Tips on How to Prepare for Your MBA Interview

Tips on How to Prepare for Your MBA Interview

Malvina Complainville, former assistant director at Harvard Business School, shares her insights on the topic. During her time at HBS, she provided hundreds of hours of one-to-one career coaching to students. In this video, she gives her five tips to prepare you for your MBA interview.

 

Know your subject matter

The first tip is to know your subject matter. You should conduct research on the school and peruse the school website and any related media which might help you discuss the school curriculum or any faculty you have been following. Another important aspect is to look at how the school talks about itself and what language and vocabulary it uses on its website. This will help you illustrate how you’re a good fit with the school’s culture.

Be proactive

You should convey key messages about yourself. You should prepare your key selling points and you will want to ensure to mention them during your interview. Failing to do that might result in you feeling that you’ve forgotten to mention something very important that you wanted to share. It’s also a way for you to be proactive as opposed to being reactive and waiting for the interviewer to pull the information out of you.

Prepare for the unexpected

Another important advice is to try to prepare for any tough questions which might come across during the interview. Some examples are questions pertaining to your choice of recommenders or questions related to the timing of your MBA applications. Moreover, you will want to look at your application objectively and try to identify any weaknesses. You may have to address these weaknesses during the interview, so ensure to think them through.

Check out: 10 Ivy League MBA Interview Tips

Ask relevant questions

If you don’t ask questions, it may be perceived as a lack of interest. The interview is a two way process and if you ask relevant and intelligent questions you will inevitably leave a good impression. Ensure your questions colud not be answered on the school website. Examples of good ones might be those which pertain to your personal or professional interests. For instance, if you discuss personal or community interests, you could ask the school how they could help you pursue those interests.

Practise

The last, but very important, tip is to practise, especially a few days before your interview. This will help you reach a point where you can express yourself in a clear and concise manner. Practice will help you hone your message and tell your story in a way that you feel comfortable and confident.

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