UPDATE: This article was originally posted on November 15, 2018. It has been updated with new information and tips below. 

After months (or years!) of preparation, you’ve finally received good news: you’ve been selected to interview at one or more of your top choice MBA programs! 

Though this is certainly cause for celebration, it’s not time to break out the champagne quite yet. After all, only about 50% of candidates who interview at elite business schools actually get in. This means that MBA interviews require extensive preparation.

However, not all MBA interview questions are created equal. Some focus on just getting to know you, while others are tools designed to trip you up and allow your interviewer to spot any “red flags” in your application or personality. 

To help make sure you avoid getting tripped up by these oh-so-important questions, we’ve created this list of the 3 toughest MBA interview questions, complete with tips on how to expertly answer each and every one. After all, with all you’ve invested in the MBA application process thus far, you owe it to yourself to perform your best on interview day!

 

MBA Interview Question 1: “Tell me about yourself.”

It’s no accident that this seemingly innocent question is number one on this list.

This question (or its sister “Walk me through your resume”) starts almost every MBA interview, regardless of whether you interview with an alumnus, with the admissions committee, on campus, or at a global hub site. 

Though you may be tempted to say, “I can tell about myself without any prior practice. After all, I’ve known myself my whole life!” this is a big mistake. Instead of a quick, off-the-cuff introduction, this is your only chance to make a strong first impression and establish the personal brand you want to reinforce during your interview. 

That’s why in this question, you should give a carefully constructed “elevator pitch.” 

Use your answer to this question to provide context to your CV and information about your general story, focusing on your best achievements and your motivations for each move in your career (both why you left and why you joined any position). 

You should spend no more than 5 minutes answering this question, though we think it’s best to aim for around 3 minutes. 

Your answer should cover these points:

• Educational history (where you went to college, what you studied, and any study abroad you did or activities you participated in)
• Career progression (jobs you have had, highlights from each position, why you went from one job to another)
• Your extra-professional activities (if you have time, you can also add a bit of information about what you are involved in outside of work)

Finally, though you might be tempted to write a script for this answer and memorize it, don’t! 

Instead, we suggest writing out bullet points that cover key elements of your answer then connecting those points naturally and spontaneously each time. By freeing up your mind, you have more time for charisma and can keep a steady flow for the entire interview, ensuring you’re one step closer to making your dream of attending an elite MBA a reality!

Key insight: Try to limit your answer here. If you speak for a long time, you’ve most likely lost your interviewer’s attention. Concise, well-crafted answers keep the focus on YOU! 

 

MBA Interview Question 2: “Tell me about a time you failed.”

If I had to list the one question clients hate the most (and the one they struggle with the most), “Tell me about a time you failed” is it! 

That’s because questions about failures are inherently tricky. 

First, if you’re too forthcoming and decide, for example, to share a time when you leaked confidential data about an upcoming IPO to the press, your answer will reveal behavioral “red flags” that will kill your chances at your top choice programs. 

On the other hand, some candidates tend to gravitate toward the other extreme. Just last night, for example, I was helping my client Lucas prepare for his upcoming Kellogg interview. When I asked him to tell me about a time he failed, he told me his leadership style on a recent case was “too inclusive.” Since showing a failure that demonstrates self-awareness is important here, this answer just didn’t cut it. 

So what does a good answer to this question actually look like? 

Though this question can be tricky, the steps below can help you craft a winning answer. 

Step 1: Choose a “Goldilocks” failure (not too hot, not too cold!). If your interviewer asked for something related to work, make sure you bring a professional example. 

Step 2: Using the STAR methodology, tell the story of what happened. Make sure to focus on your role in the failure. For example, if you were part of a team during the failure in question, avoid always saying “we,” as this makes it seem you’re trying to diffuse responsibility for the failure. Though you don’t always have to use “I” in this answer, make sure you’re the clear protagonist of the error. Finally, make sure you clearly define what the failure was.

Step 3: Share what you learned. The best MBA candidates are not those who have never failed but are those who are mature enough to analyze previous defeats, glean important lessons from setbacks, and apply these lessons to succeed in the future. Showing you learned from your mistake by clarifying what you learned from the failure and, if applicable, bringing in a short anecdote of a later time when you successfully applied this lesson, will show you’re the type of improvement-driven candidate elite MBAs dream about. 

Let’s go back to Lucas’ original failure answer. 

By applying this methodology, we were able to revamp his answer into something like this: 

“A few months ago, I was working on an important turnaround project with one of our firm’s largest clients. Given the complexity of my workstream, I needed to work with client employees from 6 different departments in order to create the turnaround strategy. It was my first time leading such a complex project, and I started out by trying to be a very inclusive leader, listening to everyone’s opinions and fully debating all ideas. A few weeks later, however, I still hadn’t made any progress in developing the strategy. At this point, my manager approached me and let me know I was critically behind schedule and that my lack of progress had the potential to derail the entire project. I discussed my tactics with him and came to understand that my inclusive approach was actually hurting more than it was helping. The next day, I changed my approach and was more assertive, focusing on key stakeholders and limiting discussions to relevant points. With this approach, I was able to deliver a winning strategy on time. This failure taught me that leaders sometimes need to make tough decisions and must set clear goals and boundaries for group discussions.”

PRO TIP: The same logic behind discussing your failures also applies to questions about your weaknesses. Make sure you don’t focus on “red flag” characteristics, demonstrate that you have the self-awareness to identify your weak spots, and show you’re a mature candidate who actively works to overcome any weaknesses. 

 

MBA Interview Question 3: “Do you have any questions for me?”

Just like in a job interview, the answer to this question is always YES. 

The questions you prepare should show that you have done deep research and are genuinely interested in their MBA program. You should prepare different questions based on who is interviewing you. 

In the case of an alumni interview, experience-based questions, such as “What has been your experience with the bidding system for classes and how did you prioritize your top choice classes?” or “I noticed you were a KWEST Leader (Kellogg), what motivated you to participate in KWEST as a leader and would you recommend this to incoming students?”

In the case of an admissions interview, questions that probe more deeply into something you read on the website about the program are good bets, as are questions about why your interviewer decided to be part of the school, what the school or program’s greatest asset is, and if he or she would offer any advice to incoming students. 

For all interviews, you want to avoid questions like “Which classes do you think I should take?” since you should already know your answer to this. You should also avoid questions whose answers can clearly and easily be found on the school’s website. 

In short, take advantage of this opportunity both to show your genuine interest in the school and to learn something new. 

 

MBA Interview Question 4: “Where else did you apply?”

Though this is one of the trickiest questions, very few applicants prepare this question before their interviews. This is a major mistake since one of the main concerns your interviewer has is whether or not you will accept a spot at their program if offered one.

There are many ways to judge the prestige of an MBA program, but one key factor is yield – the number of spots offered to admits versus the number of admits who actually attend the program. As you probably guessed, the higher the yield the better, as it shows how desirable programs are to applicants. 

As such, when your interviewer asks you where else you applied and how you will decide where to ultimately enroll, they are really asking you how serious you are about taking a spot at their program. 

Though we don’t suggest lying, you may want to list 2 or 3 peer schools and should reinforce your strong interest in the program for which you’re interviewing. 

If you ended up only applying for one program, it’s ok to say so. However, most applicants apply for several programs, so it’s alright to mention that you also applied to other schools. If for some reason you did decide to apply to 10 schools, you may not want to highlight this since it will give the impression that you don’t really care where you attend (and did not consider your fit with individual programs). 

 

MBA Interview Question 5: “How will you enrich our community?”

Though you’ve likely spent most of the application process thinking about how you can benefit from the MBA programs you’ve targeted, one of the most important considerations from an admissions perspective is how much value you will add to their overall community. 

The simple fact is that elite business schools receive many more applications from fully qualified candidates than they have room for. As such, the admissions committee must determine who can most contribute to the overall learning environment. 

Thus, when you receive this question, you want to make sure you are prepared with a thoughtful answer on how you see yourself adding value on campus and contributing to your classmates’ learning experience. 

This answer should have two parts: 

1) the unique perspectives (personal and professional) you will share with your colleagues, and 2) the clubs or organizations you plan to get involved in and why this is important to you. 

TOP TIP: Instead of just listing your past experiences, make sure to show how you think your classmates can benefit from these experiences. Ask yourself: “Why should my classmates care about the contributions I will make?”

For example, instead of saying you’ve worked in tech, you might consider creating an answer that highlights your vast tech experience and excitement to show classmates from all industries how to create business strategies that expertly harness the power of this increasingly important tool in their future careers. 

 

Practice makes perfect!

You have stressed about every aspect of your MBA application, and now you are ready for your interview! With the right preparation, this can be your chance to shine and get a highly-coveted spot at an elite business school. 

 

However, maybe you don’t know where to start in preparing, or maybe you tend to ramble on and lose focus during interviews. Maybe you’ve even downloaded sample questions and written out your answers. The problem is, when you try to apply these templates to your own story, it doesn’t quite work.

Our interview prep focuses on helping you determine how to present yourself during your MBA interview while using appropriate, impact-driven language without being artificial, or worse, robotic.

That’s why 98.7% of our clients secure admissions to at least one of their target schools. 

Our tailored interview approach was critical to helping our client Fernando secure a spot at Harvard Business School. 

In his words:

“After several months working with Ellin, I can say that she played a vital role throughout the MBA application process by always offering good advice, asking the right questions, helping me manage my time, preparing me for the interviews and even helping with ad-hoc questions about schools, financial aid or whatever other existential question that would come to my mind.

I absolutely recommend Ellin’s work to anyone who is applying to – or thinking about applying to – an MBA program. She definitely made the processes smoother and helped me get to the end goal: get accepted at HBS!”

Want to put the Ellin Lolis advantage to work for you? Schedule your preparation session with our all-star team of interview experts today!