25 Final Tips Before Your MBA Interview

In this article, we will recap the MBA interview guidance provided in the 15 MBA interview preparation articles prepared by Experts' Global. If you have already read our other articles, please go through this one to quickly revise all of the most important points.

The 25 Tips

1. Do not try to out-wit or out-trick your interviewer. Assume that he/she is smarter than you; that is why he/she is conducting the interview, and you are sitting for it. Trying to trick your interviewer will not work and will come across as cheeky and disrespectful.

2. Be cordial, make sure to show up on time and greet your interviewers properly.

3. Maintain a positive, happy, and energetic disposition; that is the attitude that MBA candidates are expected to have.

4. Never interrupt your interviewer during the MBA interview. Interrupting the interviewer will come across as discourteous. In order to avoid inadvertently interrupting your interviewer, take a two-second pause before answering any question. This pause will also allow you to consolidate your thoughts and provide a more organized answer.

5. Prepare a list of around 20 giveaways, to convey during your MBA interview, beforehand. Below you will find an extensive list of virtues that are deeply respected by MBA admissions committees; please read it carefully and prepare 20 giveaways on these lines:

Professional Accomplishments | Academic Bent | Versatile Persona | Diverse Background | Leadership Potential | Global Perspective | Achievements Early for One's Age | Vision to Make an Impact | People Management Skills | Communication Skills | Subject Matter Expertise | Analytical and Quantitative Skills | Perseverance | Honesty, and Work Ethics | Initiative | Crisis Management Skills | Delegation | Training and Mentoring Skills | Strong Sense of Commitment | Ability to Overcome Adversity | Cross Functional Expertise | Project Management | Eye for Details | Coordinating and Liaoning | Multitasking and Time Management Skills | Training and Adaptability | ...

6. While you should have a pre-planned approach for your MBA interview, you cannot work off of a script. It is not feasible for you to memorize all the potential MBA interview questions and their respective answers; however, you can have a broad list of giveaways.

7. Avoid extremely long or short answers; the ideal length for an answer to an MBA interview question is one to two minutes. If your answer is taking longer than two minutes to deliver, you are making a mistake.

8. Avoid harping on the same one or two points; your answers should be rich and multi-dimensional. Suggest one or two sentences each for approximately 5 different aspects.

9. Have a clear answer for the "Why MBA?" interview question; provide four reasons for why you wish to pursue an MBA and 4 reasons for why you wish to attend the particular school that you are applying to.

10. Have precise career goals. Suggest a clear profile and industry that you plan to work in, immediately after graduation, 10 years from now, and a long-term impact. Be sure to move beyond simply expressing a desire and display a vision.

11. Have a Plan B that you intend to follow if your immediate post-MBA goals are not met; this is a very common subject for MBA interview questions. If any of your career plans involve entrepreneurship, do some serious homework; your interviewer will be sure to grill you on this subject if entrepreneurship is mentioned.

12. Have a rich self-description; introducing yourself will probably be the first question in your MBA interview and will provide you an opportunity to make a good first impression.

13. Have clear answers to all of the standard MBA interview personality questions, strengths, weaknesses, one unique virtue about you.

14. Have two to five situational stories ready, along the lines of facing a professional challenge, taking up leadership, facing an ethical dilemma, and experiencing failure.

15. Avoid guesswork; if there are any questions that you cannot answer, humbly confess to the same and suggest that you are willing to bridge the gap in your knowledge.

16. If you need some time to prepare an answer, politely ask for it. However, only do so once or twice in your MBA interview. Repeatedly asking for extra time to think will suggest that you have not prepared well for the interview or that you have a very casual attitude towards it.

17. This particular tip is very important; even if one answer goes bad, do not lose confidence. Remember, your MBA interview does not hinge upon any singular answer; keep doing your best, stay calm, and do not let one bad answer determine the course of your interview.

18. Be absolutely thorough with your application essays. Your interviewer will have read your essays very closely; so, you must take care to avoid contradicting them in any way.

19. Be thorough with your industry and functional area; identify two challenges that your industry is facing, as well as two recent trends that may define its future.

20. Carefully evaluate your candidature, identify its most peculiar aspect, and prepare to answer at least one interview question on it. For example, if you carry 10 years of professional experience and are interviewing for an MBA program wherein the average candidate carries five years expect a question on your years of experience.

21. Prepare two questions that you wish to ask your interviewer at the end of your MBA interview. Avoid blatant questions that could easily be answered with a web search and try to formulate questions that reflect some groundwork. These questions should be highly nuanced and specific to the program offerings to show that you have a serious interest in the program.

22. Remember to send your interviewer a thank you email, suggesting that sitting for your MBA interview was a great learning experience for you.

23. Get in plenty of practice before the day of your MBA interview; take special care to be thorough with the 10 most frequently asked questions.

24. Rehearsing against a mirror and recording yourself are excellent ways to analyze and improve upon your MBA interview performance.

25. Try to have a mentor who can guide you through your MBA interview preparations, or at least a buddy who can provide you with some feedback.

Two Main Things

Finally, we will revisit the two main things that every MBA interview is about, conveying that you are good enough to attend the MBA program that you are applying to and that you are deeply interested in it. If you can keep these two points in mind and successfully reflect them through your interview performance, you will stand a very strong chance.

For a more detailed understanding of these points, please read the other articles prepared by Experts' Global.