The MBA interview is physical. Do not prepare for an MBA
interview by writing outlines or scripts, or, worst of all, creating PowerPoint
slides. Instead, talk to yourself.
Although I majored in history at Stanford, I took more
acting classes than history classes. Patricia Ryan Madson was my acting
professor (check out her bestselling book). She taught me how to use the mirror
to prepare for challenging roles. I have modified her method to my own mirror
method to help you pass your MBA admissions or job interviews.
Supplies needed
note cards
a mirror
a timer set for 30 minutes (typical interview length)
a voice recorder (smart phone, computer, IC recorder:
anything that will record your voice for playback and review)
Use these nine mirror method steps to cover 10 core MBA
interview questions plus a few questions you want to ask your interviewer
(final Q&A).
A. Write these 10 core MBA interview questions (plus final
Q&A) on note cards
Tell me about yourself/walk me through your résumé.
What are your three greatest strengths and three greatest
weaknesses?
Provide me with an example showing your leadership.
What role do you usually play in teams?
Tell me about a time that you had to work on a team that did
not get along.
Tell me about a time when you failed. What did you learn
from the experience?
What are your goals? Why do you want an MBA now?
Why do you want to attend this school?
How will you contribute to our school community? (in
classes, outside classes, as part of the alumni network)/
What else? Surprise me.
Do you have any questions for me?
B. Write keywords or bullet points on the back of each card
Here are some mirror method hints and tips you can use to
help you refine your interview answers.
1. Self-introduction
Walk me through your résumé.
Tell me about yourself.
2. Strengths and weaknesses
What are your three greatest strengths and three greatest
weaknesses?
How does each strength / weakness affect your work?
How might each strength / weakness impact your performance
at our school / program / organization?
3. Leadership style and example (behavioral question)
Provide me with an example showing your leadership.
4. Teamwork role
What role do you usually play in teams?
5. Difficult team
(behavioral question)
Tell me about a time that you had to work on a team that did
not get along. What happened? What role did you take? What was the result?
Based on that example, what would you do if your MBA study team members were
not getting along with each other?
6. Failure (behavioral question)
Tell me about a time when you failed. What did you learn
from the experience?
7. Goals/why MBA/why now
What are your goals? Why do you want an MBA now?
8. Why this school?
Why do you want to attend this school?
9. Potential contributions
How will you contribute to our school community? (in
classes, outside classes, and as an alumnus)
How can you contribute to our MBA community?
How will you add value to the school community?
How to contact club presidents to confirm your contributions
10. Anything else?
Surprise me.
Tell me something else you want me to know that is not
covered in your application and not asked today.
11. Q & A
Do you have any questions for me? (Be sure to customize
questions depending on MBA admissions interviewer's status, i.e. current
student, recent graduate, senior alumni member, staff member who attended the
program, staff member hired from outside the school community).
C. Assemble the MBA interview questions cards in random
order (different every time)
D. Start the timer as you begin speaking
E. Ask and answer each question.
F. Maintain eye contact (with yourself) as you talk (try not
to look at your cards).
G. Ask why and how whenever appropriate to simulate an
interviewer's follow-up questions.
H. Make each answer as direct and concise as possible (no
more than two minutes per answer, hopefully less).
I. Listen to your answers to the MBA interview questions in
between self-study practice sessions to ensure continuous quality improvement.
Repeat the mirror method steps every morning and every night
until your actual Education loan
for MBA admissions interview.
Bonus tip
Shuffle your question cards every time you practice. Keep
opening questions ("tell me about yourself" or "walk me through
your résumé") at the top of your stack and closing questions ("what
else?" and Q&A) at the bottom. For all other questions, make sure to
change the order every time.
This will help you to be prepared – you can never know in
what order your MBA admissions interviewer will decide to ask her questions
(interviewing is more art than science).
If you expect questions to follow a particular logical
order, you might be surprised and unprepared if the interviewer follows her
logic and asks the questions in a different order than you expected.
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