In many top schools, interviewers don’t read the essays before the interview. However, in all schools, they have a one-page resume on the side while taking the interview. Here are 4 best practices to prepare for your MBA admission interview.
1) 2-Story Rule
If you have thought about your branding, there will be certain qualities like entrepreneurial thinking, creativity, quantitative skills, cross-cultural collaboration, and other high-value traits that you have projected with your essays, recommendation letter, and resume. With just the resume in hand, you must again sell the trait that makes you unique.
And if your entire branding is based on one story and if the interviewer finds it unappealing, then your admission chances go down dramatically. Make sure that you have at least 2 stories around your branding traits.
Practice the stories multiple times so that you can strategically share them to reinforce your branding.
2) Weakness Narrative
One challenge applicants face is narrating a weakness or a failure example. If the interviewer can’t access essays, the failure should look believable for your profile. In the resume, we highlight the best metrics and the most impressive actions. When you narrate the failure, don’t worry about repeating yourself from the essays if failure was one of the themes.
Typically, you go through 10 to 15 iterations when you finalize an essay. These are the best-edited narratives. Use them for your interview.
3) Validating the Numbers
Interviewers typically use this technique to see your involvement in the project. If you mention any multi-million-dollar IMPACT metric, they will likely cross-question your contributions. While explaining, confidently offer context. Don’t stumble through your answers. Revise the trends in the industry so that when you connect the numbers and offer an overview of the industry, it sounds authentic.
4) Additional Information
Many experiences are often cut short to 1-2 line entries due to the standard of limiting an MBA resume to 1 page for applicants with 3-5 years of experience. Expanding stories around these extracurriculars, volunteering, or hobbies is essential to offer context about your life outside work. Share why you started the initiative, volunteered for a cause, or got interested in an extracurricular or a hobby.