Acing The Interview

The interview is the most nerve-wracking part of the application process. It is often very difficult to know how to prepare for the interview. There are several things that you can do to prepare, but I believe that the most important thing you can do is to make sure that you enjoy yourself during the interview. If getting into a top-tier business school is the most important thing for you in your life, then you will have a problem relaxing and doing well in the interview. Further, I think that most top-tier schools want to see candidates who will not “live or die” based on their acceptance into a good business school. So, first of all, if you are obsessed with getting into a top-tier business school, you should first work on getting over that fixation (see my comments below in the “Conclusion” section about why business school is overrated). Assuming that this isn’t a problem, there are several things that you can do:

• Talk to others who have successfully gone through an interview
• Talk to others who got “dinged”
• Prepare for penetrating questions about your weaknesses
• Prepare answers for standard leadership questions, goals questions, strengths / weaknesses, and failure questions
• Again, remember to have fun

A final story about interviews—it is sometimes OK to be unconventional if you are being honest. At one point, my interviewer asked me why Harvard should admit me over the many other qualified candidates. Though my head was screaming that I should list of whole bunch of attributes, before I could stop myself I said, “I don’t know that I am. I know some pretty amazing people who have applied. I can’t answer that question for you because I think that this decision ultimately hinges on what kind of class you are looking to put together and how different groups of people complement each other. What I can tell you is what I will bring to the class and I can promise you that nobody will work harder or be more excited to contribute than me.” I then went on to list some of my best attributes. After I left the interview, I thought for sure that I would be “dinged” because I didn’t confidently explain why Harvard should admit me. I heard back a week later that I was accepted. I don’t tell you this story because I think that you will get this question or because I think that I answered the question correctly. Quite the contrary, I am telling you this story because I think I answered the question in a way that was authentic to how I felt. Because of that authenticity, I think I was able to speak with conviction and honest and I think that the interviewer felt this. I think that there are many of my classmates, who were accepted, who answered that question by saying “Here are the reasons why I think you should admit me over others…” There are multiple styles of leadership, persuasion and interviewing. I would simply suggest that you use the style that is most harmonious with who you are.