to specific sections of the article, click “Article Contents” above (on mobile) or on the right (desktop) to see an overview of the content.
First of all, if you made it to the stage where you have to worry about MBA interview questions, congratulations! This means the admissions committee recognized your potential and judged you as an excellent MBA candidate based on your previous experiences and achievements from your application components, including your MBA personal statement. That’s a big hurdle cleared! Now, you just need to focus on giving an excellent MBA interview performance to clinch that acceptance letter. Remember that at this stage, it’s a competition among equals. Every candidate who makes it to the interview round probably has comparable academic, professional, and extracurricular achievements, whether they come from the best undergrad business schools, Ivy Leagues, UC schools, or hold a non-business degree from a state school.
Tell me about a time you failed.
This question may seem similar to the ones asking about your weaknesses, but they key difference is that here, you need to highlight a specific event and talk about it in detail. It doesn’t necessarily have to be linked to a specific weakness. Interviewers will be impressed with an answer that shows self-reflection, a balanced world view, and a commitment to self-improvement.
How to answer:
Choose the incident wisely. On the one hand, it shouldn’t be a pseudo-failure where you didn’t actually fail, as interviewers will note that you evaded the question and will conclude that you can’t honestly talk about your mistakes. On the other hand, the incident shouldn’t raise any major red flags – for example, no one will want a candidate who admits to criminal activities such as embezzling funds from a company! The incident can be from your business, academic or personal life, as long as your answer highlights how the failure influenced your journey to business school. Remember that this question isn’t a chance to air personal grievances or talk about how others have failed you. Remember, take responsibility for any setbacks you experienced! Keep the overall tone positive and avoid painting others in a bad light. Instead, try to show a sense of personal responsibility and a growth mindset. When describing the incident, always have a clear framework in mind. You could try the following:
Sample answer:
In my first year at ABC company, I was managing a project for a new contract with a client that believed in a hands-on approach, wanting to be involved with everything and focusing greatly on strict deadlines. In order to address this perceived client requirement, I decided to go over and above the set framework for client interactions, and sent them detailed, daily status reports about how their project was progressing. I hoped this extra activity would help the client feel involved with the project and avoid any misunderstandings about how their resources were being utilized. These reports added to our workload and stretched our resources. Ultimately, those daily reports did little to assuage the client’s initial concerns and in fact, added to their stress as they reported feeling overwhelmed by information that meant little to them. Due to the time and resources spent on these daily reports, we ended up exceeding our time and budgetary requirements for the project. I realized too late that the right solution would have been to establish an effective communication framework during contract negotiations, rather than veering from the established contract. It was a lesson in how over-zealousness can sometimes cause more problems than it solves, and it helped me realize that smart thinking is always better than just hard working. I now make it a point to negotiate a mutually satisfactory communication system with every client in the trial period. This focus on early establishment of efficient strategies and successful client relationships is, I believe, the key to high client approval ratings and consistent results.
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Your responses to common MBA interview questions can define the outcome of your business school application.
So you made it to the business school interview stage: Cause for celebration, or last-minute panic? The way you approach the MBA interview can directly impact admission decisions, so it’s important to dedicate time and attention to this important component.
The most effective, time-tested strategy for approaching an interview is to imagine the questions you’ll be asked and to practice your delivery. Below, we’ve detailed some of the most common questions asked during MBA interviews so you can begin developing your unique responses (although there can be some tricky MBA interview questions, too).
