Skip to main content

Answering Greatest Accomplishment - MBA Admission Interview

MBA Admission Interview - Greatest AccomplishmentsThe phrase “Greatest Accomplishment” is intimidating, and you start searching for the extra-ordinary - the one achievement that is comparable with what other candidates have achieved. This approach is wrong. Instead, shortlist the achievement where you had to learn a lot, work with diverse personalities, and in the end achieved your objective despite a limited budget and time.

Avoid the Trivial

Trivial achievements are tasks, not projects. For any substantial accomplishment, you should demonstrate continuous performance at a professional level. Going beyond the expectation, and completing a task –a report, working late for one or two days to meet a new client requirement, or spotting critical errors in a project seem worth mentioning in a job appraisal form, but in MBA Admissions, you are competing with some of the best and ambitious minds from around the world. Stakes are high and how you answer this question confirm whatever you have written in the MBA application essays. No matter how much you polish your essays with essay guides and expert consulting, interviews reveal the truth.

Find Relevant Accomplishment


Business Schools are looking for candidates with academic competence, leadership, communication, and most importantly maturity. These four traits should be encompassed in the accomplishment example. 

It is also important how you frame the answer, here are some tips that would useful for your Greatest Accomplishment question:

1) What change in behavior helped you with the accomplishment


Most of us, when trying to accomplish a challenging project, will face roadblocks that require a change in behavior from our side. It can be a new approach to solve the problem, bringing in expertise in a job function, or communicating with the team and understanding the underlying problem in detail. It might even involve looking at the problem from a different context.

For example,  ....


The above post is an Excerpt from MBA Admission Interview Guide


Testimonial - MBA Admission Interview Guide

Since MIT and many other Top Business Schools have put a lot of emphasis on behavioral questions, it is important to know what messages you want to convey with each question. F1GMAT’s Interview Guide gave me a clear framework to discuss questions related to conflict management, failure, achievements and goals. The guide also covers etiquette and proper body language." - India/Japan (MIT Sloan MBA Candidate)

"I bought three interview guides from so called 'Experts'. Nothing comes close to what F1GMAT has written." - US (Chicago Booth Candidate)

"The guide teaches you how to control first impression. A concept that I tested during my interview." - US (Harvard MBA Candidate)



Want help practicing the Greatest Accomplishment and over 40+ questions? Subscribe to F1GMAT's Mock MBA Admissions Interview Service