B School Interviews

Your application will be evaluated based on your over-all profile, GMAT score, application essays, and recommendations. On finding you a potential candidate, university will invite you for an interview. Following are the few ways in which global universities interview their candidates.

· Telephonic interview
It is the most common of all. The university will give you an interview slot straightaway or will ask you to choose a slot on its website. On the settled time, either a senior member from the admission committee will call you or will need to call him. ISB takes telephonic interviews only if you are not located in India and request for the same. Otherwise, it has multiple interview centres all over India and one needs to have a personal interview with a panel.

· Face to face interview with an alumnus
You will need to meet an alumnus from the university and have a personal interview with him. Universities request their alumni to take out some time and interview the candidates. In few cases, alumni interview is a stage between application and interview with the adcom. However, in most cases, alumni interview is the only interview involved. In either case, interview with alumnus is a make or break case and should be taken with utmost gravity.

· Face to face interview with an adcom member
You can e-mail to the universities you are deeply interested in and ask for scheduling a face to face interview with an adcom member when the university visits your country for a marketing event. This is a very good option as you will get to meet the person face to face and enquire a lot more about the course. Moreover, it also makes a university believe your seriousness about the course.

· Face to face interview at the university
Universities highly motivate a campus visit for the interview. While you may not like to visit a country just to face the interview, in case you are visiting the country due to some personal/professional work, you may like to visit the campus. Just e-mail the admissions department of the university, about your visit and wish for an interview. They would be able to schedule an appointment for you. For an admission interview, you need to have applied and got interview call. But for an information interview, you can visit the university any time in the calendar.

Which form of interview is best?
It doesn’t matter that what medium you are using for the interview. What matters is the message that you put across in the interview. Hence, please don’t think that you will have better chance if you have a face to face interview rather than a telephonic interview or vice-versa. See what suits you. I had all my interviews (except ISB) telephonically and I did a good job.

What is the nature of interview?
Unlike the Indian colleges, global colleges see interview as a two-way communication: while they are willing to know about you and decide the fate of your candidature, they are also willing to let you know about the university and the course.
These interviews are generally very light and there is no grilling, unlike in the interviews for Indian B schools (I have had the best of both worlds).

FAQs:

• Why this university?
  
• What after your MBA?
  
• How will this MBA help in your long term goals?
  
• Describe your current role and responsibilities.
  
• How will your peers describe you in five words?
  
• How will your supervisor describe you in five words?
  
• Yours USP?
  
• Your greatest achievement?
  
• Run me through your resume (important…you should be able to do it 1-2mins)
  
• What one thing you would like to change in your current organization?

How the enrolled students benefit?

I have a fair idea of which universities suit my students. Based on same, I recommend my students to approach the universities and meet their representatives personally in the events. Knowing the right universities makes the job easy for them.

When the interview is scheduled, I help the students by letting them know few delicate questions that they are supposed to face, based on the strengths as well as weaknesses in their profile. Knowing these questions beforehand helps them in preparing convincing answers well before the interview.