The Application Process

All,
I had my Booth interview yesterday. I thought the interview went pretty well. The problem is,I could not guage any emotions or reactions from my interviewer, he truly had a poker face. It was not really a conversation, but more of a monologue. I'm pretty bummed out. Can someone here tell me how important is the interview process for part-time MBA?

-Vik

Hey geevikram - sounds like this was a stressful interview!! Usually the interviewers are friendly because they know how tough it is to be n the other side of the table (if it's a student or alum) -- was this interview with an adcom member?

The weight that interviews hold is actually different from school to school, and even from program to program. In general, all the P/T programs are less competitive, and so sometimes those interviews are a little less fundamental to the school's decision-making. They are always important, though - but just because your interviewer had a poker face doesn't mean anything about how you did! Sometimes interviewers are distant like that because they think it shows that they are objective (this happens mostly with student interviewers, in our experience -- sometimes, current students get a bit of a chip on their shoulder in the interview process -- this happens less often with alumni and rarely, if ever, with an adcom person doing the interview). Sometimes interviewers are distant because they're tired - it's exhausting to do a bunch of interviews in a row - or maybe he just broke up with his girlfriend that morning or something! You never know what the reason is, and it's highly unlikely that his attitude is any reflection on YOU.

The stress you're feeling is understandable but this is in the category of "something you can't control" and so just don't worry about it. We're sure you did the best you could, so congrats on that! (We're also sure that we're not helping much with our attempts to be a cheerleader, but we're trying!!)

The best way to bounce back from something stressful, we think, is to tackle another application -- are you trying for Kellogg P/T too? If so maybe you can make some progress on your essays! Or just go have some fun today, you deserve it.

EssaySnark

Thanks EssaySnark for your response. The interview was done by a current student who had just finished his class. I'm positive he did not listen to some of the stuff I said. I clearly could not understand some of his questions. I had to rephrase his question and ask him if that was correct. I had actually mentally prepared myself for this situation and was hoping the process to be a conversation, unfortunately it wasn't.

Booth will be a very good fit for me, just for the kinda person that I'm. But now, I will have to finish off Kellogg PT application too. I truly hope this isn't a make or break factor in my application.

Thanks though.

The interviews at many schools are a total crapshoot - you have no idea who you'll get paired up with, and sometimes, it's a bad experience, like what happened to you. Student interviewers, in our experience, are often the worst -- sometimes they have very little experience with interviewing (it's a skill, on both sides of the table, that people need to work at! the interviewer, as well as the interviewee) -- and sometimes they are a little arrogant, the chip-on-the-shoulder thing we mentioned before. This seems to happen most often with finance guys interviewing other finance guys....

At some schools the student interviewers are AWESOME (Duke is known for having very friendly/conversational interview experiences) -- it sounds like your guy was just having a bad day!!!

FWIW, we doubt that it'll have a huge impact on their decision.

So, good luck with things - we hope you'll report back and let us know how it turns out!!
EssaySnark

Thanks so much EssaySnark. This helps me a bit. And in many ways what you said about student interviewer makes sense. I will definitely get back once I get to know my results. (in about a month's time).

Hi Vikram,

Interview is an important process and it does count. Reading your comments it seems like it did not go as well as you hoped for. However many times we feel the interview didn't go well but the interviewer is impressed. So stay positive. Also if you feel you lacked n certain aspects do look at some practice mock interview session so you can be well groomed before your other sessions.

FutureWorks wrote:Hi Vikram,

Interview is an important process and it does count. Reading your comments it seems like it did not go as well as you hoped for. However many times we feel the interview didn't go well but the interviewer is impressed. So stay positive. Also if you feel you lacked n certain aspects do look at some practice mock interview session so you can be well groomed before your other sessions.

Thanks a lot Kavita. That was helpful. I will keep your suggestions in mind.

All,
I got an admit to Chicago Booth for Spring 2012. Thank you all for your help.
Vik

essaysnark wrote:Hey geevikram - sounds like this was a stressful interview!! Usually the interviewers are friendly because they know how tough it is to be n the other side of the table (if it's a student or alum) -- was this interview with an adcom member?

The weight that interviews hold is actually different from school to school, and even from program to program. In general, all the P/T programs are less competitive, and so sometimes those interviews are a little less fundamental to the school's decision-making. They are always important, though - but just because your interviewer had a poker face doesn't mean anything about how you did! Sometimes interviewers are distant like that because they think it shows that they are objective (this happens mostly with student interviewers, in our experience -- sometimes, current students get a bit of a chip on their shoulder in the interview process -- this happens less often with alumni and rarely, if ever, with an adcom person doing the interview). Sometimes interviewers are distant because they're tired - it's exhausting to do a bunch of interviews in a row - or maybe he just broke up with his girlfriend that morning or something! You never know what the reason is, and it's highly unlikely that his attitude is any reflection on YOU.

The stress you're feeling is understandable but this is in the category of "something you can't control" and so just don't worry about it. We're sure you did the best you could, so congrats on that! (We're also sure that we're not helping much with our attempts to be a cheerleader, but we're trying!!)

The best way to bounce back from something stressful, we think, is to tackle another application -- are you trying for Kellogg P/T too? If so maybe you can make some progress on your essays! Or just go have some fun today, you deserve it.

EssaySnark

WOO-HOO!!! This is AWESOME news!!!!!


So excited to hear this, Vik -- your concerns from the interview are so common yet clearly they were unfounded, in your case! You must've impressed that interviewer after all.

Doing bschool and working at the same time is overwhelming and amazing and exhausting and absolutely thrilling all at the same time - be sure to do all that you can between now and starting classes to clear your plate of anything extra. Like, get your taxes done right away in January, clean your house top to bottom in February, spend time visiting your family through the holidays and tell them they might not be seeing much of you for the next year or so!! (just kidding on that last part - sorta!).

You're gonna love it at Booth. Congrats again on the admit - totally exciting - would love to see you back around here reporting on the experience if you think of us later!!!

EssaySnark
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Wow that's awesome Vikram! Congratulations and good luck to you!
Can you share your profile with us?